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Table fifteen was about halfway across the hall, not far from the giant tank with its collection of small sharks swimming slowly around and around. Paige and Christopher made their way to it, and as they walked up to the table, Paige found herself staring at the man dealing cards crisply and smoothly to a quartet of gamblers.
He was in his thirties, with short blonde hair and lean features. He was slender, barely filling out his uniform. His long fingered hands moved quickly and confidently on the cards, making them skim out over the table like stones skipping across water, coming to rest neatly in front of each of the gamblers sitting there.
He looked up as they approached, flashing a professional looking smile their way, as if he’d done it with dozens of potential gamblers already that day. “We have a couple of spare seats if you’d like me to deal you in.”
“We’re not here for that,” Christopher said. He flashed his badge, and in that moment, Paige saw the change in Lucas Francisco’s expression. She saw the fear there, and the sudden flash of determination.
“He’s going to run!” Paige called out, but she was an instant too late in shouting it. Lucas was already on his feet, sending stacks of casino chips scattering.
He darted around the table, and Paige set off after him, trying to grab him before he could get away. She was an agent now, and that meant that she couldn’t hang back, leaving this kind of thing to Christopher. Not that she ever had.
Christopher was running at Lucas from the other side of the table, the two of them converging in a pincer movement that should have been enough to trap him. Instead, though, he leapt up onto the table, kicking cards in every direction as he made a run into the midst of the casino.
Paige set off in pursuit. She was aware of the weight of her gun at her side, and had a split second to decide whether to use it, having to weigh up all the factors that her instructors had tried to drill into her in an instant. Paige decided against it. This was an unarmed suspect in the middle of a room full of people who might be hit if Paige missed. Both of those things meant that she needed to chase, not reach for her weapon.
Paige sprinted after the fleeing figure of Lucas, dodging left and right to try to make her way through the crowd in the casino at speed. Christopher was pushing his way through much more directly, not giving the other man a chance to get away. Paige could see, though, that they weren’t going to be able to get close to him through the crowd.
She cut around instead, trying to get in front of Lucas so that he would have nowhere left to run. Paige ran along the line of slot machines, hearing one paying out even as she ran past. That slowed her down because an older woman came out in front of her with her hands in the air, beaming with joy, and Paige had to sidestep to avoid knocking her over as she ran.
She could see Christopher still chasing after Lucas, and Paige was in front of them both now. She swung around in front of the path she thought Lucas was going to take, moving into place to try to tackle him as he came close to her.
He spotted her. But because Paige had cut off his other options, there were only so many places he could go. He changed course, heading for a flight of metal stairs that led to the raised walkway above the shark tank that Paige had seen when she came in. Paige followed, determined not to let him get away.
Paige followed him up the steps to the walkway, with Christopher just a pace or so behind. They were up well above the casino floor now, and the shark tank was there just the other side of a short railing.
Lucas started to back away along the walkway, obviously looking for a spot where he could drop down to the casino floor again safely, leaving Paige and Christopher behind. He looked panicky, obviously determined to do whatever it took not to be caught. Before, Paige had doubts about whether he was the murderer, but seeing him do this much to get away, she had to admit he was looking more and more like he might be involved after all.
“Lucas, you need to stop,” she said, trying to talk him down. “There’s nowhere for you to go. We just want to talk to you.”
As she talked, she moved around the walkway, cutting off his options for escape. Paige was doing her best to defuse the situation, not wanting to escalate into violence up here, but Lucas was still backing away.
“You think I’m falling for that?” he demanded.
Paige kept advancing. “You need to stay where you are, Lucas.”
He was getting close to the railing now, but he didn’t seem to notice the danger.
“Leave me alone, or-”
Paige never got to find out what Lucas’s threat was going to be, because that was the moment when his foot slipped on his next backward step. He reached out to try to balance, but there was nothing to support him. He went straight over the railing, arms pinwheeling as he tumbled into the tank with a splash that sent water flying up into the air.
The small sharks within scattered out of the way of the sudden falling form, and Lucas came flailing to the surface, spluttering as he did so, flailing and trying to swim.
The small sharks seemed to have gotten over their initial shock, and were nosing around Lucas, nudging against him as if trying to judge whether he was small enough to eat.
“Get me out of here!” Lucas cried out.
There was a net by the side of the tank, obviously used for cleaning it. Paige grabbed for it, holding it out for Lucas to hold onto. Christopher was there with her then, pulling him in to the side of the tank and then hauling him out of it. He lay there, soaked and panting as he stared up at the ceiling.
“Lucas Francisco,” Christopher said. “We’d like to ask you some questions.”
