Shadow Men – 37 – Anders and Grant

It was well after dark when Anders turned off the frontage road into the dimly lit parking lot of a motel. "Wait here," he said succinctly as he hung his helmet on the handlebars and strode to the motel office.

"Daddy, I'm sleepy, and hungry." Nicky yawned prodigiously.

"You and me both so let's hope we can stay here."

Five minutes later Anders returned. "We've got a room on the backside. It'll probably be easier if we walk around to it." As he talked, Anders' eyes flicked left and right. Grant figured he was making certain no one was watching them.

The room was small with two twin beds separated by a battered nightstand. Grant set Nicky down on one of them and took off his shoes. Before he'd finished his son was sound asleep. He moved him enough to get the covers out from under him then tucked them over him.

With that done, Grant turned to look at Anders. "Now, would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

Anders pointed to the saddlebag containing the papers, which he'd brought in with him. "How much did you read before you called the Senator?"

"Enough to know that someone's dirty and getting away with it. I guess that's how you'd describe it."

"It is. Obviously you told that to the Senator."

"Well, sure. He had to know what I'd found."

"Unfortunate. You're now as good as dead."

Grant shook his head. "I don't get it."

"I told you, he's in league with the Colonel. In point of fact, he's running the Colonel."

"Running him?"

"In words of one syllable, he's the Colonel's boss." Anders sounded somewhat put out Grant didn't get it.

Grant got it, he just wasn't certain he believed it. "Why should I take your word for that?"

"You did see what the man I shot was holding, right?"

"Yeah." Scrubbing a hand through his brown hair, Grant went to pull back one curtain and look out the window as he tried to sort out his feelings. Seconds later he was forcefully dragged back into the center of the room.

"Do you have a death wish?" Anders snarled.

"No." Grant pulled himself free of Anders' grip. "You think someone's out there?" He hated that his voice shook as he asked.

"Ninety-nine percent sure no one is. It's the one percent I worry about."

Grant nodded, sitting down hard on the end of the bed where Nicky slept. "Who are you anyway that you're doing this? Who sent you?"

Anders didn't answer for a long minute. Then he said, "People who are working to make sure the Senator and the Colonel are brought down, taken out."

"How did you find out I had those papers?"

"That I won't tell you. All that's important is we did and I was close enough that I could get to your place in time to save your and your kid's hides."

Grant laid back, putting an arm across his eyes to block out the light from overhead. "Now what happens?"

"First, I put some distance between you and whoever's looking for you, because trust me, they are and they're well trained."

Moving his arm, Grant looked at Anders. "Aren't we a bit obvious on the bike?"

"Yeah, so I'm changing transport. I'll deal with that in the morning."

"By then they could have found us. I mean it's sitting right outside."

Anders' eyebrow went up. "You're right. I must be more tired than I thought. Don't go anywhere." He was out of the room seconds later.

"Like where would I go?" Grant muttered. He got up long enough to pull back the covers, kicked off his shoes, and lay down again, putting one arm protectively around Nicky.

* * * *

When Anders came back a few minutes later Grant was dead to the world. He locked and bolted the door, then took two alarms from his saddlebag. One he hung from the doorknob and activated; the second he attached to the window so that the least attempt to slide it open would set the alarm off. "Best I can do for now," he murmured under his breath. After he turned off the light he sat down on the edge of the other bed, pulled off his boots, and set them by the head of the bed so he could get to the knives hidden in sheathes inside them. He took his gun and holster from the back of his waistband and put them under his pillow. Then he lay down and stared up into the darkness until he finally fell into a restless sleep.