Page 30 of A Touch of Treachery (Section 47 #3)
DESMOND
T he two guards followed Charlotte and me out of the library and watched while we got into the elevator. The car glided down and deposited us in the lobby.
“We need to check in with Joan,” I murmured. “Fancy a walk outside?”
Now that we had left Henrika’s penthouse, we were free of the electrical field that had disrupted our comms, but I doubted the devices were working, since I didn’t hear Joan, Gia, or anyone else asking for an update.
But I could clearly see the black domes of several security cameras in the lobby, and I had no doubt Bryce had someone watching us.
“Of course, darling,” Charlotte replied, raising her voice for the benefit of anyone who might be listening. “Let’s take in the sights.”
Arm in arm, we ambled through the lobby as though we were just another couple seeing everything the resort had to offer.
We did a lap of the first floor, peering into the shops and restaurants.
I made a mental note of all the corridors, as well as the entrances and exits.
Charlotte glanced around, doing the same thing.
Next, we went outside. This part of the hotel featured several wide stone terraces that stepped down the slope and ended in a lawn that rolled all the way down to the lake.
Tennis courts were situated off to the right, as was a golf course, although no one was playing, given the brisk January wind.
Copses of trees dotted the lawn before spreading out and forming dense woods that flanked the hotel like armies of tall pine soldiers.
Even though it was just after five o’clock, the Winterfest charity event was already in full swing.
Hundreds of people roamed around the terraces, eating, laughing, drinking, and talking.
Dozens of game, food, and vendor booths had been set up on the lawn, and people were tossing rings onto bottles, eating cotton candy, and browsing through displays of soaps, lotions, and jewelry.
Charlotte and I stopped on the topmost terrace and looked out over the crowd.
“These people have no idea they’re giving their money to a monster,” she murmured.
“I thought you said this was a legitimate event to raise money for cancer research.”
“It is, which makes me even more curious about why Henrika is hosting it. The tax write-off is nice, but we both know she’s not going to all this trouble out of the goodness of her heart.”
I snorted. “Henrika doesn’t have a heart. Just a cold black diamond where it should be.”
A bright glint of glass caught my eye, and I spotted Joan sitting at a table on the terrace below us. A steaming cup was at her elbow, and she was staring into a silver compact as though she was powdering her nose. She tilted the compact to the side so that the glass glinted at me again.
“I see Joan.”
Charlotte nodded, but she didn’t look in that direction. “Find out if she has any new intel from Gia and Diego. I’m going to study the resort grounds and try to figure out where Henrika might be storing the formula.”
“Meet back here in thirty minutes?”
She nodded again, then slipped her arm out of mine and moved away.
I didn’t see Oriana, Niles, or Steig on the terraces, but I was sure they would be exploring the resort just like Charlotte and I were.
The other paramortals might ostensibly be here to bid on the Redburn formula, but they would also be trying to figure out where Henrika was hiding it, so they could steal a sample instead of coughing up the cash to buy the explosive outright.
I set off at a slow, ambling pace, as though I was enjoying the crisp winter day and the beautiful scenery.
A passing waiter offered me a hot chocolate, which I took, although I didn’t sample the sugary drink.
I wound my way down a set of steps at the far end of the terrace, then strolled back to the center where Joan was sitting.
She’d put her compact away and now had her phone held up to her mouth, as though she was talking to someone.
I took a seat at the table beside Joan, although I kept my back to her. Then I set my hot chocolate aside and pulled out my own phone. Now that I was away from Henrika’s library, the device was working normally, and I held it up to my ear as though I was also talking to someone.
“Can you hear me?” I asked in a low voice.
“Your actual voice here and now? Yes,” Joan replied. “But Charlotte’s and your comms got fried the second you stepped into Henrika’s penthouse, and they haven’t come back online. No picture, no sound, nothing. Diego is trying to find a workaround, but no luck so far.”
Frying our comms was an expected move on Henrika’s part, although I’d been hoping Diego’s cleverness would win out.
“What room are you in? Henrika put us in the honeymoon suite. Eighth floor. Room four.”
Joan huffed. “Cute. You’ve got to admit she’s got a twisted sense of humor.”
“Lucky us,” I muttered.
Joan murmured her room number, which I committed to memory. I also told her about Henrika’s orders for Charlotte and me to attend Casino Night and report to the lobby at eight a.m. tomorrow for the Redburn demonstration.
“What have you found so far?” I asked.
“Lots of rich, important, influential folks here, paramortal and otherwise,” Joan said. “My comms and cameras are still working, so I’ve been sitting here getting shots of all the guests so that Diego can run them through facial recognition.”
“I’ve got some names to add to his list: Oriana Luzzo, Niles Perran, and Steig Helseth. They showed up, just like Henrika said they would in her video message.”
Joan let out a low whistle. “Those are some heavy hitters.”
“Yes, they are. Bryce Finkley is here too.”
“He’s still working for Henrika?”
“Apparently so,” I muttered again. “Looks like he is her current head of security.”
Joan let out another low whistle. “No wonder Henrika was able to disable your comms. Bryce has probably told her everything he knows about Section 47 tech, weapons, and procedures.”
Anger filled me, but Bryce Finkley wasn’t the first cleaner to leave Section 47 and sell his services to the highest bidder.
Over the years, I’d been sent to eliminate more rogue cleaners than I cared to remember, and if I got the chance, I would take Bryce down too.
Not just for selling out Section but for killing that innocent hostage all those years ago.
“I’m not nearly as worried about Bryce as I am about Oriana, Niles, and Steig. They all have the resources to bid millions of dollars for the Redburn formula—and the magic to kill the competition to get their hands on it.”
“You don’t think everyone is going to play nice?” Joan asked.
“Nope. Oriana, Niles, and Steig are probably looking for the formula right now. Even if they don’t find it, all bets are off once the demonstration takes place tomorrow morning.
After that, it will be a free-for-all. Everyone will be trying to get the weapon, and the other paramortals will kill anyone who gets in their way, including Charlotte and me. ”
“I’m surprised Henrika didn’t blow your cover already,” Joan replied.
Me too. I’d been expecting Henrika to gleefully announce who Charlotte and I really were the second the other paramortals had entered the penthouse.
Henrika would have taken great pleasure in watching us battle the other paramortals, but she’d kept quiet.
So had Bryce. No doubt Henrika was saving the information about our true identities to use when it would benefit her and endanger Charlotte and me the most.
I scrubbed a hand through my hair. “Charlotte was right. Henrika is playing a game with us, but damned if I know what it is. She’s playing it with Oriana, Niles, and Steig too, and we’re all just her bloody puppets.”
Joan fell silent, although I could hear her texting, sending the names to Diego. “I’ll see if I can figure out if the other paramortals want the formula for themselves or if they’re bidding on behalf of someone else.”
More worry shot through me. “You think one of them might be working for the Syndicate?”
Like most folks, I’d thought the Syndicate was a myth until a few months ago.
Miriam Lancaster had claimed to have information about the shadowy group, although that info had died when I’d shot the charmer to save Charlotte.
Learning more about the Syndicate was another one of her father’s causes Charlotte had taken up and another mystery she was determined to solve.
“No idea,” Joan replied. “I didn’t think the Syndicate even existed, but you and Charlotte have convinced me. Either way, Henrika is here right now, and we need to take her out.”
Joan paused, and when she spoke again, her voice was pitched much lower than before. “We have to take her out, Dez. For Graham.”
“For Graham,” I replied in a soft voice, although I had to force out the words through the knot of guilt lodged in my throat.
I thought back to all the smug looks Henrika had given Charlotte and me in the penthouse.
Red-hot anger hit me again, and my hand curled around my phone hard enough to make the plastic creak in protest. If Charlotte hadn’t been in the penthouse, I would have thrown caution to the wind and gone after Henrika, no matter how many guards were between us.
“Can you go quiet for a moment?” I asked.
“Sure.” Joan typed a few buttons on her phone. “My comms are offline. Go ahead.”
I drew in a breath, then let it out, along with my confession. “The General has ordered me to kill Henrika the first chance I get.”
Even though I couldn’t see her, I could still feel Joan’s aura pulsing with surprise. “That’s not listed in the official mission file.”
“You know my father is too smart to put an order like that in the mission file.”
Joan snorted her agreement.
“I’m not sure . . .” My voice trailed off, but once again, I forced out the words. “I’m not sure I can kill Henrika. At least, not right away.”
“Why not?” Joan growled.
“Killing Henrika might trigger some doomsday protocol she has in place to release the undercover agent list, or blow the resort sky-high, or both. As much as I want to avenge Graham, I don’t want to get anyone else killed, and I couldn’t live with myself if the UC list fell into the wrong hands.
” I let out a bitter laugh. “I can barely live with myself as it is right now.”
“What happened to Graham was not your fault, Dez,” Joan said in a low, fierce voice.
“He loved you like a brother, and he wanted you to live, even if he couldn’t.
That’s why he told you to use your galvanism to take his strength and save yourself.
I knew Graham better than anyone, so I know he wouldn’t blame you for any of this. Not one little bit of it.”
“I know,” I replied, my own voice thick and raspy with emotion. “If Graham were here, he’d clap me on the back and tell me I did the right thing. But knowing that doesn’t make what I did to him any easier to bear.”
We both fell silent. Even though I wasn’t facing Joan, I could still feel her aura pulsing with the same cold sorrow that was coursing through my own veins, as though they were filled with a sluggish river of ice instead of warm blood.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll do my best to get justice for Graham. As soon as Charlotte and I get any sort of leverage on Henrika, we’ll use it to get her to turn over the UC list. Once she does that, we can start planning how to take her down.”
“I know you’ll do your best, Dez,” Joan replied in a low, strained voice. “That’s all any of us can do.”
Once again, that cold, heavy, sorrow-filled silence dropped over the two of us.
Joan scooted her chair back, making the metal scrape against the stone. “Someone’s approaching Charlotte. Topmost terrace, on your three o’clock.”
I turned my head to the side so I could see Charlotte, who was leaning against the stone railing almost directly above me.
To everyone else, she probably looked like she was admiring the view, but her eyes flicked back and forth, indicating that she was analyzing and cataloging everything around her.
For a moment, I didn’t see who Joan was talking about. Then a group of people stepped aside, and I spotted Niles Perran making a beeline toward Charlotte, two champagne glasses clutched in his hands.
“That’s Perran,” I muttered.
“What do you think he wants with Charlotte?” Joan asked.
“Nothing good.”
“Be careful, Dez,” Joan muttered out of the side of her mouth, then got to her feet and strode away.
“You too, Joan.”
I stood up and slid my phone back into my pocket as though I had finished my call. Then I headed for the nearest set of steps. I needed to reach Charlotte before Niles Perran did.