Page 43 of Anders and the Girl Worth Fighting For
The motel, hotel, portal to hell stood in front of me. One whole outbuilding listed to the side, missing pieces and looking thoroughly done with existence. I wondered briefly if the owners were part of some mafia using this as a front for money laundering. I stepped inside the lobby and the stench of mold and cigarette smoke hit my nose like a battering ram. The whole place reeked like they pumped the smell through the vents.
The front office wasn’t so much an office as it was a window with a cutout to slide cash through. It was empty. Good. I didn’t need the office or the attention. Tink gave me the room number already. The idiot thugs had ordered food to be delivered, and that had given us the in we needed.
I headed up to the second floor, which was a bit of luck for me. This hellhole didn’t exactly have windows that could open, especially not on the second floor. Surprisingly, it had modern key card locks on the doors. It would be a pain to have to break into the office for some master key. I pulled out my phone as I rounded the corner and loaded the app Tink had developed for this sort of occasion. Bless that insane man.
The room was the last down the hall, which would make it harder for the guys to run. Fools. There wasn’t even an elevator in this god-forsaken place.
I held the phone up to the lock. Per Tink, all I had to do was push the big blue button, and wait for the light to go from red to green, and I was in.
I waited.
And waited.
No luck. My guess was that the lock was malfunctioning. I refused to believe Tink’s app didn’t work. He was a genius and got us into much more secure places than this.
Old-fashioned kick down the door it was.
I clocked the security cameras on my way through the building. They were fake. Before I’d even gotten here, I’d made sure my plates were covered. My car is a dime a dozen and doesn’t stand out. I had a plain black hat and a plain black coat on. Generic boats. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I knew to cover my tracks. The only thing left was the fun part.
I pulled my leg back, aimed for just below the lock, and slammed into it with as much force as I could muster. I only wanted to do this once so I could catch the fuckers off guard. The door gave way with a crack and swung inward. I rushed into the room, gun first, sticking to the wall and blocking the exit as best I could with my body, just in case one of them got brave and ran.
I cleared the bathroom, checked the closet, and then moved into the main room.
There was nothing.
No bags.
No guys.
No goddamn towels on the floor.
No wrappers in the trash.
Nothing.
Before I panicked, I messaged Tink to verify the room, but the sinking feeling in my gut and tingling on my spine told me I already knew
This was a setup.
I pulled my home security feed up on my phone and checked on Grace as I ran from the room. The service in this part of town was lacking and a loading screen froze on the app.
I growled.
I ran faster.
NO.
No fucking way did they get to her. I pushed myself faster than I had in a long, long time. The scar on my thigh protested like never before. I hadn’t pushed myself this much since I lost that chunk of myself in the blast. It didn’t matter. The pain was an afterthought, easily ignored and pushed to the back of my mind.
Only Grace mattered.
The phone rang as I got to the parking lot.
“Tink,” I ground out. “Tell me this wasn’t a setup.”
“I should have seen this coming.” His voice was edged with stress. “It was too easy. Fuck. Never mind now. I got into your security feeds. Ares, she’s not there.”
I slammed into the car in my rush. I thanked whatever God there was for push start so I didn’t have to fumble with keys. The engine didn’t roar to life. That would have fit my mood and given me some satisfaction. As it was, I had to suffer my rage and panic alone.
