Warming The Cold One - 29. The Room Without a View

“I am so glad you are going to be able to come with us after all.” Karla was standing in the bedroom taking a break from packing. She was talking to Ann on the phone. “Are we back to the original plans? That is wonderful! I will call and add your room back on and use the airline voucher. Talk to you tomorrow.”

Hank walks in the room as Karla hangs up. “What plans are back?”

Karla is still smiling. “Ann is able to go after all.”

Hank tries to keep his face neutral. “That’s great.”

“I know, I am so excited.” Karla’s cell phone rings. “Oh, hi honey. I have wonderful news. Yeah, we can pop over for a few minutes. I will tell you all about it when I get there.” Karla hangs up. “Tala wanted me to come over for a second. I shouldn’t be too long.”

“I’ll go with you,” Hank interjected. “If it ends up being about the trip, then it’s easier if I hear about it directly.”

Karla and Hank knock on Tala and Jay’s front door. Jay opens it and invites them in. He only partly closes the door, and the security team silently slips inside and closes the door behind them. They go into the living room as Tala is bringing in a tray with three glasses of iced tea.

Tala puts on a fake look of surprise. “Oh, Hank, I didn’t know you were coming. Let me grab you a glass of tea.”

“No,” Jay interrupts. “I’ll grab it. You were the one that needed to talk to Karla.”

Hank, not having any idea that this is an act, smiles and sits down on the couch. “Thank you, Jay.”

Karla grabs a glass of tea and sits down next to Hank. “I am so excited.”

Tala smiles. “What is this news you have?”

“Ann gets to go with us,” Karla gushes. “Whatever was conflicting got resolved and she is able to fly out and give us the royal tour.”

“That is wonderful, Mom.” Tala turns to Hank. “I guess you’re stuck in the estrogen ocean again.”

Hank nods as Jay walks back in the room. He hands the glass to Hank. “Thank you again, Jay.” He turns back to Tala. “It is not so bad. If it makes Karla happy, then I’m happy.”

Tala frowns. “Does it though? I mean you don’t seem happy.”

Hank looks surprised. “Of course, I’m happy.”

Tala shakes his head. “No, I don’t believe you.” He walks behind the couch and puts his hand on Hank’s shoulder. He can feel Hank trying to move away but it is too late. “I see. I see.”

Karla looks up at Tala confused. “What’s going on?” She sees a look of anger in Tala’s eyes. She turns to Hank, and he looks scared. “Hank?”

Hank pulls himself together looks up at Tala. “I don’t know what you think is going on, but you are wrong.”

Tala’s anger started to seethe. “I told you I would never hurt you if you worked with me. Do not make me make good on my promise then. I do not want to have to deal with that.”

Karla starts to get angry. “Will both of you stop, right now! Tell me what is going on.”

While both men stared each other down, Jay spoke up. “Karla, we got a tip that you were in danger. That someone was going to try to hurt you before you could make it to North Dakota.”

Karla’s mouth fell open. She turned to Tala and could see the pain on his face. “You mean Hank knew about this?” She turned to Hank. “You didn’t tell me we were in danger?”

“I, um, well,” Hank stammered.

Karla glared at him. “Spit it out!”

“I got this phone call about three weeks ago, while you were recovering. At first, I was just going to play along and take the money he offered and run. Once I realized where it was going to end up, I knew I was in too deep.” Hank started to sob. “I swear I would never have hurt you.” He looked straight into Tala’s eyes. “You know I’m telling the truth.”

Karla looked over to Tala to gauge his reaction. Her shoulders slumped when she saw Tala shake his head. She started to gently sob. When Hank moved to comfort her, she turned on him. “Don’t dare come near me!”

Hank saw a power in her eyes he had never seen before. He had seen her mad but now she had the anger of a mother wolf as well. “I swear to you…”

“Just stop!” The room went quiet as the power of Karla’s words echoed in the room. She turned to Tala. “What do we do now? Do we put in in jail, kill him or do we leave him for someone else to deal with?”

Tala shook off the stupor and rubbed his chin. “That is a good question. I don’t want to kill to kill him.” Hank sighed in relief. “However, I don’t think I can keep him safe either. If I put him in jail, there is no way to prevent someone from killing him. If we send him back, he is dead for sure.”

Hank started to plead again. “Please, please, I swear I wasn’t going to do anything.”

Jay spoke up. “We could ask to put him in one of the isolation rooms. I know Toby has a few.”

Hank went from pleading to full on begging. “Please, kill me but not an isolation room.”

Karla turned to Jay. “What are isolation rooms?”

Jay sighed. “They are torture. Made to be one hundred percent soundproof, they allow not even an echo. The lighting never changes from a soft and neutral glow on the dead gray walls. It can drive a human mad but to a lycan, it is far worse. There is a special additive in the paint that can block a transformation in all but the most dedicated spirits.”

“Are you are saying that it could drive him crazy,” Karla asked.

“Most will find a way to kill themselves within a few days. I have seen cases where they are put in bondage mitts and booties so they can’t commit suicide. It is barbaric at best. The flipside is they are very secure.” Jay looked at Tala. “It might be the only place safe enough.”

Tala sighed. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. I think I have an idea that could work, but it is no guarantee of success. Call Toby’s security and put him in a cell for now. I don’t want anyone to know he is there. I’ll see if I can get him somewhere safer as soon as we can.”

Jay nodded his head. “On it right now.”

Faolin walked out from the trees with a large backpack as he saw the car stop. He climbed in the back and the car pulled away. The driver looked at him in the rear-view mirror. “Portland Private Airport, please.”

The driver nodded and turned back to the road.

While Jay was out of the room, Tala turned to Hank. “Why didn’t you tell me about the phone calls?”

Hank’s face showed nothing but shame. “I thought I could handle it. I always handled it before when you were younger. I didn’t realize how high the stakes had gotten. I’m sorry.” Hank turned to Karla. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you as well. You deserved to know the truth.”

Tala sighed. “Then tell her the whole truth. Tell her why you didn’t want Ann to go.”

Karla perked up. “You really didn’t want her to go?”

Hank looked dejected. “No, I was afraid that she would get hurt because of me.” Hank saw the look Tala gave him. “I didn’t want to feel like a third wheel.”

Jay walked back into the room. “There is a van coming up the drive now.” He turned to Hank. “They will keep you safe until we can figure out something less confining to keep you safe.”

Hank stood up. “I understand.”

A few minutes later, the van was pulling away with Hank in the back seat. Karla had given him a kiss and had promised to call him later. They went back inside, and they sat back down in the living room. Karla looked at Tala with pleading eyes.

“I’m sorry. I wish there was more I could do.” Tala’s eyes watered a bit as he tried not to cry. “I played along to keep him calm, but he knew that I knew.”

Karla started to sob. “What is going to happen to him?”

Jay calmly answered. “Right about now, one of the guards is going to knock him out with a special face spray. He will wake up in a special isolation room. It’s not as intense as the normal ones and he will be able to transform. It was the best we could do on short notice.”

Karla nodded. “Is it really as bad as I think it was?”

Tala took her hand in his. “I won’t lie.” He paused for a second before continuing. “He really did think he could handle it at first. He fully believed that he could fake your deaths. Things changed once he saw how strong of a wolf you were. His plans had to change. Neither of you were going to make it.”

Karla’s whole body went limp. Sobs took over her body. Tala and Jay sat on either side of her and held her as she wailed. They last about ten minutes before she stopped and looked up. Her face changed from sorrow to resolution. She stood up and headed for the door. “I have reservations to change.”

Jay called after her. “What are you going to change?”

She turned. “I’m flying out of Seattle, I’m going to drive up from Nebraska, and I’m not going to be staying in Amidon. I’ll find something on one of the rental sites and use Ann’s bookkeeper for the name.”

Hank woke up in a light blue room. He looked around and all he could see around him was blank walls and a large, molded cement pedestal in one corner. He knew at once that this was a modified version of an isolation room. He could feel his wolf wasn’t being suppressed. On one wall, near the floor, was a molded shelf with two light blue bowls on it. As he was looking at them, a small door opened behind the shelf and the bowls were pulled out and replaced with a light green cup and a light green bowl. Hank walked over to them and saw the cup had what looked like apple juice or a flat beer and the bowl had some vegetable soup. He decided this was not going to be a 5-star hotel experience but at least he was going to be fed.

Keon was sitting in front of his laptop waiting to give his report during the weekly cadence meeting. It got to be his turn and he unmuted his microphone. “Thank you, Clay. As of this afternoon, the 21st floor is being updated to move-in ready. I am currently compiling the checklist for each office to ensure proper switch over of accounts. I am also including the links to touch base with the move teams if anything gets missed. We are still having an issue with one of the telephony switches, but a replacement has been ordered and will be here tomorrow night.”

The screen switched to Anja’s face. “That sounds wonderful, Keon. Please keep me up to date on how that goes. Are there any other things to report?”

It switched back to Keon. “Yes. I was checking the access control groups and they do not seem right. Some of the high security spaces don’t always work when I use the test badges. If I run the clear badge first, it always works. If I let it sit for an hour, then that reader will sometimes error and other times not. I ran the diagnostic kit on it and the reader itself is fine.”

Now on Anja again, she nodded. “That bug sometimes pops up in new installs and upgrades. I’ll have Gus take a look at it tomorrow. The problem is usually in some interference in the door frame wiring. Anything else?”

Keon’s face lit the screens again. “That is it. I’ll pass it to the next team.”

“Are you sure you have everything you need? Ann looked at Karla’s two medium suitcases, “It’s not a short trip.”

Karla nodded. “I know how to pack well.” She used her luggage scale to weight the bag she just finished zipping. “See, exactly forty-eight pounds. That one over there is forty-seven pounds and my carry-on is fifteen pounds. All of that can last me two weeks without doing laundry.”

Ann threw her hands up. “Okay, okay. I was just concerned. What time are they picking us up?”

“Aaron should be here in about an hour,” Karla answered. “Can you help me roll these to the door? I will start getting everything buttoned down and prepped for no one being here.”