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“Stay in the car with your foot on the brake,” he ordered Alex. “I’m going to take a look.”
He pulled a small pouch out of his pocket. Opened the flap and ran his finger over the pieces that looked a little like dental tools. When he noticed Alex studying them, looking perplexed, he said, “Lock picks. Maybe one of them will work on the lock hanging from that chain on the door.”
He reached into the backseat and fished around in a bag until he found a pair of wool gloves. A hat. Boots. Pulling them on, he opened the door, lowered his head and stepped into the biting cold and blowing snow.
Hunching over to fight the wind, he trudged through deep drifts and up the ramp to the barn door. Examined the lock, which was a heavy-duty Master lock. But he’d practiced lock-picking with some of the highest security locks. He was pretty sure he could get this one open.
Fifteen minutes later, his hands numb even in the gloves, Gideon felt the lock pop open. He slid it off the chain, then pulled the chain from the door handles. Eased the doors open just wide enough that Alex could drive her car inside. The barn would hide it from the road once the snow stopped falling.
Looking around, he saw a light switch on the wall. He flicked it on and the interior of the barn lit up. An old tractor sat off to one side. A few attachments lined up in rows behind it. Maybe the motel owners were also farmers.
There was plenty of room for Alex’s car, and although her wheels spun as she drove up the ramp, she made it past the door. He waved her over to a spot on the other side of the tractor. The dirt floor was frozen solid, and she bumped slowly over it.
Once she’d cleared ten feet between her car and the doors, he motioned for her to stop the car. She turned it off and climbed out.
In the dim light, he watched her study the barn. Catalog everything. Her gaze touched on the hayloft. The ceiling rafters above it. The tractor and its attachments. Finally she looked at him. “We staying in here?”
“As a last resort. And not if I can help it. I’m going to see if my picks will open a room. Why don’t you stay here for now? No sense both of us standing in the snow.” He glanced at her mesh-toed running shoes. “Might want to put your boots on, too.”
She narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth. She wanted to object, but he waited her out. She’d realize soon enough there was no point in her standing in the snow while he worked on a lock. Finally she nodded once. “See what you can do.”
Cold, icy pellets of snow lashed his face as soon as he hit the ramp. Half walking, half sliding, he fought his way through the snow to walk down the row of rooms, thankful for the overhang that protected him from the worst of the snow.
The place had about fifteen rooms. Some of the door locks looked new -- shiny. Unscratched. Probably more secure locks. He finally found an older one, the shine worn away by countless hands. He pulled out his picks and went to work.
It took only a couple minutes to pick the lock. He opened the door and stepped into the dim room.
Flicked a switch, and the lights came on.
There were two beds, both covered with dark tan, floral bedspreads made of the stiff material found in cheap motels. A television stood on a long table, and a sink with a Formica counter was set into the wall at the far end of the room. He assumed the bathroom was next to the sink.
Crouching in front of the heating unit, he tried turning it on. It groaned and sputtered, but eventually kicked on. He set the heat to high, then rocked back on his heels to see if the heater worked.
It took a while, but eventually warm air trickled out of the heater. Satisfied, he stood. Made sure the door was unlocked, pulled it closed, then went to fetch their bags and Alex.
* * *
After Gideon disappeared into the falling snow, Alex wandered around the barn, surprised at how neat and tidy it was. No dirt clung to the tractor tires or to what she assumed were attachments meant to be hooked up to the tractor. Were the owners enjoying the warmth of Arizona right now? Hiking in a park? Eating lunch in their kitchen?
She shivered as she looked around the dark, desolate space. She’d go south for the winter, too, if she lived here.
Whoever they were and wherever the owners had gone, she was grateful for their motel. If Gideon could get two rooms opened, they’d have a place to stay tonight. Hide from the hitman who might be following her.
She returned to her car and began searching the wheel wells for Gideon’s tracking device. She wasn’t ready to trust Gideon, but she could accept the possibility that he might not be the hitman Jerry had hired. Gideon’s scenario of breaking her neck and leaving her in the snow-filled ditch had been terrifying. And as he’d described what a hitman would do, she could picture how easy it would have been. If Gideon was Jerry’s guy, she should already be dead. Unless Gideon had a reason for keeping her alive.
Maybe he wanted to barter with Jerry. Get more money before Gideon killed her.
A shiver trailed down her spine, and she moved to the next wheel well when her fingers found nothing in the first one. When Gideon had described his scenario, the hairs on her body had risen. Her heart had pounded in her chest. An iron strap banded her lungs, making it difficult to breath. Yeah, the picture Gideon had laid out would have been as simple as it was horrifying. Which was why she shouldn’t have stopped to help Gideon.
But his death would have been on her conscience for the rest of her life. And she’d taken enough self-defense classes to know she had an outside chance at fending him off. In the snow and the ice, if she’d succeeded in pushing him into the ditch, she would have had a better than even chance of getting away from him.
Or so she’d told herself.
Her fingers already tingling with the cold, she reached into the bag for her gloves before searching the third wheel well. As she backed out of the car, pulling them over her hands, a shadow loomed over her.
She whirled around with a gasp, slumping against the car when she saw Gideon five feet behind her. “Any luck?”
“I got into a room. It has electricity and heat. The water is dripping very slowly in the sink, so I’m assuming the owners didn’t turn the water off to keep the pipes from freezing. So we should be set until this storm blows over and the roads are cleared. We’ll need to make a couple trips to carry our bags and all the stuff we bought at the truck stop. Let’s get started. I want to close this door as soon as we can.”
