"Chameleon" The Ledge

Copyright © 2018 by Cole Steele

All rights reserved

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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The Acropolis was directly across the river from the Parthenon which was the other casino and hotel owned by the Razin brothers just outside the city limits of Kirkwood. It rivaled any casino hotel combination in Vegas. Large Greek statues dominated the first floor including the lobby and gaming areas.
A valet came out to meet us as we stopped under the canopy a few feet from the main entrance lined with revolving glass doors.
Quickly flashing our ID’s the valet promised to keep an eye on the Chevelle.

There was a flash of lights approaching us as a caravan of dark window tinted Chevrolet Suburbans pulled up to the entrance.  Like a swarm of hornets on a piece of rotten fruit the paparrazi materialized out of thin air waiting for the doors to be opened on one of the vehicles.  The hotels security detail quickly kept them confined to a roped off area although a few of them tried to get closer for a better view.  Willow walked around to the front of the Chevelle and stood next to me for a second.

“Wonder who that is?”

“No idea.”

My cellphone went off.  It was my brother Micah.  I quickly answered.

“What’s going on?”

“Are you here?”

“Just pulled up, why?”

“Get in the elevator, tenth floor. I don’t think she’s going to wait much longer, hurry.”

“What in the hell is going on, Micah?”

“Goddammit, hurry.”

We made our way to the bank of elevators in the lobby taking the first available one to the tenth floor.  As the doors opened the entire hallway was quiet as a church congregation before an opening prayer on a Sunday morning.  Two tall muscular males wearing white polo shirts with the hotels logo on them motioned us to a suite directly across from the elevators entrance.  The door read number 1013 and it slowly cracked opened as my brother stood there.  My brother was a just a tad shorter than me at approximately six foot.  Micah Lee had on a tailored designer suit with a neatly pressed white dress shirt and gold tie.  His shoes were polished to perfection.  He whispered quietly.

“She’s on the ledge.”

“Who?”

“Someone who’s thinking about checking out.”

“Obviously not in the traditional sense.”

“Think she’s high as fuck.  Her eyes are red as the devil.  She’s not making any sense either and keeps babbling.”

“How long has she been out there?”

“No idea.”

“How did you know she was out on the ledge?”

“Someone called the front desk anonymously from a cell phone.”

“She a prostitute?”

“How the hell should I know.”

“We have a specialist downtown for this sort of thing.”

“Did you see who pulled up?”

“No, we walked in before they opened a door.”

“The hotel booked the biggest country music name out there for a concert this weekend. This was the last thing they needed to fuck it up.  You know how they are when it comes to their reputation.”

“Yeah, all too well.”

“Can you make sure she doesn’t hit the concrete?”

“Why isn’t Alex up here?  This is his fucking hotel, am I right?”

Willow took a few steps toward the window then turned.

“Jesus, she’s going to jump if we don’t do something.  Which direction out the window? Right or left?”

Micah looked toward the curtains that were waving in the strong morning breeze.”

“Left.”

Willow set her purse down on a nearby table.

“I need a few things.  But you need to move your ass now and get them, understand.”

Micah whispered out into the hallway to his security detail.

“Boys.”

My partner wasted little time with instructions.

“I need a pot of coffee with two cups, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.”

Micah returned looking at his phone.

“Be a few minutes but it’ll be here.”

I looked over at her.

“What’s your plan?”

“Let me try and talk to her.”

“Coax her close to the window and grab her?”

“No. That’s the last thing we want to do.  The hero thing doesn’t work well in these situations.”

“How do you know?”

“I watched Carl Reese, our crisis intervention specialist a couple of times.”

“That’s why he needs to be here right now instead of us.”

“But he’s not, so we need to do something.”

“Alright, your show.”

Willow Darby walked over to the window taking the curtains and draping them over a chair.  She carefully approached the opening, glancing to her left almost as if she were expecting an armed suspect to shoot at her.  It was similar to the instruction we received when clearing a room while training with our tactical unit on occasion.  There were only two corners, right and left and you divided the potential open space into small finite slices, as you would a pie.  You moved slowly and deliberately.

She turned back toward us after spotting the woman out on the ledge.  Willow shook her head and walked back.  I didn’t like her expression.

“What?”

“Whoever she is, has moved far from the window now.”

“How far?”

“Almost over to the next room.”

“Micah, anyone home next door?”

“Let me try my pass card, but I think it’s occupied.”

“They’re getting a fucking courtesy wakeup call then.”

The small green indicator light flashed as my brother opened the door a little to look inside the suite.  He motioned for us to follow.  There was a set of luggage on the bed but no visible owner, anywhere.

“Must be downstairs in the casino.”

“Or out on the ledge introducing themselves.”

“Bro, really?”

“Your boss is the one that called us out here right?”

Micah looked at me then Willow for a moment.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with this every day.”

The items Willow had requested were brought into the room and placed on a small table before I could respond.  Pouring two cups of coffee she took them over to the window placing one outside casually on the ledge.  The woman looked strung out, disheveled and as though life had beaten her into submission.  Her brown eyes were glazed over and dominated by a bloodshot appearance.  Taking a sip Willow looked over at her noticing that all of the toes on the woman’s bare feet were flexing and trying to grip the concrete ledge.

“Sure is a beautiful morning.”

Turning her head towards Willow she looked over then down.

“I’m Willow Darby, nice to meet you.  Would you like some coffee or a smoke?”

She didn’t reply aloud but rather mumbled incoherently.

“There’s some nice furniture inside here where we can sit and talk if you’d like.  You know, girl talk.  Just you and I.  Probable a lot more comfortable too, although the breeze is refreshing I must admit.

The woman in her early thirties slid her feet in the direction of the open window closest to Willow.  An indication of potential reconsideration. She spoke with an accent which sounded Russian.

“Dah, smoke.”

Willow pulled her head back inside asking for a cigarette and the lighter.   With the cigarette dangling from her mouth she lit it then climbed up into the window, bracing herself on both sides of the frame. Trying not to be too loud I had to say something.
“Darby, easy will ya.”

Of course my brother couldn’t resist from putting in his two cents.

“The new partner has got balls bro, I’ll give her that.  Temple would have never done anything…”

Willow stuck her head back inside again.

“Jesus you two, can you cut it out for like two minutes?”

She took the cigarette from the end of her mouth but first took a long draw from it blowing the smoke off to the side before leaning out and handing it to the woman.

Sorry, haven’t did that since my senior year in high school. Wow, that was a long time ago. Anyways
there unfiltered and I....

“Cigarette is fine.”

The woman spoke coherently for the first time.  She took long deep hits from the Marlboro, eventually letting the smoke escape her nostrils after what seemed like an eternity.