Godsend 8: The Value of a Woman (Godsend Short stories Series) Read Free

whole third floor is always reserved for Echelon customers only. So find a room that’s occupied then take it over. Question the call girl and the client. Call me and let me know which room you got. I’ll be up as soon as I’m done with the desk assistant.”
    Etceterra said, “Charelle hasn’t worked for the escort service in ten months. What if they’re now using the second floor instead of the third?  She said they often changed their mode of operation.”
    Brian said, “She knows about the Hiatus Inn up in San Francisco, L.A., and here. This is the one where Milana met clients, always on the third floor. You wanna sit here and guess the floor until the sun comes up, or do you wanna take a chance on the third floor?”
    Etceterra opened the passenger’s door. “Third floor sounds good to me.”
    They both got out of the SUV and parted ways. The Hiatus Inn was not a fancy hotel. It was clean and well-run, though. The lot had many vehicles for a Wednesday night. The rooms on two of the floors were all occupied; the other floor had twelve vacancies.
    At 10:13 p.m., Brian entered the lobby and walked up to the smiling, white desk attendant.
    Dan Gilcrest was a 53-year-old man with a friendly face. “Welcome to the Hiatus Inn. May I help you?”
    “Yes, I’d like a room. A single.”
    “I’m sorry; we’re all booked with no vacancies.”
    Brian said, “It’s after ten. Are you telling me you have rooms that are booked for the day, but the guests still haven’t arrived?”
    “Sir, that exactly what I’m telling you. Now, there are several other hotels in the area. I bet none of them are all booked on a Wednesday night, but we are. So why don’t you give them a try.”  He still smiled, pretending to be nice, then looked down at the security monitors next to the 23-inch flat-panel computer screen.
    Brian said, “You’re not booked up. If I had the password for the day, I could get a room on the floor you got reserved for your Echelon guests.”
    Dan’s right foot bumped an emergency button under the desk. “Sir, I have no idea what you’re referring to. Perhaps if you -”
    Brian pulled out a silenced gun from his sports coat and aimed it at Dan’s chest. “Step back from the desk and come around so you can lock this door since you’re all booked the fuck up.”
    “Alright.”  He backed away from the desk with his hands raised at chest-level. “Take it easy.”  Dan stepped around the desk then stopped. He looked back at the desk counter and said, “I’ll need the keys. They’re behind the desk.”
    This time Brian smiled. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but if you don’t -”  A door to his left, which he had assumed was either a storage room door or a closet door, was flung open. Brian saw the staircase and two large, white men aiming sub-machine guns that looked much more violent that his silenced handgun.
    Dan said to Brian, “Drop your gun, or they will kill you.”
    Brian was watching the gunmen but still kept his gun aimed at the desk assistant. “They’ll kill me anyway, so I might as well follow you to hell.”
    Dan said, “No, no. We don’t want any guns to go off in this hotel. I just want to know what you know about Echelon.”
    Brian hesitated then began slowly lowering his weapon.

Chapter 6
     
    Etceterra had stepped out of the stairwell when he heard a room door open. Down the hall, he saw a white man exiting one of the suites, so he walked faster to catch the man. Several seconds later, Etceterra caught the man at the elevator, grabbed his arm, and spun him around.
    The 60-year-old man was nicely dressed, with no sports coat. He looked scared right now, especially after seeing a gun aimed at his belly.
    Etceterra said, “Back to your room. No talking, no questions. Let’s go.”
    The elderly man followed the order but really didn’t want to. When he made it back to Room 308, he fumbled with his key card. He felt the gunman poke him in the