Stevens landed in Las Vegas early, the sunrise having paced the chartered FBI Citation over the Midwest. He climbed off the plane at the private jet terminal, bummed a ride to McCarran International, and settled in between the baggage claim and a bank of slot machines to wait for Mathers and Windermere.
He hadn’t slept much all week, and the cramped Cessna hadn’t offered much in the way of space to stretch out. He’d spent the flight staring out the window, watching dawn overtake the small plane and thinking about his daughter, hoping he was doing the right thing.
He should have been exhausted. He wasn’t. He was wired. Somewhere in this city, amid the cacophonous jangle of slot machines and the crush of tourists, a man had faced down Richard O’Brien and lived. No way Stevens was sleeping until he talked to the guy.
O’Brien had failed. He’d left his target alive. From what Stevens could tell, there was no reason for it. He’d snuck into the target’s room, apparently with a key card. He’d ambushed the guy. Waved the gun in his face and shot a hole through the ceiling. Then he’d walked.
A scare tactic, maybe? A threat? Or maybe the gun jammed. Maybe the kid’s weapon misfired and he didn’t have a backup. He couldn’t kill the target, so he ran. Either way, Stevens needed answers. And somewhere in this city, there was a man who could give them.
Windermere and Mathers arrived just after nine. They walked through the terminal, bleary-eyed, coffee cups in their hands. Windermere gave him a half smile when she saw him. “Stevens,” she said. “Hey.”
Stevens hesitated. “Hey,” he said. He grinned at her, awkward, for a second. Shook Mathers’s hand.
Windermere and Mathers swapped glances, and then Windermere cleared her throat. “Been here long?”
“Couple hours. I hate it already.”
“You ready to work?”
He nodded. “Just waiting on you.”
“Good,” she said. “Let’s talk to this guy. Unless you’d rather hit the slots first.”
Stevens glanced at the machines. “Already lost my whole stake. I got nothing better to do than chase Killswitch.”
Windermere grinned at him. “Well, okay,” she said. “Let’s go get him.”