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Regan Harris
Magari Hotel and Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada
Michael and Frank tumbled forward and toppled onto the coffee table. The glass shattered and exploded around us. I lifted my feet off the ground as the two rolled around in front of me.
“For heaven’s sake,” my dad muttered as he headed toward the men. He reached down and pulled Frank off Michael, tossing him down on the couch next to me. Frank tried again for Michael, but my dad pushed him back down. Frank heaved next to me, his breath coming in gasps and starts. Blood ran down his chin from his nose. I pulled my legs closer to my body, putting more space between us.
“You snake!” Frank spat at Michael when he finally caught his breath.
Michael wiped his nose on the sleeve of his suit coat. Blood stained his white shirt. My dad’s foot on his chest held him in place while his right hand put pressure on Frank’s shoulder. Michael stayed lying down on the ground, trying to catch his breath.
“Don’t you pretend like you are the better man. I wasn’t the one with the hammer that night, you were.” Michael pointed at Frank, jabbing his finger into the air between them. My dad kept his hand on Frank’s shoulder, pushing him down as he tried to lunge again at Michael.
Gracie had had enough. She bolted from the room, slamming the door to my bedroom. The loud noise made me jump. Silence filled the room as we all stared at each other. I finally broke it.
“Get up. Both of you. Frank, take us to the security office.”
“Why would I do that?” Frank asked. His voice came out in a nasal whine because he had it pinched between his thumb and finger to stop the bleeding.
“We need to see the security tapes of where they went,” I said.
“They left the hotel. That’s what the tapes will show. I’ve had security scour the hotel. They aren’t here,” Frank said.
“I have three more hours to kill,” I said, checking my watch. “I need to do something useful. Now. Show. Me. The. Tapes.”
My dad yanked Frank up from the couch. Michael groaned as my dad’s foot pressed further into his chest. “Let’s go.”
Michael dragged himself from the floor and followed us to the elevator. I snagged Liam to come with us while the rest of the group went back inside the hotel suite. Liam kissed Jax on the cheek before following me. My dad and Passion had a heated whispered argument, based on their facial expressions and arms waving at each other, but I could only hear a word or two of what was exchanged. I turned away from them, not wanting to get dragged into the fight. Dad joined us at the elevator shortly after.
The five of us filled the elevator. Everyone making sure they weren’t touching the person next to them. We definitely weren’t friends here. Frank inserted a key card and then pressed a button for the subbasements. My dad watched Frank’s every move. I rubbed the tired from my eyes. My dad wrapped his arm around me, tucking his head down by mine.
“Your sister is taking your mom and Grams back to Indiana,” Dad whispered in my ear explaining the argument I witnessed. I nodded my head in acknowledgement.
“You know you won the battle but not the war, right?” I asked, referring to Passion and Las Vegas.
“We’ll see,” Dad said.
I grunted in reply. I didn’t think Dad knew what he was in for in regards to Passion and Frank’s affair. I didn’t think she’d give him up that easily.
The elevator dinged and the door opened to a sublevel. Frank took the lead down a narrow hallway as we followed. Employees greeted Frank as we passed but didn’t comment on his bloody nose or disheveled clothing, although shock showed on most of their faces.
Frank stopped and knocked on a door marked security. The door was opened by a man in uniform. Frank walked past him and led us into a staffed room but didn’t speak to anyone. Employees glanced up from their cubicles but quickly averted their eyes when we passed. Frank knocked again on an interior door. The door opened from the inside. Hundreds of monitors showed every nook and cranny of the hotel. I gasped in surprise. I knew the casinos used cameras and high levels of security, but it was another thing to see it in person.
“Good evening, Edwards,” Frank greeted the man who had opened the door. He shook his hand.
“What can I do for you, sir?” Edwards’s eyes darted between the people in our group. Taking in the blood, he leaned toward Frank and whispered quietly to him.
“Everything’s fine, Edwards. We just need your help with something.” Frank’s face changed, relaxing into his friendly grin, putting the security guard at ease. I’d seen the exact grin in every photo of Frank online. I rolled my eyes at his transformation. If only his staff knew of the man behind the mask.
Frank gave Edwards a slap on the shoulder. “We could use your help. Let’s take this into your office.” Frank held his arm out, guiding the way. Liam and I passed with our necks craned, trying to take in the room. My foot caught on a chair leg sending me sprawling. The security guard sitting in the chair spun around to help me up. His security key card snagged on the desk, pulling the clip off his pants. I couldn’t believe my luck. I wanted that card. I needed that card. Luckily for me, my morals were at an all-time low so stealing it wasn’t beneath me.
I smiled up at him. He smiled back. As he was looking at me, I moved my hand over the white card. I quickly palmed it and slipped it in the pocket of my jeans as I pretended to dust myself off.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling again when he helped me to my feet. The young man blushed at my attention. My dad grabbed my arm and led me away.
“I saw that,” he whispered out of the side of his mouth.
“Did anyone else?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“No. I blocked their view.”
“Good.”
We followed everyone into the office. A smaller bank of TV monitors flanked one wall. The opposite wall housed a desk with multiple computer terminals. Directly across from us was another door. Probably a private entrance for Edwards, I guessed.
Edwards moved behind the desk. He looked like a kid. I squinted my eyes as I took in his appearance. He was short and slight in build with large black glasses on his face. He wore suit pants that hung on his narrow hips. The suit jacket hung on the back of his chair and his shirtsleeves were rolled up. The shirt was covered in wrinkles and remnants of a previous meal dotted his tie. The kid looked like he was playing dress-up in his dad’s clothes. The only thing missing was a pocket protector for his pens. I glanced around for another security expert but didn’t see one.
“Edwards, I need you to pull up the footage from the catwalks above the main theater,” Frank said.
“Starting time, sir?” Edwards asked as he tapped on a keyboard. He sat in the desk chair looking at the computer screen in front of him.
“Seven. Right when the show started,” Frank said.
Liam, Dad and I stood to the side facing the monitors. The largest one in the center switched to the footage Frank asked for. Backstage members of the production moved about the screen, but when the lights dimmed, they all disappeared down different stairwells.
I leaned in toward Liam and whispered, “Look for anything out of place.”
Liam’s glance at me spoke volumes. Duh came through loud and clear. “Any suggestions? I don’t know what’s in place,” Liam said.
“Me either. Use your cop eyes.” Liam looked at me in confusion. I shrugged.
Movement on the empty catwalk caught my eyes. Guy’s silhouette moved down the main walkway. He crouched down. His black clothing and the dim lighting made him hard to see. Not impossible, but he didn’t stand out either. Guy produced a knife and began to cut at one of silks the dancers used. My heart raced thinking about how Passion was on the other end, even though I knew she hadn’t been hurt.
Guy paused in his actions before speeding back up. I assumed he’d noticed me noticing him. His arm moved back and forth as the knife cut into the material. A moment later, his attention shifted to his right as I barreled onto the screen. The video didn’t have any sound so our words couldn’t be heard.
I held my breath as I watched the scene unfold. I contained a sob as Gray was stabbed and led off screen.
“Can you follow their movements?” I asked. Edwards looked to Frank for approval. He nodded his head yes.
The video switched to a hallway. Guy and Gray moved down it and then seemed to disappear. I shot onto the screen, looking up and down the area. My costume tail snagged on the wall. I ripped it off and moved off screen. We all knew what happened next. I rubbed my palm with my thumb as I remembered the burn from smacking Michael across the face.
“Where did they go?” Liam asked. He stepped closer to the monitor. “It looks like they just disappeared?”
“Not quite,” Edwards said. “There’s a panel in the wall that leads to another hallway. It’s left over from when Vegas wasn’t always on the up and up.”
“And Guy would’ve known about it since he grew up in this hotel.” I filled in the blank for Liam’s benefit. “Are there more cameras in that hallway?”
“Give me a minute,” Edwards said. His fingers flew across the computer keyboard. “I’m running facial recognition on both of them. Any videos with them will pop up.”
I stepped closer to Liam and the TVs. It was my only link to Gray for the moment. Elevator footage showed Guy and Gray. Gray had his suit coat pulled tightly across him hiding his blood-stained shirt and allowing him to put pressure on the wound. He seemed pale to me but was moving easily enough when they exited the elevator.
“What floor are they on?” Frank asked.
“The thirty-fifth.”
I gasped. Our suite was on that floor. The view switched again. Guy and Gray walked down the hallway and entered our room. We watched the empty hallway, for what seemed an eternity, for them to reemerge. They did less than a minute later. Gray now carried a small backpack over his shoulder. They calmly walked down the hallway, back to the elevator. The view switched again. They now walked toward the camera.
In the elevator, neither man spoke. I stared at Gray, willing him to look at me. I knew he wouldn’t actually see me, but I just wanted to see his eyes. As if he could hear me, Gray looked up and stared directly into the camera, and my heart stopped. He held the gaze for mere seconds before looking down at his hand. His body blocked his right hand from Guy seeing it. His palm was up, his passport rested on it face up. The bold emblem of the United States against the gray leather was easy to see. Gray’s eyes moved back to the camera, then he slipped his passport into his pocket.