Black Friday (or Black Market) - James Patterson [23]
As Laurence Hadford was sliding face up off the subway bench, Hudson relieved him of the weighty envelope. Hadford’s eyes were staring sightlessly at the ceiling.
Colonel Hudson quietly slipped off at the next stop. He was shaking. His mind was filled with tiny white explosions. It was the first time he had ever harmed a fellow officer.
Once he was out on Broadway, David Hudson struggled onto a city bus headed south. The Lizard Man screeched at him like a jungle monkey as the bus lurched forward. The Lizard Man screamed so loudly, Hudson had to grit his teeth. The Lizard Man laughed and laughed as David Hudson escaped into the awakening daytime city.
Dignity!
Revenge!
Chapter 16
A LITTLE MORE than an hour later, Hudson reached the Washington-Jefferson Hotel. He had a room at the far end of a depressingly drab second floor hallway. He’d had this room for almost five weeks, and that was pushing his luck perhaps.
But the northern Times Square district was perfectly anonymous, and so convenient for the work he still had to do.
Hudson sat on the edge of his hotel room bed for a moment. His thoughts turned idly back to Laurence Hadford, but he knew he couldn’t allow himself to dwell on the man.
He picked up the telephone, and dialed a local number in Manhattan.
“Hello, this is Vintage.”
“Yes. This is David My number is 323.” Hudson spoke in his usual soft but firm voice. “I can tell you exactly the kind of escort I’m looking for. She’s between five foot six and five foot ten. She’s between the ages of nineteen and twenty-six. I’ll be paying cash.”
Hudson waited, then he received a time, and a name for his “date.” “In thirty minutes at 343 West Fifty-first. Thank you. I’ll be expecting … Billie.”
As she walked down the dimly lit second floor hallway Billie shut off her Vintage beeper. It would be tacky to get an electronic message while she was in the middle of a session.
The Washington-Jefferson, though? She shivered involuntarily.
Billie tapped on the hotel room door. The door swung open almost immediately—and she found herself surprised. He was good-looking, actually. His smile was open and pleasant. He was tall, slender, and… uh-oh.
She saw the catch! The left sleeve of his mufti shirt flopped open…
Billie couldn’t feel too sorry for the man in the hotel doorway, though. There was nothing about him that inspired pity. He was certainly attractive, and his disability didn’t seem to trouble him because he was not at all self-conscious.
“Hi. I’m Billie.” She smiled courteously. “You’re David?”
Colonel Hudson stared at her for a few seconds before answering. Her hair was rich, ash blond with thick bouncy curls. She was long-legged and thin. Her breasts were firm under a silk blouse. She wore a flattering straight skirt, dark stockings, and polished high heels.
“I’m sorry,” he finally managed a smile. “I was staring, wasn’t I? Come in. I didn’t expect so beautiful a girl.”
Billie smiled—as if she’d never heard any of this before. The hint of a blush rose along her cheekbones. The color sloped down her neck to the hollow of her throat.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. It was Billie what? Your last name?”
“Just Billie,” she smiled again.
Hudson gestured around his Spartan hotel room. “I know, it isn’t exactly the Plaza.”
For some reason, Billie found herself slowly relaxing with this one. He was easy to be with, and he sounded halfway intelligent.
Billie sat down on the edge of the bed.
Very nonchalantly, she unfastened the top button of her blouse, then the next.
“Sit down by me.
Hudson did, and she lightly kissed his cheek. Her perfume drifted luxuriously up into his face.
“You said I was beautiful. I’d like to repay the compliment—you’re very handsome.”
Billie lightly slid her hands inside his shirt. She unbuttoned the middle two buttons.
Her touch was light and warm. Suddenly something extraordinary happened. Something unusual: Hudson began to feel.
A warning went off deep