Threatened

Chapter 19: New Information

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Star Wars: A New Hope. Lee was lounging on the couch, half watching the movie, half sleeping.

"This is what was on. It's better than most other day-time TV," Lee mumbled. I groaned and got up to check the door. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. No one knows we are here yet. Thank goodness.

"Well, this hotel isn't compromised yet, so we have two options."

"I'm listening," he says, sitting up a little straighter.

"We can order room service all the time, or I can go out and get groceries to make our own food here."

"You want to go out by yourself?"

"You are not coming with me if I do. Everyone with a Viper tattoo is going to be looking for you. It is best if you stay here for a few hours while I get food."

"You make it so hard to argue with that pretty face," he muses. I groan.

"Your choice, I go get food alone or we eat from the hotel menu every meal."

"Having some fresh food would be good, and if we can only use cash, then getting groceries is probably a better option," Lee says.

"Alright, then I will go get dressed and head out for a few hours. While I am gone, you keep this door locked until I come back and stay away from the windows. Answer no calls and speak to no one." Lee grumbles something about paranoia under his breath.

"You know my paranoia is for your safety right?" I snap at him.

"You made us fly more than half-way across the country for this threat. Where does it end? I can't live like this forever."

"It ends when the Vipers decide they no longer need to feel threatened by you. I would say that if their trial was still going on, that would be after someone else testified. But since they probably paid off the judge, it's just a personal vendetta now. And that does not bode well for you," I reply. I honestly have no idea why the gang would be this interested in silencing a witness. "You're sure that there is no other reason they would want you dead?"

"Well, they might not like that I know how they get their weapons," he groans.

"Tell me exactly how you know that." What gang tells a celebrity their weapons supplier?

"I was talking to a guy who teaches scuba diving on the pier and I saw a man with a Viper tattoo hand money to a vendor there. The vendor didn't look like much, just a younger kid working a cotton-candy stand. I wouldn't have thought much of it if not for how big the wad of cash was. Anyways, once the kid had the money, he gave the man a key. I guess the man knew what the key opened and what to do with it."

"So how do you know this vendor is a weapons dealer?"

"Because when the man returned the key, he was packing a Mac 10." Lee explains.

"Okay, so how do the Vipers know you know?"

"I may have called the police on that one guy. I even talked to them after he was in hand cuffs. I didn't really think they would hold a grudge about that kind of thing." Lee shakes his head. "But they must have changed that system by now if they know you know. It would be stupid to keep that the same."

"The Vipers are one-trick ponies. If you're on the run, I'd bet that they are still using that cotton candy vendor," I smirk. Criminal behavior is unexplainable sometimes.

"I am going to check out the pier before I get groceries. You get to stay here and keep your head down. I'll be back in a few hours; if I'm not, call the police and tell them you've found a lost nickel and they'll transfer your call directly to Chief Nichols. He will be able to get you out of here and to another safe house."

"Be careful out there, Anna. I really do not want anyone else watching out for me," Lee says with a sad tone in his voice. I give him one last patronizing look before I grab my small surveillance bag and leave the room.