Page 126 of Sting
“Exactly. If Panella is out there, he’ll think she’s in one of the SUVs. Also as a decoy, we’re leaving Hick’s car in the garage where we parked it when we got back from Tobias. But one of our agents left another car parked on the street. As soon as the SUVs peel out, Hick’ll bring that car into the garage and pick up Gwen, Jordie, and me at the elevator.”
“How many officers watching the hotel?”
“A dozen uniforms. That many more undercovers in and around the lobby and at all the entrances.”
“They know to be looking for Panella?”
Wiley nodded. “To refresh memories, we circulated the last known photograph of him.”
“What’s my job?”
“To make yourself scarce until morning. You have somewhere to stay?”
“Plenty of flophouses in New Orleans.”
“We’ll reconvene early in my office. Hick and I will show you everything we have on Josh Bennett. Maybe you can spot a clue we’ve overlooked that would lead us to his hidey-hole.”
Shaw thought over the difficult chore ahead of them. He wasn’t typically a team player, and he wasn’t being embraced by everyone on this team, where cooperation was absolutely necessary. He looked over at Hickam, then came back to Wiley with a silent question mark.
Wiley, following both his glance and his thought, said, “He doesn’t like you.”
“I’m crushed. But is he gonna continue being a pain in my ass?”
“I’ll talk to him, encourage him to keep an open mind where you’re concerned, because your particular skills might come in handy. Hick and I aren’t fond of Josh, but we don’t want Panella getting to him before we do.”
“I want to nail Panella.”
“So you’ve said.” Wiley cocked his head to one side. “This hasn’t turned personal, has it?”
Shaw just looked at him.
Wiley sighed. “I was afraid of that.” Then he eyed Shaw up and down. “Try to stay out of trouble overnight. Don’t scare anybody. And whatever you do, don’t get arrested. I can’t take two doses of Xavier Dupaw in one day.”
Shaw gave him a wry grin of understanding.
Gwen Saunders approached them. “Mr. Kinnard, are you out of my bedroom? I need to get my things.”
“Call me Shaw, and thanks for letting me crash in your room. Did you order the food for me?”
She smiled. “You looked like you needed sustenance.”
“I did. Thanks. Where’s Jordie?”
“We got a vest for her. She’s putting it on.” She indicated the closed door on the other side of the suite, then headed toward her own bedroom.
Hickam summoned Wiley over to a table where he was conferring with the marshals over the layout of the hotel and the routes they would take for their exit. Shaw pretended to be choosing an apple from a basket of fruit on the minibar. When no one was looking, he slipped into Jordie’s bedroom and closed the door.
Without looking around, she said, “I’m coming.”
She had changed out of the pants suit into a pair of black jeans, a button-up white shirt, and sneakers. She was bent over the bed, zipping up a duffel. When done, she turned around and, seeing Shaw, drew up tall, her eyes narrowing with animosity. She pulled the duffel off the bed and walked to where he stood against the door.
“Get out of my way.”
“I had to make you believe it, Jordie.”
“I said, get out of my way.”
“There were times I hated myself for—”
