Jamie reflected on my words. I could see the reality sink in with him as well. “We’re out of the garden. Now we’re like everyone else, looking for somewhere to be safe.”
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Jamie rose to answer it. I could hear Buddie and someone else on the other side of the door. I pulled my robe on. Jamie let Buddie and Kiki in.
“How are you feeling?” Buddie asked me.
I smiled at Buddie. Like my grandma, he’d always been somewhat of a recluse, keeping to himself at his cabin by the lake. During hunting season, however, you would see a lot of him. Buddie was always the first man out of the woods, a bear or deer in tow. He would smile abashedly for his picture in the local paper. People used to talk about him, how he would take trips abroad or out west for big game hunting. Despite his efforts to avoid it, he was a good source of gossip. He would also stop by the library pretty often; I remembered him from my days hiding with Mrs. Winchester. He was quite young then. Mrs. Winchester once told him that she thought he’d read more books than anyone in town. I remembered being impressed. “Like someone kicked my ass, but otherwise fine,” I replied, then smiled at Kiki.
“I left Tom with Frenchie. I told Kiki and Tom about what happened last night.”
I imagined then the look on Tom’s face. He had been so sure we were going somewhere safe. I could not imagine what he might be thinking now.
“Kiki noticed something I thought we should check out,” Buddie added.
“I was out this morning with the others when I noticed a shortwave radio antenna on the roof of the hotel. It got me wondering who I heard when I made the transmission this winter,” Kiki said. “There is something off about these people. I noticed it last night. You’re right, Layla, they aren’t—well, I don’t know what they are. Anyway, after what Buddie told us this morning, it just made my skin turn all goose-bumps. If I can find the radio room, I might be able to see if it was them on the radio. Maybe that’s how they really found us.”
I nodded. “I’ll get dressed.”
Despite the fact my head was still aching, I pulled my clothes on and strapped on my weapons. I slid the shashka into the scabbard and attached it across my back.
“If she sees that--” Jamie said.
“She can take it from my cold dead hands,” I replied.
Buddie chuckled.
“Don’t tempt her,” Jamie said.
We went outside. Kiki showed us the shortwave antenna. Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, we rounded the building looking for the antenna wire. A few seemingly normal people noticed us but didn’t take an interest.
Kiki’s sharp eyes scanned the building. “There,” she said, pointing to the wire.
The antenna line ran across the roof and was anchored to the side of the building. It ran down the side of the HarpWind to a window on the second floor.
I grinned at the others. “Shall we?”
We entered the hotel through the maintenance entrance on the first floor and followed the stairwell to the second floor. None of us were roomed on the second floor, and no one had yet been there.
Kiki reached to push the door open, but I held back her hand.
My blood rushed to my hands, and they began to feel tingly. “Something is off here,” I said. “Go careful.”
Jamie pulled his gun and pushed open the heavy metal door. It opened with a click.
We entered the hallway to find it empty. It was decorated with yellow brocade wallpaper and a matching floral designed rug. A side table stood at the end of the hall. On top of it was an ornate vase with a wilted flower arrangement.
We walked quietly down the hallway, listening for any sound. No one seemed to be moving.
“Do you think they sleep here?” Jamie whispered to me.
I shook my head. “Too much light,” I replied. “We never see them in the daylight. Seems they avoid the sun.” Large windows had flooded the hall with light on either end. We came to a cross in the hallway.
“Kiki and I can go right, you guys take the left,” I said.
They nodded and we split up. Kiki and I walked carefully down the hall. We passed the laundry facilities and maid’s closets. We then came to a number of administrative offices. I heard voices.
Kiki and I stopped. An office door near the end of the hall was opened. People were inside talking. Their voices were heated.
“Fine. I’ll gas it up, but tell her we are low on fuel,” a man said.
Pulling Kiki, we dodged into a side laundry room. We ducked low behind a heap of unwashed sheets. From the smell of the room, they had been sitting there a long time.
I saw a man storm down the hallway.
We heard someone move in the room next to us. “Have it ready by nightfall. She wants them out and back as soon as possible,” the woman called behind him.