Page 34 of Once a Hero

“We all need a long nap.” Kenichi yawned loudly for effect.

“Yeah, and a shower. How about we circle the block?” Raynelle asked.

“How about we just check into a motel too and forget this whole thing.” Kenichi told Beatrice where to turn. The roads were easy to navigate around the small hospital.

“Jake will be nice and clean and we’re still smelling like the forest,” Raynelle countered.

“She’s right.” Beatrice wasn’t happy about their lack of preparation. “Besides, I booked us two rooms at a hotel some ten minutes from here.”

Somewhere at the back of her mind, she suddenly wished she had gone to graduate school and then teach somewhere afterwards. Life would be so much easier than flying around the world chasing after ghosts and shadows.

Or following former FBI agents around town.

Kenichi directed Beatrice down a road. That was when she saw the dumpy motel. “Not that one.”

“Let’s get a room here for a couple of hours or until he leaves,” Kenichi said.

“I’ve already reserved that other hotel. Five stars.” In Beatrice’s mind, the costs were escalating. “Besides, if he sees us, he might think we’re following him.”

“We have to stay close, in case he loses the tracker I put on him.” Kenichi seemed adamant.

Beatrice had to agree with him. He had a point. If they left Jake, they might lose him altogether.

“Are we very sure he’s going to the cabin one way or another?” Beatrice asked.

“He’s going to need a vehicle to take him there. It’s fifty minutes away and he can’t walk.”

“Stating the obvious, aren’t we, Ken?” Raynelle laughed.

“I thought you were sleeping,” Kenichi snapped.

“He’s going to know we’re here if he looks out the window.” Beatrice slowed the car to a crawl. “The motel doesn’t look very big. How about we give him a few minutes to check in and settle down?”

“Good idea.” Kenichi pointed to a McDonald’s “Let’s get some breakfast and come back. They have dollar meals.”

Beatrice nodded. “I can afford dollar meals.”

“I was just joking.”

“You might be, but I’m not joking at all. Our Gulfstream is sitting in San Francisco waiting to take us back to Charleston. The longer we stay here, the more it will cost me.” Beatrice had to be frank with him. “At some point in time, I’m going to run out of money and I’ll have to sell my majority share of the company to my brother.”

Raynelle groaned. “That will be bad. Your brother hates me.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” Beatrice said. “Once he gets to know you, he’ll like you.”

“I doubt it.”

“I’d rather work for you, Bee.” Kenichi’s voice was low. “Sorry I brought it all up.”

“No.” Beatrice sighed. “It’s not your fault. The cost of this entire operation is on my mind, is all. It just came out of my mouth. If it makes you feel any better, you and Raynelle will still have a job, even if my brother calls the shots in the future.”

Still, would she give it all up to have her father back? Yes, of course.

When Dad died, he left a fortune to Beatrice and Benjamin to the tune of several hundred million dollars each. How he had that much money was beyond her, but at least Dad hadn’t spent it all.

Wouldn’t Molyneux want a chunk of that fortune?

It wasn’t hers to begin with, as Dad hadn’t shared his assets with Molyneux back when they were married. Molyneux walked away with nothing.

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