Left alone, he heard the lock click, and he rolled his eyes. Why was she even bothering? She had to be one of the most confusing women he’d ever met.
Hal had been a bit preoccupied on the computer, and looked up quickly as Sam came into the room. He was about to smile, but quickly saw she was not a happy camper. Waiting a moment and hearing her words, he chuckled and swiveled around to look at her. “Nah. You’d be pretty hard to get tired of.” Listening to the issue, he let out a long, slow sigh. “You’re not doing anything wrong, Sam.” He leaned an elbow on his desk, to rest the side of his head on his hand as he studied her. She looked so frustrated, and he felt badly. She hadn’t been here long enough to get burned out yet.
“You just need to have a little more patience. And you have to understand…he doesn’t want to be here. Not while he’s convinced the Agency still loves him. If you were in his shoes…would you be any different?”
He let the question linger for a few moments. “I, um… got wind of the unlocked door and I looked back through last night’s tapes.” He straightened and gestured to the monitor before bringing up the footage. The hall camera had caught Aaron leaving his room on crutches and going down to the break room. He disappeared for a while, then reappeared to hobble into the infirmary. The next camera caught him just standing inside the room and looking – not touching anything before he turned and left again. After that, he simply went back to the bedroom and shut the door.
Hal glanced at Sam again. “Having him stay put would be ideal. Actually having him be a little more personable would be too much to ask. As it is…” He paused in thought. “I might just let the rope stay loose for a while. See what he does. We both know he can’t go far, and I can tell Ty to keep a closer eye on him. I’m not sure why he didn’t catch this last night, although I think it was just coincidence in Aaron’s timing.” He shrugged. “If he gets into anything Ty can call us. If he doesn’t…maybe he’s further along than you think. Maybe…his mouth is just hiding the fact that he really won’t try anything stupid.”
Another pause and he smiled a little. “I don’t care how hard he is…your attention to his birthday had to have had some effect. It’ll come. You’re doing a good job and don’t let him make you think otherwise.”
Hunter stayed put when Ryan returned, catching on quickly that she wasn’t yet ready to leave. He wasn’t used to long breaks and not driving just as fast as he could to get to his destination but… at the same time… maybe it was good to slow down every once in a while, too.
“Eh… don’t be sorry.” He shrugged it off. “It’s a gorgeous day. Why not enjoy it a little?”
He thought for a few moments before leaning all the way back with his head on the windshield. “There’s a place at about the halfway mark. There’s a nice hotel there. We can…stop there for the night if you want. We’d get there later this afternoon.”
He squinted up at her in the sunlight. “I don’t mind. Really.”
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