Chapter 19
Cass
“Your e-geek is damn good,” Zane told Grayson, his attention on his phone as Grayson wove in and out of the traffic.
“What did she get?” Grayson didn’t take his attention from the road.
Stuck in the back seat, Cass smothered a gasp and grabbed for the door handle as the yellow cab in front of them abruptly switched lanes and narrowly missed being rolled over by a truck decked out in billboards.
Blaring horns filled the air as the cab blithely hit its brakes and took a sharp turn into one of the many resorts lining the Strip.
Zane, completely oblivious to the insanity, said, “She got into Incantanto’s security.”
“That was fast.” Cass dared to let go of the handle and sat forward, pulling against her seat belt. “Are they there?”
“Looks like it.” Zane shifted his phone so she could see the screen. “Candace says this is twenty minutes ago.”
She watched the white van follow a trailer truck to the rear of the resort.
A line of wide rolling doors with loading docks stretched along the rear, and at the far end was a ramp that led to a door that was currently propped open.
More than half the docks were full. Forklifts zipped around workers, who shuffled handcarts as they loaded and unloaded the multitude of items needed to keep the tourists happy.
The cargo van waited its turn as a trailer truck slowly made its way to an empty dock.
“How are they going to get him in without anyone noticing?” she wondered aloud.
“Not that hard,” Zane said. “Watch.”
The semi inched into its spot, and as soon as there was enough room to pass, the cargo van squeezed by and drove toward the far end. “We’re going to lose them.”
“Patience,” Zane murmured as the image in his hand switched. It was a closer shot of the van as it pulled behind a utility truck and parked near the ramp. Both the driver- and passenger-side doors opened.
Cass’s breath hitched in anticipation. Come on, come on, she silently urged.
The screen went black.
She jerked back. “What the hell?”
Zane cursed and touched the onyx stud, which blinked with a dark flash as he snarled, “Call back.”
When ringing came from the phone in his hand, Cass realized the stud was a magical earbud.
There was a click, then a female voice snapped, “Don’t give me shit. They used a jammer. I don’t have time to unscramble it.”
“We need to know where they are.”
“Yeah, I’m aware,” came the irate response. “I’m going through interior feeds now, but it’s a bitch to stitch the videos together.”
“We’re five minutes out,” Grayson warned.
“I’ll have something when you arrive.” The line went dead.
No one spoke as Grayson gave the cabbies a run for their money.
By the time he put the car in park at the valet station, he’d earned four flipped fingers, one red-faced rant, and three blaring horns, but the three of them had arrived in one piece.
Grayson pulled in behind an SUV unloading a family and their luggage.
They got out, and Grayson handed the keys to an attendant.
Zane demanded in a low voice, “Where are they?”
Cass glanced his way and realized he was back on the line with Candace.
As soon as Grayson joined them, they headed inside.
The wide door swept open, releasing a wave of cool air with notes of sandalwood and spice.
Ornate chandeliers lined the towering curve of the lobby, their light spilling over fresco-covered walls.
Some sort of string music was playing under the low roar of voices, and every now and then, a blast of bells and rings from the casino floor that dominated the space beyond the check-in desks would cut through the din.
Zane led them across the tile floor and through the maze of luggage piles and the walking disasters of tourists too busy craning their heads to take in their surroundings.
“Why here?” Cass asked Grayson, who was keeping pace at her side.
“I don’t know.” He caught her arm, bringing her closer to him, as a bellhop swept by with a luggage cart piled too high to see around.
Zane cut through the casino floor, winding his way between the crowded tables and lines of clamoring machines.
Despite how large the casino floor was, the air was warm, almost suffocating, as Cass did her best to keep up with Zane.
There were people everywhere, which made it hard to stick close.
She checked behind her and spotted a frowning Grayson about twenty feet back, stuck behind someone in a motorized scooter.
She didn’t want to lose him or Zane. She slowed, trying to stay between the two of them.
Laughter and excitement gave the floor a carnival air.
Hostesses decked out in ornate feathered masks and provocative uniforms loosely based on masquerade-ball designs just added to the atmosphere.
The servers waltzed among the masses, smiles wide, eyes bright, their movements graceful despite their towering heels.
Zane’s broad back made a sharp left. Cass was rushing to keep him in sight when a group of businessmen cut in front of her, their attention on a craps table.
She pulled up short, and someone bumped into her with enough force to send her stumbling into a bank of slot machines.
She caught herself with a hand on the machine’s screen, which was filled with an artistic portrayal of a spinning wheel of fortune, as the toll of a sonorous chime rolled over her.
In the screen’s center, under her palm, was a vivid portrayal of Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck. Cass’s vision blurred.
Crimson a seeping stain across the profile of a black-armored, horned, helmeted Hades.
A lightning strike, then shifting shadows reveal a stern-faced Poseidon standing before a crumbling tower.
Another strike, and now blackened vines drag tower pieces together until it reforms into a crooked version of itself.
A trailing vine of poison ivy slowly writhes through a wheel of eight swords hovering over the haunting visage of Medusa before slowly wrapping itself around the raven-haired Hecate, the waning moon on her brow dimming.
Hecate’s features shift into the haunting gold-eyed, white-haired Hera, her luminous skin cracking as vines force themselves through, leaving ashes in their wake.
“Cass, are you okay?”
Someone grabbed her arm, and the vision cut off like a switch had been thrown. Cass sucked in air as the present resettled around her. Her heart raced under the onslaught of adrenaline, and she couldn’t shake the dread curling through her gut.
Still, she met Grayson’s worried frown and managed a shaky “Yeah, I’m good.”
He looked far from convinced. “You sure?”
There was no time to get into what she’d seen—not when she wasn’t quite sure what it all meant. A warning, definitely, but about what, she didn’t know. She straightened and rubbed where her upper arm had hit the machine. “Yeah.” She looked around. “Where’s Zane?”
“Up ahead.”
Grayson led her over to where the Hunter waited for them impatiently, near a fake potted tree under a sign indicating that the restrooms were to his left. As soon as Cass and Grayson were in front of him, the Hunter said, “We need sublevel two.”
“Access point?” Grayson asked.
“Just past the restrooms. It’s an emergency exit to the stairwell.”
Cass waited as a group of women wandered past then asked, “Won’t that set off an alarm?”
“It’s covered.” Zane tapped the stud in his ear. “So are the cameras, but we’ll have to move fast.”
Electromage Candace. Right.
“Come on.”
They headed down the hall, the noise of the casino floor fading the farther they walked. As they passed the openings for the restrooms, Zane murmured, “Start the clock.”
They continued on to where a water-refill station sat next to a door labeled Authorized Personnel Only.
As they got close, Cass heard a series of soft beeps as lights flickered on the electronic keypad set in the wall next to the door.
Zane had his hand on the lever when it turned green.
He pushed it opened then held it as first Cass, then Grayson slipped inside.
“Down the hall, first right,” Zane directed as he shut the door and quickly outpaced Cass to again take the lead.
The hall was utilitarian beige, the overhead lights harsh and unforgiving. Cass spotted the cameras set in the ceiling, and the metallic taste of fear dried her mouth. She found herself sending up a litany of pleas that Candace had blinded those electronic eyes.
A set of stairs rose to the left, and one side of the hall was lined with industrial-sized laundry carts.
They’d walked a few feet into the hall when a door from somewhere above opened.
All three froze, and Cass held her breath as voices floated down.
Someone was talking about needing more sheets.
A warning hiss from Zane got Cass moving again.
She did her best to keep her steps quiet as she followed Zane.
He got to the door, held it open, and waited for Cass and Grayson to pass through before he followed. Zane silently closed the door, not letting it go until the lock engaged with a quiet snick. They were in another stairwell, but this one led down.
“Go,” Zane directed.
Cass rushed down, wincing as her footsteps echoed through the space.
Two floors later, she was breathing hard and thinking she should probably up her nonexistent workouts.
She went to push open the door, only to have Grayson tug her back with one arm around her waist and the other blocking her reach.
He pulled her into him and, with his lips to her ear, whispered, “Not yet.”
Swallowing, she dropped her arms and nodded.
Grayson let her go and nudged her to put her back to the wall, giving him space to take point. He slid past her. At the door, he looked at Zane. “Alarms?”
The Hunter listened to Candace. “Electronically clear, but you’ve got twenty seconds, tops, to verify.”