15. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter fifteen
For a moment Noble feared somebody had locked the window.
As a general rule, people neglect to lock windows above the ground floor in the mistaken assumption they can’t be reached.
That assumption often allowed thieves and spies—some would argue those were two labels for the same thing—to access otherwise hard to reach places. And yet…
Had someone locked this one? A hotel maid perhaps? It would be just Noble’s luck.
He cursed and, careful not to over balance, shoved harder.
The window finally shifted a fraction of an inch. Noble put his weight against it. The frame slid open enough that he could work his fingers into the gap.
Wind howled around the small courtyard and gathered up Noble’s hair. A few moments earlier, the sudden gust might have ripped him right off his perch. He pulled himself fully onto the ledge, shimmied the window open, and did and ungainly scramble inside.
He was taking a bet the room would be empty.
A small hotel like this, Xanders had probably been telling the truth when he said the room was occupied, but people renting hotel rooms didn’t spend much time in them.
They’d be out taking in the sights, eager to see as much of the city as possible before they had to board a flight back to… wherever.
His instincts proved correct. There were three open suitcases.
Two belonged to a woman, the contents scattered all over the room, taking up space.
The third belonged to her husband. It lay on the floor next to the bed, lid closed, neatly tucked away.
Her side of the bed was a riot of clothes and small lacy strings.
The faint scent of perfume lingered. His side was Spartan and mostly untouched.
Her side had a blow dryer and a phone charger, both plugged into the same socket.
Noble took a moment to unplug the blow dryer.
In older architecture like this, substandard wiring often resulted in fires.
Too many devices plugged into the same socket could spark a disaster.
Noble took two steps toward the bathroom and stopped to listen, just to be sure. Satisfied the room was empty, he went and sat on the man’s side of the bed. It was the side closest the door. Most guys would choose that side. Bill Handley had probably chosen that side as well.
Noble sat where Bill had sat, and allowed himself to take in the room.
Bill, a former spy, had a slip. All intelligence officers did.
A slip was someplace to hide important information.
Any intel Bill didn’t want to take with him, anything sensitive, anything he didn’t want found, would be in the slip.
Looking for a decent slip would be the first thing Bill did when he arrived.
It would be somewhere easy to access, but somewhere most people would overlook.
Noble scanned the room. The generic painting hanging on the wall pulled his attention. It was a print of rusty gears, the kind of thing that was supposed to be meaningful in an abstract way, but just came off lazy. Like the decorator didn’t know what else to put there.
Noble lifted it off the hook, turned it over and checked the frame. He didn’t find anything hidden on the back and replaced it on the hook, taking the time to make sure it was straight. No sense letting the room’s occupants know their room had been searched.
His next instinct led him to the back of the bed frame.
He hauled the frame away from the wall, wincing at the noise.
Nothing back there either. He shifted the bed back.
An older guy like Bill probably wouldn’t have put his slip somewhere that required moving heavy furniture anyway.
Too much physical exertion. He’d want something simple and easy to access in an emergency.
Noble went into the bathroom, checked the toilet tank lid and under the counter. Nothing doing. Next, he peeked around in the small closet but didn’t find anything there either. He went back to the bedside and took another look around the room.
“Where’d you put it, Bill?” Noble asked the empty room.
Was he imagining things? Making things up? Was Noble projecting his own habits onto Bill, a man he’d never met? Perhaps Bill didn’t bother with a slip because there was nothing to hide? Maybe Bill and his wife were just two people on honeymoon.
Noble shook his head.
Xanders had been spooked the moment he saw Bill and Milena’s picture. Noble stood next to the bed and chewed the inside of one cheek. His eyes fell on the bedside table.
He pulled the drawer out finding a Bible inside. Noble reached in, felt around on the underside, and his fingers found something taped to the top.
“Bingo.”
Noble pulled out a collection of documents inside a clear plastic ziplock bag. He was tempted to read through the pages right there. He wanted to know what Bill and Milena were hiding, but that would be a mistake. The couple renting the room might return at any moment.
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than he heard the elevator chime, followed by voices. And they were getting closer.