The rain came down hard that morning when Danny, Natasha and Cammy drove into the city. They left at six am to be sure they could beat Kara to the hotel first. The three of them wore dark hooded sweatshirts over jeans, trying to select the most inconspicuous of clothing to wear. Danny was grateful they didn't have hair long enough to tie back like Natasha and Cammy. Cammy slept in the back while Danny drove as Natasha dumped the aphrodisiac in zip lock bags.
"I hope this doesn't make the coffee taste like shit." she said.
"I just hope it's going to be enough." Danny said as they turned into a parking garage.
"Well as long as one of us finds a coffee station, we can text each other to meet up and pour it all in." Natasha said. In between her feet was another zip lock bag filled with a powder blue substance, it was the shrinking detergent Pamela had made. She handed it off to Cammy the next day, telling her that she was going to take a day off from school as she was afraid of what might happen if they should fail.
"Where do you think we'll be able to find uniforms?" Danny asked, that factor being the most concerning to them.
"We just need any type of uniform for the hotel staff." Natasha said, "Just go through any door that isn't locked. Even with a kitchen uniform we can get into other places without people being too suspicious."
Danny parked on the second floor and Cammy woke, rubbing her eyes as she yawned. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to doze off. So where is everyone going to go first?"
Turning their head over their shoulder, Danny said, "Natasha is going to hang in the lobby and let us know when Kara arrives. She's going to try to listen to where Kara's room is and then tell us. Cammy you try to find any type of hotel staff uniform you can and get as many as you can. I'm going to monitor Kara's room so we can keep track of where she is at all times. Once those things are in place, we look for coffee to hand to the officers and then then wait for Kara to leave before trying to get in."
"And how exactly do we get in?" Natasha asked.
Groaning, Danny ran their hand down their face as that one detail had them puzzled. "Shit...I just assumed the cleaning staff would have them. I guess whoever gets that particular uniform can play naive and ask a clerk to help them in?"
Natasha bit her lip, "Er..that could work. Although, if it doesn't, we might need to try swiping it from a hotel manager when they aren't looking. Just be on the lookout if anyone happens to see it."
"Who is going to be in charge of the aphrodisiac for the cops and the detergent?" Cammy asked.
Natasha handed Cammy a zip lock bag with the aphrodisiac. "Everyone is getting a small amount to put in the coffee if we can't get together and do it. Danny will hold onto the detergent since they'll be closest to Kara's room."
"Where would the laundry room be anyway?" Cammy asked
"We can ask somebody once we're dressed as staff." Danny said. "Any other questions?"
"How the fuck did I go from a student to becoming some spy?' Cammy remarked. The mood was so solemn that the three of them couldn't help but laugh before getting out of the car.
As they got closer to the Marriott, it seemed less like a hotel and more like a guarded castle the way it grew in size, towering over them as if it knew their intentions. Danny lowered their head to keep their anxiety in check as they entered first. Natasha and Cammy gave Danny one minute before entering themselves.
Once inside, they waited for the desk staff to speak to incoming guests before walking to their destinations. Danny made their way to the elevators and selected a floor that was halfway up to the top. Natasha found a large leather chair in the lobby that gave her a perfect view of the entrance. She sat down and then watched Cammy disappear down one hallway and kept an eye on hotel staff to follow.
Pretending to play with her phone, Natasha kept one side eye on the doors, quickly looking back at the screen so as not to draw too much suspicion. A half hour passed before she saw three women push through the entrance. The trio strutted in like a celebrity with an entourage since the three of them wore sunglasses.
Leading the group wearing a stylish white raincoat with a fur lining was Kara, her blonde locks straightened and hanging behind her shoulders. In one hand she carried a roller bag and in the other was a long garment bag that she held over her shoulder. Long pearl earrings bounced with every step as her black pumps clicked along the smooth tile.
Behind Kara were both Officers Riggs and Rodriguez, dressed in black police uniforms, their full, rose colored lips tightened in a stoic expression as they kept close to Kara. Both women had fit builds, with Riggs almost towering over Kara with her long legs. Rodriguez was of the same height as Kara but seemed to have more muscle mass given her curvier frame.
Riggs' head turned to scan the people in the area while Rodriguez kept one hand on her Billy club. Natasha held her phone close to her face as they passed her. Once they were behind her, Natasha leaned back to try and listen on the conversation as they approached the front desk.
"May I help you?"
"I have a reservation, Kara DelaForge."
"Ah yes Miss DeLaforge, your mother had arranged for a suite on the fifth floor."
"Does it have a window like she instructed?"
"Yes ma'am. Room 537. Take an immediate right after getting off on the elevator."
"Thank you."
Rolling her eyes, Natasha fired off a text to both Cammy and Danny with the number, counting to thirty before getting up and heading off to find uniforms. She kept her distance as she watched Kara walk to the elevator, her hips swaying left and right with every step. She waited for the trio to step into their elevator before approaching the one next to theirs to follow.
Once the text had been sent out, Cammy kept close to the walls, keeping her eyes open for any incoming staff that might question why she was behaving so strange. She circled around one block of rooms, unable to find any staff member. It was when she crossed to the other side of the building where she saw an open room with a large cleaning cart wedged inside the doorway.
Cammy hid inside the door frame of an adjacent room and watched a cleaning woman in her 50s emerge, dressed in a light grey business dress with a white apron around her. She placed her cleaning supplies back on the cart. She pulled it away from the room and then went down to the next. Cammy sighed, checking her watch to gauge how much time it would be worth spending waiting for the woman to head back.
As soon as Danny got the room number they ran back to the elevators and pressed the button to the fifth floor. The anxiety in missing the chance to see where Kara was had Danny tapping their foot the entire ride up. As soon as the shaft came to a sudden halt, Danny rested their back against the side of the door, peaking outside once the doors opened to make sure Kara wasn't there.
When they found no sign of her, Danny stepped out and walked as fast as they could to room 537. The signs listing the number ranges pointed Danny to the west side of the building. Danny counted down the room numbers until they reached 536, one door next to a corner room that would be Kara's home for the day.
Walking past the room to the other hallway, Danny saw an opening that led to a small room containing ice and a vending machine. Disappearing into the fluorescent lit chasm, Danny poked their head out and watched room 537 like a hawk.
No sooner had Danny settled in did they hear the collective footsteps of three women approaching from the left. Kara held the keycard in her hand while Officer Riggs and Rodriguez checked both sides of the hall.
"Ugh this place gets worse every year." Kara said as she slid it through the cardholder, "They didn't even have bag boy this time around." she pushed open the door and dragged her wheeled bag behind her. As soon as the door shut, both officers stood at attention in front of the door.
Confident that Kara was in place for now, Danny hid back in their hiding spot and sent a text to Natasha and Cammy that read, "She's in her room, guards outside. I'm in a room with a vending machine, don't go directly towards 537, take the long way to get to me."
Not a minute went by before Natasha sent, "Cool, going to look for coffee."
While Danny hid, Cammy continued shadowing the hotel cleaner, following her down one entire hallway, door to door. Finally, the woman had a stack full of towels and made her way to the elevators. Cammy sighed in relief as she stopped hiding in doorways and walked behind the woman, staying far away so as to look like a patron who happened to be going in the same direction.
The hotel cleaner made it all the way down to the first floor and through a set of double doors. As they swung open the sounds of dozens of washing machines going off could be heard. Cammy checked behind her to make sure no one could see her running to catch the doors, using her foot to stop them from closing. She peeked through the crack to make sure no one was coming and slipped inside.
The washers lined the west, north and east sides of the room, one stacked on top of the other. Behind the west side was a small dark room that contained a station to fold towels. With the hotel cleaner still placing a load of towels in, Cammy ducked behind the folding station and peaked around the corner, waiting for the woman to leave. Once she shut the door to the washer and pressed start she pushed her cart out the doors and was gone.
Dashing from behind the wall, Cammy searched for a dryer and found a large industrial sized one on the opposite side of the room. She couldn't make out the clothes through the small window cycling inside, and looked for the switch to cancel the load. Once that was found she pressed it and pulled the doors open. At first she was concerned when she saw the piles of white towels inside.
After rifling through the back of the pile Cammy was relieved to find three uniforms, two of the grey colored dresses the cleaning staff wore. The other was a white long sleeve jacket with buttons on the right side, seeming to resemble a kitchen staff uniform along with a pair of black dress slacks.
"Fuck yes." Cammy said, scooping them in her arms and pushing through the doors, looking for a public restroom. When she saw the hallway was clear, she relied on her long, athletic legs to send her flying down the hall and into a nearby womens' bathroom on the far right. Hurrying into a stall, she stripped down and grabbed the hotel staff uniform, opening up the back to step into it.
