Irish Throwdown (What Happens In Vegas Book 4) by Matt Lincoln (short books for teens .TXT) 📕

were peeling off the worn banister, exposing the rusted metal beneath. Somehow, the sight just put me more on edge, and I willed my legs to move faster up the stairs.

I could hear the click of Naomi’s shoes as she climbed up the stairs behind me, and I felt a pang of guilt as I realized she was racing up five flights of stairs in high heels. Still, she was managing to keep pace behind me, so she clearly wasn’t concerned.

I didn’t break pace as I made it to the fifth floor and shoved the door open using the momentum of my own body weight. I raced down the hall and yanked at the office doors. I panicked for a moment when they wouldn’t budge until I remembered that stupid keypad we’d installed after someone had sent a bomb to the office earlier in the year.

I attempted to punch my code in, but my fingers fumbled in my haste, and the keypad rejected me.

“Dammit,” I growled as I lifted my hand to try again.

“Let me,” Naomi stated calmly as she swiftly and deftly punched her code in. The door unlocked with a beep, and I pushed it open.

I gasped as I stepped into the office. The bullpen was a mess of overturned tables and chairs. Papers and personal items were scattered all over the floor, and I could see that someone’s computer had been smashed to pieces. Wallace’s office door was open, and I could see through the clear windows that his office was in a similar state. Fiona’s office appeared unscathed, though it was difficult to tell through the cracks spider-webbing all along the surface of the glass walls.

At the end of the office, Agent Howard was sitting cross-legged on the floor. One of his legs was soaked with blood, and his left arm was mottled with bruises and looked swollen.

“Agent Howard,” Naomi called gently as she approached him.

He snapped his head up to look at her, wide-eyed and cautious. He didn’t seem angry right then, but there was something about the look in his eyes that made me think he wasn’t all there.

“Hello,” he replied shakily. “I’m sorry about the mess. I got a little upset, I think.”

“I can see that,” Naomi replied. Her voice was soft and patient, the way one might speak to a frightened child. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“No,” Howard shook his head vigorously as he shot to his feet. I fought the urge to reach for my gun at the sudden movement. Fiona had told me he’d reacted violently when he saw Nelson draw his gun. I needed to be careful not to aggravate him. “I need to get back to work. Agent Hills and Agent Chapman are depending on me to help them solve this case. You’re depending on me too, right?”

There was a manic edge to his voice, and his eyes were shifting between the two of us desperately.

“Of course we are,” Naomi nodded. “It’s all thanks to you that we were able to find out what we were dealing with. But look at you. You’re hurt, aren’t you?”

Naomi stepped confidently toward Howard. He tensed as she approached him, and for a moment, I was scared that he might attack her.

“Why don’t you come sit down?” Naomi smiled at him after tutting over his leg for a few seconds. She placed a gentle arm on his back and guided him toward one of the few chairs left upright in the bullpen. “We should really get you to a hospital, Agent Howard. This looks like a nasty injury.”

As she spoke, I chanced a look toward Nelson’s office door. Fiona had told me that was where they were taking cover. I looked away before Howard could notice my gaze.

“Yeah,” Howard mumbled. “It does hurt a little.”

“I’m certain it does,” Naomi nodded. “We’ll take you to the hospital, alright, Agent Howard? But first, I need to put these on you.”

Naomi pulled a pair of handcuffs from her bag, and Howard’s eyes went wide.

“No!” he yelled as he shrank away from her. “I’m not a criminal! I’m not putting those on!”

I shifted my body so that Howard wouldn’t see me reaching for my gun. I didn’t want to hurt one of my fellow agents, but I wasn’t about to let him attack my partner.

“Agent Howard,” Naomi commanded his attention in a tone that left no room for argument. “Listen to me. You are a brilliant scientist. Out of all the people in this office, no, in this country, no one knows more about the details of this drug than you do. Which means you know better than anyone else about what kind of side effects it can have.”

She was laying it on so thick that I was sure Howard would dismiss her. On the contrary, though, he seemed to be lapping it up.

“Yeah,” he nodded slowly. “I do know what the side effects are.”

“So you know why I need to put these on,” Naomi continued as she slowly slipped one of the handcuffs onto Howard’s wrist. “Hallucinations, paranoia, extreme aggression. You know that you might hurt someone without even meaning to. Then there’s the fact that most of the people who take this drug wind up dead. We need to get you to the hospital, Agent Howard. But they won’t let us in unless you have these on.”

I watched as she clicked the handcuffs into place, amazed at how quickly she’d diffused the situation. Once I felt confident that he was subdued, I rushed over to Nelson’s office and knocked.

“Fiona, are you okay?” I called. “It’s Miranda.”

The door swung open, but to my surprise, it wasn’t Fiona who answered, but Nelson.

“What’s going on out there?” Nelson asked as he peered around me.

“Naomi’s got it under control,” I replied as I scanned the room. Fiona was sitting off to the side against a bookshelf. She was pale, and her skin was slick with sweat.

“Hey,” she smiled at me weakly.

“She’s in rough shape,” Nelson