"This looks like this is it," Vito said slowly he slowed the car down a little bit as the motel came into view.
It wasn't much, with rooms on the ground level facing the modest parking lot in front of the building. Vito could also note that the town had to do some level of business as there were a few cars and SUVs parked in the parking lot. The lobby area was on the southernmost side of the building, and he could see that the lights were on. The lower speed that he'd slowed down to also gave him the time to glance to the door where he could read a sign that said "open," though the rest of the detail was too small to read unless he got closer. Above that first floor, there was a second floor that seemed to have many features similar to the outside of the first floor. The only difference was that there were no outside doors, which had to mean that the entrance to the rooms on the second floor were internal.
"It looks like the motel we were in in Morton," Marcus commented from beside him, "except older... grungier."
Vito shrugged. He couldn't see too much detail due to the low lighting of it being after one AM and the electric lights didn't cover everything, but he generally did figure that small town hotels and motels, which often weren't attached to major chains tended to have some issues with their décor and maintenance. The town simply wasn't that much a tourist spot or the hotel chain was too much of an unknown to attract a lot of attention, which meant that the managers had to make sacrifices to stay afloat. From what Vito knew on Moon Lake from its website, he figured the local motel here would fall into one or two of those categories.
"It's the best we got at the moment," Vito answered with narrowed eyes to his brother, "the town's website lists this as the only hotel/motel in the city. Which makes sense. It may be an hour or so from Seattle, but we're off of major roads and in the middle of the mountains. Most of the people who "pass through" are likely going hiking or something like that... but since we're off the major roads... they don't do a lot of business."
"So long as we get Karen, I don't care," Marcus answered with a shrug, "so what now? You want to go in?"
Vito thought for a moment. That was a question on his mind, as they'd already had a long drive and had probably broken a few speed limits on the way up. He was a bit tired, and it had been for that reason that he'd slowed the car down. Thankfully no one was behind them at the moment. A part of him actually hoped that Marcus would have some idea or desire, as given the options, Vito could go either way. The escape from Moon Lake in the morning after offing the Charleston parents and grabbing Karen would be hectic and would likely be done at high speed before getting onto the east/west road to drive out, as it was the quickest route to Seattle, which had two issues. Navigating the town and its wagon wheel layout would require some first hand knowledge. However, being up for the double murder and kidnapping would require energy and focus to do and then drive out. As tired as he felt, pulling into the motel and getting a room made sense.
But Marcus didn't make a decision this time and Vito slowly weighed up his options. He thought on it and eventually figured that with the motel open, they could return to it. The town wasn't large and with it being so late, it'd be likely that traffic would be light, which would mean they could run their scouting mission quickly and be back in ten to fifteen minutes. With that, Vito pulled forward and continued driving north.
"We'll scout the house first, check its location, and where it's front door is," Vito spoke, "tomorrow will be a quick get in and get out, so we want to know for sure where to go... though because it IS late, we're not going to approach the house or anything like that. That'd only alert people. So... stay quiet."
Marcus nodded and they drove on...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Inside one of the second floor rooms, though, one of the agents on lookout duty was alert and had been following his binoculars. Just as planned the pair were in shifts and would rest and alternate between the two over time. It'd make for an odd schedule and would be even harder for those assigned to be on the lookout elsewhere in Moon Lake, but the FBI agents stuck to the plan and worked out some system that for the moment would make things manageable. The agent that was presently on duty kept an eye out through the window, though to allow the outside electric lights to work, he had to keep the inside lights off. It'd thankfully mean anyone on the street might not notice him as easily, but it also meant that he'd have to stay highly alert.
Traffic coming in and out of Moon Lake wasn't super heavy. Some of which could be given to its odd layout and that while it did have a college, it was still a small town with a small college. There wasn't going to be a lot of traffic or activity going in and out of Moon Lake on a regular basis. For much of the day, most of the traffic that did come in was often headed somewhere else and would soon leave the town. However, around 1:30 AM, a lone dark car came up the road from the south. At first it wasn't anything to worry about too much, but as it got closer to the city limits and the area in front of the motel, it began slowing down. As it went in front of the motel, the car couldn't have been going faster than five miles an hour. This slow down gave the agent presently on duty to get a good look at the people in it. He couldn't see the passenger very well, but the driver was definitely Vito Gamboni, which could only mean that they had arrived.
With that, the on duty lookout picked out his cellphone and quickly dialed a number to get Agent Baoman. There were a few rings, but eventually a groggy voice answered.
"What is it?" Baoman growled through his phone.
"The first catch has come in," the agent reported, "Vito Gamboni just drove past the motel at a snail's pace."
"Was Marcus with him?" was the question in reply.
"I could see there was a passenger, but based on the angle, I can't tell who was the passenger," the agent answered, "but Vito was definitely driving. He's headed north."
"Alert the team at the house," Baoman instructed, "if they come in, the sting is launched."
"And if they don't, sir?" the agent inquired.
"More than likely they'll return to the motel where we're at," Baoman answered, "if they do that... the plan stays in place. The hotel is still abiding by the rules to stay "open?" Right?"
"Yes, sir," the agent nodded, "shall I recall some of the other lookout teams? Maybe grab them if they return?"
"No, we don't want a gun battle," Baoman answered, "Marcus has left of trail of bodies around the country for years... though due to help from family or dumb luck, we've never been able to confirm he was connected to it and thus had to let him go. We aren't going to let that happen here by forcing a confrontation where either agents get hurt or the town here is damaged. Or where they could claim we acted outside the rules. We have the permission for the sting, and if they trigger it, we'll get them. If not... we'll wait until they do."
"Yes, sir," the agent spoke and then hung up before dialing a new number.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The ride through Moon Lake was fairly easily, or at least the start of it was. They went north with a line of largely residential houses either to the right or left of them. The big surprise for Vito was that a few of them had lights on at the moment, though he guessed that the people in Moon Lake had their fair share of night owls who were simply up late watching television or getting ready for their work with the "night shift" with regard to their jobs. All of that would be fairly normal type things. Things got a bit different as they got into the center of the town.
The central hub of Moon Lake's wagon wheel layout consisted of two blocks of residential or small business buildings that they passed. These blocks were probably the most "normal" part of the city's layout. The inner most ring was a large central park, which had very well groomed hedges, bushes, trees and other things. There some picnic benches as well that sat on a well manicured lawn. The biggest thing, that really made Moon Lake's layout apparent was that when they got to the center, they were stopped by a red light and found that there were sixteen streets that all intersected, and with this came several traffic lights with a sight that read, "no right on red" hanging underneath them.
"Whoever laid out this town needs to be shot," Vito grumbled, half groggily. He noted that with the next street to his right, the turn would be so sharp that he doubted he could actually make it and not hit someone. Of course, only allowing traffic to flow on a green light per street might make that easier, but the layout was still odd to him.
"Our turn isn't that sharp," Marcus spoke and then pointed to a street that went northeast from where they where. When Vito noted where Marcus was pointing Marcus continued, "that's the street we go to."
"Still need to have the guy who laid out this town being shot," Vito grumbled, "Getting out tomorrow morning will be tough."
By that point the light turned green and Vito pulled forward and onto the road that Marcus had pointed to. From there they went through the park on the other side of Moon Lake's Main Street and then into the more normal blocks again. As they came through to the end of the park, Marcus noted one lone building that had some lights on and some night time activity.
"Cops!" Marcus stated with some alertness.
"Where?!" Vito wondered and swerved slightly, but then noted that Marcus was referring to their station. Some lights were on and there were some cars parked in the parking lot, which meant that Moon Lake, like most towns, had a police department and that their night shift officers were on duty. That would be another thing to be aware of as this would mean they would drive past the police station in the following morning, but for the moment things were quiet. Vito also figured their night shift wasn't super alert as so far they hadn't seen any officers on patrol, which made some sense. Crime rates were generally the same across the country. The reason why small towns didn't always see those sorts of things was that their population was too small fully count within the sample sizes that various agencies took for statistical data. "They'll be of no trouble. If we do this fast, we'll be on our way out before they even respond tomorrow morning."
Marcus nodded as they then passed the police station and continued to make their way up the street. He then turned down to his phone, which still had Google Maps up with the directions to the Charleston's house up and on display. They weren't too far from it now.
"We're going to get her..." Marcus sang with some eagerness.
"We're just scouting the house and so on," Vito answered firmly and glanced over to Marcus, "It's late... and Moon Lake seems to have a surprising number of night owls given all the homes that have a light or at least a low level light on. We don't want to do anything that would bee too obvious. Most people don't expect visitors at one thirty."
"It's a bit after that now," Marcus corrected.
"My point still stands," Vito answered, "we just look over the house and scout it out while then looking for a way to make it out quick. We'll do business tomorrow morning."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Inside the Charleston house, one of the agents assigned to the team that would take part in the sting carefully looked out through the curtains in what was normally Karen's room. They had gotten the alert from the lookouts at the motel with the warning that the Gambonis had arrived in Moon Lake and were on alert. They didn't know for sure if Vito would actually come into the house and trigger the sting in the night or if this was just a scouting mission. The result of this was simply be on alert for the vehicle that the lookout at the motel had spotted.
"Any sign, yet?" Daniel asked from the doorway to the room, taking his role in both the sting and making sure that the agents assigned to it didn't either damage the house or get too inquisitive over things. The Charleston's neighbors had been alerted that the FBI would have agents in the Charleston house and that they weren't aware of Moon Lake's secrets. That would mean that those neighbors that were weres probably wouldn't go out in their were forms, just in case an agent saw them through a back window, but that didn't mean that those couples that had romantic affairs and couples were suddenly inactive or that some other weres from elsewhere in the town wouldn't be active.
And through the late evening to early nighttime hours, Daniel had heard some indication that married weres would do what married weres did. It wasn't super loud, and he doubted the human agents could fully hear it, but it was enough that if the agents focused on it there could be some sense of distraction in investigating the noises rather than the mission. Keeping the agents in the Charleston house and focused on the mission was also part of Daniel's assignment, though a part of him heavily longed to be with Fran, but he had his responsibilities as an officer of the law and he would carry them out.
"Not yet," the agent at the window spoke, doing his best to stay out of sight while being able to look out as well, "but assuming they don't get lost... it should be soon."
Almost as if on cue, the dark car that the look outs had described as the Gamboni's vehicle went past. It went past slowly and seemed to slow down as it went in front of the Charleston home. The closed blinds and the darkness of the night obscured some of the agent's vision, which meant he couldn't fully confirm it on its own, but he could note the care's movement and the fact that it clearly and suddenly slowed down was enough to give them some assurance that this was the Gambonis, as the lookout warned them. There was no other reason for such behavior. However, despite slowing down, the car did not stop and did not turn onto the driveway. In fact the car eventually moved forward up the street.
"They just went past the house... and up the street," the agent at the window then reported.
"Where can they go from there?" another agent in the hallway behind Daniel asked.
"Nowhere," Daniel answered, "this street is a dead end. They'll have to turn around."
And it wasn't long before they did come back the other way. Again, they slowed down in front of the Charleston house but did not stop and then left on their way back toward the motel.
"They're just scouting us," the agent in the hall spoke, "looking the house over and what they'll need to do."
"Makes no sense," another agent commented, "sure... this town seems to have a fair amount of nighttime activity... but this is still the perfect time to actually make the assault, if that is their plan. Less traffic, less light, most of the standard officers are off duty. It'd make getting out of Moon Lake easier."
"Perhaps," Daniel nodded, "but then, we also don't know where they were and when they left wherever they were. If they've been on the road all day or through the evening to night... they could be tired. Thus they're only scouting now just to know what to do and making sure they have the energy and awareness for what they'll need to do in the morning."
The other agents nodded and soon one of the agents in the hall was dialing to report what they'd seen in to the agents on lookout duty at the motel with the need for the warning as to when the Gambonis left the motel again. Daniel agreed with that, and was fairly tense, as while they didn't know for sure when the Gambonis would make their move, the most likely guess was that if they were here and weren't going to make their attack immediately, it would mean that the morning would bring a lot of excitement.