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“We need to be some place nondescript.”
“This is unsanitary. This is inhumane.”
Fox waved off my comment. “It’ll be fine.”
Before I could protest any further, Fox opened the door of the car we’d acquired, grabbed his bag, and started toward the office.
When I jumped out to follow him, he pointed to the car. “Stay there. I need to check the place out. Keep your gun ready.”
“I would never sit in a parking lot like this without a gun in my hand.”
Fox snorted and continued on his way.
A few minutes later, he returned to the car. “We’re all paid up through tomorrow.”
“You went ahead and gave them money without seeing the room?”
“That’s not how this place works. You don’t get a tour of the room before you pay. They want cash up front. Cash. You know, the kind of currency that’s not connected to our names, and that no one can trace. We’re trying to stay off the radar.”
“I do know how that works.” Very reluctantly, I followed Fox across the parking lot to a building that looked—if possible—even more rundown than the one connected to the office. I pushed at the door he was about to key into with an actual key and frowned. “I could kick this down without even putting out any effort. There is no security here.”
Fox growled. “I already told you, I’m the security.”
When he opened the door to the room, I wrinkled my nose at the foul smell. “There’s no way in hell I’m staying here.”
When he flipped the light on, things only got worse. There were two full-size beds, both with stained bedspreads on them that looked about a hundred years old. No chairs or other furniture were in the room except a nightstand that had been duct taped together. There was no curtain on the shower and there was a hole in the bathroom door.
“Jesus. How could you even consider this?”
“It’s safe.”
“No,” I said, looking around the place again. “It’s not. I can only imagine the number of diseases we could catch from this room.”
“You agreed we need to be somewhere no one would expect us to be.”
“There are options between a hotel where I would be expected to stay and this. I’m not sure it’s even safe to sit down on these beds.”
Fox shrugged. “I’ve seen worse.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You really are prissy, aren’t you?”
“I think expecting basic sanitation and a bed with clean sheets is far from prissy.”
“You’re welcome to sleep in the car.”
I huffed. “I suppose I’ll have to if this is my only other choice.”
Fox groaned. “I was kidding. I didn’t think you’d actually agree. If you sleep in the car, then I have to sleep in the car.”
“We’re going somewhere else.” I started typing on my phone.
“No!”
The vehemence of his outburst surprised me, and I almost dropped my phone.
“You can’t have your people find us a place to stay. We have no idea where information is being leaked.”
I bit my lip to keep from assuring him there weren’t any moles in my company. I was always suspicious, and I would have been now if I didn’t know he was actually the one in need of protection. I’d promised Xavier I’d keep up the ruse. The chance that it would last until he deemed Fox safe was unlikely, but I wasn’t going to give it away that easily. I’d wait for Fox to figure it out. He was annoying as hell, but he wasn’t stupid, far from it.
“Then I’ll call a hotel myself.”
“And put a reservation in your name? No. We need a place like this where we can pay cash and leave no record.”
“Do you honestly think a man like me doesn’t have other identities he can fall back on?” I asked.
“Are you certain your enemies don’t know those names too?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m not.”
“Then you call, but I’m not staying here.”
He shook his head. “The only other place I found that will work doesn’t look much better than this. We’re staying put.”
“There are plenty of hotels in the area. You’re a little rough around the edges, but surely one of the main national chains would give you a room.”
Fox glared at me. “That is not the issue. We need to be somewhere no one would look for us.”
“They wouldn’t look for us in a sewer drain, but we’d be as comfortable there as we are here.”
Fox drew in a breath and wrinkled his nose. “Maybe you’re right.”
He toyed with his phone for a few moments then made a call. I heard a female voice through the phone. Fox began to pace as he spoke, “I’d like a room for tonight…Just the one night, yes…That’s all you have available…No, I’ll take it.”
I supposed we were going to be in the lower tier of rooms. I looked around again. Anything was better than this.
He gave a false name. I supposed I should have expected him to also have a fake identity or two set up. “I’ll be paying in cash…I’d rather not give out my number over the phone…There’s no way you’ll hold it for me otherwise?” He glared at me as he said this last line. I ignored him, turning to study the graffiti on the wall behind the bed, which let me know SusieXX was available at an hourly rate and Ben and Bryerly were together4eva.
