“At this hotel you would have been the first.”
“So you’ve done this elsewhere.”
“Couple of places.”
“Denver?”
“Not yet, but I was hoping to talk to Adam about it.”
Quinn said, “Adam?”
“Adnan Afaya, the terrorist,” I said.
Alison said, “Guys, I swear to God I didn’t know he was a terrorist. He approached me last time I was here. He wanted to apply for a driving job. I told him we didn’t have anything. He said the job wasn’t for him, said he was rich and the job was for his cousin, trying to get a work visa. He offered me a thousand dollars to get his cousin a job.”
“You took the money?”
“Yes. But I told him his cousin had to go through all the proper channels. He’d have to start cleaning cars, work his way up.”
“When was he going to start?”
“He started last month. When Adam—or whatever his name is—picked me up at the airport, he gave me some more money to get his cousin pushed up to driver.”
“You give him a time frame?”
“I said I’d do my best.”
“And he said?”
“I’d get a thousand dollar bonus if his cousin was driving a van by the first of December.”
I fi shed out my cell phone. “You guys chat a minute,” I said, punching in Darwin’s number. I went into Alison’s room, closing the door behind me. My new information had Darwin concerned. This was either the very beginning of a major attack, or closer to the end stage, and we had to find out which it was. I completed my call and opened the door. Quinn and Alison both looked up.
I said, “Alison, how would you like to make some
“It’s all I ever wanted,” she said.
“Then, lucky day.” To Quinn I said, “You packed and ready to roll?”
He nodded. We moved our suitcases to Alison’s room and watched her finish packing. Then we went back into the room with the dead guys, or as we say, “the Bernies.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Alison said.
I waited.
“What are you going to do with the dead guys? And when can we get out of here?”
“That’s two questions. But the answer’s the same: we wait for the door knock.”
Alison said, “I’m new here, remember?”
“What I mean is our cleanup crew is on the way. In addition to the bodies, they’ll eliminate all trace evidence. When they get here the three of us will move to your room and leave with our luggage.”
“No offense,” she said, “but you can’t possibly get away with this.”
“Why not?”
“Umm, gee, I don’t know,” she said sarcastically. “Dead bodies? Security cameras?” She tilted her head, spread her palms out, gave me a you-can’t-be-serious look.
