Latest from the Janitors, Asps, and Other Books - The Tickelton Affair (Janitors Series) - Arnold eats pizza in hospital while recovering from attempt on his life.

Today’s excerpt is from The Tickelton Affair, Book #5 of the Janitors Series.  After Arnold finishes his pizza in the hospital (actually clinic), he comes up with the idea on how to smuggle him out so anyone wanting to try killing him again would be fooled.  Enjoy and have a fantastic day.

m.j.

 

When Dan and Mark returned to the Cottonwood clinic, Carlos was standing guard at the door to Arnold’s room, eating a slice of pizza.  As they approached, he stood aside and nodded at them.  They both offered “hi’s” on the way past him, into the room.  Once inside, they saw Arnold munching on pizza, as Evan was wiping his mouth.

Arnold smiled as he swallowed.  “Not much left, but you guys are welcome to it.”

Dan glanced at the two slices left in one of the two boxes.  “No thanks, we ate.”

Evan laughed.  “Damn good thing.  Carlos and I finished ours.  Those two slices are Arnold’s and you don’t want them.  The works—with triple jalapeno.”

Mark swallowed.  “Triple?”

Evan nodded his head with a pained expression.  “Yeah.  Help yourself.”

“No thanks.”

Arnold wiped his mouth.  “I’m done.”

Just then one of the doctors came into the room with a nurse and gave a less than pleased look at the pizza boxes.

Arnold grinned.  “Don’t say a word unless you can show me in a doctor’s manual that pizza is bad for possible concussion.”

The doctor just shook his head as the nurse started taking Arnold’s blood pressure.

After the doctor and nurse left, Dan handed Evan the briefcase he and Mark had found.  “I don’t think you’re gonna be real happy with this, but probably not too surprised.”

Evan opened the briefcase and started glancing at its contents, careful to hold the pictures by their sides—to avoid smudging any fingerprints—as Dan and Mark had done earlier.  As he glanced at the first picture, he noticed Arnold holding out his hand.  Evan grinned and handed the pictures to him one at a time and was pleased that Arnold was sharp enough to have seen how he had handled the pictures and was doing the same.

When all had been examined and replaced in the briefcase, Evan asked, “This it?”

Dan answered,   “Yeah, except for this,” as he handed the car rental papers to Evan.  “But no ID, and stranger yet, no more explosives.  Not even a room key.  He may have stashed his ID and key somewhere, but I doubt that he’d do that with the explosives.  If he was gonna do Miss Knight’s house next, the stuff has to be somewhere.  Might not be a bad idea to have your office start checking to see if anybody with that name is checked into any motels in the Phoenix area…or around here, for that matter.”

Evan nodded in agreement.  “Yeah, and with luck, we can do that electronically.”

That said, he took out his cell phone, called the Phoenix FBI office, and told them what he wanted.  Then he looked at Dan.  “About tomorrow, I’ve been doing some thinking.  Since we’re agreed that Arnold flies home with you because the bad guys might make a try for him on the road, why not set a trap for them?”

Dan smiled.  “I like it.  We smuggle Arnold out of here somehow, and you take out one of your guys all wrapped up so the bad guys can’t see his face too well.  You got anybody about his build?”

Evan grinned.  “You looked at Carlos recently?”

“Yeah, good point.  He’s perfect.  Now all we have to do is get Arnold outta here.”

Arnold held up his hand.  “Uh, how about an ambulance?”

Evan looked at Arnold, and then at Dan.  “That’d work.”

Dan nodded in agreement.  “Yeah, let’s go with it.  The ambulance could bring him right up the hill to the airport.  Be easy to see if it was followed as it came up that twisting road.”

 

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