By Day and by Night

Chapter 10- Someplace Warm

The private plane had just enough room to sit comfortably. The flight took 25 minutes from start of take-off to beginning descent. Adelae sweat through her blouse and her knuckles remained clenched white on the arms of her seat while she thought through a plan over and over.

Upon landing, Adelae hid behind a nearby building and changed into her suit, setting off at a run in the direction the map on her phone indicated.

The hotel was a horrific sight, even from a distance. Adelae gagged. If she hadn't been expecting such gore, she would likely have thrown up. The two-story building itself lay in tattered piles of stone and fractured drywall. The torn remnants of curtains and sheets splattered with blood seemed out of place, spilling out of the rooms and into the parking lot. Most of the communal spaces including the pool and dining area were untouched, but great sections of the rentable rooms had fallen to the ground, smashing cars and people. The carnage was unbearable.

The silence was worse.

There were no signs of any police officers having arrived yet, but considering the isolation of the hotel from the distant city, Adelae guessed that communicating an emergency, especially with the merciless brutality demonstrated, would not have been easy.

Adelae combed briefly through the wreckage, spending minimal time calling out for survivors along the way, focusing on finding the offices, learning the room number to where Varrin had stayed, and sprinting up to the place. She yelled in frustration at how much this felt like a waste of time, but her other option was to go room to room until she found something she recognized, and that would be just as time-consuming. She found his cell phone smashed just inside the door, and his secretary, Staphanie, dead on the floor. Lying on the woman's chest, Adelae found a simple piece of paper bearing the logo of the hotel, likely from the drawer of the desk ten feet away, with an address and one line of message:

"Come and claim him."

Just then, her phone began to buzz, indicating an incoming call. Adelae acknowledged the video-call request from one of the burner phones, stalling to prepare herself to answer their questions, fighting the urge to decline it.

Nik's face appeared first, then Connor's. By the background, it appeared they were regrouping in the lair.

"Hey! Adelae!" Connor yelled at the phone. "Nik told me someone attacked Mr. Newman." He struggled for a minute, trying to take the phone from Nik. Eventually, it appeared that Nik let go, nearly causing Connor to fall and the phone to collide with his face. When he'd steadied himself, he asked, "Did you find him? Is he okay?"

Through clenched teeth, she replied. "No I didn't find him. I'm in his hotel room now. His secretary is here. She's dead." Adelae felt sick to her stomach, saying the words aloud. She turned the camera to face the body before her as a disguise for the shaking in her knees. I'm a villain, she reprimanded herself angrily. Why did the sight of the corpse of this woman cause this type of reaction, especially after she'd given hardly any reaction at all about the other bodies? Adelae gagged twice more, her stomach endlessly turning.

The sound of Nik's voice brought her back to the situation. "Ugh, that's gnarly. That must've been the gunshot we heard." Adelae looked back at the screen with distaste. She reminded herself that rather than being calloused, this was one of Nik's helpful skills— the ability to be objective in the middle of traumatic situations. She feared for Varrin's life, and his comments made panic rise up.

"Ah," Connor chimed in, oblivious to her discomfort. "So it seems. Oh, sounds like Mr. Forrester is here. Up here! You're just in time." Connor disappeared for a minute. His voice echoed from down the stairs. "...she's showing us the room." He explained, approaching Nik now. Galen's face appeared.