No Vacancy

The next day had come. Jack woke up and took a shower. He packed up some of the clothes that Hildy bought him. It was now set. Jack was ready to solve his father's murder. If Gloria Exner had any clue about what Frank Slate was getting himself into, Jack was going to get to the bottom of it.

Jack wasn't the only one, however, who had packed up some clothes. Hildy had a suitcase set up so that she could go and lie low for a bit. Hildy wanted to help Jack on this, but Jack had told her that if she got involved, she might get herself killed. Hildy reluctantly agreed, but she had agreed to go stay with her brother who lived somewhere in another district in Grant City, at least far enough so that none of Fahook Ubduhl's men won't try to find her. Although it didn't appear that they knew where she lived, it was possible, if likely that Fahook had some connections that could track her down.

For Rafshoon Diggs and company to go to The Oar House after her shift had ended, there was a good chance that Fahook would send his men to try to take her again. She called in sick, at least until all of the problems die down.

In order to stay in touch for the time being, Jack gave Hildy the number to the cellphone he had in case she had to make a call. She gave the number to her brother's place in case he needed to check in on her, or if he needed her medical assistance. Jack also had her cellphone number just in case. Either way, Jack wanted Hildy out of harm's way.

Hildy drove Jack to the Bay Bell Hotel so that he could go lie low in what used to be Augie Blatz's penthouse apartment.

"Call me later, I got shit to take care of," Jack said.

"I will," Hildy said. "And call me whenever. I need to know if you're okay."

"You shouldn't have to worry," Jack said. "I'll be fine."

"Still, call me, and be careful" Hildy said.

"I will," Jack said. The two leaned in and kissed each other on the lips.

The door opened. Jack walked out of the car and headed into the hotel and went right for the elevator. It may have been daytime, but he had to keep out of sight against anybody in the hotel. Jack remembered that he was still a wanted man. He had to keep as low of a profile as possible. John Sanderville may be dead, but Fahook was still out there, with whatever problem he had with Jack, and could open a contract on him. He didn't forget that Hennessey likely had the entire Grant City Police Department on an assignment to bring in Jack if they don't kill him first.

Jack and Shadow got to the penthouse suite where Augie Blatz used to live. Eve told him about a debate going on at the Fremont Hotel that very evening. There was no time for relaxation.

After many hours of preparation, Jack and Shadow went out to Mitchum to meet with Eve, who had plans of her own. Jack and Shadow hid behind another car they took that belonged to Blatz before his demise. The one question on Jack's mind was why didn't the GCPD confiscate Blatz's vehicles after his death, but the same question could be asked about why his penthouse suite was still intact after all this time.

The exterior of the hotel had many cars and valets waiting to park them, as many people dressed in suits and business attire were seen strolling around before making their entry into the hotel. Jack got out a camera that he found in Blatz's place and figured it would be useful for this. He looked through the sight and took a few shots. He saw that Kip Waterman was covering this event, along with Marla Bales. Jack shot more photos, but one thing caused him to do a double take. A rather familiar face was seen at the front door with some police officers. It was Hennessey.

Looks like Hennessey is providing security for this event, but wouldn't that be the duty for Pinnacle's private security, same for Exner? Jack thought. Either way, these types of events are likely to be crawling with people trying to start shit. But there was something off about this.

Through Jack's sights displayed Hennessey talking with some of his own officers and Pinnacle's private security, but from what Jack sensed, the conversation looked like something was being planned.

"Hey, Jack." That female voice caught Jack off-guard a tad and looked to his left.

"Eve," Jack said, as his eyes widened and looked her up and down, like he didn't expect her to come dressed like this. She wore a navy blue suit with a skirt. The tie was black. She had glasses on and to top it off, a black wig covering her red hair. She looked rather studious yet had an appeal as well. "You look…different."

"Got to blend in somehow," Eve said. "What do you got right now?"

"My old police lieutenant and some officers, something's not right about this," Jack said. Eve signaled to Jack to pass him the camera. She looked at what was going on. Hennessey appeared to get a cellphone out. From what Eve suspected, it appeared that Hennessey was talking to someone about setting up a job.

"What, what do you see?" Jack said.

"I better go in," Eve said. "Contact me through the earpiece. I think Patch is here."

Jack looked up when he heard her say that. "Eve, wait…"

It was too late. Eve had walked far enough towards the entrance.

"Jack, you there?" Eve's voice was heard through the earpiece. "Go sneak in through the side or the back. Don't worry about me. Just find a way to get inside."

Jack figured that dogs weren't allowed in a place like this, so he put Shadow back into the car.

Eve went right towards the other security agents. One of the guards looked right at her.

"Haven't seen you before," one agent said.

Eve said, "My name is Lei Chang. I got called at the last minute to fill in. Let's go inside, the mayor's waiting for us."

That guard looked at her with a puzzled expression mixed with confusion. However, one other looked at her like he thought she was attractive, and another gave her a look like this woman had a familiar vibe to him. Any female agents that were there wondered who this woman was, like they suspected Eve was lying. Nonetheless they needed to get inside.

Meanwhile, Jack, wearing a black jacket and black pants, had to keep himself in the dark and snuck past any security guard in the place. Outside in an alleyway, a maintenance worker was seen with a cook, as they appeared to be conversing in Spanish, and the smoke in the air made it clear that they were smoking with the likelihood that they were on their break. A big event was being held at this place. There had to be a lot of people cooking food for the banquet and conference. Jack spotted the door that the two hotel employees likely used for their exit, with a dustpan keeping the door from being sealed. He quietly and slowly went to the door. He turned towards the employees as they looked to still be chatting away. Jack quietly opened the door and found himself in a hallway going towards a door. Once he got inside the building, several tables were set up for the banquet portion of this event.

I have to find a way around. Dressed like this I stick out like a sore thumb. Jack thought.

The dining hall had posters up of Gloria Exner and William Pinnacle, along with semicircular banners with red, white, and blue stars and stripes. The tables and chairs were set, but the dinner wasn't set yet, as the event was starting and attendees were in the lobby and waiting to go into the auditorium where the debate will take place.

"Jack, you there?" Jack heard Eve's voice come in through his ear.

"Eve, what's up?" Jack said.

"It's quiet right now, where are you?" Eve said.

"Trying to stay out of sight," Jack said. "I'm in the dining hall right now. Where are you?"

Eve was separated from the other security agents. She kept an open eye for any suspicious figures in the area. She saw large man in a pinstriped suit with a muscular Afro-Caribbean man with a blond dye-job and a man-bun. It was Mayor Pinnacle, along with his main bodyguard, Rafshoon Diggs. From a distance, she looked like they were talking about stuff, and from what she suspected, it didn't appear to be preparatory for the debate.

"Jack, try to find a way to get to the auditorium," Eve said. "Some shit's about to go down really soon."

"I'll be right there," Jack said.

For someone who was a trained killer, Eve had a way with reading people and figuring out stuff. She was able to see that Hildy was more than just an old friend to Jack. She quickly changed her mind about offing Jack for that price she was offered. The question was why. Why was she willing to help Jack like this?

When Eve regrouped with the rest of the security agents, she maintained her cover by walking in formation with the rest of them. However, she still got the same suspicious looks from a couple of agents. Rafshoon also leaned in towards her, like this woman seemed familiar to him as well.

Eve knew that she was being made out. She let out a couple of fake coughs. "Excuse me for a sec."

The main agent, whose name was Greene, looked at Eve as she walked away. "I'm going to go check on her."

The rest of the agents continued to escort Pinnacle into the auditorium to the applause of everyone in there. It wasn't long until Exner was escorted by her security as well.

As soon as Eve got far, Greene caught up to her, and reached for his gun inside his jacket. "Excuse me, Chang, are you all right?"

Before he could draw his weapon, he was met with a pistol pressing against his chest. "What the fuck?"

"Don't fuck with me," Eve said. "I know you were onto me, but unless you want a few bullets put through your chest, I suggest you go back in there and protect the mayor like you're supposed to. You got that?"

Greene glared at Eve and then nodded. "Got it."

"Good," Eve said and put her gun down.

"Eve, have you found anything yet?" Jack's voice caught her attention.

"No, I am not inside yet," Eve said. "Where are you?"

Jack was in a room adjacent to the stage area of the auditorium. "I got Exner in my sights. If Patch is here, you better find him before he takes out Gloria Exner."

"On it," Eve said.

"If you find him, don't kill him," Jack said. "I have my own questions that need answers. I know you have your problems with him, but I need to ask him some questions first."

"Don't worry, you have my word," Eve said.

Jack stood there with the door cracked open a tad. He saw Exner and Pinnacle standing at their respective podiums. The screen featured both Exner and Pinnacle's pictures for the election that was coming soon. He knew it was only a matter of time until Patch would let out a shot to her.

Meanwhile, Eve looked around to look for anything that resembled anything out of the ordinary. Jack got outside the door. Something was amiss about all of this. Though Eve was only disguised and posing as a security agent, Pinnacle's own security agents did nothing.

While Exner talked about her views of the corruption in Grant City, Eve looked around. No sniper was going to give their position away like that. Eve should know as she was an assassin herself. She looked towards the back of the auditorium and saw a flight of stairs but use of the balcony would be too obvious. She knew what Patch was capable of, but with the news cameramen being there, it was possible that Mayhem Inc. could have had one of their men pose as a cameraman and have a gun connected to the camera's lens. She saw none of that.

"Anything?" Jack said to Eve's earpiece.

"I can't find anything," Eve said.

Meanwhile, Jack stood at the door and watched as Pinnacle gave his perspective on the current state of Grant City and all of the crime and corruption, and how the GAC team will help with the problem. Jack looked around, but then heard something from above. At the other end of the hallway he was in, he saw a stairwell that went upstairs. He slowly went up the stairs and saw that the door at the top was cracked open. He opened the door some more. His eyes widened a bit, as through his field of vision knelt a familiar man with a purple dye-job looking through the sight of a rifle right at a window overlooking the auditorium. Patch was ready to make his shot.

Jack was conflicted. Although this would go against the original plan, Patch was right in Jack's sights. He backed away and pushed the button on his earpiece.

"Eve, change of plans, Patch is up here," Jack said. "I got him right in my sights. Make sure Exner doesn't get shot."

"Got it," Eve said.

Jack went back into that upstairs hallway that overlooked the auditorium. Jack watched as Patch had his finger on the trigger and leaned in towards the scope. Although Jack knew that Patch was missing his right eye, he figured that this man was a skilled marksman that could use his left eye and other ways to aim for his target.

Back outside, Eve looked around and saw a red light glaring on Exner's face. None of the security acknowledged it. If any of them did, they didn't react to it. Eve looked up and right in front of her and quickly ran onto the stage and pounced towards Exner, tackling her to the floor as a hole was pierced into the screen with it sticking out compared to the projection. Oddly enough, the bullet-hole was higher than where Exner stood.

Upstairs, Jack looked down towards Patch, who lied on the floor.

"Mr. Slate, I never thought I would see you again," Patch said.

"You should have killed me that night," Jack said.

"Never too late to finish what I started," Patch said. He was slowly getting to his feet, but Jack saw that Patch had his right hand reaching towards his waist, acting like he was rubbing the pain away.

Jack knew otherwise, because all he did was tackle him from firing that shot. Patch quickly drew his golden Luger pistol, while Jack quickly drew a Beretta M9. The two pointed their pistols at each other's faces.

"I should have done this a long time ago," Patch said, with his finger on the trigger.

BANG!

The gunshot went off. Jack and Patch jumped.

"I won't miss next time," Eve said, now with her wig and glasses off with her red hair showing.

"Eve Adams? You're supposed to be dead!" Patch said.

"Never underestimate me," Eve said.

"I should tell you the same thing, you fucking muppet," Patch said. Jack and Eve had their guns pointed right at him. Despite being a skilled killer, he knew that if he would shoot either one of them, the other would fire directly at him. Patch had his right arm behind his back and pulled a pin off of a grenade of some sort and quickly threw it.

But it wasn't a standard frag grenade. It was a smoke grenade as the hallway covered Jack and Eve and heard a gunshot and glass shattering. Once the smoke cleared, Patch was gone.

"Fuck! We had him!" Eve said.

"He couldn't go too far," Jack said. "Besides, I have something to do. Where's Gloria Exner?"

"I'm right here." A female voice was heard as Exner walked up the stairs.

"Gloria Exner, I'm Jack Slate, I am…"

"The son of Frank Slate, yes, I know," Exner said and looked to Eve, who noticed that she looked different than she did before. "Who are you?"

"Eve Adams, friend of Jack Slate," Eve said and shook her hand.

"Thanks for saving my life," Exner said.

"We need to get out of here," Jack said and looked out the window. He saw several of GCPD's officers were scoping the place. The only other option was to go through that broken window. "Come on."

Jack and Eve went towards the window.

"What are you doing?" Exner said.

"Hey, we're open to any suggestions," Jack said.

Exner knew that Jack was an escaped convict. The moment he makes his presence known, Hennessey would have Jack arrested on the spot, or killed.

Eve quickly jumped out of the window and landed on top of a dumpster and got off. "Come on!" she said.

Jack climbed out onto the ledge. "Come on, give me your hand." He said to Exner.

Exner looked down. They were only a floor above ground level. She had no choice but to get out. The two jumped onto the dumpster and then quickly got off into the alleyway.

"Thank you for helping me," Exner said.

"Yeah, don't mention it," Jack said.

"Bravery runs in your family," Exner said.

"Yeah, about that," Jack said. "My father, he died investigating your case. What exactly did you send him after?"

"I heard a rumor that there were some budgetary issues with the subway construction," Exner said. "I thought maybe Frank could find out for sure."

"Well, did he?" Jack said.

"I don't know," Exner said. "He never made it to our meeting, but I have a feeling that there was more to it. The subway had since been fully built, but there had to be something to help fund it. I'm under the belief that Pinnacle had been working with some really shady figures, as well as had another source of finance to help fund the project, as well as Hennessey's GAC unit."

"So our current mayor has been accepting bribes and working with a lot of criminals?" Jack said.

"I don't know, I can't confirm it," Exner said. "I'm scared, Jack, people want me dead and I don't know why."

"Look, it's not safe for you to be here," Jack said. "Go find a cabin or a hotel in Cold Rock Creek, just miles outside away from Dock 765. Do not stop for anything until you get there."

Jack got out a pen and some paper and wrote down the cellphone number he was using and then handed it to Exner.

"Stay low and get out of here," Jack said.

Gloria walked away and headed for her car. If she had to talk to anybody, she would cover up what really happened. Eve looked around to see if there were any cops searching the area.

"Looks like the coast is clear," Eve said as it appeared that more of the cops entered the hotel, along with cops dressed in SWAT gear, likely the Anti-Crime unit, better known as GAC.

Jack and Eve got as far as they could from any cops patrolling the area. The news teams were there reporting on the attempted assassination.

"Come on, Jack, I got something to show you," Eve said.

She led him to the trunk of her car. Eve had an answering machine that she stole from Sanderville's office while some members of Mayhem Inc. were crawling in the house of the fallen crime boss. Jack was surprised, but it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the old man had an answering machine with an audio cassette as opposed to phones with voicemail.

"What's this for?" Jack said.

"There's something you want to hear on there," Eve said. "Especially if you want to help Gloria Exner, but there is something else you want to hear."

"Thanks, Eve, you know, for those times you saved me, as well as gave me this, I might find a way to return all of these favors to you," Jack said.

"Well, when we get out of this shit, we'll talk, maybe have a drink or something," Eve said and then winked at Jack.

"I'll keep that in mind," Jack said with a smile.

Inside the hotel, Hennessey looked around to see anything about the assassination attempt. Out of the blue, he was approached by Mayor Pinnacle, along with Rafshoon.

"Hennessey, what's going on?" Pinnacle said.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Pinnacle," Hennessey said.

"Hey, Exner was taken away by some new security agent," Pinnacle said. "One of my security guys told me that she was a fake."

"What did she look like?" Hennessey said.

"She looked Asian, but my main agent, Greene told me that she pulled a gun on him, like she was onto him already," Pinnacle said.

"Really?" Hennessey said. "I've already got too much shit on my plate and now I got to deal with some mysterious woman who took your opponent in the race? You may be the mayor, but this is my crime scene, and you're contaminating it, just like you're doing this entire city. Maybe if things went as planned, we wouldn't be in this shit."

"Hey, shut the fuck up," Pinnacle said. "I still run the city, you know."

"Right," Hennessey said in a condescending tone.

Meanwhile, inside the hallway, Chris and Michelle investigated the area and found a pair of glasses and a wig lying around. However, Michelle took a closer look and saw a bald cap lying near the wig, and the closer she looked, the more she saw some red hair on it.

"Chris, I found something," Michelle said.

"What do you got?" Chris said.

"I found some hair, and I think these glasses might have some DNA on them," Michelle said. "You think this might be the person who tried to kill Gloria Exner?"

"I don't know, we shall see," Chris said.

"We might need to run some prints around here as well," Michelle said.

LATER THAT NIGHT

Jack sat all by his lonesome in the kitchen at his hideout. He wasn't completely alone as he had Shadow around. It was getting late and Shadow lied there as he was tired. But Jack sat at the table and listened to the tape. Some of these messages appeared to be recent, with messages from Dutch and Palmer talking about their respective rivals, be it Palmer working with the police, as well as Dutch working with Fahook.

Then it hit Jack. When Mayor Pinnacle's voice was heard on the tape, he talked about how he was going to let Sanderville in on something big that Pinnacle had stashed close to the new subway.

Exner had a point when she said that Pinnacle had been accepting bribes, also been in on some of the action from some of the crime bosses in Grant City. That stuff about the subway construction budget, it sounded like a cover-up. No wonder my old man didn't let Hildy in on his case. Hildy may have known about the cases, but this was something big.

Then the final message played, as it was the most recent one. Jack looked up when he heard the sound of a rather familiar female voice. It sounded like Ruby, who was talking about how she took something from Fahook and was going to deliver it later that night, the same night when Sanderville had met his demise. What was she going to deliver to him?

She has no idea what she's getting herself into. I must find her really soon.