Page 38 of After The Storm

That’s not how he intended this case to end. They needed to find out more about what her boss was looking into.

So tonight they’d leave the hotel they’d been in for the past four days and begin following the money. He didn’t want to stay at the Allton much longer since it would only be a matter of time before the cops sniffed out their location. He’d let her sleep a little more while he got them some breakfast, and then they’d plan out their next moves.

Roman walked out of the bathroom and glanced over at where Kate lay still sound asleep. Curled up next to the laptop, she looked content there, like she’d fallen asleep many a night exhausted from work. He had to admire her for that. Her dedication to her boss definitely impressed him.

Shaking his head, he tried to rid himself of those feelings for her. He couldn’t afford to fall for her. No. He needed to keep focused on this case and that was it.

By the time he reached the lobby, he’d almost convinced himself he could push away those feelings he’d begun to have for her. True, he’d never had to do it before, but he knew how to handle his emotions. He’d been through a war, for Christ’s sake. If he could handle months on end in a dangerous foreign land under enemy attack, he certainly could control how he felt about one woman.

The server in the restaurant took his order for scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and coffee for two and scurried back to the kitchen to get the cook started. No one else sat in the dining room, so Roman figured it wouldn’t take long to get the food and sat down at a table near the door.

For the first time since their run to Jonas Flynn’s office, he felt like he could relax. They knew a lot more about the case and once they got some food into their stomachs, they could make a plan. As long as they kept out of sight and avoided the cops, they’d be fine.

He had an idea exactly how to do that too. Time to ring up a buddy of his from years ago.

The server returned as he sat lost in thoughts about Butcher Richards, his friend from their days in Afghanistan, and said in a very thick southern accent, “Let me turn the TV on for you, hon. That way you’re not sitting there forced to stare at the four walls.”

Roman looked up at her and smiled as she tried to reach above her head to turn it on while she explained that someone had stolen the remote control. She stood only about five feet tall and had to be almost that wide, so she wasn’t able to reach far enough without standing on a box. Even worse, every time she tried to, her uniform rode up so high on her thighs that he nearly got a show.

She grunted and groaned as she stretched to no avail, so he walked over behind the servers’ station where she stood and tapped her on the shoulder. “Let me. I’ve got a few inches on you.”

Looking up at him, she smiled with a twinkle in her eye. “Oh, you definitely do, hon. I’d guess more than just a few inches too.”

He chuckled at her not-so-subtle attempt at a double entendre and flipped the old TV on. “Any particular show you want, ma’am?” he asked.

“Oh, whatever you like, hon,” she said as her gaze wandered up and down his body, stopping for a moment longer on his crotch than anywhere else.

Choosing not to change the channel, he smiled and scooted by her as she stood watching him walk back to the table. He didn’t care what showed up on the TV. He just wanted to get his food and go back to the room.

Not even a minute later, he looked up and saw Kate’s picture as big as life on the screen. Underneath it were the wordsSUSPECT IN DOUBLE MURDERin big bold letters. Jumping up from the table, he saw the server come out of the kitchen with a tray of food in her hands for him. He quickly handed her a twenty and took the tray from her.

“Thanks, hon. You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost,” she said as she stuffed the money into the cash register.

He left without answering her question and rushed back through the lobby toward the elevator. He saw the desk clerk he knew again, but this time, the man stared at him strangely before directing his gaze to the TV in the lobby waiting area. Looking back, Roman saw he was watching the same news program that had been on the TV in the restaurant.

Forcing a smile, he hurried toward the elevator, but he knew the clerk had put two and two together and recognized Kate’s face. Roman balanced the tray in one hand as he repeatedly pressed the up button, his heart pounding as he knew every second he stood there and Kate slept upstairs, the chance that the cops would find them multiplied.

A minute later, he reached the second floor and tore down the hallway to the room to wake her up. The clerk had likely already called the police, so they had only minutes to get the hell out of there.

Dropping the tray on the table just inside the door, he leaned over the bed and shook Kate’s shoulders. “Hey, wake up! We have trouble. We need to get out of here right now!”

Confused, she sat up and looked toward the window at the darkness outside. “Why? What time is it?”

“Forget the time,” he said as he grabbed her bag and tossed it on the bed. “You’re a person of interest in those two murders now, so your face is all over the TV downstairs. I think the front desk clerk knows it’s you. We need to get out of here.”

She jumped out of bed, slammed the laptop shut, and quickly slipped her shoes on. “Did he say something to you?” she asked as she ran into the bathroom.

“No, but I got the feeling by the way he looked at me that he made the connection that the person he saw me with the other day was the one he was looking at on the TV, so we need to get going now.”

“Where are we going?” she asked as she hurried out of the bathroom and gulped down a mouthful of coffee.

He grabbed his backpack and took out his phone from his pocket to make a call. “I’m working on that right now.”

Rushing down the hall, he guided her away from the elevator when she began to walk toward it and instead they headed for the stairwell as he waited for his friend to answer.

“Who are you calling?” Kate asked while she ran down the stairs to the parking garage.

“A friend we can trust,” Roman said as someone answered the call.

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