Judgment Day (Templar Chronicles Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

slamming to a stop in front of the entrance, the men disembarking and following their commander inside.
    Riley was still trying to figure out exactly how he was going to get Cade’s location out of the night manager as he walked in the door, but as it turned out he didn’t have to. The manager came rushing out from behind his desk to greet them as soon as he caught sight of the team entering the building in their armored vests and dark jackets.
    “Oh, thank God! You’re finally here!”
    Riley had no idea what the man was talking about, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
    “Give me an update,” he ordered as he headed for the elevator, forcing the manager to walk with him in the process.
    “One of our security team was watching the monitors and caught a man exiting the stairwell with a gun in his hand,” the manager said, as he pulled out a key and used it to call the elevator. “The man found the room he was looking for, kicked the door open, and then he disappeared inside. That’s when we called the police.”
    Not for the first time, Riley was thankful that the Order made a habit out of monitoring the police band in major cities across the US. Someone in the communications department must have heard the 911 call come over the wire and acted swiftly enough to route the request to the Order rather than to the NYPD for whom it was intended.
    “I assume you’ve been monitoring the room since?” Riley asked, as the elevator dinged and the door opened in front of him.
    “As best we can via the cameras in the hallway. No one has come in or out since. If you’ll follow me...”
    The manager moved to step inside the elevator but Riley put out a hand and stopped him.
    “My men and I will take it from here. What’s the room number?”
    “1407,” the manager replied, seemingly relieved that he wouldn’t have to go up there. He handed over a plastic passkey. “This is a master key. It will get you into any room in the hotel.”
    Riley accepted it with a nod of thanks and then asked, “How many people are registered in the room?”
    “Two. A man and a woman. They checked in about fifteen minutes before the man with the gun arrived.”
    So Cade had either been trailing them or had been alerted to their arrival by someone else at the hotel. Riley bet it was the former.
    “What about the rooms on either side of 1307? Are they occupied?”
    The manager shook his head. ”No, we’re not very full this evening and it’s, uh, not a very popular floor.”
    Gee, can’t imagine why, Riley thought.
    “All right. Fourteenth floor is off-limits to everyone, including your people, until we get this resolved. I will let you know when it is safe to allow access. I don’t want anyone accidentally getting hurt, understand?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    As the manager hurried back to his station, Riley turned to his men and ordered them into position, sending First and Second squads to cover the stairs at either end of the floor while leaving Third to manage the lobby and taking the Command squad with him up to the 14th floor to handle the actual assault.
    Inside the elevator, Riley watched the digital numbers above the elevator doors light up.
    5...6...7...
    He found himself wondering just who it was that Cade had followed inside and then, on the heels of that, praying that they’d given it to him whatever it was that he wanted. Cade was not the type of man you wanted to hide things from, particularly where his wife was concerned, and right now finding Gabrielle was the only thing that mattered to him.
    The only thing.
    8...9...10...
    Riley pulled open a Velcro pocket on the left side of his vest and removed a small dental mirror. He gave its surface a quick shine.
    11...12...13...14.
    The elevator stopped and the doors opened.
    Riley stuck the toe of his boot into the gap between the doors, holding them open, and then extended the dental mirror just past the opening. He used it to look down the hall in one