"Goddamit," you scowl, bending the plastic keycard in your hand, folding it until it snaps in two.
You were wrong. Again.
The broken pieces of this keycard sport swirling lines of green and blue. But Kentay's keycard in your pocket holds no such decoration. Which means the three-star, chain hotel you've just left isn't the right place.
Neither was the bed & breakfast on the south side of the square.
Nor the hotel at the top of the hill, slightly away from the main street.
Nor the red brick you had started with on the other side of the park.
"Come on, Kentay," you huff in aggravation, rolling your shoulders and trying to shrug off your irritation. It's already dark - the last precious hours of daylight lost while checking the wrong places. You don't have anymore time to waste. You need to find Kentay's hiding place, and you need to find it now.
Fortunately you can't possibly make too many more mistakes, as there are only two hotels left you haven't checked. Kentay has to be in one of them.
You let your eyes wander, traveling across the twinkling lights of the town square. Stop lights and streetlamps and storefronts seem to flicker with increasing urgency.
She knows.
Who knows? Vex? What does she know? Are you in danger? Is James in danger? And where the hell is Kentay? Is he okay? Is he still waiting for you? Why is this taking so damn long? Why hasn't he just come to find you? If he's here, if he's watching, he must know you've arrived. Which means he can't come to you. Why?
Stop. Calm down.
The cold voice of the Interrogator barks at you, obliterating the panic that had started gnawing at your mind. She forces you to take another breath, and your racing thoughts settle. You know only one of the two remaining hotels you haven't checked yet is nearby. You spot it across the street, about four blocks down. It's the nicest hotel here in Cody, Wyoming. A boutique rather than a mediocre chain. You've passed it twice already, intentionally disregarding it as a potential location. After all, it stands out like fine china at a backyard barbecue. The front doors are spotless, sliding glass that glide open at the pass of each pedestrian as cracked cement sidewalks give way to polished marble floors just within.
Fruits of luxury within a dustbowl. A beacon of opulence.
Not somewhere one should try to hide.
And yet the only other location you haven't checked is a cheap motel about six miles out of town. You'd need to take the car to get there. Might as well check this place before you go.
Dressed in a well-practiced smile - the one that covers your sadism and puts others at ease - you cross the street and waltz up to the sliding glass doors, stopping just short and noticing the odd, shiny varnish of the threshold. It's a new building. And a new building means new staff. New staff means lack of apathy. Lack of apathy means adherence to rules and regulations. Getting a keycard without a valid reservation won't be as easy here as it was at the other locations. You won't be able to bluff your way into an "elevator key" to "get to the spa on floor 3" like you had at the red-brick. Or swipe one from an unattended maid cart like you did at the B&B near the Visitor's Center. Neither will you be able to charm an unsuspecting, middle-aged, married man in town on some sort of dull accounting business into giving you his room key, only to never show for your promised, illicit afternoon rendezvous.
No...this place will take a bit more finesse to hustle.
But the cold detachment of the Interrogator eases your concerns. She's clever. She'll find a way.
YOU ARE READING
Saving Bucky (Bucky Barnes x Reader)
FanfictionSet immediately after the events of Saving Steve (Book 2), Bucky finds himself locked up in the hands of The Company - a mysterious shadow organization asking too many questions about his Winter Soldier programming. And he'll do anything to hide th...
