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“Odd. You’d think this would be where he’d want the cameras most.” Law frowns.
“That’s what I was thinking. Unless…” I look around and take in the place again.
“Unless whatever happens down here shouldn’t leave an evidential footprint.”
“Huh?” Vega looks from Law to me.
“You think the missing people have been held here, or at least, in rooms like this?” Law guesses.
I shrug. “It makes sense. We’re here, aren’t we? I never thought much about it, but given the size of this place, there could be dozens of rooms like this, away from nosy people, where there are locks on the gates. Not everyone can pick a lock, despite what you see in the movies.”
“So that’s where I’ll start. Once the fight begins, I’ll take your lock pick set and see if I can find more rooms like this.” Law nudges my shoulder.
“Philip says we’re too late,” I admit.
Law curses, sliding his hand over my thigh.
“We knew finding anyone alive would be a long shot. They are likely killed almost right away. But the question still remains, what the hell is he doing with the bodies? There must be an incinerator here or a mass grave. That would explain why they aren’t being dumped like the others were. Either way, their families deserve closure.”
A ding-dong noise makes us all whirl around and look toward the kitchen area.
“What the hell is that?” Vega frowns, heading to the kitchen to find the source of the noise. When it sounds again, he looks at the cupboard in front of him and opens it with a shocked face.
He shoves his head inside and looks up as the smell of barbecue sauce wafts into the room.
“I’ll be damned. How high does this thing go?” Vega pulls back and looks at us. “It’s one of those pulley things.”
“Oh, a dumbwaiter. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one outside a horror movie.” I jump off the sofa and walk over to Vega, who gives me a puzzled look.
“Oh, come on. There is always either a bad guy hiding in one or a plucky heroine trying to escape in one after grabbing a blade from the knife block.”
He shakes his head and pulls the food from the dumbwaiter and sets the bags out on the counter.
“How serious are you about us not eating?” he groans.
I think of Deity upstairs, how her body reacted despite the situation, and I wonder if that was all her or something else.
“I’m serious. I don’t trust this place or anything in it. Besides, Titus is pissed enough with me to drug the food to ensure the other team a guaranteed win.”
“How did you piss him off?”
“He wanted a little voyeuristic show.”
“What kind of show?” Law snarls from behind me.
“The kind of show that involved me and Deity rolling around naked together.” I hold my hand up before he can explode. “Before you lose your shit, just know that I declined and stayed out of the way.”
“Stayed out of the way? Wait, the other woman, Deity, she…?”
I nod. “Yep, she took the bait. I’m not even mad about it, but I have to be honest. Because I said no, her team will get the first choice of weapons. The other stipulation was losing a fifth team member. That obviously doesn’t affect us because we never planned to use Law in the fight, but Deity really didn’t want to lose one of her men.”
“Still…isn’t Deity the one with a husband on her team? Not sure how he’ll feel about it.”
“We don’t know what kind of relationship they have. He might be totally cool with it, or she might not be planning on sharing what happened. I don’t know.”
Blink rushes to reassure us. “In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really affect us. We knew going in that we would likely face a five-person team, and the whole weapons thing was always going to be a gamble. That’s why we practiced with so many different options. Remember, they are only as good as their tools. And if they have never fought before with, say, a sword, it will actually be more of a hindrance than a help.”
“I know. Honestly, I never even hesitated when he asked. We’ve trained hard for this, and I’ll be dammed if our chances of winning come down to a little sex show put on for a dying megalomaniac.”
