Page 81 of His Lair

Me:

I have no doubt. I’ll be done in a jiffy.

Pocketing my phone, I head back upstairs and walk into the employee room. Where I find a housekeeping uniform, change, and then tie up my hair. I don’t have any wigs on hand, but I do manage to find a baseball cap. It will have to do. I locate a housekeeping trolley next and push it over to the staff elevator, taking it up to the sixth floor. Clearly unfazed, Paz follows behind me, doing his best to pretend I don’t exist. That is until we’re closed inside the elevator together.

“Miss Miller, I really think we should discuss this plan of yours with the boss,” he says.

“You know what the great thing about a contract killer is, Paz?” I ask him.

“No, ma’am.”

“You get to be your own boss. I’m not currently under any contract with Mr. Lopez. He’s notmy bossright now, so I won’t be discussing my plans with him.” I smile. “But you don’t need to worry. I won’t get you killed.”

“I’m not worried,” Paz says.

“You might not want to get off on this floor, though. It’s swarming with Santiago men,” I tell him right before the doors open and I step out.

He follows me as I head to door 690 and swipe the access card Sammie gave me. I know Paz is about three steps behind my cart.

I turn to him and smile. “Your room will be ready in a jiffy, sir. I just need to check a few things. We’ve had some problems with one of the girls. You can wait inside if you’d like?” I ask while holding the door open.

Paz shakes his head but walks inside anyway. “It’s scary how good you are at thinking on your feet,” he mumbles when I close the door behind me. “What exactlyisthe plan here?”

“I’m going to save the day, of course.” I shrug. “Now sit down and relax. This won’t take long.”

Am I a little overconfident? Probably, but it doesn’t pay to worry about these things too much. There are only two ways it can go. You can be the victor or the victim, and I don’t plan on ever being the victim.

“Lailani, people actually care about you. Don’t die,” Paz says.

I look at him. “I won’t… Well, I probably won’t,” I correct myself, because again, you never can be too sure. “I know Sammie’s mother is in that room. I’m just going to go in and get her out.”

“How do you know that? They’ve been looking everywhere for that woman,” Paz asks me.

“Just a hunch,” I tell him.

I walk over to the sliding glass door and open it, stepping out and looking both ways. No one is on the balcony. Huh.

I then make my way back to the housekeeping trolley and pick up a duster. I need to get some eyes inside the room next door so I can see what I’m working with.

After affixing my phone to the end of the handle, using a hair scrunchie to secure it, I flick the record button on and position it towards the neighboring balcony while facing the cameratowards the glass door. After a couple of seconds, I pull it back and step inside the room.

A message from Sammie pops up on my screen. I ignore it and watch my little recording. There are two men in the room, besides John. I don’t recognize either of them, which tells me they’re not high up on the Santiago food chain. I have memorized the profiles of all their important members. I don’t see Sammie’s mother, but that doesn’t mean she’s not in there.

“Paz?” I call out.

“Yeah?” he replies.

“You carrying?”

“Always,” he says, retrieving a pistol from his waist.

“Good, hold on to that. You might need it,” I tell him as I pick up the two smoke bombs from the cart.

I was going to go for the tear gas. But one, I don’t feel like burning the shit out of my own eyes right now. And two, I can take out a handful of guys without needing it.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” I tell Paz as I eye the door that connects the two rooms. Then, instead of actually telling him the plan, I proceed to remove the pins from the smoke bombs, tap the access card against the panel, and throw the smoke bombs inside the moment I am able to unlock the door and tug it open.

I hear a chorus of curses and then I’m barreling my way inside with a gun in each hand. I aim and fire, hitting goon number one. A bullet lands in the wall next to my head just as I turn and hit goon number two. I only get his shoulder but it’s enough to disarm him. He falls to the ground and then Paz is right behind me, finishing the fucker off.