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All things considered, I make quick work of the locks. My device slips smoothly into place, I connect my phone, and I’m off. It’s like solving a puzzle made of ones and zeros, and I’m almost in a trance as I bypass security measures and grant myself access.
Finally, the heavy door clicks, and I swing it open, stepping into the electrical room as my brows bounce up. The massive mainframe computers in here are sleek and dark, lined up row after row with subtle blinking lights here and there. It’s dim in here but not dark, and due to the computers humming all around, it’s fairly warm.
I listen for a long moment and hear nothing. Seems fine. Do I really need to walk further back into all those rows? This place seemed sealed, nice and shut.
I’m about to turn and walk out when I catch the smell. It’s not like the rest of the Golden Flame, with its unique floral scent. Instead, it’s the faintest aroma of cinnamon gum and a particular brand of aftershave. One I recognize.
My heart pounds as I peek around one of the rows of mainframe computers. A hacker I recognize is standing there, a gadget plugged into one of the mainframe doors with bleach-blond hair in a man bun on top of his head.
Glitch.
Glitch has been a member of the Wild Seven longer than most. He’s been with Ace since the beginning—and he’s really fucking good at what he does. When I first met him, he’d told me I was ahead of where he had been at my age regarding coding and hacking. I’d taken it as a massive compliment because he’s a god when it comes to shit like this.
He’s also incredibly violent. Something else I had the misfortune of learning when an acquaintance of the Wild Seven tried to backstab them. Glitch hadn’t hesitated to smash in that guy’s brains with a crowbar before returning to his chill and easygoing default.
The Wild Seven is making another move.
They’re targeting the Golden Flame for reasons beyond revenge on me. God, ofcourse, they’d target this casino. This is one of the most successful in all of Vegas, and it’s no place for amateur hackers, so of course, the Wild Seven would want to bring it down, steal it all, and leave it in the dust like they have so many other places.
I try to take a step backward, but a firm hand wrapping around the back of my neck makes me suck in a sharp breath. I’m turned around to face Jack, whose white smile is neon-bright even in the dimness.
“Well! If it isn’t little Lucky Loren.Luckytiming, huh? I love finding pretty girls in dark rooms. Especially ones who deserve to be broken for the shit they’ve pulled.”
His hand tightens around my neck until it starts to cut off my air supply. My eyes flick over to see Glitch staring at me with no sign of emotion, just an eyebrow raised.
“Nice work getting in here, kid. Took me a second. Guess you noticed that I was messing with the feed in that security room you’re all so proud of, eh? Not bad.”
Jack laughs. “Yeah, how is it sitting in that room, Loren? I bet you feel nice and validated there. Such a waste of skills. You used to be fucking hot, running with the rest of us. Could get out of any situation with that pretty little smile of yours. Now, look at you.”
He spits on me. I begin to squirm, and when the pressure in his fingers doesn’t let up, I remember that these guys have no reason not to kill me here and now. They left a corpse in front of Domenic’s casino mere weeks ago—what’s to stop them from doing it again, and this time making it me?
I need to warn Domenic. The Wild Seven are here, and they’re messing with massive systems integral to the casino. It’d take them a while to make the whole place go dark, but they’ll get there if they’re not stopped. And then they’ll have access to a shit-ton amount of data—names, transactions, credit card numbers. Far too much for them to wield.
I’m not about to get killed here. No way.
With a grimace, I twist my right arm until my purse slides down. Then I swing it as hard as I can. It’s full of plenty of shit, and usually, I complain about it getting heavy, but today? Today I’m really fucking grateful that I might as well be hauling a pile of bricks wherever I go because my bag smashes up into the side of Jack’s head, and he staggers.
I turn and bolt away, but not before he recovers enough to snag at my purse. I try to yank it back—my lucky coins are in there along with all my other important shit—but when I do that, many things topple out. Lip gloss, a gum packet, receipts, my wallet, a couple of necklaces that Evelyn broke, and I’ve been meaning to fix. The picture of Evie.
Well, they can have my wallet. It’s not like there’s much in there. I just can’t let them get their hands on my “lucky” coins because that tech would be too monumentally destructive in the hands of the Wild Seven.
Glitch and Jack are after me as I scramble for the door with a shout. I don’t know how they got in here unnoticed, but they’re clearly running a big play right now, and they’re not about to let me stop them.
But I’m also not about to let them catch me.
I slip out the door just as Glitch narrowly misses grabbing my arm, and then I’m booking it back down the hall, shouting at the cameras. I hope they turn on some alarm.
Nothing happens, and as I hear Jack and Glitch still somewhere behind me, I realize with a start thatallof the security feeds are probably being hacked.
“Get your ass back here, Loren!” Jack shouts.
I’m far from the security room. Far from the stairs that will take me up, up, up to the conference room where Domenic is. I didn’t realize how far down under the casino the electrical room is, but now I’m pumping my legs hard as panic claws at me. If they get me, they’ll kill me.
“Been looking foryoufor a while,” Glitch calls. “Scrubbed your records online, huh? Smart, but someone else has been looking into you lately. They tipped me off. Some private detective or some shit. Tell us, have you got a kid, Loren?”
Ice fills my veins.Evelyn.
Jack's voice is an echo. I don't hear them pursuing anymore, and I'm positive they're about to wrap up whatever they're doing and disappear.
