Between the five of them, they managed to demolish nearly the entire order of room service, stacking the dirty plates and serving platters back on the serving cart tucked out of the way near the wet bar. The maid would get it later.
“So what’s the plan?” Annabelle asked as she holstered her handgun beneath her own suit jacket.
“It’ll look odd if we walk through the casino without stopping anywhere, so it’s time to play tourist,” Sean said.
“Gambling?” Alexei asked, sounding interested.
“Don’t let him near the blackjack tables,” Trevor warned. “He counts cards.”
Sean watched Alexei school his expression into one of pure innocence no one at the table would fall for. “Not my fault you have bad hand every time we play.”
“It’s not in our cover to try to steal from the house. Bad for business,” Sean reminded him.
Alexei waved off his warning, already heading for the door. Sean took that as a sign he’d probably have to pry Alexei away from a gambling table at some point before the lunch meeting. Madison nudged him in the side as they left the penthouse suite.
“You could always be Alexei’s lucky charm at the blackjack table. Sit on his lap, bring him a drink,” she teased.
“You’ve definitely been watching too many Vegas heist movies.”
“They’re fun!”
“I’m not sitting on Alexei’s lap.”
“Would let you,” Alexei said with a leer.
Sean pointedly ignored him and Madison’s snickering as they all stepped inside the elevator. The ride down was quick, and they exited into a bustling stream of people with luggage coming and going. Trevor, Annabelle, and Madison put their game faces on and formed a protective circle around Sean and Alexei as they moved through the wide hallway containing the elevator bank.
Alexei wrapped an arm around Sean’s waist, pulling him close. Sean hesitated only a second before wrapping his arm around Alexei in return. Security cameras were everywhere, both hidden and obvious, which meant he and Alexei needed to show a united front.
They had three hours to kill, and Alexei seemed determined to start at the gambling tables. To get there they had to go through the slot machine area first. The main room closest to the casino entrance and lobby was dimly lit so as to not overwhelm the holographic displays flashing over each slot machine. The constant noise of each game going off with the old-style sounds rang loudly in Sean’s ears as they maneuvered through the people and wait staff. Hovering drink trays spun around women and men taking drink orders and delivering alcohol to the guests planted in front of numerous glowing screens.
The clinking sound of coins that no longer existed crashing into a metal catch bowl indicated someone had won a jackpot of some denomination. Bright green dollar signs exploded and reformed above a nearby slot machine. The man monitoring the display seemed ecstatic as he swiped his hand over the payout sensor to accept the reserved amount he would cash out later.
“You could play slot machines,” Sean said as they kept walking, his eyes drifting over the area to map out the quickest route to nearby exits.
“Boring,” Alexei scoffed.
“You really want to play cards? If that’s your idea of fun, we have a quarter of a million dollars that you can blow.”
Alexei darted forward, taking Sean by the hand as he headed deeper into the gambling area. “Be rude not to use. We go.”
Sean rolled his eyes, but gamely followed after Alexei as they weaved their way through the packed slot machines to where the blackjack, poker, roulette, and baccarat tables were located. Robots with smart response capabilities manned the card tables while employees handled the roulette and baccarat ones. Sound dampeners isolated the slot machine areas from the slightly more sedate table games area just enough to help with concentration.
Sean wasn’t a big fan of gambling, mostly because he gambled with his life a lot on the job, and gambling with money just didn’t have the same appeal. But the Wolcotts had gifted them a hefty sum, and Alexei was right. It would be rude to ignore such a gift, even if Sean could’ve done without it.
At 1014, the tables were at various levels of fullness. Gamblers were playing with the house’s money looking like they’d just woken up or were at the tail end of a long night and needed a break. The siren call of Lady Luck kept them at the tables, thinking the next hand would be the jackpot. The servers they passed by seemed to be offering up an equal amount of synthcaf and alcohol, despite the hour.
Las Vegas never shut down, and casinos were open every hour of the day. Sean snagged a mug of synthcaf off a tray as they headed for a blackjack table that looked mostly full. He took a sip of the stuff, a little surprised to taste whiskey in it. He wondered how the casino collected on payment for the alcohol, then remembered the slew of CCTV security cameras saturating the building. The facial recognition program, not to mention Artemis, probably billed people the moment they lifted a glass off a tray.
“Is good,” Alexei decided as he took one of the last remaining seats at a crowded blackjack table.
Sean sipped at his synthcaf, wishing he had some creamer to cut the oily bitterness. The whiskey wasn’t helping. “For you. I’m going to wander.”
“Kiss for good luck?”
Sean heard Madison stifle a snicker behind him. Cognizant of their audience, Sean closed the distance between them and gave Alexei a kiss that was anything but quick. Alexei curled a hand behind Sean’s thigh, urging him closer. Sean went where he was cajoled, letting Alexei dominate the kiss until it left him breathless.
Alexei didn’t seem affected at all by their lingering goodbye.
“You’re incorrigible,” Sean muttered.
“Not know what you talk about,” Alexei replied smugly before turning to face the table at large.
Sean turned his back on Alexei, ignoring Madison’s sly smile in favor of checking out the restaurants near the pool entrance. She and Trevor followed him as Sean took his time getting a feel for the first level of Olympus where the main activities were found. The buffet restaurant was open, as was the pool area. Halfway down the restaurant wing of the casino Sean caught sight of The Vine where lunch would take place after the meeting with Adrian on the administration level.
The restaurant was closed right now, though prep was probably happening in the kitchen. Sean didn’t linger long in front of the restaurant, and continued down the hallway that snaked through the wing of the casino at a leisurely pace to take everything in.
“We have our routes,” Trevor reminded him in a low voice.
Sean nodded. “I know. But I like getting eyes on them myself.”
Seeing something on a map or blueprint was far different than knowing the physical layout of the area and what it would take to get from point A to point B. He tried to plan for everything when it came to undercover missions, knowing he wouldn’t have much support to fall back on unless he needed an extraction. Rationally, he knew he had Alpha Team at his back, but Sean’s methods had yet to fail him in the field.
They backtracked to the pool entrance and stepped outside into shaded sunlight, cutting across the outdoor area to the other side of the casino. All the shops in the retail wing were open and enticing guests to browse their offerings with advertisements in the windows and free samples where appropriate. The spas and salons they passed were in full swing, to say nothing of the designer clothing stores full of customers.
Sean pretended to browse through a few of them, putting on a show of interest that couldn’t hurt their chances of working with the Wolcotts. Currying favor was a solid business practice with a certain type of person. He spent a good hour meandering through the shops, killing time, before finally heading back to the gambling area.
As they crossed the lobby, slipping between groups of people and fast-walking casino workers, Sean caught sight of someone that made him want to freeze. He kept walking out of hard-learned habit, casually turning his head to track the tall man crossing their path up ah
ead, striding toward the exit.
He was dressed casually, like a tourist, not out of place in the casino at all. But he stood out to Sean by just being there. Kevin Stableford was a CIA protective agent whose protectee had been CIA Deputy Director Carter Bennett for as long as Sean was a CIA officer and after he left. Wherever the CIA deputy director went, Stableford followed.
Scanning the area, Sean saw no signs of any other CIA protective agent, nor the CIA deputy director himself. That wasn’t to say Bennett hadn’t been there, but Stableford wasn’t acting like he was on duty. Sean had only ever seen him and Bennett in the black business suits they wore like armor back in D.C. Granted, it had been more than three years since he’d been face-to-face with Bennett, but somehow Sean didn’t think the man’s habits had changed all that much. Which meant Stableford’s shouldn’t have changed either.
Sean was acutely reminded of how he left the CIA for the MDF, the CIA deputy director’s dissatisfaction for how the mission had ended seared into his memory. The old, quiet feeling of shame for so thoroughly messing up a long mission, no matter that he had survived when no one else did, came back to Sean in a rush, leaving a bitter taste in the back of his mouth. He’d been proud to be a CIA officer, but his dismissal disguised as a transfer still sat heavy with him.
“What’s wrong?” Trevor asked quietly as they kept walking.
Sean shook his head, not daring to voice the sudden tumultuous thoughts racing through his mind. He wondered if they were running their mission in the middle of another agency’s op. It wouldn’t be the first time he crossed paths with other spies in the field, but this wasn’t a joint operation. The MDF had no hint the CIA was interested in the Wolcotts, unless they were maybe targeting North Star International. Then again, the inter-agency relationship between the CIA and MDF had soured over the past year or so since they’d discovered Cora Everly’s betrayal. Sharing of intelligence was at an all-time low.
All that aside, it could be as simple as Stableford was on vacation.
But Sean had been trained never to overlook the out of the ordinary. The timing today set his teeth on edge in the wake of Jansen’s appearance last night. He couldn’t fully articulate why Stableford’s appearance at Olympus had him so tense, but Sean had long ago learned never to ignore his instincts.
No more side trips were to be had as they made their way back to the blackjack tables where Alexei had accrued a tidy sum judging by the number appearing on his bet screen in the table. He’d also apparently had a drink delivered, though Sean wasn’t too worried about him imbibing alcohol while on the job. Their metabolisms could handle it.
Alexei sat sprawled in his seat, with Annabelle standing guard behind him, his long legs stretched out beneath the table. The gold chains hanging around his neck caught the light as he grabbed his drink and lifted it to his mouth, taking a long swallow. Sean knew he wasn’t the only one watching the way his throat worked, only he had firsthand knowledge with how good that felt.
He tried not to dwell on last night too deeply since they had a busy morning ahead, and daydreaming about sex was bound to get awkward. His dress pants were on the fitted side, after all. Sean settled his hand on Alexei’s shoulder to get his attention when a pair of men appeared seemingly out of nowhere just beyond where Annabelle stood guard. He immediately went tense, which caused Alexei to look up at him instead of at his cards.
“All right?” Alexei asked.
“I think our meeting is starting early,” Sean said, nodding at the men the other three were eyeing with a professional frankness that came from always being on guard.
“Mr. Dvorkin? Mr. Miller?” one of the men said in a gruff voice. “Mr. Wolcott would like to see you.”
Sean had a feeling they weren’t only meeting Adrian, judging by their escorts. The men looked very much like the type of people Declan would hire for his company.
“Not finished with hand,” Alexei lazily replied.
“Mr. Wolcott isn’t a man you keep waiting.”
Sean gently squeezed Alexei’s shoulder, silently urging him to get moving. Alexei set his cards down with an annoyed sigh and closed the credit line on the bet screen. He stood up and turned to take in the men waiting for them with a hooded gaze, recognizing them as a threat even if he treated them as the mere inconveniences his cover demanded. Sean was glad for that, and pasted an expectant look on his face as they left the blackjack table behind them.
“I thought our lunch meeting wasn’t until one o’clock?” Sean asked.
Neither man responded to his question as they were led back to the lobby area. His sense of unease only grew more pronounced as they approached a biolocked door off the elevator bank. He’d noticed it earlier in the walk-through and figured it was an employees-only access point. Turned out he was right.
One of the men pressed his hand against the scanner, prompting the door to slide open, revealing a short hallway and sparsely filled office with a receptionist desk. Alexei and Sean walked through the door, but when the other three tried to follow them, one of Wolcott’s men cut them off.
“Mr. Wolcott is only interested in seeing your charges,” the man said firmly.
Sean looked over the man’s shoulder, catching Madison’s eye. “It’s okay. You should check on my dry cleaning while you wait.”
“Understood, sir,” Madison replied.
The innocuous request from boss to employee had a double meaning. Madison didn’t acknowledge the code phrase at all, but Sean knew his warning that something was wrong and be ready to scatter and regroup would be taken seriously by everyone.
The door slid shut between them, forcing Sean and Alexei to follow the men to a pair of elevators. Alexei stuck close to him on the smooth ride up to where Sean assumed the C-suite offices were located. The casino’s administration level was separate from the security level and general employee sublevel. But the way they were being escorted reminded Sean too much of his brief time in New Miami with the enemy at his back.
The elevator glided to a smooth halt. They stepped into a space that wasn’t as nicely decorated as the public areas of Olympus. Sean took in the many offices they passed, along with the security cameras that blanketed the area even up here. Sean could understand saturating the public areas of the casino with security cameras, but watching your own employees to this degree showed a level of distrust that was ripe for a toxic work environment.
Most of the workers up here ignored them on their way to an office that overlooked the Vegas Strip, or would if Sean could see out of the windows. The plas-glass windows behind the empty, large wooden desk were darkened to an uncomfortable opaqueness. Sean took in the large office, noting the old-style portraits and pictures that hung on the wall depicting the Wolcott family through several generations judging by the different clothing people wore.
One picture, in particular, caught his attention, that of a sprawling ranch in a rugged green valley. It was the same ranch found in the mission briefing, though the picture looked far more dated. More buildings had been erected recently than what was displayed on Adrian’s office wall if the briefing was anything to go by.
Sean’s attention drifted back to the only occupants of the room who mattered. Declan sat at the head of a table taking up space in the large office, guarded by a second pair of armed bodyguards standing at attention. Adrian sat to his right, a pinched expression on his face that Sean noticed immediately. All but two other seats had been removed from the table, one on either side of the table to ensure he and Alexei would be separated. That wouldn’t stop Sean from phasing, but it would require a few seconds more than they probably couldn’t spare for him to get to Alexei.
“Mr. Dvorkin, Mr. Miller,” Declan said in a deceptively mild voice. “Why don’t you take a seat?”
He gestured at the two chairs without taking his eyes off them. Alexei didn’t hesitate in walking around the table to the more distant seat. It put his back against the wall, even if he wasn’t within reach of Sean and his power
.
“Is problem?” Alexei asked as he sat down, making a show of appearing unconcerned.
“Why? Do you think there is?” Adrian asked.
“Alexei only means the meeting is starting a little early,” Sean replied.
Adrian leaned back in his chair, drumming his fingers against the hard computer screen embedded in the table. “We just finished up a meeting that was very…illuminating.”
Sean thought about Stableford and how Adrian had said last night he had a meeting before theirs today. It was getting harder and harder for Sean to ignore the idea the two were connected. Maybe it meant nothing, but he’d lived too long on edge, survived through moments where the only thing that saved him were the details and how they fit together, no matter how farfetched the answer might be.
“Oh?” he asked lightly, placing his hands on the conference table and giving the brothers his full attention. “How so?”
Sean was aware of the four bodyguards shifting subtly in their spots, which drew more attention than they thought. Ex-Special Forces knew how to stay still. If they were moving, it was for a reason. The skin on the back of his neck itched. More and more, Sean was regretting not taking a gun out of the hotel suite with them this morning.
“My brother is a man more interested in money and immediate gratification. It makes him a stubborn hothead, which works well for running a casino, not so much for other things,” Declan said, keeping his attention on Sean. “It’s not his fault, really. Adrian was raised that way. Our parents always said running Olympus required a big personality, and Adrian learned to fit the bill perfectly. Me, not so much. I preferred being in the background over coddling people I didn’t care about just to get them to spend money in this place.”
“Is family legacy,” Alexei said.
“Not mine,” was Declan’s cool response. “I went a different route.”
“Which is helpful at times, but not always,” Adrian replied sharply.
In the Shadows (Metahuman Files Book 3) Page 17