The Chase

Jonah headed straight for the elevator as he entered the hotel. He made it only a short distance into the lobby before the front desk attendant called his name. Jonah didn't recognize her, but with how often he found himself in a new place, that wasn't surprising.

“Mr Wood, there was a package dropped off for you,” she said. Checking her name tag first, Jonah answered, “Afternoon, Annette. Are you sure it is for me? I am not expecting anything.”

“Definitively." She replied, "The man who dropped it off gave the front desk your name and room number. He was quite insistent that this package was meant for you Mr. Wood. If you had been here only a few minutes earlier, you would have caught him as he left.”

Annette reached below the desk. Instinctively, Jonah's right hand moved down towards his hip, before his brain caught up and realized there would be no danger from Annette. A rough life still left him a little jumpy at times. Plus, it's hard to hide a pistol on your hip in a swimsuit. Fortunately for Jonah, Annette was not a threat, but the brown paper wrapped package she placed on the desk was questionable at best.

Jonah approached and began to inspect the package. There was no writing that he could see on the outside, no stains. Nothing that would give him any clues. The lack of anything distinguishing on the package was more alarming than if it had be covered with death threats or rainbow unicorns.

Gingerly, Jonah picked up the package, thanked Annette, and turned back to the elevator. Jonah was alone with his thoughts for five floors. He tried to think of what could possibly be inside the package. It hadn't made any noticeable noise when he first lifted it from the front desk. Roughly the size of a large laptop or over-sized book, the outside of the package offered no clues to it's contents. The paper corners were very tightly taped down with minimal tape. It wasn't light, nor was it heavy. A small, juvenile part of his brain told him to shake it like a Christmas package and hope that the sound inside would offer some clue into what was hidden inside. He chuckled to himself at that thought. With the way his day was going, whatever was inside would shatter on the first jostle or blow up in his face. Hopefully there would be some fingerprints on the packaging or some other clue that could give him help in identifying his mysterious well-wisher.

The first thing that Jonah saw as he exited the elevator was the bright smile on a pretty face. Then the package was ripped out of his hand and the pretty face was running down the hall. Pausing only a second to realize what had happened, Jonah gave chase after the package and the smile carrying it swiftly down the hallway.

A few steps into the chase and Jonah ditched his sandals to better pick up speed across the carpet. The package reached the door of the stairwell and without slowing down the door was open. The legs connected to the smile started down the stairs along the west stairwell moving very quickly. Jonah reached the door just before it closed and continued the chase. The fourth floor landing flew by, followed quickly by the third floor landing and shortly thereafter the second floor landing. The distance was closing, but slowly.

Jonah could see the long dark hair of his target streaming behind her as she picked up speed once she reach the ground floor. This was followed momentarily by the sound of a door closing as the target temporarily moved out of Jonah's sight. Jonah burst out of the door and made a quick survey of the area around the exit.

He noticed his quarry as she rushed down the street to the right of the exit. Jonah pursued her, the warm stones of the street thudding against his bare feet. The mark made another right turn, in the direction of the river. Jonah sped around the corner, hoping that he would be able to spot his target among all the other people who typically mingled near the bridge.

As he quickly scanned the crowd, Jonah no longer saw the smile, legs, hair or package that he had followed so diligently. He jogged slowly up to the bridge, trying vainly to spot something that would give him an idea of where to go next. As he neared the center of the bridge, Jonah's eyes were drawn to something below in the water. Floating together down the river and out to sea, was a black wig and brown wrapping paper tangled together. Jonah dove in after the flotsam. Hoping against hope that he would get something from the debris. Something to explain these last few crazy moments in an already absurd day.