David dragged the body into an unused convention room and rolled him under a banquet table. The tablecloth hung low enough to hide him. As David suspected when he spotted him in the deli window, it was the same man he’d fought on Payne’s yacht.
Is it just him? Was he here watching for me? Or maybe Haddad is here, too. How many? Have they found Amy?
David needed information. He headed back down the convention hallway toward the lobby of the hotel. He paused at a house phone hanging on the wall and dialed zero. He didn’t like this, didn’t like standing out in the open in the hotel hallway, but he had to know.
The hotel operator answered, and David asked for Larry Meadows’s office.
“Manager’s office,” Larry answered.
“It’s me.”
“I was wondering when you’d turn up.”
“Larry, I’ve been a little out of the loop. Is everything okay?”
“Well, some crazy guy led a pair of cops on a merry chase through my hotel…,” Larry said.
“I mean Amy. Is she okay?”
“Yes,” Larry said. “Nobody’s gone up there, and she hasn’t come down. As far as I know, we’re cool.”
“Where are you?” David asked.
“My office.”
“Is that the room with all the monitors?”
“That’s the security office.”
“Can you hang out in there for a while?” David asked.
“What’s up?”
“I’m going to give you a phone number,” David said. “If you can watch those monitors and give me a heads-up. You know the sort of men we’re watching out for, right?”
“Give me two minutes, and I’ll get set up.”
“Thanks, Larry.” David gave him the number, then hung up.
He walked fast toward the elevators, dodging Shriners in little hats and holding drinks in their hands. David hit the elevator call button and stood there for an eternity waiting. Finally an elevator arrived, and he took it to the top.
When the elevator doors opened, he stepped out, the Browning in his hand. He stood, listened. Had anyone been up here? What if he was too late? What if Yousef had already—
No. Stay professional. Larry had said everything was fine.
David tried the knob. Locked.
He knocked.
Long seconds passed, and he almost knocked again when the door abruptly swung inward.
Amy gaped at him a moment, eyes wide as if she couldn’t believe who she was looking at. Then she flung herself on him, arms going tightly around his neck. She mashed her mouth so hard into his that it hurt his lip against his teeth.
He didn’t care. David kissed her back, wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up.
When she finally pulled away from him, she said, “You asshole. You look like hell.” She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Do you know how many times I texted you?”
“Nine times?”
“I … how did you know?”
“Because ten is a good round number.”
She kissed him again.
He ushered her inside and locked the door behind them.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” David said.
“Why?” Her happiness at seeing him evaporated. “What’s wrong? Did Payne … did you…?”
“I failed,” David said. “And we’re out of time. Somehow, Payne’s men know we’re here. We need to go. Grab your things, just the important stuff, nothing else. The police found the Escalade, but we can get a cab and then—”
And then what?
David thought it through. Amy had friends. They could call them, flood the hotel with police and be escorted safely away. But the police were already looking for him because of the shooting at his house. David would spend time in a cell while they sorted it out. Payne could bribe anyone to get at him in jail. And who would protect Amy while he was locked up? Who could she trust in her own office? Payne would surround himself with lawyers. Nothing would get solved. None of them would be safe.
“This isn’t going to work,” David said quietly.
Amy looked at him, concern in her eyes.
No, not concern. Fear. She’s afraid.
“What do you mean?” Amy asked.
“If we don’t end this now,” David said, “then we’re back to square one. Worse than square one actually because we won’t have any advantages at all.”
“Advantages?” Amy said. “What advantages?”
“Payne and his men are coming to us,” David said. “And I know it, and I can be ready for them.”
“David, let’s just go,” Amy said. “We’ll figure something else out. We’ll find another safe place and—”
“And what? Amy, how long can your sister and brother-in-law hide our children for us? How long do we live in fear in our own homes waiting for Dante Payne to send somebody to kill us while he hides behind his lawyers?”
Amy opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again. She thought about it. A second later, she asked, “What do you need from me?”
“I need you to do something brave,” David said. “I need you to stay. I need you to hang tough right here like you’re still hiding out and everything is normal.”
“And what will you be doing?” she asked.
David smiled. “Finishing it.”
Amy looked at him, searching his face, deciding.
She kissed him again. “Do what you need to do.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
David’s phone rang, and he answered it. “Hello.”
“Three men just walked in the main entrance,” Larry Meadows said. “I’m watching them on the security monitor. Could be nobody at all, but they’re putting out a pretty strong badass vibe.”
David described Yousef Haddad.
“I think we have a match,” Larry said.
“I’m sorry this has to happen in your hotel, Larry.”
“Hey, you’re the good guy and they’re the bad guys,” Larry said. “Just make it worth it.”
“Right.”
David hung up the phone and turned back to his wife. He reached into his pocket and came out with the little automatic he’d taken from Gina.
He handed it to Amy. “It’s not much.”
She took it. “It looks like a toy.”
“If you need to use it, get in close,” David said.
“God help me if I need to use it.”
David gathered her in his arms and kissed her. “We’re almost at the end. Don’t open the door for anyone but me.”
“Okay.”
He looked deep in her eyes and tried to think of something to say, something perfect that would ease her mind.
David kissed her again and left.