Play Nice (16 page)

The room was small, but it worked. A pair of double beds were flanked by nightstands, a TV sitting on a dresser across. A small bathroom was through a door. Anna walked through to the bathroom first, filling a plastic ice bucket with water for Lenny, who immediately plopped himself down in front of the TV and lapped gratefully.

“Sit down on the bed,” Dade instructed.

Anna paused. She didn’t like being told what to do under the best of circumstances. And this was clearly not the best. But, since she had little choice, she complied, eyes on him the whole time, slowly sinking down onto the pastel bedspread of the double closest to the door.

Dade reached into his bag, emerging with a pair of metal handcuffs. He then crossed to her, securing one of the bracelets around her left wrist and the other to the metal headboard.

“Just in case,” he said.

Anna wriggled her wrist, testing the bonds. Her hands were small, but not small enough to slip them free.

She watched Dade open drawers, checking the contents of the room almost as if by habit. While there was no way anyone could have anticipated their stay here, he was clearly a guy who didn’t trust anywhere to be secure.

He pulled a menu from a Chinese place out of the nightstand and turned to her.

“Hungry?”

She wasn’t. But she knew that whatever stretched in front of them, she should take her chance to refuel now. She nodded, then listened as Dade ordered Kung Pau chicken for two to be delivered to their room.

“Make mine tofu,” Anna cut in.

He paused. “Tofu?” he asked her.

“I’m a vegetarian.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged. “I don’t like the idea of eating defenseless animals.”

“You’re joking, right? An animal rights assassin?”

“Ex-assassin,” she corrected him.

He shook his head, but repeated her order into the phone. When he hung up, he said, “I’m going in the shower.” He grabbed his gun and cell, then disappeared into the bathroom.

*   *   *

Dade shut the door behind him. He turned on the water, then grabbed his cell and dialed.

Three rings in it was answered.

“Dade,” the man on the other end said, recognizing the number.

“What the hell is going on?” Dade asked, trying to keep his voice low.

There was a pause on the other end. Then, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, who else did you hire to take out my target?”

Another pause. “Just you.”

“Bullshit. Someone else is stalking her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I went to take my shot this morning and someone beat me to it.”

“She’s dead?” the other man asked.

Dade shook his head in the empty bathroom. It was starting to fill with steam, distorting the reflection staring back at him in the mirror above the chipped sink. “No. She’s not. But apparently there are several people who are working on that.”

“Who?”

“That’s what I want to know.”

Dade could hear the man on the other end inhale, breathing deeply. “That’s not important right now, and I urge you to remember what is.”

“And that would be?”

“The job is supposed to be done by the end of the week.”

Dade ran a hand through his hair. “I know.”

“Anything else is outside your realm of concern.”

“Like hell it is,” Dade said.

But the man ignored him. “Your only concern is doing the job you were hired to do. Our employer will not be happy if it isn’t done. And when he’s not happy, there will be consequences.”

“Don’t threaten me,” Dade growled out between clenched teeth.

“That’s not a threat. It’s fact.”

“Let me talk to our employer,” Dade said.

He could hear the man on the other ends shifting. “You know that’s not possible. I’m your contact. Anything you have to say to him you can say through me.”

“Fine. Tell him I’m not making a move until I know what the hell kind of game he’s playing at,” he ground out, then stabbed at the
OFF
button.

*   *   *

The second she heard water running, Anna sprang into action.

She jumped off the bed, stretching her left arm as far as she could while remaining tethered to the headboard, using her right hand to look through the nightstand drawers for anything she could use as a weapon. A pen, a Bible, a stack of postcards featuring a painting of the motel that was much more wishful thinking than reality.

She pocketed the pen, then grabbed Dade’s bag, quickly going through its contents. Mostly clothes, almost all in black. She dug into the side pockets. The first two yielded nothing, but the third contained a pack of nicotine gum, a Muni ticket stub. She tried a fourth. Empty. One small pocket on the inside left was zipped shut. She glanced at the bathroom door, still hearing the water run. She unzipped and stuck her fingers inside. Cool metal greeted her, and she pulled out a silver pendant on a chain. No, not a pendant, she realized as she held it up. Dog tags. Two silver metal ovals on the end of a ball chain. So he
was
military trained.

Anna quickly memorized the info on the tag.

DADE

NICK W. O POS

601811982

USMC M

She quickly shoved the tags back into the zippered pocket, setting the duffel back on the bed just as she’d found it.

“Food here yet?”

Anna jumped, hoping guilt wasn’t as etched on her face as it was her psyche.

“No.”

“Good.” Dade came out of the bathroom and sat down on the double bed opposite hers. His hair was wet, curling around his neck, and his shirt was left untucked. But even in this casual pose, he seemed ready to strike, to jump to attention at any second. She wondered if he ever relaxed.

Dade flipped on the TV, scanning different news stations. It didn’t take long before he landed on one broadcasting the shelter shooting story. According to the reporter, it was still being investigated as possible gang activity, a random shooting as part of some initiation rite. There was no mention of either Anna or Shelli.

Anna wasn’t sure if she found that comforting or not. On the one hand, the fewer people looking for her the better at this point. On the other … it was an odd feeling that you could disappear so easily and no one would miss you.

Anna started as a sharp knock sounded at the door.

Dade was up and across the room in one swift movement, his gun drawn.

“Who is it?” he called through the closed door. Anna watched him put an eye to the peephole.

“Hungry Panda,” came the muffled reply. “I have your Kung Pau.”

Dade pulled away from the door and turned to Anna. He put a finger to his lips to indicate her silence, then opened the door a crack.

“How much?” Dade asked.

“Twenty-two fifty,” Anna heard a young man with a heavy accent reply. She was tempted to cry out, alert him to her presence. But then what? He was an unarmed delivery boy. Most likely, Dade would just shoot him, too. So she sat in silence, watching as the man handed Dade a paper bag in exchange for cash. Dade then quickly shut the door and pulled the chain lock shut behind him.

They ate in silence, watching the news, then a debate between two politicians vying for their party’s nomination in the upcoming election. Anna only halfway paid attention, closing her eyes, lying back on the pillows, feeling the exhaustion of the day seep into her bones. She consciously forced each muscle to flex and unflex, letting tension drain.

Two hours later Dade turned out the light, plunging the room into sudden darkness. She heard him shift on the bed, could imagine him stowing his weapon nearby as he laid his head down on the pillows.

Anna waited in the darkness, listening to him breath, listening to the sounds of a muted television in the adjoining room, people laughing outside on the sidewalk, cars pulling into slots in the parking lot. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, Anna glanced at the other bed. Dade lay on his back, his hands clasped over his chest, looking almost as though he’d been staged by some mortician. She waited, forcing her eyes to stay open as she listened to his breath. Finally it slowed and deepened, coming in long, rhythmic waves. He’d fallen asleep.

Now’s your chance.

Anna moved slowly at first, eyes on Dade’s still form. He was fully clothed, sleeping on top of the pastel spread. She prayed he was a deep sleeper as she reached her free right hand down her leg, slipping it inside her front pocket. Dade didn’t move, didn’t stir, his body completely still, breath still coming slowly and steadily. She pulled the pen from her pocket, bringing it up to her mouth. She bit off the top, letting it drop onto the blanket beside her. Next came the tip, which she dropped into her lap, then dumped the lose ink cartridge next to it. She put the cartridge into her mouth, using her teeth to bite at the plastic end. It took several minutes, but she finally had it molded into a sharp point. She slowly transferred it to her right hand again, inserting the pointed end into the keyhole of her handcuffs. They jangled against the metal bed frame, and she froze, eyes darting to Dade.

His breath shifted, stuttered for a moment.

Anna closed her eyes.

Please stay asleep.

She waited for what felt like an eternity, but Dade didn’t open his eyes, didn’t move. Instead his breath once again slowed and fell into a deep, steady rhythm.

She said a silent thank you, then put a pillow between her wrist and the metal headboard, hoping to mute any further noise as she worked at the lock. The plastic was more pliable than she’d hoped, bending when she would have liked it to stay rigid, yet too rigid to fit all the way into the hole. She didn’t know how long she quietly worked the lock, but sweat was trickling down the side of her face by the time she finally heard the telltale click and felt the metal ease on her wrist. She slowly pulled the cuff open, sliding the remaining bracelet down the metal headboard to rest silently on a pillow. She rubbed at her wrist, shaking circulation back into her hand.

“What are you doing?”

Anna spun around in the dark to find Dade staring at her, eyes open and alert, gun in hand, aimed at her heart.

Adrenaline coursed through her as she opened her mouth to response.

Just as the window beside her bed shattered.

CHAPTER 10

Anna dove for the floor, covering her head with her arms, as glass rained down on her. A series of sharp gunshots followed, ripping into the bed where she’d just been tethered, feathers and tufts of polyester batting flying into the air.

“Jesus.”

She felt Dade hit the floor beside her, his body rigid, weapon held close to his chest. He put two rounds through the shattered glass, then ducked back down behind the bed.

Lenny barked from across the room, as startled awake as his human counterparts had been.

“Stay!” Anna yelled, hoping for once the dumb animal listened to her. “Do not move. Stay!”

The TV shattered as a bullet hit it, sparks flying across the room. Anna moved closer to Dade. Not that he was any better than whoever was shooting at her now, but, once again, she was the only one in the gunfight without a gun.

She’d be damned if that happened again.

“The bathroom,” Dade yelled. His words were clipped, shouted as rapid fire as the rounds hailing the room. “I’ll provide cover.”

She nodded.

He silently counted off one, two, then popped up from the floor and shot through the broken window again. The return fire stopped for a second, and Anna took the opportunity crawl on her hands and knees toward the tiny bathroom.

As soon as she hit the door, she whistled, prompting Lenny into action. He bounded through the room just as the gunfire started through the front window again.

Dade shot back, creeping backward on his butt as he shot out the front of the room. It seemed as if she was watching him in slow motion, but in reality it was only a couple of seconds before he hit the bathroom door.

As soon as he was inside, Anna slammed the door shut. It was wooden, thin. A BB gun could blast through it. They needed to get out now.

“The window.” Dade shot the words out.

But Anna was already on it. She stepped into the bathtub, pulling the small window above the mildewed tiles open. She pried the screen off with her fingernails, breaking two painfully in the process.

The opening was four by three. She was confident she could fit through … Dade was another story.

“Will you fit?” she asked him.

“Go, just go,” he instructed, lifting her off the ground so she had little choice but to do as he instructed.

She propelled herself through the opening, arms first, followed by her torso, wiggling her feet behind her through the window. She hit the ground hard, scraping her palms in the process, but quickly scrambled to her feet.