"Can we stay in a hotel tonight…please?" Shift pleaded from the backseat of the jeep. Swan lifted her wind-whipped hair away from her face and gazed at Psion from the passenger seat. Her expression said she wasn't going to beg, she could prove another night on the ground wouldn't be the death of her but she would really enjoy a shower and a soft bed under her.
Psion glanced over at her, his face never leaving the road but watched her briefly out of the corner of his eye. Sure the road ahead was clear enough and straight enough, he turned to look at Shift, "Why?"
"Because Swan is tired of sleeping in the dirt and would like to have a shower."
Psion laughed out loud as Swan glared over her shoulder at him, "Don't pin this on me bucko."
Shift shifted in his seat and looked uncomfortable, "All right, I'm tired of sleeping in the dirt and smelling like ass. Can we? It'll be dark soon."
Psion mulled it over, could feel Swan's gaze on him. It made him feel…uncomfortable, like she was looking at more than just him. He resisted the urge to wander into her mind and answered Shift. "If it gets dark before we pass an exit with a hotel, then no." He felt the excitement in the open cab of the Wrangler before he heard Shift's whoop of pleasure over the roar of the wind. Swan, he could see, was wearing a pleased smile. It was an effort not to slip inside her head and find out what she was thinking, but these two were different. They weren't pawns anymore, they hadn't allowed it and they respected him. The least he could do was respect their privacy and not enter their minds.
They passed exit after exit and Shift was beginning to get more and more nervous about having to spend the night somewhere in the dirt. Psion hoped there would be a hotel soon because Shift would be intolerable all night if there wasn't. The headlights washed over the blue sign to the side of the interstate. It listed a selection of three hotels and Shift's head poked between the front seats gibbering, "Did you see? Did you see?"
Psion suddenly felt much like the father, and wondered briefly if Swan felt like the mother, to the unruly child in their back seat, but he merely nodded and kept his eyes open for the coming exit. He could see Shift bouncing up and down in the rear view mirror and the boys enthusiasm made him share an amused look with Swan as the Wrangler took the turn of the exit and the headlights washed over the sign. "Days Inn, Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn, or what the hell is that one?"
"I didn't see it." Swan said, squinting into the darkness as they went past the sign. Shift merely shrugged and Psion ignored it. The exit ended at a street with traffic lights painting the asphalt green and red. The hood of the Jeep turned red as they pulled to the stop bar. Psion watched the road turn yellow and finally red, turned the wheel and headed in the direction of the hotel whose name they had all missed. Swan and Shift were peering into the darkness as it was peeled away by the headlights until they crested the hill and saw the lit sign for a Double Tree.
"Ah-h-h, so that's what it was." Psion felt their eyes on him as he pulled into the parking lot. "One hotel is no different from the other. We're here now, might as well stay. Stay with the Jeep, I'll be out in a moment." He pulled in front of the sliding glass doors to the lobby, put the Jeep in park but left it idling as he went inside. He had cash, a virtually limitless bank account set up somewhere. It had been set up by the organization to keep him supplied when they started using him for missions. His escape should have frozen the account, but he'd had it all transferred to another offshore account. Millions of dollars and he was a vagrant. The idea made him chuckle as he went to the front desk.
"How may I help you sir?" The question always irritated him, what the hell else could be need pulling into a hotel parking lot and going to the front desk as dusk became night.
"Three rooms, one on the ground floor if possible." Psion watched the man's fingers fly along the keys of the computer, gray eyes watching the screen. He smiled, gave the price for the rooms, and accepted the id that Psion was sure only contained one pure piece of information. The clerk's eyes lingered on the gloves but said nothing. He was handed three electronic keys and the id back and bid Psion a good night. "Thanks partner." He left the clerk behind and returned to the car, singling out the first floor key for his own room and stuffing it into a pocket. As he approached the Wrangler he tossed Swan and Shift their keys and climbed into the drivers seat. Driving around to the rear of the hotel, he parked in a manner that would allow them quick escape if necessary, turned off the engine, pocketed the keys, and climbed down from the Jeep. Retrieving his bag from the trailer with his bike, he gave them both a mock salute and went in through the back door.
He found his room about seven doors down from exit he'd come in through. Sliding the key into the lock, he glanced into the parking lot and saw Swan already heading toward the door as Shift rummaged in the back seat to regather his things. He smiled sadly and slipped inside his room. The room was cool, the way he liked it, as he tossed his bag onto the chair in the corner. He turned on the television, tuned it to CNN, and let the words of the newscasters cascade through his mind. His hearing picked up the door outside opening and closing to admit Swan. Moments later it opened and closed again to admit Shift. A door…he assumed next too his, opened, and wondered which of the two had gotten the room that was connected by the pair of heavy metal doors beside the drawer unit upon which was perched the television. Stripping down to his skivvies, he carried all his clothes into the bathroom but thought better of it. There had to be a laundry room on this level.
