“That’s the goal.” He smirked and kissed my cheek.
Since we weren’t joining the Game, we could walk straight through and just enjoy ourselves. The participants had to listento a speech in the lobby, have their pictures taken, and complete a form. Meanwhile, I threw a giant shrimp into my mouth and sipped some bubbly by the big snack buffet next to the entrance.
The masks didn’t conceal anybody’s identity if you knew them. But if you didn’t…? I didn’t know these members. Approximately fifty or so Mclean members were in the club area, and I couldn’t identify a single one. Wait. Maybe that was Jack and Franklin over by the bar. Maybe.
Where might one find James and Jordan?
Were they among the dozen or so who were dancing?
The music wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. It seemed to be a playlist packed with goth metal versions of classical pieces, and I could think of worse songs to listen to.
Still wasn’t dance music, though. I wasn’t bringing my man out on the dance floor to this. How did youmoveto goth metal? I loved hard rock and metal. But the times I’d gone to a show, you basically stood there and bobbed your head.
Maybe Colt and I could grab some whips and chains and threaten anyone who came near the laptop. I knew it was behind the bar. We could change it to country rock or some goodies from the ’70s and ’80s.
I turned back to the snacks instead.
They’d gone all out. Shrimp, roast beef, cheese, spicy sausage, smoked salmon, vegetables, crackers, fruits, olives, all kinds of marinated stuff, more cheese, the crunchy breadsticks—everything laid out real nice too, under glass lids and whatnot.
I took myself one of those long toothpicks and stabbed an artichoke and a slice of chorizo.
“We just ate, sweetheart,” Nate chuckled.
“But it’s food.”
He stiffened. “I think I just heard Jordan. Let’s move into the shadows.”
I nodded, emptied my bubbly, and followed him toward the back of the room.
Maybe they’d checked things out upstairs.
Perfect time for the lights to go down. Except for the chandelier and the tiny spotlights that cast the whole club in a dark red glow.
More and more people poured into the club, making it easy to disappear in the crowd. Those taking part in the Game had evidently been released into the wild, because I spotted Greer, Sloan, Colt, River or Reese, Macklin, Walker… Many of them.
I ushered Nate over to the bar instead, and we stayed behind it. While he ordered us water, I finally received a message from Reese.
You and KC can find Shay in interrogation room 3 at nine PM. Nora will be there half an hour later. They have been notified. As for one of our own possibly turning on us? I’m not ready to accept that yet, so we’ll focus on finding the subs. Stand by for details.
I typed my response.
9PM, got it. Standing by. Remember to have fun, Tenley.
He replied a beat later.
You should know me better, Riley.
I let out a laugh. He had a point. Hewashaving fun. Solving a mystery was his crack.
Touché.
Nate nudged me and nodded toward the dance crowd. Or the edges of it, where I spotted James and Jordan wearing matching masks. Goddamn, they were handsome too. All suited up in black. All black.
It was easy to see that they were looking for someone. Or two someones.
I leaned closer to Nate as the music got louder.
“We have roughly an hour until I gotta be upstairs with KC.”
