Wrath
The motel sat off the two-lane highway that bled out of Reading, its red neon sign flickering against a line of trees that looked half-dead in the weak light.
The parking lot was cracked, uneven, and stained with oil. A single vending machine hummed beside the front office, its glow the only steady light in the darkening sky around them. The air smelled like exhaust fumes. Somewhere behind the building, a truck idled, masking smaller sounds.
Trick and K-9 were hidden in the rooms adjacent to the one he’d rented for the night. It was on the ground floor, next to the corner unit, nearest the back exit that opened onto a service road running behind the motel. One way in, two ways out.