34. Ellie
Chapter 34
Ellie
I’ve never been more terrified in my life. The ride downtown is silent and full of tension and even though I’m not crying any longer, I’m still terrified.
“Do you know of hotels down here that Dawn would choose?” Rebel asks.
“No. She’s not really the type to go to hotels,” I murmur, flinching when Devil lets out an annoyed breath. I know he’s disappointed and mad. I wish I could magically just know, but I don’t.
“This is all my fault. I should have insisted that Dawn give me all the information. I asked, but she just told me to mind my own business. She let me ask you to run a check on him, and I figured once he got the all clear…”
“It’s not your fault, Ice. It’s mine. I should have demanded a picture or something,” Liam says, his voice sounding bleak as we wait in traffic for a light change.
“I’m fucking tired of how this son of a bitch is always one step ahead of us,” Devil growls, slamming his fist down so hard against the car door that I worry the window will fall down.
The loud sound of Liam’s phone ringing makes me jump. We all look at him as he raises his phone and answers it, leaving the call on speakerphone so we can all hear.
“Speak,” he barks.
“No card activity under Dawn’s name, Wolf’s, or the Glenna girl.”
“Fuck. Why did you waste time running Wolf’s anyway? He’s not stupid,” Devil snarls.
“No stone unturned and all that shit,” Scorpion replies.
“Big fucking lot of good that does us. I guess we’re checking out more hotels,” Rebel mutters, cutting into another lane.
We’ve already checked two hotels while waiting for Scorpion to call back. There’s been no sign of my sister. I lay my head on Liam’s chest, trying not to feel like it’s hopeless and we’re already too late.
I’m afraid we are though.
“Well it’s a good thing I am thorough assholes, because on a hunch I ran one Reginald Cleary’s info and two days ago at the Hotel Palomar downtown, ol’ Reggie rented a suite.”
“Why in the fuck didn’t you just say that?” Liam demands, but before Scorpion can reply he hangs up.
“Take this exit,” I yell at Rebel. “It will be the quickest route to the hotel and miss most of the traffic.”
Rebel does as I ask and we are at the backside of the hotel in no time.
“There’s valet parking in the front,” I tell him. But he’s already coming to a stop.
Everyone is jumping out and I’m with them. Liam looks back at me, but I shake my head no. There’s no way that I’m being left behind. I can see he’s torn, but he knows better than to ask me to do that.
We sprint to the front door and I somehow make it to the front desk first.
“Reginald Cleary’s room?” I ask, my voice sounding weird and frantic even to my own ears.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I can’t give out that kind of information.
“You’ll give it or we’re going to have problems,” Liam orders.
“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t,” the clerk says, obviously nervous.
Liam leans in and drops his voice down to a deadly level. “That motherfucker up there is a known felon. He’s left a trail of corpses from here to the East Coast. He has my sister-in-law up there in that hotel room and if you don’t tell me what room he’s in, you better believe we’re going to have problems.”
“Please help us,” I plead, desperate. I watch as the clerk carefully takes out a hotel card. She types on the screen and runs the card through some kind of machine. She slides it across the counter to me.
“Room 714,” she whispers. I grab the card with shaking hands, tears in my eyes. Then, I call out my thank you as we run toward the elevator.
Once we get inside, Liam takes the card out of my hand and he holds my face, framing it in his large hands.
“Ice, I need you to keep a clear head. You stay behind me the entire time. You let my body cover you and you hold onto my belt loop. You don’t move away from me. Got it?”
“Got it,” I reply, nodding my head.
The elevator ride seems to take forever. When the doors slide open, Liam moves quickly, but quieter than before down the hall. He draws his gun and my eyes automatically go beside me to where Rebel is and he has a gun drawn, too. We make it to the door, and Liam looks at me. I immediately get behind him, hooking my finger into his belt loop. He puts the card in the door and the small light turns green and I hear the clicking of the lock. I watch him turn the knob. There’s no screaming coming from the other side. There’s no noise at all. I’m terrified of what we will see when that door opens.
We’re already too late.