[H2][b][center]Paige Kennedy [/center][/b][/h2]

[i]Around 1am, Sunday morning...[/i] 

They say if you have to ask the rates you probably can’t afford it and the downtown Ritz in Sol City was no exception to the rule. Paige’s black and white Converse tread lightly over some heinously expensive rug as she walked through the main lobby. The air smelled of sweet perfume and she could see her reflection in white marble columns that were polished to a mirror finish. Her partner, Xi, walked alongside. Neither one particularly dressed for the location. She could feel the cutting eyes of Sol’s rich and affluent guests looking down on her as they approached the check-in counter. The Maître D’ looked up from the desk and glanced at them both from over his glasses. “Is there something I can help you with?” He said in Oxford Dictionary perfect English, “I’m afraid there’s no public restroom.”

Paige and Xi both produced their Marshal Service star at the same time. “I’ll just be needing the key to this room,” She said retrieving a small slip of paper from her jacket pocket and sliding it across the desktop to him. She lived for moments like this. There was no end to the fun in sticking her thumb in the eye of these northwestern yankees and she allowed her accent to speak up a little more just to drive the knife, “And I’ll need you to keep quiet about it,” She continued, “Or we could start making everyone’s stay very unpleasant.”  

To his credit, the man said nothing and remained stone-faced. With a few keyboard strokes, he produced a passkey and slid it back over to her, “Please do enjoy your time here with us.” He said.

“You pick up on that?” Xi said as they walked to a gold framed elevator.

“Yeah,” Paige replied, “He looked relieved.”

It was on the penthouse level, but not quite the highest floor. It appeared the persons paying daily for the posh studio-suite did have [i]some[/i] sense of trying not to be conspicuous. It had taken some digging, but as she’d checked out all the high-end hotels after the infamous jazz night, only a handful of rooms remained rented continually and this particular room’s expenses far and away exceeded the others. When she’d spoken with some of the staff it appeared the guests routinely cleaned out the hotel’s most expensive stocks and then worked their way on down from there before trashing the room repeatedly. Everyone she spoke with was clearly exhausted of dealing with them and wondering how long they’d stay. A few indirect and flirty questions towards Lupe confirmed it. However, as she looked further, there were other forces at work that she intended to shed light upon before leaving. 

The hallway was stark quiet and as they approached the room Xi removed the fire extinguisher from the wall. The door was in a small recess. Paige took her leather jacket off and tossed it to the side revealing only a black low-cut spaghetti-strap top over her jeans. She took her hair band out and fanned out her blonde locks in a very messy 80’s style before glancing over at Xi who nodded. She knocked firmly on the door and put her hand on her hip as he waited behind the edge of the wall.

There was a metallic clack then a second pop inside the thick hardwood door before the edge of the frame opened up. She could see a pair of eyes peering around from a distinctly heightened position before the door opened up the rest of the way revealing a very large skull capped biker with a body-builder’s physique and blonde hair. He towered over her in the open doorway.

“Ooops!” Paige said playfully, “I must have the wrong room, sorry…” She giggled, “I like your hair.”

“No, I think you have the right one babe,” The man said with a wide grin. His vest clearly read [i]THOR[/i] with the [i]1%[/i] diamond directly below it. He reached out his arm and she deftly extended her hand for him to take seeing the drug-fueled lust in his eyes. She stepped back and to the right forcing him to move forward for the prize and reach further. Still smiling, she ducked her head as the fire extinguisher came around and Xi caught him squarely between the eyes. 

Though they knew there were only two of them, what they hadn’t counted on was the sound generated from the impact of a five-pound fire extinguisher against Thor’s cranium. To Paige, it sounded something like a metal baseball bat striking the ball and she had a fleeting memory of church-league softball pass behind her eyes. The large man crumpled against the wall, but the sound alerted his equally large, though not nearly as fit brother who stampeded to shut the door as Paige was forced to move back when Thor toppled over like a redwood. 

“Not exactly according to plan,” Xi said pulling his gun out. 

“Hey, I was just supposed to draw them out,” Paige protested, “You fouled into the bleachers.” She took her gun out from behind her back and felt her pocket for the passkey. Her stomach tightened at the thought of going through the door now. 

“Time for Plan B,” Xi muttered. He pounded on the door, “US Marshals, open the door!” He barked. There was only a long, still silence as they stood there guns drawn. Paige reached back to retrieve the key giving Xi a ready glance. As she started to drop it into the reader she winced thinking of the tone it would make as soon as the lock was disengaged. The possibility it could be the last sound they both ever heard if the Visagoth on the other side was standing there with a drum-magazine ready to unload on them as soon as the door opened with that happy, affirmative beep. The card hovered over the slot in her finger tips and she breathed in deeply, just before the knob turned. 

The door opened slowly and the burly biker made a show of holding his free hand up in open view as Xi commanded him to get on the ground. Paige briefly glanced down at him strangely as she moved in. [i]Why would he shut the door in their faces and then so willingly open it back up?[/i] The thought was quickly stored as she swept the room just to be sure they were clear. The hard bit was nearly over. 

To say the least, the room was a disaster zone. She’d seen postgame frat houses at UF that looked tidy by comparison. Bottles of every variety littered the floor and tables. Some full, some empty, some tipped over. Cigarettes, needles and a buffet other illegal substances covered the bar. The smell was horrendous. [i]Didn’t they clean the room daily?[/i] She thought. [i]This is just from today...[/i] She carefully stepped over loose clothing and pushed aside a completely destroyed room service cart. There were paw prints leading away from a spilled pasta dish that circled around the room until an apparently small dog had ate its fill and took a nap. There was no sign of the dog, but it left its markers in the corners and against the furniture. Still walking slowly behind her pistol she looked over the main living area that was tucked down into a trendy lower level. The large flat screen was muted on some bizarre infomercial and outside on the balcony the hot tub bubbled away with more than a few foreign objects bobbing around in the stew. 

Oddly enough one of the attached rooms appeared to be completely untouched. As she peered inside from the open doorway the sheets were still crisply folded over and as she looked further, the towels still hung sharply in the bathroom. She looked across the main room at Xi who was easing towards the second adjoining bedroom. The door was shut and she carefully stepped across to take up position on the opposite side. It was her turn to shout, “Marshal Service, open up!” There was no answer and the two of them looked at each other dejected. [i]Here we go again[/i]. But the prize was on the other side and again, hopefully not waiting to ambush them. Considering what she knew about the target, she felt slightly more at ease, though only by a fraction. Xi reached for the handle, locked. “Hope your kicking leg is better than your batting average.” Paige teased with a whisper.

Xi shook his head and took a step back sizing up the doorway. He’d kicked open a few slum doors in Afghanistan, but the Ritz-Carlton was a new experience. He drew back and with one swift motion launched the door nearly off its hinges. They both came through guns ready, however they had no expectation of what it was that lay ahead.

Sprawled across the bed against a spread of rose pedals was Bob. Both hands handcuffed to the bedframe and only wearing a miniscule pair of silk underwear in the light of several dozen candles. There was some odd middle-eastern music playing softly in the background. Paige and Xi both looked at each other then back at Bob who simply stared blankly back at them. Paige couldn’t tell if he was terrified [i]or relieved[/i]. Xi flipped on the light switch and checked the bathroom. There was no one else. He found the source of the music and turned it off. “God, I hate that shit, listened to enough of it over in the sandbox,” He said. “No wonder they hate us, it’s because their music sucks.” Paige smiled and tipped her head back towards the mangled doorway. Xi nodded and left the room.

“Well Bobby,” Paige said looking down at him. “Here we are.” There was most definitely a clear look of relief on his face, but he did not speak. Paige looked around for the handcuff keys and inside the nightstand found them alongside a small, snub-nosed revolver and a Bible placed by the Gideons. She looked at Bob sharply as she set it aside then took out the Bible. It was still crisp and new. Feeling its weight in her hand she doubted anyone had even picked it up since it was placed and she opened the cover to look at the date before setting it on the bed. She uncuffed Bob from the bed just as Xi came back through the door with a chair from the dining table. He closed the door behind him and sat the chair down firmly in front of Bob. 

“Did you take care of Thor?” Paige asked. She recuffed Bob’s hands behind his back.

Xi nodded and clutched Bob on the shoulder spinning him around and planting him solidly in the chair. He was now looking back at Paige who sat quietly on the edge of the bed, again looking at the Bible. She looked back over at him studying the confusion that spread across his face. “I know you’re glad to see us and all Bob and we are gonna take you in,” She said, “But there is just one thing we need before you go.” She waited watching his face looking for that first reaction to her next words. Bob looked quizzical, but hopeful. Grabbing that girl's hair and forcing her to drink that cocktail of meds and alcohol back at the jazz night was turning out to be one of the best decisions he ever made. Now that the Marshals had found him before he could be shipped off to India, he would be rid of that crew of delinquents for good. Unsure what else they could want, he listened carefully as Paige spoke: “You need to tell us exactly what happened in Cabo San Lucas…”

Bob’s eyes widened and he visibly trembled as his face turned even more pale than his blotchy white skin. He shook his head in complete terror. 

“We thought you might say that,” Paige again picked up the small pistol and checked the cylinder, “You know, finding you wasn’t all that hard,” She said, “But Xi and I are very good at our jobs, ‘finding people’ and all that,” She put the gun back down. “See, most everyone looking for you thinks you’re just a tag-along, you forced that poor girl to drink cough medicine and vodka and then you all took off on your helicopter for who knows where, but the more I looked into it the more I kept finding all manner of things that tied all of you to that little flophouse in Mexico.” She turned and looked at him darkly in the eyes, “So I’m gonna ask you again and give you the chance to save yourself before the rest of them sell you out to save their own skins.”

Bob, unable to keep her glance, looked down and shook his head.

Paige put one hand on her hip and looked down at him then took up the Bible from the bed. “Don’t worry, Bob there’s still hope.” She said using the Book to lift his chin up. There were tears running down his face. “Did you know my daddy was a preacher?” She said. Her tone was suddenly lighter, reverent even, “Did I ever tell you that?” She glanced up at Xi who shook his head with a smile. “Yep, sure is. He taught me a lot when I was a little girl: right and wrong, truth and consequence… All out of this Book.” With a peaceful smile, she opened it up and thumbed over the pages remembering lessons and passages from her childhood as they crossed over from front cover to back under her fingers. “Daddy always believed in the power of the Word,” She said right before her eyes narrowed into a maniacal piercing glare, “And so do I” 

The Good Book came across Bob’s face with such force and ferocity that he was on the floor staring at a few of his teeth before he knew what happened. His whole world was spinning. One side of his head was suddenly numb and then pulsed in shock pain. Xi’s heavy hands quickly hefted him back in place before she hit him again on the other side of the head. Bob spit out another tooth as Xi again placed him upright facing Paige. She leaned in with the Bible on her side giving him the same raging fire in her glance, seeing the fear in his eyes- [i]fear now directed at her[/i]. “Now are you gonna tell us what happened in Mexico," She growled, "Or am I gonna have to go chapter and verse?”

[@aladdin_sane]