“Where to?” Crouch swung into South Maryland. “We need to know where they’re going.”
“Damn, this is gonna cost you extra,” Kate murmured with a slight grunt.
“What are you doing?”
“Climbing over the friggin’ wall. What do you expect?”
Alicia nodded in appreciation. Argento sure knew how to pick his assets.
“Don’t get caught,” Lex said encouragingly.
“Thanks dude. I really needed that.”
Minutes passed. Crouch, following Kate’s earlier directions, cut down East Twain to Sands. As the rear of the enormous Venetian hotel and casino started to dominate the windshield he found a parking space and stopped.
“We ready?”
Sporting all the accepted tourist paraphernalia; light back packs concealed in huge shopping bags they’d bought days ago, shoulder bags to conceal small weapons, thin jackets to hide bulletproof vests, and with earbud communications planted, hidden trackers activated, and even disposable cameras with CCTV fitted.
Kate talked them in. As they hurried through the enormous, lavish lobby she reported her observations of the last twenty minutes.
“I caught up with them just as the last was heading into an elevator. Managed to confirm they’re on one of the top floors. Beyond that I honestly can’t say. I’ve been scoping out the same set of elevators ever since but nobody has come down.”
Alicia approved and said so. Coker’s men were unlikely to use a different set of elevators on their downward trip. “You’ll have to direct us in. This place is huge.”
Kate guided them through the windowless maze. Even now, the team found it hard not to be taken in by their surroundings. The spectacle was mesmerizing. Crouch walked as fast as he dared whilst not drawing attention. He was quite aware of the security stats of this place — at least two thousand cameras, sixty surveillance screens watched over by dozens of guards in a small fifteen feet by thirty feet room; about five hundred VCRs recording even the tiniest action. Eyes were in the ceiling, the walls, the lights. Crouch even fancied they might be in the floor.
Kate was hard to miss. She sat in a relaxed pose, scooping ice cream from a small Haagen-Dazs tub, a floor plan of the casino laid out beside her and a half-eaten burger on a plate from I Love Burgers by her side. Alicia saw the bank of elevators immediately, just visible if Kate leaned to her left.
Crouch sat without introduction. “Great job.”
Lex squeezed in beside her and grabbed the burger, taking a bite. “Hey, you don’t mind do you?” The biker was already smitten.
“Not at all, dude. Wasn’t mine. I was using it as cover.”
Lex choked. Alicia frowned at him. “Don’t you dare bring that back up, Lex. We’re trying to stay under the radar.”
Kate leaned back in her comfy chair. Alicia saw a raven-haired woman with locks tied back, slight creases in her face where the helmet fitted snugly and a fit body encased in leather. Her demeanor told the world that she was at her ease but her eyes betrayed a little worry at the sight of all the new arrivals.
“Biggest crew I ever saw,” Kate commented. “Except for the one I followed to those elevators.”
Alicia shrugged. “They were even larger before we went water rafting and mountain climbing with ‘em.”
“Either way I’d rather not get in the middle of your playdates.”
“Fair enough,” Crouch said. “We can take it from here.” He eyed the elevators as they swooshed open. “Thanks for the great help, Kate.”
“Well, next time I put in a cameo appearance I’d like cash up front.” A slight twinkle lit her eyes as she stared transfixed at Alicia.
The Englishwoman returned a sparkle of her own. “Well, we could always offer Lex here as a down payment.”
“Ugh. Bikers just don’t do it for me. But still, call on me whenever you’re in town.”
“Be sure to.” Alicia showed her teeth.
As Kate moved away, Lex raised his hands in anger. “What the hell were you doing, Alicia? She was just my type!”
Alicia pouted. “But you weren’t hers. Me however… ”
Lex stared. “Jesus, that doesn’t make her less appealing, you know.”
“I know.”
Crouch hissed to draw their attention. “We only just made it, guys. Our thieves are exiting the elevator right now, and they have our treasure on their bloody backs.”
THIRTY
Crouch rose immediately, more plans than Venetian slot machines chirping inside his head. Coker’s men had returned to the Venetian for a reason, a major one. The operation had been full of risk to start with, but to succeed and then bring at least part of your loot and military force into a Las Vegas casino for forty minutes seemed… inexplicable.
“The big player is here.” Crouch suddenly saw it. “Coker was forced to bring the plunder for that bastard to see, otherwise why not take it straight to an airfield? The South African has to be staying here.”
“Two birds—” Alicia began.
“Too bloody right,” Crouch said. “I’ve been messed about one time too many during this trip.”
Russo counted men as they slipped out of the elevator. “At least a dozen plus Coker, sir. We’re gonna need everyone.”
Crouch tightened his lips into a stubborn line. “I won’t let this bastard go. Healey, we’re leaving you here. Orders are to scope the South African out; survey but don’t engage. When we return we’ll want enough information from you to formulate a take down. Got it?”
Healey was wide-eyed with surprise and sudden self-doubt. Crouch moved away briskly, leaving him to it, but Russo and Alicia pulled the young man aside.
“Walk the halls. Purchase a room up there. Try to talk to his men. Follow them. Learn their habits. If you can do all of that tonight we might even treat you to a Denny’s ice cream.” Alicia winked.
“Do what you can, mate.” Russo said. “If we had time we’d juice up one of the security team to help, but… ” He shrugged.
Coker’s team headed out. Crouch lingered beside a bank of slot machines, Caitlyn and Cruz already playing. Alicia gave Healey one last punch for good luck and walked away. Quickly, they tracked Coker’s men to the casino entrance for Las Vegas Boulevard, the opposite side of the complex to where the chopper had landed.
Crouch looked mystified. “What on earth are they playing at?”
Caitlyn pointed out the time. “It’s almost midnight. I would hazard a guess that they have an alternative method of moving stolen treasure out of the country. Perhaps on the back of an eighteen wheeler to an unguarded coast.”
“Good guess,” Crouch commended her. “Off the top of your head?”
“I’ve worked stolen art a few times for MI6.”
“But first they have to get it to the eighteen wheeler.” Russo parted from the group, keeping their movements as innocuous as possible.
Alicia drifted in the other direction, alone now. She emerged from the casino into a path of glittering lights, the famous Campanile Bell Tower and Rialto Bridge off to her left, a perfect expanse of polished flagstones leading in that direction. Down a set of steps she went, staring at the sights but not really seeing them as the peripheries of her vision were all that she cared about.
Coker and his men dawdled deliberately down the steps, mingling with the crowds, the man with the suitcase struggling. At first Alicia thought they were aiming for one of several parked cars or the taxi rank but then they pointed themselves directly toward Las Vegas Boulevard and put their heads down.