‘I’m sorry, sir,’ the young woman behind the counter said. She hadn’t bothered to check her computer. ‘As you can see, we’re very busy. Our only available room is the presidential suite, and it’s $6,650 a night.’
Malika leaned on the counter and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘There are an awful lot of nerds here.’
She and Bee flanked Adam. Bee held on to his elbow, but Malika had opted to walk herself through the Four Seasons lobby. The lobby itself was impressive, furnished with many comfortable places to loiter. A high, lit ceiling worked in the favor of the many prints of upscale artwork framed along the walls.
A wide variety of bespectacled individuals milled about. Several had opted to drink in front of the life-sized bronze statue of a naked woman and were not so discreetly taking pictures of each other tweaking her nipples.
‘Pharmacists,’ the woman whispered. ‘There’s a convention right now.’
Adam dropped his stolen ID and credit card on to the counter. ‘We’ll take the suite for two nights.’ He pulled out Charlie’s cash from his jacket pocket, being careful not to flash his gun, and counted out $14,000. ‘Keep the change. Only use the card for incidentals, yeah?’
Her green eyes grew as wide as a turtle’s shell. ‘Of course, Mr Lynch. Let’s get you and your guests checked in right away! Will you be needing help with your luggage?’
‘Yeah. I’m done being a pack mule for the night.’
She waved over a bellboy who sprang into action, taking the few small bags from next to them.
‘Good for you, Mr Lynch.’
Malika flung herself on to one of the four large couches in the living-room area of the suite. ‘This,’ she exclaimed, ‘is the only way to travel. Mortimer! Be a dear and fetch my slippers.’
‘Oh good, you found your bed,’ Bee said. ‘I’ll take the king.’
Malika stuck out her tongue.
Adam tipped the bellboy and shut the door. ‘I gave that kid twenty bucks for pushing three bags in a cart.’
Bee shrugged. ‘At least it’s Charlie’s money.’
He rocked his head from side to side in reluctant agreement.
Malika shot off the couch and raced to the large bag on the floor. She pulled out her laptop and hugged it tight to her chest. ‘Hello, beautiful.’
‘We gotta do this stuff now?’ Adam glanced at his watch. ‘It’s late.’
‘We don’t have to do anything.’ She pulled out more computer-related accessories. ‘But I am gonna get connected before I sleep. Also, here.’ She handed him a box of .45 caliber bullets. ‘I’ve got your nine-millimeter in here somewhere too. And— Ah! Howard!’
Malika kissed a black taser, a loud pop in the hotel room. ‘It’s good to see you again.’
Bee set her bag on a couch and rifled through it for something to wear to bed. Malika had been in charge of getting her some casual clothes in New Jersey, since her go bag was long ago packed for escape and not for sleep.
‘You named your taser?’ Adam flung his duffle bag over his shoulder and followed Bee. ‘Howard?’
‘Howard Sparks.’ Malika dumped her belongings on the stately desk by the window. She opened the curtain to let the Miami skyline light up the dark night. ‘He’s the father of Tony Sparks, our country’s most lovable douche of a taser.’
He threw a confused glance in Bee’s direction. ‘I don’t wanna know.’
‘Malika,’ she said, ‘there’s no underwear in here.’
‘Hmm?’ said Malika. ‘Oh, that’s because I forgot to bring you any.’
Bee tossed her arms up. ‘You forgot underwear but remembered a sweater? It’s ninety degrees outside!’
‘Sometimes it gets chilly in the AC!’ She flopped into a chair. ‘I guess I don’t spend enough time thinking about your ass, I’m so sorry!’
Bee pinched the bridge of her nose. She’d used up all her underthings at the beach house and for whatever stupid reason hadn’t done a load of laundry before hopping on the plane. ‘Oh well. I’ll just be wild and free.’
‘Wild?’ Adam didn’t laugh. But he did come close.
She grabbed her bag and marched for the bathroom. ‘I don’t have to explain myself!’
Showered and mostly clothed, Bee left the bathroom with a comb in her hand.
Adam gathered up a few belongings for his turn in the bathroom.
‘Wait, wait, wait.’ Malika grinned. ‘Wait. I got something for you guys that you’re gonna dig. Or hate. Doesn’t matter to me. But I got them ready to go.’
She opened a small brown case and slid it to the edge of the desk.
‘Contacts,’ Bee said. ‘You got us a pair of contacts?’
‘No. I got you each one contact. Go on – put them on.’
Bee shook her head. ‘No. It’s a trick.’
Malika’s mouth fell open. ‘It is not a trick! It’s a gadget! Come on – try them on, then we can go to sleep.’
Adam plucked one out of the case. ‘Let’s get it over with.’
‘That’s the spirit!’
Bee acquiesced, frowning, and struggled to put the contact in her eye for a solid minute and a half.
She blinked, expecting to be blind in that eye, or at least for her vision to improve. But there was no discernible change.
Malika opened a program on her computer, and two different views of almost the same scene – herself, sitting at the hotel desk – were side by side on her monitor.
‘Ta-da! Those contacts are cameras! I can see what you guys see tomorrow. I can also send you relevant information through them.’ She drummed her palms on her desktop.
Bee braced herself. ‘Oh, here we go.’
Adam flinched so hard he rocked back on his feet. ‘What the hell was that?’
‘That was a screaming succubus!’ Malika cackled. ‘You gave me such an old man face.’
Adam took the contact out of his eye and set it back down in the case. ‘Old man face? I don’t have an old man face.’
Malika mirrored his flinch, eyes wide yet furiously blinking, chin tucked to her neck.
‘If anything that was a surprised face,’ said Adam. ‘I wasn’t expecting it. I’m not a big computer person.’
‘You don’t say.’
Oliver would’ve been delighted by the image and the fallout, proud of his nanny, joining in on making fun of Adam.
Bee waved a hand between them. ‘All right now. You show me what they can do. And no screaming monsters.’
‘You are no fun. But OK.’ Malika typed on her computer, and blueprints appeared in Bee’s vision. ‘See, now, those are the blueprints to the Louvre. Which isn’t relevant to what we’re doing, but still cool, am I right? If I find something you need to see, you can see it instantly.
‘And here.’ She opened another case in her pile of electronics. ‘Virtually invisible inner-ear comms. We can talk to each other no matter where we are, and we can hear what’s happening around the other person too.’
Bee picked one up between two fingers. Made of a see-through, plasticy material, the inner working electronic parts and wires were the skin tone of a pale to light tan person.
‘Nifty.’ She tried it on and motioned for Adam to do the same. ‘Testing, testing.’
He nodded. ‘It’s good.’ And she could hear him in her head and right next to her. ‘Good work.’ He set the comm back in the case and headed for the bathroom. ‘You still get third shower though.’
The door clicked shut. Malika rubbed her nose with the back of her hand and sniffled. ‘I need to ask you, Bee.’
‘Yeah?’
‘How … how much do you want Alvarez to know about you?’
Bee propped a hip against the desk and stared down at the keyboard. ‘I think,’ she said slowly, ‘we should let my reputation do some of the work for me. But don’t make it too easy.’
‘Me? Never.’
When Malika took her turn in the bathroom, Bee pulled out the extra bedding stored in the suite’s closet.
‘You sure you don’t mind the couch?’ The pillow fell on her face, and she pulled it out of the way with her fist. ‘The three of us could always sleep in a W formation on the king bed.’
He took the soft bundle from her, his hands feather-light on her forearms, but the warmth of them stayed behind even after he dumped the bedding on the couch facing the door.
Adam wore sweatpants and nothing else. ‘This’ll do fine,’ he said, and the puckered skin of his back looked silver in the hotel-room light.
She rubbed away the goosebumps on her arms. ‘You know, it, uh, it pulls out into a bed.’
He shoved a pillow on one end then shook out the comforter over the cushions. ‘Easier to roll off the couch than climb out of a bed.’ Adam checked to see if his guns were loaded, one after the other, then set each one down on the nearest end table.
Bee stared at them. His Beretta M9 and her Colt 1911. One matte black and one stainless steel. And then she thought about Adam, rolling half naked off the couch, grabbing the guns and firing away at whatever attempted to break down their door.
‘Well.’ She swallowed. ‘That’s a thought that’s gonna linger.’
He grinned, half his mouth first, and then the other – a happy, slow-blooming smile. ‘Get some sleep, Bee. I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Yeah. Yeah, OK.’ Bee touched her neck and watched him busy himself with his ammo, fingers tracing her suprasternal notch as he made sure everything was in order. ‘Hey, Adam?’
‘Hm?’ He glanced over his shoulder in time to see her heading for him.
She set her hands on the sides of his face and kissed the corner of his mouth, lingering for a heartbeat too long.
Adam didn’t touch her, didn’t respond, but she could hear the hitch in his throat. She pulled away only slightly, ran her thumb along the crescent-moon scar in the center of his bottom lip.
He exhaled and she breathed in.
‘We’re gonna get him back, Bee,’ he whispered. ‘I promise.’
She nodded and tried to believe him. ‘Goodnight, Adam.’
‘Goodnight, Shelby.’