Chapter Sixteen
Crow
“Crow, I hate to tell you this, but they’ve stopped just north of Sacramento.”
Hearing Os say that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. If they stopped, then that could be very bad for Worthy. We had just gotten on the plane, not even in the air yet. Eagle didn’t come down. He was stuck in Seattle handling a committee meeting or something to do with his business. I was thankful for the use of the plane, though I would have loved his level head right now.
“Can you tell where they’ve stopped? Are they at a rest stop or getting gas?”
Os was quiet while he studied his laptop for a few minutes. A few minutes had never seemed to last so long. All the years I’d been doing my job, I hadn’t worried about anything or anyone except myself and my colleagues. This was completely new territory for me.
“No, they’re just off the highway.” He turned the screen toward me and pointed to a satellite view with an orange indicator mark on one of the buildings.
“They’re in this building right there at the orange dot. From the street view, it’s a no-tell motel just off I-5. I think they’re in for the night.”
Sitting down in the soft leather seat across the aisle, I ran my hands through my hair a few times while I tried to decide what to do. If we went to Sacramento and they got back on the road while we were in the air, we’d miss them and be behind. But if we didn’t go and they stayed the night, Worthy could be hurt or worse in the meantime. Fuck, if I made the wrong choice, I could lose him.
That was unacceptable.
“Os, can you tell Andre to change the flight plan? We’re going to Sacramento. It’s a one hour flight and, from what I can tell, we’ll be less than thirty minutes to where they are. We can get Worthy and take care of the assholes who took him.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Os walked by me on his way to the cockpit but stopped to put his hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get him back, Crow.”
That was the thing about friends. You never knew you had them until you needed them. I crossed my arm over my chest and put my hand over his for a second.
“Thanks, man. I’m glad you’re with me. I’ll let you take out one of the guys when we get there, if you want.”
“Hell yeah, dude! Why do you think I came on this trip?”
I watched Os walk down to the cockpit, shoulders shaking from laughing at the prospect of the action to come. None of us ever liked to sit idle. And I was planning on being very busy when we tracked these jokers down.
* * *
Drivingup to the run-down motel, I was happy they’d had an SUV available at the car rental place. It was never a good idea to take an Uber to a job, and driving a sedan was even worse. The place was cheap but seemed clean enough. The outside lights were sketchy at best, and a few were even out completely, which would give us cover in the darkness. There weren’t any deals going down in the parking lot, either, so no witnesses. Not like people in this area would call the cops anyway.
“So, they’re in this place, and we need to find out which room. The location isn’t that accurate, is it?”
Os was working his phone this time, trying to pinpoint their room. After a few seconds, he shook his head.
“No, I can’t get the exact room. They’re on the end of this building in front, but I don’t know if it’s the top or bottom.”
“That’s all we need. Let’s go to the office, and we can find out.”
Os put his phone in his jeans pocket as he got out of his side of the car. I slid out of the driver’s side and got ready to work. Crossing in front of the car, I threw my arm over his neck, leaning heavily, as we both stumbled into the motel office. Os held me tight, as I pretended to trip over the doorway. We both giggled like kids while we made our way to the desk and the young stoner who was working overnight. He was looking down at his phone, and his face was covered partially by his stringy hair. As we approached, he put the phone down and looked up.
“Yeah, what you guys need? We ain't got no rooms for the night.”
Os tried to get it together and made a production of trying to make a straight face, snickered again, then took a breath and answered.
“We already have a room with a couple buddies, man, but I can’t remember which room it is. Can you help me out?”
The kid shook his head, causing his greasy brown hair to catch on his goatee. “Nah, man, I’m not supposed to do that.”
“Listen, dude. It’s at the far end of this building. It would be two guys in a black SUV with another guy, drunk off his ass. It’s supposed to be a bachelor party this weekend, but we got here late. Come on, if we weren’t supposed to be here, would we know all that?”
I was enjoying letting Os take the lead. The man could act his ass off. Squinting my eyes, I looked at the guy, gauging whether he would play along. He looked hesitant, giving us both the side eye, but then his shoulders relaxed, and he relented.
“Okay, yeah, fine. They’re in room 201, top floor on the end. But I don’t think your homies are looking out for you. They only got a king size room.”
