AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As she listened, Tank managed to convince the security team that he was the new trainee. She could hear him joking with the other on-duty security personnel about not fitting in the uniform they’d given him.
“Come on, Tank. Any USB port will do.”
A few moments later, he must have done what he was supposed to, because Joey came back on the line. “We’re in. Nice work, Tank.”
“So do we need to make rounds or anything?” Tank asked casually. They couldn’t hear the response, but Tank helpfully added some other commentary. “For now, just the cameras, then?”
“Speaking of cameras… They’re mine,” Joey said. “Will, video is coming your way on SatLink.”
“Got it.” Will pressed a few buttons on one of the laptops and the screen blinked to life with security camera footage. “Show me Ryder and Pierce.”
She’d been listening to Ryder and Pierce order lunch and needle the rest of the team about how delicious the food was and how comfortable the seats were.
“Got ‘em,” Will confirmed when Joey changed the view.
“Any sign of Yuri?”
“Nothing.”
“Where are you, Jackson?”
“Just a second. I’m observing.”
Hannah didn’t know exactly what that meant, but no one else questioned it.
She felt rather useless, simply listening to everyone else. Even Will, there with her in the van, was a major part of the operation, directing everyone’s movements like the conductor of a complicated orchestra.
He had the floor plan of the hotel out on one of the tables with each person on sticky notes he moved around as people changed locations.
A few moments later, she could hear Jackson’s exchange with the front desk clerk over the earpiece. He flirted with the clerk as he claimed he forgot his key and wallet. Joey fed him the rest of the answers he needed to get them to make a new one, but the clerk didn’t seem to fight him very hard.
“Oh hey. I’m just all out of sorts this morning. Can you remind me what room number I’m in again?” He paused and repeated what the clerk had said. “1424. That’s right, thank you, sweetheart.”
Hannah trained her eyes on the camera and watched Jackson walk away from the front desk. “Got the key. Now, how exactly do you want me to get eyes on his room without being too obvious?”
“Tank, can you get the key from Jackson and make the fourteenth floor part of your rounds?”
“I’m just going to hit the head,” Tank’s reply came as he spoke to his other security guard.
“Jackson, take the hallway to the left of the coffee shop and give Tank what he needs.”
Before long, Hannah watched the two men pass briefly in the hallway outside the restrooms. Any casual onlooker would think they were strangers, but the slightest contact between the two of them and Tank confirmed that he had the key.
Will looked at his watch. “Okay, we’ve got ten minutes before security rounds. Anything in the lobby, guys?”’
“All clear here, except about two hundred hyper women who keep screaming and hugging each other.”
“If he comes out, it’ll be easy to spot him. There are like five men in the entire hotel right now, and four of them are us.”
“Don’t forget, he sometimes uses face prosthetics or wigs to change his appearance. Don’t dismiss anyone offhand.”
“Unless he’s in full-on drag, I think we’ll get him.” Hannah chuckled at Pierce’s blunt observation.
Will tipped his head back and forth as though debating whether he thought Yuri would go that far. “We have no evidence that he’s ever taken a disguise that far,” he said, dismissing the joke.
Jackson killed the time chatting up a group of ladies near the elevators. Hannah was pretty sure she heard something about being invited to their late-night dance party.
“Ugh, Will? Are you seeing this?” Stephen’s voice came over the comms. “We’ve got movement on the fourteenth floor.”
