The address Lenny sent us led us to a collection of hotels. Maguire’s finder potion, as I was starting to call it, narrowed our target area down to an unimpressive motel with a partially functioning sign and a mostly empty parking lot.
“This isn't the ideal place to bring a kidnapee,” I commented. “Sure the motel looks sketchy, but it's in a highly trafficked area and I can count at least three security cameras pointed at it.”
“They could be hiding out in another one of the hotels,” Maguire suggested.
“That would make sense if they got spooked, especially since your potion is keyed to the energy of the heart. This is near where the market was and they would be smart enough to hide in plain sight.”
“How do you want to play this?”
“I want you to go check the lobbies of the fancier hotels, see if you can find them. We stay in contact and you leave the potion with me. I'll check out the motel, see if maybe I can find the heart. If you find them, text me where and I'll come pick you up.”
“Got it.”
Maguire handed me the potion thermos. His smile felt confident but I spotted a hint of nervousness in his eyes. I couldn't blame him. He hadn't exactly signed up for potential hostage rescue. I gave his hand an encouraging squeeze.
“It's going to be okay. We've got this,” I said.
“That we do.”
He exited the car first, strolling confidently towards one of the big hotels. I slipped out and took a more indirect route to the motel, clutching the thermos close to my chest as I shuffled along, scanning the area for any sign that something was out of place. Three of the cars were parked in the far end of the lot, near what may have been a staff entrance. A single car with tinted windows was parked nearby, in front of one of the doors.
I pulled my pocket knife out of my messenger bag and leaned down, swiftly stabbing one of the tires. It would be easy enough to patch, in case the car didn't belong to the thieves. If it did, it would slow them down significantly.
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That only solved part of the problem, though. I didn't know for sure which room they were in.
I needed a distraction, something to draw them out and give me a chance to get into the room to grab the heart.
My eyes went to the employees cars, but before I could do anything, my phone buzzed. Maguire had texted me to confirm that he found Tanya and Eric, as well as the fact that the heart was nearby. I replied, telling him to get them to call a cab and go to the diner around the corner from the safehouse. He sent back a thumbs up.
With that taken care of, I returned my attention to the task at hand. I cut around the corner and circled around the back of the motel to get to the office space. As I went, I fiddled with a few odds and ends I had tucked into my bag, making some things that would be very distracting without causing any damage.
I tossed one under the employees cars and left a few scattered within the trees before slipping back around to the other side of the building once more.
I had just reached the corner when the first thing went off. It sounded like a car backfiring, and sent out a shockwave just strong enough to set off one of the alarms. That got the employees out of the office. Then it went off again, and a third time, spooking the employees back into the office and drawing the tenants out as well.
As I expected, the thieves were staying a few doors down from where they parked. The next round of distractions went off then. These were laced with just enough magic to keep the attention of all who saw it for a few minutes.
I crouch ran up behind the thieves, slipping into the room and shutting the door behind me. The thermos grew steadily warmer as I circled around the room until I came to a plain backpack. I grabbed it, along with a few other things that looked important, then I climbed out the bathroom window, leaving some caltrops on the ground behind me.
I heard the door open and an exclamation of surprise, so I started sprinting for the car. The door was still unlocked so I opened it and threw the bags in before dropping into the seat and slamming the door behind me.
“Hey, get back here!”
I started the car and floored it, peeling out of the parking lot in a random direction before they could draw more attention to me. My heart hammered as I slowed down and started driving around the downtown area, taking a random route in a way that I hoped came across as intentional.
No one tried to follow me. When I got caught at a particularly long red light, I sent a text to a tech savvy friend asking if I could do a drive by tracking check. They said yes, and I circled by the warehouse I knew they were operating out of. When no one came out to talk to me, I relaxed a little more and finally headed back to the safehouse, stolen treasures in tow, hoping that somewhere in the bags I could at least find some answers if not the heart.