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“I spoke with the manager over at the Colburn, and you were right. There was a group of Russians who reserved five rooms and one suite a few days ago. When I described Vladimir to him he told me he saw him walking into the hotel a couple of hours ago and hasn’t left yet.”

“So he’s there, now?” This was perfect.

“I sent a few of my guys to hang out in the lobby. Alex, we can’t pull him out of the hotel, not with all the paparazzi there like you told me there was and the manager confirmed.”

“We don’t have to take him anywhere. We just need to be able to get inside and into his room.” I didn’t care where I killed that asshole just as long as he died.

“And what, leave his mutilated and dead body there in the hotel?” Before I could respond, Penn continued, “And don’t act like you’re not going to make every last second of that man’s life a living hell.”

Gideon ran his fingers through his hair. “How the hell do we get a person out of a hotel undetected…and that hotel, of all places? It’s starting to make sense why he chose it.”

“Laundry cart.”

All three of us turned as an unfamiliar voice spoke. Sitting in one of the seats in the waiting room was a kid that couldn’t have been older than fifteen. He was in torn jeans, a baggy T-shirt, beaten-up Converse, a backward cap, and his nose was glued to his Switch.

“Excuse me?” Gideon appeared slightly amused.

“We really need to be more observant of our surroundings,” Penn muttered.

The kid glanced up, did a quick perusal of us, and I’d never felt more judged than I had at that moment.

“You’re talking about sneaking someone out of a hotel. Laundry cart. While a lot of hotels do in-house laundry, many send out so they don’t get overloaded. My mom works in a hotel. I used to drive her crazy anytime I hid in the laundry carts.”

“Not bad.” I narrowed my eyes at the boy. “How much of our conversation did you overhear?”

He shrugged. “Hear what?”

Penn chuckled. “I think we’re good.”

“What’s your name?” Gideon asked the kid.

He kept his head down but lifted his eyes. “Peter.”

“Peter, do you know who I am?”

“I might.”

“You might?” Gideon scoffed. “Either you do or don’t.”

“Well, I mean which one keeps me alive?”

Penn cackled. “Kid’s smart.”

“I’ll take that to mean you know who I am.” Gideon did something I’d seen him do only a couple of times. He pulled a matte black card with a phone number written in gold from his pocket. “Thank you for your help and your confidence. Call this number if you’re ever in need of anything.”

Peter took it and nodded. Rita returned a few minutes later with a smile.

“He’s got a long road ahead of him, but he’s gonna be fine. I know it.”

“I’m going to go tell him I have to do something and will be back soon. Vladimir won’t be there much longer. We need to act now.” There was no way I was missing this.

“We’ll need a sedative,” Penn said. “Something to knock him out and get him in the laundry cart.”

Rita shook her head. “And on that note, I’m headed out.” She kissed each of us on the cheek. “Be careful.”

“I can get my hands on something. Let me call Raff to come sit with Danny while we’re gone.” Gideon pulled out his phone, and I left him to it and returned to Danny.

I entered his room and immediately noticed his eyes. They were so swollen, I didn’t know he was awake until he spoke.