Free Pawn by Greg Curtis Page B

They usually found someone else less dangerous to hound.
     
    So his family had become smarter, or at least more circumspect. That was good. Good for the people they were hopefully no longer hurting as they went about their business. Good for Rufus too. If they were staying down, they didn’t need an errant brother being hospitalised or killed to make the papers.
     
    The question was, was this them? Had they been the ones in the van? And had they found him again? And why? What could he possibly have that they might want?
     
    Rufus had no answers, something that didn’t please the inspector one little bit. But still he answered all his questions as openly and honestly as he could, and if that wasn’t enough, he could do no more.
     
    Except maybe find a new place to live. If it was his family, and if they were coming for him, that would be his only choice. New home, new country probably and a new name. Little else would keep him safe from them.
     
    Of course before then he’d have to find a place to spend the night. When his entire house was beginning to be filled up by people in white paper overalls carrying lots of expensive looking equipment, and more were coming, he guessed he wouldn’t be allowed to stay there. Not tonight anyway, and maybe not for a few more.
     
    One thing was certain, for a domestic burglary the police were taking it very seriously. Which could only mean that they thought it was linked to his attempted murder as well.
     
    Rufus sighed quietly when the inspector left, before reaching for his phone. He hated motels and hotels. But he hated people trying to kill him even more. And there was a decent hotel in town, The Fiddlers. Good safe food, security on the doors, cameras in the halls, a twenty four hour desk. He’d read the security reports when the company had taken on their insurance policy.
     
    He went outside to make the call, not wanting the officers to hear him. It wasn’t that he particularly distrusted them. They were probably good officers. But when his mother was hunting, there was no such thing as a completely trustworthy person.
     
     
    *******************
     

 
    Chapter Six.
     
    The room was good, the meal room service had provided was excellent, and the shower, the glorious high pressure shower with its endless nozzles was a marvel. Just the thing for a badly bruised body. Stepping out of it and drying himself off, Rufus felt almost normal for the first time in days. Something about the heat of that water soaking in to his aching flesh, had washed away more then just the pain of his injuries. He liked that. Maybe even enough to let himself enjoy a little telly instead of worrying the night away.
     
    He pulled his jeans back on, they were all the clothes he had left for the moment, and headed out into the main room and the waiting coffee jug.
     
    “What the -.” At least that was what he tried to say as he stepped out of the bathroom and into the hotel suite’s main room. But he couldn’t get the words out. Not when someone had somehow looped something around his neck and was squeezing it tight, cutting off his air as well as his voice. Try as he might he couldn’t get his fingers under it. All he could do was gasp and struggle desperately against the choker. But even that was futile. The chain, if that was what it was, wouldn’t let go, and the harder he struggled the more it seemed to cut into him.
     
    The man, whoever he was, had clearly done this before, and no matter which way Rufus tried to launch himself against him, he was always ready, and the chain never loosened. Instead he just kept choking and gurgling, unable to help himself, warm blood running down his front, and in time as things began to go a little dark, wondering if this was it.
     
    It wasn’t though. He discovered that as he felt his knees starting to go a little weak, and the man loosened his hold, just a fraction of an inch, but enough to let him breath again. Rufus took that chance, dragging