Standing I walked quickly across the lobby, Eva following close on my heels.
“What happened?” I asked grabbing for Brian’s free arm, tugging it around my shoulder.
“Just shut up and don’t look suspicious.” A.J. hissed his eyes shifting over to the front desk where two employees stood eyeing us.
Eva walked to the front desk and began yelling in German, her voice rising in an irritated tone as we hauled Brian to the elevators.
“They’re broken.” I whispered.
“What?” A.J. shot me a dirty look from beneath the shaggy blonde bangs of his wig.
“Remember earlier, we had to take the stairs.”
“Shit. Okay fine let’s go to the stairs.” Backing out the elevator foyer we walked through the lobby towards the stairs, Eva’s voice echoing loudly at the front desk as she pounded her fist on the counter in an attempt to run interference for us.
“Hold him while I open the door.” Dropping Brian’s full weight on my hip A.J. pulled the door to the stairs open his hand slipping on the doorknob which was now slicked with dark red blood.
“A.J.?” My voice cracked as I stared wide eyed at the doorknob.
Looking down at the doorknob, A.J. then looked at his hand that was also dripping with blood.
“Nick, Nick look at me.” I could feel my knees get weak as I stumbled slightly. “Nick you gotta keep it together until we can get upstairs.”
“Okay,” Eva came up behind us making me jump. “I’ve done my part, they are so discombobulated out there it is going to take them at least a half an hour to figure out that I’m not even staying at this hotel.” Coming around the other side of Brian she hauled his arm up and around her shoulder alleviating some of his weight off of my trembling knees as my puppy shot past A.J. up the stairs.
“What floor are you on?” She directed this question to A.J.
“What?” He asked a confused who the hell are you look on his face.
Apparently he too was disboob…..dislabub…...dis…oh whatever the hell she said.
“Snap out of it, we have to get moving. What floor are you on.” She asked again looking over her shoulder.
“Oh-“ Blinking A.J. wiped his bloody hand on his coat, moving to the side to let us through. “Three, we’re on the third floor.”
Waiting until the door to the stairs shut behind him A.J. brought up the rear picking up Brian’s feet by the ankles as we made the long climb to the third floor.
Once to the third floor A.J. set Brian’s legs down, walking around us to the door, which he pulled open slowly, peering down the hall.
“Shit, he’s still out there.” Backing up A.J. leaned against the wall. Pausing a beat before dragging the blonde wig from his head and tossing it to the floor followed by his coat and both of his shoes. “Okay you two just follow my lead.” Taking a deep breath he pulled the door open and stepped out into the hallway, turning he stooped down and grabbed one of his shoe’s wedging it in the door before heading in the direction of my hotel room.
“Trent?” His voice carried down the hallway through the cracked stairway door.
“A.J.?” Trent’s voice was thick and sleepy.
“Yeah hey listen, I have a killer headache and my stomach hurts.”
Standing in the stairwell listening to the faint sounds of Trent and A.J.’s conversation in the hallway my heart pounded wildly in my chest as sweat beaded my forehead and upper lip.
Shooting a sideways glance at Eva she was looking at me, her eyes wide with question, but neither one of us spoke a word.
“Okay well I’ll go down to the front desk and see if they have any aspirin.”
“Thanks Trent, I owe you man.” I could hear the sound of A.J.’s stocking feet padding down the hallway towards the stairs.
“C’mon.” He hissed opening the door as Eva and I struggled to carry Brian into the now empty hall. Stopping to gather up his things from the stairwell A.J. came up behind us picking Brian up around the waist as we lugged him to my room.
Once inside the three of us lifted Brian to the bed as I fumbled around for the switch on the small lamp on the nightstand.
“Is he dead?” I asked as the light flickered on illuminating Brian’s pale gray face.
“No he’s not dead.” A.J. pulled the red curly wig from Brian’s head. “But he was stabbed.”
“Stabbed?” Sitting down on the bed beside Brian I reached for his hand.
“I’ll get a washcloth.” Blinking I looked next to me as Eva stood and headed for the bathroom. I was so lost in the moment I’d forgotten she was even there.
She returned seconds later with a wet washcloth as A.J. pushed open Brain’s coat tugging on the right sleeve until the upper portion of his right arm was free revealing a large gaping wound dripping with thick coagulating blood.
“Don’t say a word.” A.J. warned pointing at me as I began to gag the stench of blood making my nose twitch.
Three loud knocks on the door quickly brought me back to my senses as the puppy began to growl.
“Shut him up.” A.J. leaned over snapping off the bedside lamp bathing the room in darkness as he stumbled to find the door.
“Here’s your aspirin.” Trent snarled, as Eva sat beside me on the bed neither one of us moving.
“Thanks Trent. I’m sorry to be such a pain.” A.J. mumbled in a sick sounding voice.
“Since when are you sorry to be a pain McLean?”
“I dunno, I told you I’m sick I don’t know what I’m saying.” A.J. took a few steps back his shadow stretching out behind him from the light in the hallway.
“What are you up to?”
“Man my head is killing me Trent, so I’m gonna go and take these aspirin and go to bed so goodnight.” Without waiting for Trent to respond A.J. pushed the door shut and turned the locks.
Making his way back to the bed he turned on the light just as Brian began to moan.
“Okay, first we need to see how bad the wound is?” Crawling across the bed to Brian Eva leaned down poking around at the wound her white cotton t-shirt dragging through the blood.
“It’s pretty superficial.” She said reaching for the washcloth and pressing it into the hole in Brian’s flesh. “Well, at least I think it is?”
“Here let’s give him some of these.” A.J. shook four aspirin out into the palm of his hand.
“He isn’t even fully conscious, what do you want us to do shove them up his nose?” Eva scowled.
“I think we should go and get Kevin.” I piped up just as Brian began to moan again.
“Okay look here’s what we need to do. You,” She pointed at A.J. “Go and get some towels and see if there is any kind of first aid kit in the bathroom.”
As she spoke, she seemed so calm, cool and collected that I found myself wondering how old she was?
“And you?” She hissed pushing me upside my head. “Snap out of your daydream and help me rip some strips off of this.” She handed me a pillowcase that she had tugged off of one of the pillows.
“A.J. it hurts.” Brian shook his head back and forth his pale features contorted in pain.
“It’s going to be okay.” Eva whispered smoothing his hair back from his sweat-dampened brow.
A.J. came running back into the room as I pulled on the pillowcase ripping it into four uneven strips.
“This is all I could find.” He said dropping two washcloths onto the bed a long with a sewing kit and a few mini bottles of liquor.
“Okay that will have to do.” Snapping up one of the mini bottles Eva cracked it open and without missing a beat dumped the contents into Brian’s open wound.
“SHIT!” Brian’s body arched with pain.
“Hey what’s going on in there?” Trent thumped on the door trying the doorknob as Eva clamped her hand down on Brian’s mouth.
“Answer him.” She mouthed to A.J.
“You answer him.” He mouthed back his eyes filled with wild panic.
“Why would she answer him?” I whispered cuffing A.J. in the back of the head.
“Nick, A.J.?” Trent continued to pound on the door.
“Go, go.” I pushed on A.J.’s shoulder taking his place on the bed beside Brian as he snapped off the light.
“Go away Trent I’m sick.”
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“Now.”
“No.”
“McLean you better open this door.”
“Do you wanna watch me puke or something because man, that is just not right.” A.J. grumbled as I stifled a laugh into my hand. “If you don’t quit knocking you’re going to wake Nick up, just go away and let me be sick in peace.”
“One more outburst and I’m going to the front desk and getting a key McLean.”
“Whatever.” A.J. backed away from the door rolling his eyes as I turned on the light.