Chapter 5
Suds
I pace the length of the gilded, five-star, hotel hallway and check my phone for the hundredth time. Sam’s plane landed over thirty minutes ago, and she hasn’t texted. Normally, I wouldn’t be overly concerned but my spidey-senses are super-charged. I should’ve stayed in New York and met her at the airport instead of guarding a hooker who refuses to halt her visits to her super-secret clientele.
I’m on the verge of tapping Jason when my phone rings with her callerID. My damn heart stops, and I hold my breath until I hear her voice.
“Sorry, I worried you, tough guy, I got detained.” She sounds stressed.
Ah hell, I knew it.“You got arrested? Tell me where you’re at and I’ll get Slate to send Quinn.” Our lawyer will have her out in a jiffy.
“No, no. I’m fine. Some government flunkies wanted to talk to me. They told me we need to back off.”
“That’s plum ridiculous. We’re not supposed to find a missing teenager?”
“I’m not talking about Chrissy, they want you to stop guarding the hooker.”
“Come again? I’m not supposed to make sure no one kills my client?” Reaching a dead-end wall, I lean over the balcony and search the lobby, eight stories below. A couple of men in dark suits walk across the marble floor and show the desk manager their badges. They glance up at the hundreds of doors, then slink to a corner lounge area.
Fuck, they’re here, too.
Agitated, Sam’s volume increases, and her pitch rises. “One of the assholes had the nerve to threaten me. He said back off or else.”
“Or else what?” My fists tighten by my side. I wouldn’t want to ruin the excellent relationship we have with the FBI, but I won’t be bullied.
“I didn’t ask, and they didn’t offer specifics. I’m guessing we’re supposed to fill in the blank.” As she speaks, the sun shines through polka dot windows in the roof causing shapes of light to dance across the hotel’s inner mesh curtain.
“I hope you told them fuck you very much?” My gaze narrows on the two sneaky bastards below, their asses parked on a round couch in front of a short glass table.
“No, no. If anything, they think I agreed.” She was right to play it cool. We need a lot more intel.
“Where are you now?”
“Stuck in traffic on the BQE. At this rate, I’ll be home about Christmas.” Her laugh makes me snicker despite the seriousness of the situation.
“Check your emails once you’re home. I’m sending you a room number from the Conrad Hotel. See if you can find out who Selena is servicing.”
“Why not ask her?”
“She’s refusing to give up names.” Scanning the multiple floors that circle around me, I curse at all the angles a killer could use to take out my client.
“Surely, she knows we’ll find out?”
“To her it’s a matter of principal.”
Sam snorts out her nose. “Whatever. Do you think we should take some extra precautions with Mikey?”
“You tell me. You sure those guys weren’t thugs?”
“I can ask my Uncle Vinny.”
I sigh. “He’s going to want a favor in return.”
She laughs like owing the mobster isn’t a big deal. Rather than start an argument, I change the subject. “What else did you learn upstate?”
“I was so sure this was going to be easy-peazy.” As I pace, she tells me about someone trying to break into her room.
“Fuck, Sam.” Thank God I made her pack the security lock.
