When Li Jie received Bob's call, he was playing "Catch the Sheriff" with a group of children on the playground.
"You little thugs! Ganging up to attack a sheriff injured in the line of duty!"
The children chased after him, laughing. He jerked the control stick hard, and Jason's Boomerang flew past the wheelchair's armrest.
"You little bastard! Double practice problems for you tonight!"
Jason shuddered, immediately took down one of his companions, and shouted, "Sheriff, I'm undercover!"
The phone rang. Li Jie glanced down, waved at the children behind him, and turned his wheelchair back toward the shade.
"Boss?"
"Jay, come back." Bob sounded far more serious than usual over the phone. "Now."
"Something happen?"
"No." Bob paused. "But something might."
As Harleen pushed his wheelchair through the police station's corridors, Li Jie kept puzzling over those words. What did he mean, "nothing happened, but something might"?
Wasn't that stating the obvious? When did a day pass in Gotham without something happening?
But when she wheeled him into Bob's office, he realized the situation might be more troublesome than "something might happen."
Bob sat at his desk, which had been tidied until it was spotless, everything in its place. He wasn't even smoking.
"Close the door," Bob said.
Harleen shut the door and stood beside it.
Bob looked at Li Jie. There was neither greed nor calculation in his eyes.
There was hesitation, and irritation.
"Brace yourself," Bob said. "You probably won't like what I'm about to say."
"Hiss..."
Li Jie sucked in a sharp breath, instantly raising the office's temperature by two degrees. "What's wrong, boss? Did your medical results come back?"
"No, I still have to wait... That's not what I wanted to talk about!"
Bob took two deep breaths and tapped the desk irritably, though some