Darkness and Blood by Steve Haberman

Author:Steve Haberman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steve Haberman
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

ESCAPE?

Once inside their suite, Pablo saw the worried look on Stuart’s tired face. “Trouble?”

Stuart reached into his jacket and pulled out his cell phone. “In spades,” he said. “Darth Vader is back from vacation. She’s a senior front desk receptionist. A hard ass stickler for rules. She’s the one who made out my bill just now. I suspect she somehow found out about your unpaid stay here.”

“You think she’ll call the police?”

“I wouldn’t put it past her. Either them or hotel security. We have to clear out earlier than I thought.”

Pablo began throwing his things into his valise. Stuart paced as he called Mathew. After several minutes, he glanced at Pablo and shook his head, looking irritated. A key player to their getting off the island didn’t answer. Pablo supposed Mathew was driving around in daddy’s Ferrari or doing whatever else a rich kid did, except act responsibly and fulfill his obligation.

“That little prick.” Stuart left his phone number on the voice mail and ended with a threat to his family, if he didn’t quickly contact them. He tossed his cell onto the bed, plopped down on it, and kicked off his loafers. "All we can do now is sweat it out till he calls. You still think someone in MI5 is helping us?"

"Now more than ever. Maurice once told me there's one CCTV camera for every twelve people in the U. K. Yet here we are, still on the loose."

"For now, anyway." Stuart called Mathew again and let it ring several minutes. “Come on, kid. Answer it!” But again no response. “Hey, Mathew,” he said when the voice mail clicked on, “it’s me again. Mr. Williamson. Call ASAP. That means in plain English as soon as possible, Mathew. ASAP. There’s a change of plans.” He punched off. “The little prick,” he muttered again into his cell still clutching it. With his free hand, he used the remote to flip through the channels. He caught no news about Maurice, said that was strange, and settled on an Alfred Hitchcock documentary.

Pablo tried watching, but soon lost interest, his mind roiling with worry. Could they slip out of Britain, if Mathew didn’t call? Did Stuart have a backup plan? Would they have to hole up in another hotel room?

He peered out to the darkened Albion Steakhouse across from the hotel. For some reason, it had closed early that evening.

“Pablo,” Stuart said, “those letters you wrote to Maurice, you’ve clutched them almost from the moment someone dropped them off at his flat."

"Have I?" He tried to pay attention to two thoughts, Stuart's comment that made him realize how possessive he was of the correspondence and fretting that restaurant made a perfect observation post. Had a curtain there twitched with movement? "One sec." He stared for several more minutes for a possible menace. It must have been, he decided at last, a gust of wind that had seeped through a window opening into the interior. Still he peered out to the closed eatery a moment longer before he threw a quick look over his shoulder at Stuart.

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