Stay by Gischler Victor

Author:Gischler, Victor [Gischler, Victor]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781466838055
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

David dropped the fat man and dove through the open doorway as the pistol shots whizzed over him. He tucked, rolled, and came up running. Down the hallway and then down the stairs.

That didn’t go like I’d hoped.

David’s plan had been to catch Dante Payne and his cronies flat-footed. If there was a chance to end all of this quickly, David wanted to seize it. Instead, he’d walked into a shooting gallery. He’d wanted to go on the offense, but now found himself running. Whatever advantage of surprise he might have had before was blown now.

He paused at a line of hooks on the wall with the car keys and examined his options. One of the key chains said Audi. He grabbed it and rushed into the garage.

Dante apparently enjoyed spending a chunk of his wealth on expensive automobiles. The Audi was a silver R8 Spyder convertible. The top was already down, and David hopped in and cranked the ignition. The garage door opener was clipped to the sun visor. David mashed the button. The garage door went up, and he pulled out onto the quiet residential street. He drove to the end of the block, and when he didn’t see any pursuit in his rearview mirror, he flipped on the headlights and pointed the Audi toward Midtown.

David fished his phone out of his pocket and composed a text to Charlie.

Two hours. You pick the Chinese restaurant. Prefer midtown.

A moment later:

Imperial Garden on 55th.

David confirmed the meeting and headed for the hotel as fast as he could without drawing attention. He’d ignored three more of Amy’s texts and was entering dangerous marital territory. Facing a room full of gunmen was something David was used to. God help him if Amy felt ignored.

He arrived at the hotel and eschewed the ramp down into the parking garage, choosing instead to park out front, uniformed parking valets scurrying out of his way as David brought the Audi to an abrupt halt.

One of the college-age valets stepped forward to open the driver’s side door for David. He was pretending the smudge on his upper lip was a mustache. “Valet-park it for you, sir?”

David pulled a roll of cash out of his pants pocket, peeled off a twenty, and handed it to the valet. “Can we keep it close? I might have to leave in a hurry.”

The kid sheepishly looked from David to the twenty-dollar bill in his hand and back to David. “Honestly, sir, I’m supposed to keep this lane clear. Lots of taxis. Lots of pickups and drop-offs. Just policy, you understand.”

“How about doing me a favor? Just this once.”

The kid looked pained. “I’m really not supposed to.”

David gave the kid three more twenties.

“This car won’t budge from this spot, sir,” the valet said. “Count on it.”

“Thanks,” David said. “Leave the keys in, okay? I might not have time to look for you.”

“Understood, sir,” the valet assured him.

David headed into the hotel lobby at a brisk walk, eyes darting into every shadow. His instinct was to hunt down Larry and find out if anything had changed.

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