Page 81 of Fatal Betrayal

"Get someone to call us a taxi."

"We both have phones," he said, but realized quickly that she didn't want to use their phones.

"We need to turn them off." She took out her phone and powered down.

He did the same.

Andi then walked up to a female bartender at the end of the bar. They spoke for a few moments. Andi put the twenty on the bar, and then the woman grabbed a phone from under the counter and made a call. She said something to Andi and handed her back the twenty. Andi smiled and walked back to him, then motioned for him to follow her out the door.

"Taxi is on its way," she said.

"She didn't take your money."

"I told her I lost my phone and my bag, and she felt sorry for me."

A taxi pulled up a moment later, and they got inside. Andi directed the man to a Hyatt hotel by the Santa Monica Pier.

He started to ask her why they were going there, but she gave him a look that suggested they not talk. He sat back and hoped she had a plan, and that it would be better than the ones she'd come up with when she was fourteen.

* * *

When they got out of the taxi in front of the Hyatt, it was almost midnight. Andi waited until the cab pulled away and then headed away from the front door of the hotel.

"We're not going inside?" he asked.

"Nope. We're going to the motel down the street, the one we can afford to pay cash for. We can't use a credit card, and there's nothing open right now so I can't get a burner phone."

"What if I call my sister and ask her to book us a room?"

"We can't take the chance that her card and phone wouldn't be traced. Right now, we can't trust anyone, Cooper."

"Do you think someone in the FBI sold you out?" he asked.

Her mouth drew into a tight line. "Yes. And I might have an idea who, but right now I just want to get us somewhere safe."

Several minutes later they walked into the lobby of the Lucky Motel, which was a dumpy, run-down building that advertised rooms for $39 a night. They got one room, for which he paid cash, and Andi signed the register with the name Whitney Hayes. He almost laughed at the sight of her childhood alias. For some reason, she'd thought the name Whitney was the perfect alias. Apparently, some things never changed.

The bored clerk barely looked at them as he gave them a key and they walked up the stairs to a second-floor room with a view of the parking lot. The door had a deadbolt, which was probably the best thing about it. There was a king-sized bed, a dresser, a very old television, and a small bathroom. It was nowhere he would have ever wanted to stay, but it felt like the safest place they could be.

Andi closed the blinds and sat down on the end of the bed.

"Are we done running for the night?" he asked.

"I think we'll be okay here. No one could have followed us."

"I agree, Whitney."

A smile lifted the corners of her mouth. "It's still my go-to name."

"Maybe you should have used another one if you think someone from the FBI is after you."

"No one on my current team would know that's the name I use. I just started two days ago. I can't believe it's only been two days."

"Two very long days," he murmured. "You did good getting us here. How did you know about the closet, the trap door, and the tunnel?"

"Flynn told me when you were in the kitchen with Caitlyn. Thank God, he did," she said.

"Do you think they know what happened by now?"

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