Godsend 8: The Value of a Woman (Godsend Short stories Series) (4 page)

Dan said, “He--he checked in a room, if you’re talking about the black guy in the Ford Explorer.”

Echo said, “The Explorer is on the other end of the lot. How would you know what’s he driving?”  Then, Echo jammed the silencer past the man’s lips and through his front teeth.

Dan moaned as his mouth got bloodier.

Echo pulled the gun out of his mouth and said, “Private Investigator, black boy, Keith Ergan. Where is he?”

Dan turned his head and spat blood and teeth. “I’ll have to check the computer to see what room he has.”

Echo looked back at the computer and the video monitors. He saw a white man casually walking a hallway, apparently in no hurry. A label on the monitor revealed that the coat-wearing man was on the third floor. Echo also saw a red button closer to the floor but still affixed to the side of the counter.

Dan was clearly suffering, and he was tempted to yell out for help.

Echo stood over him now. “Checked in a room, huh?  This happens to be the wrong fuckin time to play with me.”  He shot Dan twice in the face.

KIANDRA USE the desk phone in the lobby to call Room 308.

Etceterra said, “It’s after two in the morning. This better be good.”  He knew it was either Kiandra or Echo, and he’d been expecting their arrival and call.

Kiandra said, “I’m at the front desk down in the lobby. I’m looking at a hallway monitor that covers all the doors from Room 300 to 324 on both sides of the hallway.”

“Yeah, I’m ready. Do I come out with the girl?”

“No. Not yet. There’s a man in a black coat roaming your floor. I’ve watched him pace the length of the hallway twice now. He definitely works for Echelon. Can you get him inside and make him tell you where Private Investigator Keith Ergan is?”

“Sounds easy to me. Where’s your partner?”

“Checking behind every door that doesn’t have a room number.”

Etceterra said, “I’ll ring you at the front desk with some answers.”

Etceterra looked at Veranda. She was sleeping peacefully on top of the bed covers, and the phone hadn’t even disturbed her. Pete was still inside the bathroom and had not made a sound in more than an hour. Etceterra didn’t even want to look in on him.

He walked through the front room area of the suite and looked through the peephole. It took only forty seconds to see the white man in the black coat. He waited until the man was walking by Room 308 then opened the door.

Etceterra fired two silenced shots, hitting the man in the waist and rib. When the man fell against the wall and went for a gun inside his coat, Etceterra was out of the room and already up on him. “Make another move and you won’t feel the next shot.”  He took a handgun and a compact submachine gun off the man.

After ordering the man inside Room 308, Etceterra stepped in behind him and closed the door. “Turn around.”

The man was holding his left side. “This floor is under constant surveillance. Do yourself a favor and leave while you can.”

“You got your own problems. My people are taking over this hotel, and the Echelon Escort Service is about to be put out of business. If you don’t like pain, you’ll give me some straight answers. Let’s start with your name.”

“Hank. What does that matter?”

Etceterra hit him with another silenced shot, this time in the lower left leg.

Hank hollered out and hopped sideways on his right leg until he reached the wall. The holler probably woke the girl and whoever was in Room 307.

“That’s just a reminder:  I’m asking the questions.”  Etceterra took two steps closer to him. “You and some other fuckwad searched a black guy’s truck around 10:30. What happened to the black guy?”

“Another floor guard named Eddie has him tied up. Mr. Madison arrived maybe fifteen minutes ago, and he’s questioning the black guy down in the main supply room.”

“Where is that located?”

“First floor, back of the hotel. Can’t miss the label on the door.”

Etceterra said, “That was too easy. That leg of yours must be hurting like hell.”

“Yeah, and my side. I think you tore something loose.”  Hank dropped to one knee. “Can I leave now?”

“Yep. You’re out of here.”  Etceterra sent two more shots to the man’s chest.

ECHO HAD ALREADY quietly checked behind two doors, and now he was standing outside of the main supply room on the first floor--his ear to the door.

Inside the supply room, Ryan Madison was sitting on an upside-down, five-gallon bucket. The 44-year-old white man looked as if he was in his early thirties and was sharply dressed, but right now his sports coat was draped across several boxes.

Brian was a few feet in front of Ryan, still on the cement floor, wrists and ankles still bound behind his back with jump rope.

Eddie, the floor guard, was farther away, leaning against some wall racks that supported various toiletries. He was waiting for the next order from his boss.

Brian said, “Really, Milana Rockerson only worked as a call girl for your business because she was spying for the Godsend Escort Service. They just needed to know everything about how the Echelon operated. They believed you killed her, and they are paying me to get evidence of that.”

Ryan said, “I don’t get it. Milana was killed because she tried to form...let’s just say a union...uh, with ten other call girls of mine. She thought they deserved more than twenty percent. That doesn’t sound like spy work to me.”

Brian said, “Listen real carefully. Milana’s objective was to get those ten call girls to work for Godsend, and the best way to do that was to get them to understand that they were not being compensated enough for their talents.”

“And they sent you to find her killer?”

“They know I’m not an actual private eye, but they know I have connections and won’t hesitate to cut corners, unlike a real private eye.”

Ryan said, “Okay, let’s say you made it back and revealed that the woman was killed by me and an associate of mine. What did Godsend intend to do with the information?”

“Is that a scenario, or was she killed by you and an associate?”

Ryan laughed, and when he looked back Eddie began laughing, too. Ryan finally said, “I’ll admit that she was killed by me and my bottom bitch, but you’re probing as if you’ll be able to do something with that information.”  He laughed again.

Brian was in pain because of his sore ribs, black eye, bruised face, and knotted-up head. The hog-tie position, however, made things worse. Where the fuck was his crew?  He’d presumed Etceterra was smart enough to come up with the only sensible theory about his disappearance. “I got an idea.”

Ryan said, “This should be good.”

“If you let me make a call, I could get Mr. Louis Raymond here in a matter of hours, and then you could let me get the hell out of here. Otherwise, you need to kill me and get it over with, because this position is worse than the beating your boys put on me.”

Ryan said, “Interesting. And you say this Raymond runs the rival escort service?”

“Yep. Mean muthafucka. If you kill me that doesn’t mean he’ll stop trying to get something on you. Plus, it’s just a matter of time before he decides it’s best to put you on display in a funeral home.”

Ryan smiled. “I like that. That’s original.”  He looked back at Eddie and said, “Where’s his phone?  I want him to call this Raymond guy.”

Eddie said, “Dan has all of his personal belonging at the front desk. Cell phone, two guns, wallet, keys--it’s in a desk drawer.”

Ryan said, “Why are you still standing there?  Get the goddamn phone.”

“Yes, sir.”  Eddie headed for the door.

WHEN THE SUPPLY room door opened, Echo put a silenced bullet in the front of Eddie’s left thigh. A powerful kick to the midsection sent the guard tumbling backwards as Echo and Etceterra rushed inside. Eddie fell on his ass and Etceterra aimed a gun at his face.

Ryan had not moved off the five-gallon bucket. The shit had happened so fast and unexpectedly, the fear made him forget to react. But what could he have done?  Ryan didn’t even have a gun on him, hadn’t really needed one.

Echo rushed over to Ryan and pushed the silenced tip of the handgun against his temple, gritting his teeth, even pushing the man’s head to one side.

Brian looked up at his cousin and said, “Echo, don’t shoot him!  I got questions for him.”

Echo’s mouth twisted up and his nose flared.

Brian noticed the Ace bandage on his cousin’s right hand and thought he’d be more careless with the gun in his left hand. “Just search him and untie me before you fuck up the extra six hundred grand.”

Echo said to Ryan, “As soon as you answer my man’s questions, I’mma get you. I wish--the fuck--I would let six hundred grand stop me from fuckin’ you over. Stand up, boy, and turn your ass around.”

Etceterra had disarmed Eddie and was standing over him, ready to shoot.

When Echo did not find a weapon on Ryan after a thorough pat-search, he stomped him in the ass, sending him stumbling and crashing into the boxes that contained new flat-panel televisions. Echo finally got a good look at Brian. He shook his head then hurried over to untie the jump rope.

Brian said, “Where is Kiandra?”

“Watching the front desk and the little girl in the lobby.”

“Little girl?”

“Yeah. I’ll explain it later. Listen, Brian, you know I ain’t leaving this room without hitching my foot up to somebody’s ass. And I guarantee you this gun’s going off five or six more times. Man, them clowns fucked you up real nice.”  He finally untied the third knot and freed Brian.

“Tell you what....” Brian did not get up. Instead, he flopped his limbs to the floor and kept them all extended. His right cheek was flush with the floor. “See the guy over there with Etcet?  Him and the other guard jumped me and had fun fucking me up. He even smashed my face to the floor with his boot. I wanna fuck him up myself, but I’m too weak and sore right now.”

Echo slung the jump rope to Etceterra and said, “Tie that muthafucka up just like he had Brian.”  Then, he looked at Ryan and said, “Get your stupid ass off the boxes, turn around, and put your hands behind your back.”

Less than a minute later, Ryan found himself in plasticuffs at the wrists.

Echo grabbed both wrists and, in a flash, yanked upward as if trying to wind Ryan’s arms back to the front. When the man yelled out, Echo shoved him back onto the boxes again.

Ryan’s shoulders were now dislocated, so both arms were devoid of strength. He couldn’t even turn himself over.

Echo approached him again and pulled him to his feet while gripping the man’s wrists. Ryan hollered out again until Echo said, “If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’ll put your arms all the way over your head and make you grab your nuts. Now, turn around and pay close attention.”

Echo walked over to Eddie. The guard was on the floor, on his belly, his arms and legs tied behind his back with the jump rope. Echo told Etceterra, “Back up. Give me some room.”

Brian smiled. He appreciated Etceterra’s help, but he was awfully damn glad to see his crazy-ass cousin.

Echo slipped the gun in his rear waistband then grabbed the knotted jump rope. He started dragging Eddie around in a tight circle. At first, dragging the 210-pound man required a lot of strength, but things got easier when Echo picked up speed and lifted him off the cement floor.

Echo was ox-strong. He had the man airborne, slinging him around in a wide circle. A couple of times Eddie’s chest and chin scraped the floor.

Ryan looked on knowing he, himself, would face more pain before death; which was not far away.

Echo was tired and dizzy now. He staggered as he twirled but had the presence of mind to let Eddie fly loose when he was closer to the metal wall shelves. The crash split Eddie’s head and broke his neck.

THE DESK ATTENDANT’S body was in a small closet behind the counter, and Kiandra was now posing as a desk attendant. The blood-stained carpet behind her had been masked with two large welcome mats.

Veranda was asleep in a cushioned armchair in the lobby, using Echo and Kiandra’s three-quarter-length leather coats for covering.

It was nearly three in the morning, and Kiandra had yet to encounter a hotel guest or room-seeker.

The elevator doors opened, and Etceterra stepped off, carrying three computer hard drives. He walked up to the desk and said to Kiandra, “The hotel’s security system only records everything that goes on here in the lobby and in the hallway of the third floor.”  He set the equipment on the floor.

She said, “Is Brian still in the supply room watching Ryan?”

“Yeah. We should be ready. What’s taking Echo so long?”

“I don’t know. He got the master key card and a printout of all the occupants on the third floor.”

“He knew how to find that type of info on that computer?”

She said, “Not at first, but he went and found out how to do it. Ryan told him how.”

Etceterra said, “After what Ryan saw about thirty minutes ago, he wouldn’t dare deny any assistance to Echo.”