Chapter 17
ALEX
Alex paced the floor of the massive suite they’d holed up in above the casino. He chewed his thumbnail, his mind whirling faster than he could process. Too many questions were still hanging in the air about this plan that Sebastian had floated.
He didn’t like loose ends.
What if they weren’t able to steal the man’s keycard to enter his hotel room? What if the software wasn’t there?
They’d need to hack his password. Alex had never doubted his skills but in a high-pressure situation like this, one hiccup could cost them everything.
And then there was the biggest loose end hanging over his head.
Ava entered the room, holding up her long skirt as she waddled her way over to her shoes.
His lips tugged into a frown as he stared at his beautiful wife, the picture of perfection in her daring red dress. But somewhere inside her, something had gone haywire, giving her strange symptoms that had most recently led to a blackout and unexplainable behavior.
The visions of her dumping gasoline all over Miranda Vale’s house floated through his mind. That wasn’t the Ava he knew. She was tough, sure, but not vindictive. Had The Board’s treatment of them, the constant threat that one of them could lose their lives in this battle, proven too much for her?
“Avs,” he said, his voice quieter than he’d expected.
“Yeah?” she asked as she plopped on the side of the bed to buckle the ankle strap on her red shoe.
He stood frozen, his eyes trained on her as he searched for the words he wanted to say.
She twisted to face him, her features pinching. “Ace? Something wrong?”
“Everything is wrong,” he answered.
She furrowed her brows, tapping on the diamond brooch to trigger the camera embedded in it. Her gaze went to his laptop where a video of the room bloomed to life. “Looks okay to me.”
“No, Avs,” he said with a shake of his head as he crossed to her, “I’m worried.”
She pressed her lips together as she rose. “I know. Worried that I’m going to have another episode and ruin this whole thing. I am, too.”
His shoulders slumped at her words. “No, Sparky, not worried you’ll ruin anything. I’m worried about you. Episode or not, this is dangerous, and I hate that you’re in the middle of all of this again. Especially when you’re not feeling like yourself.”
“At the moment, I’m feeling very like myself. Let’s just hope I don’t blackout at an inopportune time and go all Fembot on everyone.”
Even the reference to Austin Powers couldn’t muster a smile from him. “I’m serious, Ava. This is dangerous on a good day. And with all the pressure on you, I’m worried it’ll trigger another episode. We haven’t figured out what’s doing this to you.”
“I know. I wish I had an answer, but we can’t stop doing what we need to do. Sebastian is right. We need to move while we can. Let’s just hope for the best.”
“And plan for the worst,” he said. “That’s not just a camera so I can see everything you do—it’s also a tracker. If something happens, like a blackout, I’ll be able to find you anywhere.”
She glanced down at the diamond pinned to her dress and smiled. “You always take care of me, Alex.”
“And I always will,” he answered. “We’re a team, Avs.”
“Together forever,” she said, intertwining her fingers together with his and smiling up at him.
His lips found hers as he slid his arms around her waist, deepening their kiss until a voice interrupted them.
“I’d tell you guys to get a room, but…you did that,” Kyle said.
Alex heaved a sigh as he pulled away from Ava. “Yes, and it’s going to be the perfect spot for Alex to monitor everything.”
“And me,” Kyle said as he raised a ring in the air. “Ava, you’ll wear this, and I will be able to track everything about your health from your heart rate to your respiration.”
He tossed it to her before he brought up the monitor app it was connected to. “We’ll be able to see everything. So, if she does have another one of those weird episodes, I can see what’s going on internally.”
“I know you’re excited to monitor this, Doc, but let’s hope I don’t lose my mind on this mission.”
“Believe me, my fingers are crossed, but sadly, we need some data to help point us in the right direction. Your blood work didn’t help.”
“What about a CT scan?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, that’s a logical next step,” Kyle answered, “except we’re in Monaco about to steal some very important software from The Board.”
“We should have stayed back, and let Sebastian do this. He was already fighting against them when we met him, and he had the software. I don’t understand why suddenly now he needs Ava on his arm to do this.”
“Because I don’t have the same access I used to have,” Sebastian answered as he strode into the room, fiddling with a cufflink. “This is a whole new ballgame. I told you that. Things have changed in The Board. And as they’ve gotten worse, I’ve vowed to get myself and my family out.”
“And drag us down with you while you’re doing it,” Alex said as he plopped into the chair in front of his laptop.
Ava rubbed his shoulders. “You were already involved when Miranda set her sights on StoneCorp. The best thing we can do is work together on this.”
“I hate it when you’re right, Sparky.”
She kissed his cheek. “Too bad for you I’m always right, huh?”
“That’s funny, Avs. Now, one last check before you go.” He tapped to make sure the camera worked properly before he tested the audio. “Looks good.”
“Great,” Sebastian said, offering Ava his arm. “Ava, let’s go.”
“Wait, wait,” Alex said, leaping from his seat. “This is frightening to say, but I’m depending on you to take care of her. If she shows any signs of one of those attacks–”
“I will get her out of wherever we are. Trust me, I am just as worried about this as you are. Maybe more so. I’m the one who this directly affects. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Sebastian shifted his gaze to Ava. “Ava?”
Alex wrinkled his nose as Ava slid her arm around Sebastian’s, and he led her from the room. He stared after them as they disappeared into the hallway.
"I really hate this," Alex muttered, glancing back to the laptop where Ava's image flickered on the screen.
He hated how powerless he felt. Normally, he was the one pulling the strings, controlling the flow of information, and ensuring they stayed a step ahead of their enemies.
But right now, all he could do was watch—and wait.
He couldn't shake the dread sitting like a lead weight in his stomach.
What if something went wrong? What if Ava blacked out again? What if she never came back to herself?
And then there was Sebastian. Alex didn’t trust him, not fully. Not after everything. He still couldn’t believe they were relying on the guy who had once stood on the wrong side of this fight.
“No kidding,” Kyle said, staring at his phone. “Apparently, Ava doesn’t like it much better. I’ve got an uptick in her pulse already.”
“Seriously? Ava’s always so calm. Do you think this is a sign she may be about to collapse again?” Alex hurried across the room to stare at the biofeedback streaming onto Kyle’s screen.
Kyle shrugged. “I don’t know. She may be one of those people who internalizes everything. Actually, it would be nice if she didn’t have an episode during this, and then we could get a nice baseline for her vitals under stress.”
Alex scrunched his features. “That sounds awful.”
“Well, it’s necessary. It’s science. We need to know how Ava’s body reacts to stressors. She may be cool and collected on the outside, but a mess inside. Similar to how some people shake all over or cry, but their heart rates don’t ramp up as high.”
“Avs, can you hear me?” Alex hurried back to the laptop and plopped in his chair.
“Loud and clear,” she said as she and Sebastian stepped into the elevator.
“Did you hear Doc? Your heart rate is high. Maybe you should cry or something.”
“Duh, I’m about to rob someone. Of course, my heart rate is high. But I’m not going to cry. That’s ridiculous,” she answered.
The elevator chimed, and the doors whooshed open, revealing the casino beyond.
“Here we go,” Ava murmured.
Sebastian led her out onto the floor where they paused to scan the room. “I’m not seeing him.”
“Figures,” Ava answered.
“I’ll scan the hotel for him,” Alex said, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he searched for a photograph of the man to feed into his facial recognition software.
“Thanks. We’ll blend in until then,” Sebastian said as he led Ava to a craps table. He tossed a few bills down and the attendant announced the amount change, giving him a stack of chips.
He placed his bet before he lifted the dice to Ava’s lips.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alex groaned.
“Really. He’s too much. It’s like the pool thing all over again.”
“Stop flirting with my wife, Shadow.”
“Find me my guy, Alex,” he shot back.
Alex wrinkled his nose as he drummed his fingers against the desk, waiting for his software to find the man’s latest location. “Come on, come on.”
The table burst into applause as Sebastian matched his point. Chips were added to his pile, and he rolled the dice again.
Finally, the facial recognition software got a hit on the last location of one Charles Whittaker. “Got him!” Alex shouted, slapping a palm against the desk.
“He’s in the private poker room.”
Sebastian threw the dice a few more times. Alex narrowed his eyes at the screen. “Hello? Is this thing on? He’s in the poker room.”
After another toss of the dice, Sebastian collected his chips, now a substantially larger pile than he started with, and left the table behind.
“We heard you, Ace. We’re headed there now,” Ava said.
“Ava, your heart rate has been consistently high now for a good while. How are you feeling?”
“A normal level of anxiety and panic, I think. Nothing out of the ordinary for me.”
“Okay, let me know if you do experience any of the symptoms you mentioned before, because I want to note exactly what your vitals are doing when that happens.”
“Copy,” she said as the poker room came into view.
“Looks like a high buy-in, I’ll–” Sebastian began before Ava cut him off, grabbing his chips and parading to the table.
“I want in.”
“Nice,” Kyle said, smirking. “Now, who’s the arm candy?”
“Hey,” Alex said with a frown. “Watch it. Sebastian is not Ava’s arm candy. I am.”
Kyle patted him on the shoulder, his grin fading. “Yeah, well, candy or not, you’ve got more to worry about. Ava’s vitals just spiked again. Could be nerves, or… could be something else.”
Alex’s heart clenched. “What do you mean ‘something else’? Is she about to collapse?”
“I don’t know,” Kyle replied, his voice growing more serious. “But whatever it is, we better hope she holds it together. We’re running blind out here.”
Ava sat down at the table and tossed her chip toward the dealer to buy into the next hand.
“Avs, I think I can see most of their cards when they glance at them. I will do my best to guide you through into a showdown with Charles Whittaker if I can.”
Alex tapped to scan all of the cameras before he directed Sebastian to take his phone out of his pocket and press it to his ear.
“What?” he murmured.
“I can’t see the guy on Ava’s right, you’re going to have to monitor that.”
“I’ll do my best,” he answered before shoving the phone back into his pocket.
The first round went smoothly with Ava dropping out after the first round. The next round she won. Ava’s heart rate ramped up as betting went higher and higher in the third round. Kyle carefully monitored it on his app.
Alex wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as the stakes went higher on the third round. “Avs, he’s got nothing he’s bluffing.”
Ava tossed more chips onto the pile. “Call.”
The man arched an eyebrow at her. “Really?”
Alex watched his wife cock her head at him, her expression playful. “I have a good hand.”
“So do I,” he answered, a smirk on his face.
“Let’s see it then,” she said.
He turned over his cards. “Pair of sevens,” the dealer said as he twisted to face Ava.
“Kings over threes,” she said as she spread her cards across the felt.
The man raised his eyebrows. “Well done.”
“Thank you,” she said as the chips were pushed toward her.
Charles Whittaker rose from his seat. “Good night, gentleman. And Ms…”
“Collins,” she said as she rose and motioned to Sebastian to handle the chips.
She stepped away toward Charles, a sweet smile on her face. “Can I interest you in a drink?”
“What about your husband?”
“What husband?” she answered.
“Ouch, burn,” Kyle said. “That hurts.”
“Careful, Avs, I’m getting jealous up here.”
Charles flicked his gaze to Sebastian, and Ava threw her head back with laughter. “Just a companion, definitely not my husband.”
“Well, then, what do you say we skip the drink and head upstairs for a more…private conversation?”
“Don’t do it, Ava. Lift his key instead,” Alex said.
On his screen, Ava grinned. “Well, that sounds dangerous, but what’s life without a little fun?”
She wrapped her arm around his and allowed him to lead her away.
"Ava, no!" Alex hissed, gripping the edge of his desk.
His fingers itched to do something—anything—to stop her, but he was miles away, trapped behind his screen.
Watching helplessly. His heart raced as he watched her laugh, watched her link arms with Charles and stroll toward the elevator.
He could trap them inside, yes, but at what cost?
If he played this wrong, Ava could end up locked in a room with someone far worse than Charles.
Do something, he screamed at himself. But what?
His fingers twisted into fists as he watched them stride across the casino. He could do nothing to stop his wife from heading straight into a dangerous situation. One that she may not make it out of.
As Alex watched Ava disappear into the elevator, his fingers hovered over his keyboard.
He’d mapped out every inch of this building, hacked into its security, and had a dozen backup plans waiting in the wings.
He just hoped he wouldn’t need to use any of them.
But if it came to that—if Ava needed him—he would burn the whole place down to get to her.