A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(69)

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. We’re friends. End of story. Neither one of us wants anything else.”

Garrett ended the conversation by turning on the radio so Brady wouldn’t feel the need to give him any more unsolicited advice. Talking about Parker as just his friend sounded foreign to his ears all of a sudden. He thought back over the last couple of days and the changes he saw in her. He watched her transform into an entirely different person right before his eyes. Yet, underneath she was still the same amazing woman that she’d always been —putting everyone first and to hell with what she needed or wanted. She’d done it with her father, with the CIA, with Milo, and now with him. She stood there in that room trying to get him to understand that things might not have been what they seemed, letting him yell and make accusations because she knew he needed to let it all out. Garrett took her patience and support and turned right around and practically called her a whore.

He was lying to her and he was lying to himself, but he just couldn’t seem to stop.

Garrett pulled into the Occidental El Embajador’s parking lot, turned the car off, and got out without a word to Brady. The two men walked into the lobby, glancing around for the best person to talk to.

“You don’t want the front desk or a manager,” Brady whispered next to him. “They’re the most likely candidates to be on Fernandez’s radar and payroll.”

They walked further into the lobby and followed the signs leading to the restaurant in the back of the building.

“We need someone who spends a lot of time here and sees things other people might miss. Someone who struggles to make ends meet and watches people throw money away and abuse power. Someone who would readily trade information for a little cash,” Garrett said as they walked by the elevator just as the doors were opening.

A woman in her mid-fifties wearing a hotel maid uniform stepped out a few paces behind what looked to be the manager. He was speaking angrily in rapid Spanish to the woman, admonishing her for not having one of the suites ready by the time the high level guests arrived that morning. The man finished his rant and walked away, leaving the woman to stand there fuming.

“Bingo,” Brady said softly.

Garrett and Brady made their way over to the woman and stopped her right when she turned and began walking away.

Brady asked the woman in Spanish if they could have a few moments of her time to ask her some questions. She looked nervously between the two of them and wondered if she was going to be in more trouble for being late to work. The woman glanced behind her to the retreating back of her manager, not wanting him to see her standing around doing nothing.

“It’s okay, ma’am, we won’t tell anyone you spoke to us. We just want to show you a picture of a man and have you tell us if you have seen him here in the hotel before,” Brady explained to her.

In her time working there at the hotel, she had learned not to trust American men when they visited. She may not have understood what they said when they spoke their English, but she knew they were up to no good. They treated her and all the other cleaning staff like dirt. They liked to forget that while they came and went, she was the one to clean up after them. She saw what they left behind, she saw who they brought to the rooms, and heard what went on behind the closed doors.

These men, although obviously American, looked nicer than the others. They had pleasant faces and sincere smiles. They talked to her like a human being and not like a slave put there just for their use. She made a tentative decision to hear what they wanted before deciding if she could trust them.

Garrett held his breath while the woman looked back and forth between Brady and him and then glanced once more behind her. He was afraid they lost her, and she would go running to management.

After contemplating their genuineness for a few more seconds something in their faces must have convinced her that they were trustworthy enough. She motioned with her hand for them to follow her as she turned and quickly headed down a hallway behind the elevator bank.

The men casually followed her, making sure not to look suspicious. They walked behind her until they came to the end of the hallway and a door that said: Staff Only. She glanced behind them down the long hallway and then quickly pulled a key out of her pocket to unlock the door.

They stepped inside and she closed and locked the door behind them.

Brady thanked her again for agreeing to talk to them, and Garrett reached into his back pocket to pull out the picture he’d shoved in there earlier. It was a five by seven print of Milo and Garrett from their SEAL graduation. He smoothed out the creases and stared at the picture in his hand. It had been a beautiful day in San Diego. The sun had been shining, not a cloud in sight, and Garrett and Milo had their arms around each other’s shoulders, staring into the camera with huge smiles on their faces while Parker snapped the picture. They each just had the golden Trident pinned over their hearts and had tossed their caps into the air. After the caps hit the ground, they wound their arms around each other’s necks and Parker called their names so they would look up.

Garrett had remembered the words their Commanding Officer spoke as he attached the pin to each of their chests. The Trident symbolized that they were brothers in arms―that they train together and fight together. The eagle’s wings on the insignia were wide open to represent courage and strength, both of which the SEALS would need in abundance during their stint with the military.