In the Beginning by Z.J. Cannon

Author:Z.J. Cannon [Cannon, Z.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Z.J. Cannon
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

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517 Garland Street, it turned out, was a local high-end hotel. A group of people representing various business interests from around the state had booked the third-floor conference room for the evening.

My first thought was to use the old trick of masquerading as one of the catering staff and eavesdropping on the meeting from behind the anonymous safety of a uniform. That plan lasted all of five minutes. When I approached my first staff member with an offer to trade places, I found out that not only were these people not taking advantage of the hotel’s complementary catering services, they had categorically banned all hotel employees from not just the room but the entire floor for the duration of their meeting. Apparently they had the kind of cash to throw around that made that request start to look reasonable, because according to the person I talked to, the hotel had threatened all the staff with docked wages if they so much as pressed the third-floor button on the elevator while the meeting was going on.

But there was nothing stopping me from booking a room on the fourth floor as an ordinary guest. Or, once I was in there, from drilling a hole in the floor with the tools I had filled my overnight bag with instead of a change of clothes, and snaking a miniature camera down through the ceiling of room 312.

By the time anyone found out about the damage to the room, I would be long gone—or rather, the alias I had rented the room under would be. The hotel would never be able to come after me for the cost of the repairs. I’d already had to eat the cost of the room, though. I winced when I thought about the bill, which covered all kinds of luxuries I wouldn’t get the chance to use.

Maybe I’d invoice Declan for expenses. I had a feeling Michael wouldn’t look kindly on it if I tried to do the same with him. There was a reason I hadn’t called my emergency contact number to report my conversation with the Fallen.

Although I still wasn’t quite sure what that reason was. Reporting the contact was the only course of action that made sense. If there really was something going down in that room, it needed a surveillance specialist, or several, not a foot soldier like me. And after having contact with the Fallen, no matter how brief, I needed to be monitored for possible contamination. And yet here I was.

I knew what the Fallen would have said. But he would have been wrong. I wasn’t having doubts. I certainly didn’t believe that story of his.

I just wanted some answers. That was all.

The trick with the camera was that I had to hold it in place manually. I didn’t want to risk doing something like taping it to the floor, only to have it come loose and fall at the wrong moment. I held the attached wire with one hand, With the other, I worked the controls on my laptop.

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