“Do you see Alex anywhere?”
“Hold on, I’m checking…and if I’m not mistaken, she’s entering the ballroom with Freddy, who looks as if he’s trying desperately to grab her bum.”
“He’s lucky she’s in character, otherwise he’d be missing a hand.” Cooper closed the CCTV box and pocketed his phone. “I’m headed upstairs to make the drop.”
As they stepped into the ballroom, Alex still saw no sign of Eric Hopcroft or Reinhard Beck or even the night’s host. Not surprising considering the dim lighting and the density of the crowd.
At the moment, though, finding them wasn’t the first thing on her to-do list. That would come when they contacted Favreau. And while it might be nothing more than a distraction, a reason not to think about her real purpose here, her current number one priority was talking to Warlock.
She turned to her escort. “What time are you supposed to meet with your friends?”
“No idea,” Favreau said. “These guys like to keep me in suspense.”
She pointed at the bar. “Why don’t you get us some wine? I need to find the little girl’s room.”
“You’re gonna leave me here all by my lonesome?”
She gestured to a buxom blonde dancing vigorously nearby. “You can sightsee while I’m gone.”
Favreau smiled and rubbed Alex’s butt. “You’re something else, you know that? Don’t trip and fall into any billionaires’ beds. You’re all mine.”
Ugh. She really despised this guy.
She pulled away from him and threaded through the crowd, exiting into a hallway at the rear of the ballroom. It was less noisy here, but not by much. She reached into her purse and activated the transmitter in her cell phone, then put the phone to her ear, feigning a call, in case anyone was watching.
“Warlock, do you read me?”
“Well, hello,” he said. “Glad you could join us.”
“I owe you an apology. I think I may have been wrong about that whole memory thing.”
“You?” he said. “How can that be possible?”
“Just tell me this — hotel key cards are encoded with data, right?”
“As anyone with a rudimentary understanding of technology should know, it’s how they communicate with the lock on your door.”
“You remember how Favreau had two key cards in his wallet?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he seemed very skittish tonight about letting them pass through the X-ray machine, and I keep thinking about the one we tried in his—”
“Oh, bugger, it’s a fake, isn’t it? That’s where he’s storing the codes.”
“That’s what I was about to say, yeah. That’s why it didn’t work.”
Warlock swore under his breath. “Why didn’t I see it? I had that bloody card in my hand…”
“None of us saw it,” Cooper chimed in. “So maybe he’s smarter than we think he is. Alex, you need to switch that thing out before he meets up with Valac.”
“With what?” she said. “I don’t have a duplicate. I left mine in my room. Besides, he has two of them. How would I know which one to switch?”
“Point taken. But you do have access to them, right?”
“More or less,” she said.
“Then take them both and hope he doesn’t notice until it’s too late.”
“And if he does?”
“We’ll make it up as we go along.”
“All right,” she said, “I’ll do what I can. Did you drop off the package?”
“Yes, and you’d better grab it while you have the chance. It’s in the restroom in the northeast corner of the house. I’m leaving there as we speak.”
“Good. I’m on my way.”
Alex returned the cell phone to her purse, swept past a group of chattering guests, and headed toward the drop point. Cooper passed her along the way, giving her a subtle nod. As she approached the restroom in question, she spotted a woman in a blue gown about to reach for the doorknob.
With two quick steps, Alex cut in front of her, saying, “I’m sorry, I really need to get in there,” then dodged inside and locked the door.
According to the blueprints, this was one of the smaller bathrooms in the house, yet it was bigger than her living room back home. She crossed to the toilet, removed the basket of potpourri on the tank, then lifted the lid and set it aside.
Right below the water line, wedged behind the flushing mechanism, was a black ziplock bag. She pulled it out, carried it to the sink, and opened it, removing a Kahr P380 micro compact pistol with a six-round magazine. It wasn’t much bigger than her hand.
She lifted her dress and carefully repositioned the tactical thigh holster she wore on her right leg. After sliding the P380 into place, she let the hem drop and inspected herself in the mirror.
No sign of any telltale bulges.
She dumped the plastic bag, returned the tank lid and potpourri basket, then flushed the toilet and headed for the door, bracing herself for what was to come.
CHAPTER 34
When she got back to the ballroom, Favreau was gone.
She looked toward the bar, but didn’t see him standing in line to order their drinks. She spun around and checked the dance floor, hoping she wouldn’t be assaulted by the sight of Favreau dancing, but didn’t see him there, either.
“Warlock, give me some help here.” She hoped he could hear her over the din of the music. “I’ve lost Favreau.”
“Not to worry, he’s at your two o’clock, getting some food, and chatting up a bird who could stand to lose a few.”
Alex turned and spotted Favreau standing by a caterer’s table, drinking a glass of wine as he spoke to the buxom blonde they’d seen dancing earlier. The blonde was filling a small plate high with food as if she was afraid she might miss out on something.
Instead of moving toward them, Alex stood with her hand on her hip, a look of mild disapproval on her face as she waited for Favreau to notice she had returned.
He finally spotted her and grinned. He said something to the blonde, picked up a second glass of wine, and headed Alex’s way. “I was starting to wonder if you’d ever come back.”
She nodded toward the blonde. “So you figured you’d arrange for a backup? I told you to sightsee, not rent a room and move in.”
He handed her the extra glass of wine. “Is that jealousy I’m hearing? That raises our relationship to a whole new level.”
She took hold of his jacket lapel, rubbing her thumb along it. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Frederic. I haven’t known you long enough to be jealous.”
“Maybe we can do something about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“After I’m done here, I’m headed back to Paris. You could come along. Spend some time.”
“And what about my job?”
“Come on,” he said. “You’ll never get anywhere working for those idiots. You come back with me, maybe we can figure out a game plan to launch your career. I’ll have the money to do it.”
“Really?”
“I like you, baby. I like being around you.”
“Gee, I wonder why.”
He shook his head. “It’s not just that. You’re something special. I mean it.”
Alex had the dreaded realization that there was only one way she could react to this. And as much as the thought repulsed her, she knew it might give her the opportunity to grab those key cards.
Setting her glass of wine on a nearby table, she said, “You’re special, too,” then leaned in and kissed him — a good solid kiss that tasted like Chablis and tobacco and breath mints. She was reminded of that moment on the sofa and wanted to run away in horror, but they were in the thick of it now and running wasn’t an option.
She slipped her hands inside his jacket and caressed his ribcage, feeling more fat than bone, then carefully raised her right hand toward his left inner pocket, hoping the kiss was enough to keep him from noticing as she dipped the hand inside.