by CW Browning
“You seem to see Damon quite a bit,” Stephanie pointed out.
“That's complicated,” Alina said, laughing when Stephanie made a rude noise in the back of her throat. “What?”
“Everything with you is complicated!” Stephanie exclaimed, unconsciously grabbing the arm rest on the door again.
Alina chuckled, her foot pressing harder on the accelerator. The Camaro remained beside her as the Shelby's speedometer moved into triple digits. Glancing at the driver next her, she saw him look over, then watched as the nose of his car edged past hers.
“What can I say? I'm a complicated girl,” she murmured.
Stephanie suddenly realized they were flying along the Expressway, nose to nose with another vehicle, and she looked at the Camaro in alarm.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, glancing at the speedometer. “Lina!”
“What?” Alina glanced at her with a grin of pure enjoyment. “You don't think I'm going to let a Chevy beat me, do you?”
“Lina, this is the AC Expressway, not a racetrack!” Stephanie exclaimed, shifting in her seat nervously. “Aside from the obscene ticket you'll get from a trooper, do you know how many people die on this road?”
“Oh, calm down.” Alina pulled ahead of the Camaro by half a wheel well. “You won't die.”
Stephanie looked at her, then looked at the Camaro and clamped her mouth shut. Another glance at the speedometer and she made an involuntary sign of the cross. Alina caught the movement and bit back a laugh. Stephanie's knuckles were turning white on the armrest and Alina shook her head. This was just fun. If Stephanie thought this was dangerous, she would have had a heart attack on the Amalfi Coast.
The thought sobered her and Alina's eyes narrowed slightly. Who the hell told the Italian Intelligence Service she was there? And how had they known? So many questions, so many riddles, and Charlie wanted her to stay out of sight and be quiet. He wanted her to do nothing.
Viper's lips tightened into a grim line and she pressed the pedal down further, increasing speed even more.
She wasn't trained to sit by and do nothing.
“Lina....”
Someone found out where she was going and why. Who? How? Her system was unhackable, her computer servers impenetrable. She didn't use any of her usual contacts during this trip to Syria, so they couldn't have traced her through them.
“Lina....”
If there wasn't a leak in the Organization, how did they know she was coming? Viper cast her mind back over the past few weeks. She was on her way to Cairo to catch a flight to Spain when Charlie sent her the new target. She changed course mid-trip and even Charlie didn't know which, of the half a dozen possible routes, she took. There was no way anyone could have known. And yet, someone had.
“LINA!!!” Stephanie yelled, one hand on the arm rest of the door and the other gripping the side of her seat.
Alina glanced at her, her lips twitching with just the faintest hint of a smile. A minivan was ahead, traveling much, much slower.
The right lane was free of traffic.
As Viper flew up behind the van, she glanced past Stephanie to the Camaro. The driver looked right at her and waved goodbye, a brief flash of white teeth revealing his laughter.
“Oh, I don't think so,” she muttered.
The minivan was about three feet in front of her when Viper wrenched the wheel to the left. The Mustang swerved into the shoulder, missing the van by a few inches. She ignored the driver yelling and gesturing as she flew by in the shoulder, controlling the Shelby skillfully when the back end tried to swing wide on the uneven surface. As soon as she passed the van, she swerved back into the lane and lowered the pedal to the floor. The Shelby roared forward and, as she flew past the Camaro, Viper raised her hand and blew the driver a kiss.
“Are you INSANE?!?!” Stephanie bellowed.
Alina glanced at her.
“Don't even pretend you didn't enjoy that,” she retorted. “You like speed as much as I do.”
“Only when I'M driving!” Stephanie shot back. “You could have killed me!”
“Doubtful.”
“What if you went into a spin?” Stephanie demanded. “Did you see the trees? We could have been one with them!”
“We were never going to be one with the trees, Steph.”
“You don't know that!” Stephanie took a deep breath and let go of her death-grip on the door and the seat. “At least warn me next time!”
“Where's the fun in that?”
Alina pulled into the parking garage of the Tropicana Casino and cruised up the ramp to the next level. It was a slow night and there was plenty of parking. She pulled into a spot in the center of the level, away from other cars, behind a large cement support column.
“Eat first? Or casino first?” Stephanie asked as they got out of the car.
“Casino,” Alina answered, beeping on her security system as they walked away. “I made reservations for eight at The Palm.”
Stephanie glanced at her, her eyebrows soaring into her forehead.
“The Palm!” she exclaimed. “What are we celebrating?”
“Life,” Alina informed her with a wink.
Stephanie snorted and fell into step beside her as they crossed the parking garage to the elevators. She glanced at her watch.
“That only gives us an hour,” she observed. “Not much time on the floor. Still, that's less time to lose all my money,” she added cheerfully.
Alina used her knuckle to press the button for the elevator, glancing around them as the light above the doors lit up. She scanned the empty parking garage, her eyes seeking out all the blind spots and hidden corners automatically. There were cameras at each corner and two in the center. She noted all of them in the few seconds it took her to survey the parking garage.
“What are you playing?” Stephanie asked as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside.
“Roulette, I think,” Alina answered absently, watching as Stephanie pressed the button for the Quarter. They would cut through the shopping and dining district on their way to the casino floors. “The last time I played blackjack it turned into a bad night.”
Stephanie glanced at her.
“Why do I get the feeling when you say bad night, it means something completely different from when I say bad night?”
Alina flashed a grin.
“Probably because it does,” she said.
“I think I'd rather not know,” Stephanie said. “Roulette it is!”
The elevator doors opened and the women stepped out into the brightly lit, wide corridor leading to the section known as The Quarter. Designed to look like the French Quarter of New Orleans, the Quarter housed all the restaurants and boutique shops the casino had to offer.
Alina stepped into the main level and was assaulted with bright light and motion. The best thing about the casinos was also the worst thing, in her opinion. There was a deceiving sense of time lapse, stemming from the bright lights and ceiling painted a bright, sunny blue. With not one clock in sight anywhere, time seemed to disappear.
They headed into one of the enormous walkways, moving toward the casino proper. Specialty boutiques lined the walkway on either side, huge glass windows displaying expensive merchandise glittering with promise. Alina moved easily through the crowds, unconsciously memorizing each face she passed. Amidst the glittering, festive atmosphere of the casino was the constant and unsettling knowledge that someone, somewhere, seemed to know much more about Viper than they should.
The two women stepped onto the immense casino floor and the noise of slot machines rolled over them. Bells, chimes, zings and music competed with the steady hum of voices and laughter, creating the cacophony of sound that is unique to a casino floor. Cocktail waitresses moved through the crowds with trays and security lurked in each section, standing out to Viper as her dark eyes coolly scanned the floor.
“I think the tables are this way,” Stephanie said, leading the way down the wide center
aisle through the slots.
Alina followed, her eyes never still. Regulars sat in front of the slot machines, working two machines at once while younger, less experienced gamblers bounced from one machine to another. The constant din of the slots was oddly comforting as she moved through the huge section, the noise drowning out any conversation and lending an air of anonymity to the spectators. Viper felt right at home, knowing that she was just another face in the crowd here.
They emerged from the slots into the section with table games. Roulette tables were off to the side with the blackjack and baccarat tables opposite them. Alina swept her dark gaze over the roulette tables assessingly and pointed to a middle table. It was the most crowded of the roulette tables and Stephanie glanced at her in surprise.
“Really?” she asked.
“I like the odds.”
“It's your money,” Stephanie said doubtfully, following her to the crowded table.
She and Alina took their places at the table and Alina laid some cash on the table. The dealer exchanged it for chips and she glanced at Stephanie.
“Well?” she asked cheerfully. “What do you think?”
Stephanie swallowed and glanced at the handful of chips in front of Alina.
“I'm not taking responsibility for that amount of money,” she retorted. “Your choice.”
Alina chuckled and split her chips, placing half on an inside bet and half on the outside. Stephanie shook her head.
“You realize that roulette tables carry the highest house advantage in the casino, right?” she whispered.
“I like bad odds,” Alina murmured. “They seem to work out for me.”
“That's just because you're crazy.”
Alina grinned and watched as more bets were placed and the table got more crowded. After a few minutes, the dealer signaled he would spin, then threw the ball into the spinning wheel. Stephanie watched as the ball spun around the wheel, mesmerized as it bounced and skipped about.
“No more bets,” the dealer announced as the wheel began to slow.
Stephanie glanced at Alina, only to find that her friend wasn't even watching. Instead, her dark eyes were staring across the floor at the glass-encased high-roller room. Stephanie rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the roulette wheel. The little ball leapt and skipped before making one last jump into its final slot.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed excitedly, grabbing Alina's arm. “You won!”
Alina turned her eyes back to the wheel and smiled. Her inside bet had won.
“And the lady's a winner!” the dealer announced, glancing at her with a wide smile.
“So I am,” she murmured.
“I take it back,” Stephanie announced, a big grin on her face. “Clearly, you know your luck better than I do.”
Alina watched as the dealer pushed a large stack of chips over to her. She was just reaching for them when commotion erupted behind them.
“Oh, I am sorry!” a male voice exclaimed a split second before he slammed into her, knocking her off balance and up against the table.
Viper turned swiftly, her hand grabbing his wrist. She registered the faded Phillies’ cap and navy polo shirt even as her fingers dug into the pressure points on his wrist. Pressing his arm down, she steadied him with her other hand, ensuring that he was incapable of using either arm against her.
“Hey!” Stephanie exclaimed, keeping one eye on Alina's chips as she turned to face the stranger. “Watch it!”
“So sorry!” the man murmured, glancing into Alina's face. “Someone pushed me. I couldn't help it. Oh!”
The added exclamation popped out as something clattered to the carpet at their feet. Alina glanced down, releasing him when she saw two cell phones on the ground. She bent down with him, reaching for the one closest to her.
“Thank you so much,” the man said, bending down with her. “How embarrassing! That's quite a grip you have there.”
He grabbed the other phone. As they straightened up together, his fingers swiftly and unobtrusively replaced the phone in Alina's hand with the one in his.
“No worries,” Alina said, slipping the phone into her pocket. “I'm sorry if I hurt you.”
“Not at all, not at all,” the man assured her. He smiled, nodded and moved away, disappearing into the crowds.
“What was that all about?” Stephanie demanded as Alina turned back to the table.
“Someone pushed him,” she replied. “No harm done.”
“Are you okay?” the big gentleman standing next to her asked in concern. “It happened so fast, I didn't even have time to grab you!”
“I'm fine,” Alina answered with a smile.
Stephanie turned back to the table and watched as Alina gathered her chips, setting the incident out of her mind. She kept half her chips back and placed two more bets with the other half, glancing at Stephanie swiftly from under her lashes. Her friend hadn't noticed a thing. Viper smiled at the dealer as he threw the ball into the spinning wheel.
Her trip to Atlantic City was a success.
Chapter Six
“What were you saying about roulette favoring house odds?” Alina asked Stephanie as they walked away from the table half an hour later.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Stephanie retorted good-naturedly. “So you were right and I was wrong. I think this is the first time I've ever been to the casino and my friend walked away a winner.”
Alina smiled. Her pile of chips had tripled before she called it a night, walking away from the table with extreme self-control before the house took back the odds.
“We have half an hour before dinner. What do you want to do?” she asked.
“I think I'll try blackjack,” Stephanie answered. “You may have had a bad experience, but it's always treated me well.”
They headed for the blackjack tables and she watched as Stephanie took a seat at one of them.
“Ms. Woods?”
A deep voice preceded a meaty hand on her arm. Viper instinctively snatched the wrist, applying firm pressure with two fingers as she turned her head. A large man in a charcoal suit grimaced at the sudden uselessness of his hand. Stephanie looked up, startled.
“Yes,” Viper said, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“Mr. Solitto requests a moment of your time,” the man told her through clenched teeth.
Stephanie started to stand abruptly, but Alina placed her other hand on her shoulder, pushing her back into her chair as she released the man's wrist.
“I'll be fine,” she murmured. “Try not to lose all your money before I get back.”
Stephanie looked at the massive bodyguard standing behind Alina massaging his wrist and pressed her lips together before nodding. Alina turned to follow the man across the casino floor.
“Mr. Solitto is waiting for you in the martini bar,” he told her. “He said you would know which one.”
Alina smiled.
“Of course,” she murmured.
The behemoth fell silent, nursing his throbbing hand as he led her across the casino to a martini bar tucked away in the corner.
Frankie Solitto was the head of the Jersey Family, or the Italian mob in Jersey, if you preferred. Last year, she met him here while she was hunting a traitor intent on killing Viper. At the time, she didn't know if she would live to see the next week, and she certainly hadn't imagined there would be a repeat meeting.
Alina shook her head. She'd spotted Frankie playing poker in the high-roller room while she was standing at the roulette table. He looked over the casino floor and saw her, nodding almost imperceptibly in acknowledgement.
What did the old mobster want now?
The behemoth stopped outside the entrance to the bar and waved her inside. Alina stepped into the dark interior, her eyes adjusting to the sudden change in light easily. There were only a handful of patrons in the lounge, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Blue LED lights snaked their way along the floor, outlining a huge martini glass on the dark carpet in the center of the
lounge. Two bars ran the length of the room at either side and a stage stretched across the back wall. Tables spaced intimately throughout the lounge had votives burning in the center, and the candlelight cast an ambiance of subdued elegance. It was just as she remembered, dark and cozy with the promise of seclusion if one so desired.
Alina glanced to the right and moved silently through the lounge to the end of the bar where a man sat with a rocks glass in front of him.
“Good evening,” she murmured, sliding onto a bar stool next to him.
Frankie nodded to her and motioned to the bartender at the other end of the bar.
“Thanks for coming,” he said, glancing at her. “You look well.”
“I'm staying alive,” Alina replied as the bartender came towards them. “Vodka martini, with a lemon twist.” He nodded, turning away, and Alina turned her eyes to Frankie, considering him thoughtfully. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
The head of the Jersey family sipped his whiskey and set it down gently. He was an imposing man, tall and solid, with an air of authority laced with intimidation. He was used to getting exactly what he wanted, when he wanted it, and it showed. Frankie Solitto could scare just about anyone he pleased simply by looking at them, except the woman seated beside him.
“Can't I invite an associate for a drink?” he asked with a flash of white teeth.
“Are we associates?” Alina asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Frankie watched as the bartender set a martini in front of her. He motioned for him to put it on his bill and turned to look at her as the bartender moved away.
“I like you,” he told her. “How's your business going? You feel ready for a change yet?”
Viper's lips twitched.
“Not yet.”
“Shame.” Frankie shook his head and reached for his glass. “I could really use someone like you.”
Alina's eyes narrowed slightly and she reached for her glass. Sipping her martini, she studied Frankie over the rim for a thoughtful moment.