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“Why not?”
I nibbled while keeping my eye on the clock. As we inched toward showtime, I wrapped up the half-eaten burger and spruced up. Grabbed my Poker for Dummies–type CliffsNotes and willed my hands not to shake as I clutched it.
Kyle backed out of our space and headed down the hill, navigated the roundabout, and drove up the road to Cliff Castle. He parked in the east lot. One of our agents was in the west lot and the other had left his car under the valet ramada as he loitered by the entrance, sitting on a bench and reading the paper. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Plenty of people had stepped out for some fresh air and a break from pouring their money into the slots.
I’d be lying if I didn’t find the intrigue a bit exhilarating. Maybe it was because I felt I had decent coverage with Kyle and the agents. Maybe it was because this was my revenge. If I could help to nail Wayne, I’d get a bit of vindication after all he’d done to us.
That did not quell my fear over how badly I could screw this up—or how furious Dane and Amano would be when they discovered what we’d done, or attempted to do.
But I simply couldn’t step away from the flame. Dane had taught me to be tough, to stand my ground, to stay strong. Amano had as well. Kyle, too.
So I took a few calming breaths as I lingered around the corner of the building, waiting for Agent Price’s cue from his bench. He’d alert me as to when to head to the entrance.
I waited impatiently. It seemed as though a few too many minutes ticked by.
“Kyle, what time is it?” I whispered into the mic implanted in my bra.
“Take it easy.” I heard him through the tiny earpiece my long hair covered. Thankfully, it was a moderate day, temperature-wise. Gloomy, but not windy or rainy. No storm to create disruptive background noise or gusts to blow my hair back, away from my ear.
“Are you sure we didn’t miss him coming out?” I wondered.
“Not a chance,” Price said. “He must be winning.”
I paced along the walkway. Amano had told us Wayne didn’t break stride with his gambling routine. I would have guessed he’d slipped out the side entrance, but Kyle would have seen him, since that was the lot where he’d parked.
My exhilaration waned, to be replaced by apprehension. The more appropriate response, I knew. I shouldn’t have been excited over this confrontation to begin with. Now I worried whether it would even happen.
I forced myself not to mangle the booklet in my hands. I smiled at passersby, practiced looking normal, not paranoid or guilty as sin because I was up to something.
Be cool, Ari. Breathe. Maybe Dane won’t kill you. Amano will understand, right? It’s all for the greater good, the—
“Game on,” Price suddenly said.
I snapped to attention. Took one more deep breath.
Then I rounded the building and headed toward the entrance, my attention on the manual in my hands that I’d flipped open. I mumbled to myself about the difference between the river and the turn, and various betting techniques.
“Now,” Price instructed.
I closed the bookl
et, tried to look completely overwhelmed from my crash course, and then allowed my gaze to fall on Wayne Horton.
I gasped and jumped back, my eyes widening as I did a double take for emphasis. I prayed I looked shocked—and petrified. The latter wasn’t actually too far-fetched.
“Wayne Horton. What the hell are you doing here?” I demanded, letting my voice break.
“I could ask you the same question. Slumming, Ari?”
I ground my teeth. “Boredom without a job is more like it.” I shook my head, as though annoyed with myself that I was actually starting a conversation with this man. I stepped around him and headed to the door but then pulled up short and whirled around. “You know, you’ve got some nerve staying in town.”
He raised his hands casually in the air. “It’s a free country.”
“Asshole!” I blurted with sufficient angst. I closed the gap between us, moving in much closer than I’d been schooled.
“Ari, back up,” came Price’s warning.
I didn’t heed it. Instead, I lowered my voice, though dropped my chin so I effectively spoke into the hidden mic, and said, “You should be long, long gone after all that you’ve done.”
