Silas.
My blood turns to ice. My smile vanishes, the phone cold against my cheek.
"Where is she?" I whisper, my fingers tightening on the metal of the phone until my knuckles turn white. "What did you do to her?"
"She’s safe. For now," Silas chuckles, the sound jagged and wet. "But she’s very popular in Las Vegas. Everyone wants to meet her. I think she’d like to see you, Atara. Fifteen minutes. I'm sending a car to the north gate. Come alone. Or your little friend gets a very different kind of surprise."
The line goes dead.
I stare at the blank screen, the silence of the corridor suddenly tasting like ash.
32
Lorcan
The cold floorboard is the first thing that registers.
I blink, my vision blurry, my mouth tastes bad. The dim light of the corridor filters through my eyelashes. For a second, my brain doesn't know where the hell I am. I try to sit up, my muscles screaming in protest, my bruised collarbone throbbing.
Something slides off my chest.
I catch it before it hits the floor. It’s my tailored black wool blazer. It’s clean, smelling faintly of her vanilla soap, folded neatly.
Atara.
The memories hit me.
"Atara?" I rasp, my throat dry.
The corridor is dead silent. I push myself up, my knees cracking. I drape the blazer over my arm, my eyes scanning the empty hallway. "Atara!"
Nothing.
A cold, heavy knot begins to tighten in my stomach. I drop the jacket on the floor and sprint toward the safe room down the hall. I kick the door open, my hand instinctively reaching for the holster at my hip.
Apart from Maeve, deeply asleep, the bed is empty. The sheets are pulled tight, untouched.
"Fucking hell," I growl.
I turn on my heel and charge down the stairs.
"Kieran!" I roar, my voice echoing off the concrete walls. "Echo! Get the fuck in here!"
The double steel doors hiss open. Kieran bursts in, his arm wrapped in a fresh white bandage, his face pale and soot-covered. Echo is right behind him, his radio glued to his ear.
"Boss?" Kieran asks, his eyes wide. "What’s wrong? You’re supposed to be resting."
"Where is she?" I demand, stepping into his space, my chest heaving. "Where is Atara?"
Kieran blinks, looking at Echo, then back at me. "She... she was checking on you, boss. She went down the corridor after we finished clearing the ballroom. We thought she was with you."
"She’s not here," I say, my voice dropping into a register that makes Kieran step back. "She’s not anywhere. Check the gate logs. Now."
Echo’s fingers fly across the security terminal, tapping the keys with a frantic speed. The screen flashes with the log entries for the North Gate, the South Gate, and the service exits.
"Log forty-two," Echo whispers, his voice losing all its strength. "Forty minutes ago. The North Gate sensor tripped. It was overridden with a master bypass code."
"Bypass?" I slam my fist onto the console. The plastic casing cracks under the impact, a sharp sting running up my arm.
