Chapter 215: Tracking: Roman
I danced around the room with Lori for a second. "They think they found the guy. We’re going to go get Hannah," I told her.
"That’s great news," she said. "But why did you put me on the phone?"
"Oh that," I blushed. "Sorry about that. It’s just - I thought Marcus would listen to you, because - you know, he’s head over heels for you."
"Oh yeah?" she blushed as well. "He’s a good guy."
"He’s a little irresponsible about it, honestly. I need him to focus. His wandering eyes are partly why we’re in this situation in the first place. If he had just kept his eyes on Hannah..."
Lori gave me a nod. "I know you’re upset about that, but we’re all to blame. Go get her back."
Geoffrey came out from one of the back rooms with a water bottle and his keys. "Stay hydrated," he said. "And please take my car so you won’t be followed. Bring home the lady of the house."
I was touched by Geoffrey’s thoughtfulness. Knowing he really cared about Hannah, I accepted his offer.
Plus, Geoffrey, although mostly a kind gentleman, had a wildly fast sports car.
"Geoffrey, can you please tell Stan it’s go time?" I asked, and he shuffled away.
Ed and Marcus sent me a text with an address for the hotel. Stan followed me to the car, and I revved the engine.
I was so excited by the possibility that we could find Hannah soon, I hadn’t even considered this new information could lead us any other place than to Hannah.
I called Harry and gave him the details, too, asking if he could check out the address. The hotel was a long ride away from my house, and I supposed I had been wrong to think the kidnapper was holding Hannah somewhere near the club.
Stan drove, and I handled the directions. I bounced my knee up and down in anticipation. Hoping to see Hannah again, terrified what might have happened to her, I could barely contain my nerves.
With Stan’s foot on the gas, I knew we were making great time. We drove straight through to the hotel, never stopping, almost running the gas tank to empty.
When we arrived, I could tell it was a pretty nice place with nearly twenty floors. With more than a dozen rooms on each floor, Hannah could be anywhere. My body felt jittery for a second, glancing at the expanse of the hotel.
Harry pulled up a second later. "Hi," I said to him in the parking lot. The hotel was situated on a small hill above a busy highway. Next to it were some office buildings with some stores and restaurants just down another block.
"Here?" Harry said, pointing to the building.
"Yep," I looked up. "What do you think?"
"I searched through the information you gave me. I hate to tell you that this guy is former special forces. He knows a lot about how to hide. Probably why he chose such a big building," Harry said.
"How did he even get her in there?" I asked. "Wouldn’t someone have seen them?"
"You’d be surprised what people don’t report," Harry said. "Probably carried her up the stairs. I’d say she’s on floor ten or lower. Are you sure you weren’t followed?"
"I got word that the car had been spotted nowhere near the vicinity of my place after operation fishing lure."
"Operation fishing lure?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, we - uh - lured him out, so to speak. We think he took a shot at me in front of the club the other day. So we gave him a second chance so to speak, and we tracked him."
"Good work," said Harry. "I’m going to go in, ask the front desk if they’ve seen this man. You keep yourself hidden."
It was hard not to rush straight into the hotel and start yelling Hannah’s name, but with so many rooms, I knew it was next to impossible to find her that quickly.
As Stan and I waited in Geoffrey’s car, I noticed the tell-tale black SUV of the FBI followed by a squad car. Both parked near the front in what were otherwise parking spots dedicated to VIPs.
Ed and Marcus emerged from the SUV and, to my disappointment, that hefty cop rolled out of the squad car.
"Ed, Marcus," I yelled, waving from my car.
"Keep it down," Ed grumbled as I ran over to them.
"What’s he doing here?" I pointed to the police officer.
"It’s always good to have a unit with you. A local guy can come in handy," said Marcus.
"But he’s been nothing but useless," I protested.
The cop stepped closer and puffed out his stomach a little which he rubbed with both hands. He had a satisfied look on his face as he said, "Actually, I’m the one who tracked down the witness that told us about this hotel."
I couldn’t stand his smugness; however, I had to admit his lead was the best one so far. "Thank you," I said, giving credit where credit is due.
"So what’s the plan? Did anyone see the black car?"
"It’s in the parking lot," said Ed. "Now we just have to figure out which room."
I nodded. That shouldn’t be too hard, I figured.
"He has to come out some time," said the cop. "To get more food or drinks or..."
"You’re always going to choose the slowest option, aren’t you?" I asked him.
"Hey, if it weren’t for me and that trucker at the donut shop..."
"It was a trucker who saw the car at this hotel?" I asked surprised.
"Turns out the driver of your black car was weaving in and out of traffic. The trucker reported it. We followed it back here," the cop informed me.
"Oh," I said, again realizing the cop had actually done a good bit of police work. I felt a little ashamed of my remarks.
"Well we can’t go in guns a blazing," said Marcus. "We have to be strategic."
I looked up at the building, willing Hannah to show herself. On one of the middle floors, I detected someone holding a white sheet or flag or something in front of the window, and I thought maybe that was a sign. Just as quickly as I caught a glance at it, though, it disappeared.
Harry came jogging out a moment later. "Room 1005," he said.
"Who’s this?" the cop looked at Harry with a disgusted face.
"This is my PI," I said.
"You hired a private investigator?" Marcus groaned. I could tell by the sour look on his face and by his voice that he didn’t approve.
"Hold on," I said. "I appreciate all law enforcement has done. Even you," I nodded in the direction of the uniformed cop. "But sometimes a set of extra eyes isn’t a bad thing."
"You didn’t trust us," said Ed.
"Can you blame me? I called you to watch Hannah, and then not even two hours later, she disappears. I get shot at - again. And somehow I hired a bodyguard who was an imposter."
"That wasn’t our fault," Ed said with a sidelong glance at me.
I breathed out a heavy sigh. "I know. It just makes it hard to know who to trust. Stan here saved me from a bullet."
"It was luck," he said in a deep gravelly voice.
"Some luck," I admitted. "There have just been a series of dangerous situations ever since we helped you bring down the Auction House, and now this."
"I hate to break it to you," said Harry. "But this has nothing to do with the Auction House. This guy has no involvement in that. Your cop friend here was right."
I rolled my eyes. "Harry, you’re not helping," I said through clenched teeth.
"Okay, okay," Marcus pushed his palms in the air, encouraging me to stop my barrage. "We need to work together to find Hannah." He turned toward Harry. "How do you know it’s 1005?"
"I pretended to be our perp, acted drunk, said I forgot my room number. That license plate info gave me all his vital information so they could cross-reference, and voila."
I smiled. I knew there was a reason I hired Harry. In the moment, he used his sly tactics to find out the information we needed to know.
"Let’s go," I said. "Do you break down the door or something?"
"Roman, hold on. This is exactly why I didn’t want to bring you. We have to be more..." Marcus said.
"Strategic. I know," I finished for him.
I scanned the tenth floor for any signs. Hadn’t that been where I’d seen that flash of white?
Where was she? I couldn’t wait to lay eyes on Hannah, and my team seemed to be taking forever to form a plan. We’d gotten this far, and now it was a sprint to the end.
We didn’t know what we’d find at the finish line, but I was desperate to get there.