Teddy came out the front door. He couldn’t see Gino’s men, but he knew they were there. He figured they wouldn’t try to take him out in the doorway. The police presence was enough to keep him safe, unless he walked alone to his car.
One of the cops was waiting in the driveway to deal with the late arrivals. Teddy waved him over.
“Can you do me a favor? A production assistant left a car for me to get home with. It’s parked up the road to the right. I got a bum leg, and I’d rather not walk. Could you drive it up here for me?”
Teddy extended the keys and a fifty-dollar bill.
The cop smiled. “To the right, you say?” He took the keys and the bill and set off.
Teddy stepped back inside and waited for the car to drive up. He doubted if Gino’s men would risk a long shot, but he saw no reason to give them a chance.
The cop drove up with the production car. Teddy hopped in, perhaps too athletically for someone with a bad leg, not that it mattered. A producer might well tell a white lie to disguise that he was too lazy to get his own car.
Teddy drove quickly out of the Hollywood hills to a commercial strip alongside the highway. He built up a lead, then turned abruptly into a cheap motel. Instead of parking in front of the units, he pulled into the shadows on the far side of the lot, hopped out, sprinted across the parking lot, and went in the door of unit 10 just as headlights turned in off the road.
That was cutting it close, but even so. With luck they wouldn’t know what unit he was in.
Teddy double-locked the motel room door, went to the closet, and took out the change of clothes he’d left there earlier that afternoon when he’d rented the unit. He slipped off his suit jacket, hung it on a hanger, and changed into the sportier but still dressy attire he’d chosen for Mark Weldon. He took his makeup kit out of a dresser drawer, went into the bathroom, and began the transformation. Minutes later, Mark Weldon’s face stared back at him. Teddy shot him with his finger, a jaunty gesture suitable for the stuntman actor.
Teddy opened the motel room safe and took out his gun and shoulder holster. It would have been inappropriate for Billy Barnett, but for bad boy Mark Weldon it was a signature prop. On the off chance anyone spotted it, they wouldn’t even be sure it was real.
Teddy went to the window and peered out through a crack in the blinds. He could see two men skulking behind his car. That was unfortunate. He could ditch them, but they might have seen him go into the room as Billy Barnett. When they saw him come out as Mark Weldon, it wouldn’t take a genius to put two and two together.
Teddy went in the bathroom and checked the window. It was large, as motel bathroom windows go. He unlocked it, pushed it open, and carefully lifted out the screen. He stepped on the toilet seat and climbed out the window.
Behind the motel was relatively dark. Only two of the bathroom lights were on. Teddy faded back into the shadows and detoured around the building.
He reached the end of the row farthest from the road. Here the motel angled into an L. Teddy worked his way to the end of the units, and peered around the corner.
The two thugs were still crouched in the darkness behind his car. One was of average height, the other was short and stocky. Short and Stocky already had his gun out. He would be nervous and apt to fire at the slightest provocation. Average Height would be less apt to miss.
Teddy took his gun out and screwed on the silencer. He kept in the shadows and tried to work his way around behind them.
A twig snapped.
Short and Stocky reacted as if it were a gunshot. He whirled around, leveled his gun.
Teddy shot him in the head. He went down in a heap.
Average Height went for his gun. Too late, way too late. Teddy put two in his chest as he turned, one in his head before he could shoot.
Teddy searched their pockets. Average Height had a set of car keys. He zapped them. Lights flashed on a car parked on the same side of the lot just two spaces away.
Teddy grabbed Short and Stocky under the shoulders, dragged him to the car, popped the trunk, and dropped him in. Then he went back for his partner.
Max was crouched between the cars parked in front of units 7 and 8. It was a perfect vantage place. If Billy Barnett came out of the motel, Max would be able to sneak up behind him. Billy Barnett might be smart, but he would never know what hit him.
It was a shock to realize Billy Barnett hadn’t done that.
Max was focused on the motel when he heard the unmistakable pop of silenced gunshots somewhere behind him. He turned just in time to see his cronies going down.
Lights on their car flashed. Billy Barnett had their keys. Shadows moved in the dark, then a light flared as he popped the trunk. Max saw a clump of figures as Billy rolled a body inside.
It was time to make his move. Billy Barnett clearly didn’t know he was there. He would be dealing with the second body, and wouldn’t be alert for an attack, particularly from the direction of the motel.
Max slipped from between the cars and crossed the lot. There was one car parked between Billy Barnett’s and the one with the open trunk. Max crept to it, flattened his back against it, and waited. He felt good. Another minute and the job would be over. He’d lost his partners, but that wasn’t his problem. Gino would be pleased.
Max raised his gun.
Billy Barnett did not appear. It took a moment for it to register on Max that the footsteps had stopped. His eyes widened with the realization just before the bullet tore into the back of his head.