Vampire Beach: High Stakes (15 page)

Paige shot Zach a who-are-you-to-be-giving-orders look. ‘And what are you going to be doing?’ she demanded.

‘I’m going to check with a few contacts I have in town to see if the Lessards own any other property in Vegas,’ Zach explained. ‘Then I’m coming right back here to baby-sit you. If anyone needs back-up, call my cell, and I’m there.’

Jason didn’t think he’d ever heard Zach talk so much at one time, but there was no time to dwell on that. ‘Is my team ready to go?’ Jason asked. He wanted to get out of there. He needed to be doing something, anything, to get Sienna back.

‘
Your
team?’ Adam repeated. ‘How did it get to be your team? Did I miss the vote for captain?’

‘Don’t be an ass,’ Belle told him as she gently pushed him out the door. ‘It’s his team because he loves Sienna.’

It was true. And the thought of being without her was like teetering on the edge of a bottomless pit.

‘The Bonheur is only a few hotels down on the Strip. Should we walk it?’ Belle asked as they headed for the elevators.

‘Let’s take the Escalade and valet park it. I want to be able to get to it quick if we spot Didier leaving the hotel,’ Jason answered.

‘Where are you? Di-dier? Where? Where?’ Adam sang under his breath to the tune of the
CSI
theme song as they waited for the elevator to arrive. He was still singing it when they walked up to the Bonheur casino.

‘Just something to think about: singing the name of the guy we’re supposed to be tailing might give us away,’ Jason told him.

‘Oh, right.’ Adam switched over to humming. “Hmmmm-hmm-hmm. Hmm. Hmm.” He had his camcorder perched on his shoulder. Jason thought that that, at least, had been a good call. Adam had pointed out that the zoom lens would come in handy – they couldn’t very well walk around with binoculars.

‘Should we split up?’ Belle asked.

‘I don’t think we’ll need to,’ Adam said.

‘Why not? This place is huge,’ she protested.

It was. Huge and crowded and noisy. Slots spinning, dice rolling, roulette wheels turning. Jason was having trouble focusing his eyes on individual faces; his attention kept getting jerked to a new sound or motion.

‘Check out the viewfinder,’ Adam replied, moving closer so Jason and Belle could see the little screen. ‘I think I’ve found our boy.’ He zoomed in on a twenty-something guy playing video poker.

Belle nodded. ‘He’s gotten blond tips – not such a great style decision – but that’s definitely Didier. How about if I take that empty machine that backs up to his? I can keep him in sight, but he won’t be looking at me. He’ll be watching his poker hands.’ She looked to Jason for an answer.

‘Great, go,’ he told her. ‘And, Adam, just keep doing your filmhead thing.’ Jason scanned the area. ‘I’ll head over to that bar over there. The way the mirror’s positioned I’ll be able to watch Didier without even facing in his direction. He’s not going to be able to blink without one of us seeing.’

Jason drank five Sprites as he watched Didier. He was starting to realize why cops on stakeouts brought bottles to pee in.
That’s why there are three of you
, he
told
himself. He stood up, left some cash on the bar, and wandered over to Adam. ‘I’m hitting the bathroom. Be right back.’

‘You should have gone before we left home,’ Adam joked as Jason walked away.

The men’s room was empty when Jason walked in. He figured a lot of gamblers had to be on hot streaks they were afraid to interrupt.

He emptied the five sodas out of his bladder and headed for the sink.

Just then, the door opened with a slam. Jason jerked his head toward the sound and saw Adam rushing in.

‘The red junglefowl is in flight!’ Adam burst out.

‘What?’ Jason demanded, drying his hands on his jeans.

‘Didier’s heading for the main exit,’ Adam explained.

‘Why didn’t you say so?’ Jason asked as they rushed out of the bathroom.

‘It was code. The red junglefowl is the national bird of France, so that’s Didier. And “in flight”, well that’s obviously code for leaving.
Didier is leaving
,’ Adam answered in a rush. Then he went on thoughtfully. ‘Actually I think it’s only called a red junglefowl when it’s wild. There’s another name for the domesticated one.’

‘How do you even know this crap?’ Jason asked as they careened through the casino, trying not to crash into anyone.

‘Saw it—’

‘In a movie,’ Jason finished for his friend.

‘There’s Belle!’ Adam exclaimed. ‘I told her to watch and see which way he went.’

‘He headed down the Strip, going north,’ Belle told them breathlessly when they reached her. ‘He’s walking. Should I get the Escalade?’

‘No, if he’s walking, we should be walking too,’ Jason said. He led the way outside. ‘Do you see him?’ Jason didn’t. At least not yet. He put on his sunglasses.

‘Across the street,’ Adam answered. ‘About half a block ahead of us.’

‘Don’t speed up,’ Jason warned. ‘And try and look tourist-ish – like we’re just out to have fun.’

Belle immediately pasted a bright smile on her face. ‘That’s the Venetian up there. Have you guys ever been in?’ She didn’t wait for them to answer. ‘It has a real canal. Well, a real fake canal. It’s so cheesy, but Sienna actually loves it. She made me ride around in a gondola for almost three hours last time we were here. It was an all-girl weekend.’

She blinked rapidly and Jason realized thinking about Sienna had brought tears to her eyes. ‘You two
can
take a gondola ride tonight,’ he promised. ‘I’ll even— Wait!’ Jason interrupted himself. ‘The red junglefowl is making a left turn. Did I get the code right?’ he asked Adam.

‘The red junglefowl is
flying west
,’ Adam corrected. He looked over at Belle. ‘Don’t worry, he’ll get it down.’

They turned down Flamingo and kept pace half a block behind Didier.

Adam came to an abrupt stop as Didier disappeared into a place called the Treasure Chest. ‘Er, Belle can’t go in there,’ he said awkwardly.

‘Yes, I can. I have fake ID too,’ Belle reminded him.

‘That’s not what I mean. It’s a … It’s a …’ Adam shook his head, at a loss for words.

‘Spit it out,’ Belle sighed. ‘The red junglefowl has come to roost in a topless club.’ She grinned and rolled her eyes. ‘I’ve probably seen more topless girls than you have, Turnball.’

‘I can’t believe this place is even open. It’s barely noon,’ Jason commented as they walked toward the club.

Belle laughed. ‘You didn’t think breasts were only visible at night, did you?’ She opened the door to the Treasure Chest. ‘After you,’ she told Jason and Adam.

‘That’s what I like to see,’ Adam said. ‘They have a
buffet.’
He practically ran toward it.

Belle snorted. ‘Do you think he’s a little embarrassed to be here with me?’

‘I’m not.’ Jason took a seat on a lip-shaped padded bench, one that was as far away from the stage as possible. Didier had gotten himself a seat way up front. It didn’t look like he was planning on going anywhere anytime soon.

‘I hope she’s OK,’ Belle said. Jason had a hard time hearing her over the techno music.

‘Try not to worry too much,’ he told her – like he could take that advice. ‘Sienna’s pretty good at taking care of herself.’

‘True. My girl’s a fighter.’ Belle smiled at him. ‘I mean,
our
girl.’

They sat in silence – silence except for the pulse-changing bass beat of the music – until Adam came back over.

‘I had an idea for you,’ Belle told him. ‘For getting rid of your … excess money.’

‘Lay it on me,’ he said.

‘Go sit next to the fowl and feed the g-strings,’ Belle suggested, jerking her chin at the stage.

Adam blushed. Yes, actually blushed. Jason was going to be reminding him of this moment for a very long time to come – once Sienna was safe again.

‘I couldn’t do that,’ he finally answered. ‘Those girls, they work hard for their money. And they’re all so pretty. They deserve better than the funny stuff.’

Jason couldn’t take the waiting around anymore. He shoved himself to his feet.

Adam raised his eyebrows. ‘
You’re
not going to do some tipping, are you?’

‘No, I’m going to do some butt kicking,’ Jason replied. ‘It’s ridiculous sitting around waiting for the fowl to decide to fly off again. I’m going to take him outside and punch on him until he decides to squawk about where Sienna is.’ He started toward Didier.

Adam circled around in front of Jason, blocking his way. ‘You’re going to have to go through me to get to him,’ he said.

Jason could tell Adam was serious, but he was serious too. ‘Get out of my way.’ He glanced around Adam to make sure Didier hadn’t started paying attention to them. He hadn’t. Nobody had. It wasn’t the kind of place where people got curious.

‘The guy is probably, you know,
special
,’ Adam warned. ‘You could get yourself mangled. Sienna wouldn’t like that.’

Jason sucked in a long breath, giving himself time to absorb Adam’s logic. ‘Fine. We’ll keep watching,’ he snapped. He returned to Belle and sat back down, but
all
he could think about was Sienna.

‘If anyone has hurt her. I mean, if she’s so much as broken a nail, I’m going to make Marc pay. And I don’t care how “special” he is.’ He looked over at Adam. ‘No one is going to stop me.’

‘
I DON’T BELIEVE
this guy,’ Belle complained. ‘I mean, yes, breasts are very nice, but does anyone really want to just sit and stare at them for hours?’

Adam shot Jason a guilty I-kind-of-do look, and Belle caught him.

She laughed. ‘I guess Didier isn’t the only one who would give that question a big “yes”.’

Jason’s cell rang and he picked it up fast. He saw Zach’s name on the screen. ‘Anybody make a move?’ he asked.

‘Not as far as I know. I assume you have nothing to report,’ Zach replied.

‘No. Our guy’s been sitting front-row at a strip club for the last three hours,’ Jason told him.

‘Adam is almost up to his chin in his own drool,’ Belle added loudly.

‘Were you able to find out if the Lessards own any more property in Vegas?’ Jason asked.

‘They own five, besides the hotel,’ Zach replied.
Jason
made writing gestures at Belle and Adam. Belle handed him a purple Flair and Adam passed him a couple of cocktail napkins.

‘Give ’em to me,’ Jason said. He jotted down the info as Zach listed them off.

‘I’m going to check in with the others,’ Zach told him. ‘I’ll let you know if anything’s happened.’

Jason hung up. ‘You think you two can cover Didier without me for a while?’

‘Why? What do you have planned?’ Adam asked.

‘A little recon. One of the places the Lessards own is an antiques warehouse at the edge of the city. Sounds like the perfect place to hold a hostage,’ Jason explained.

‘Take the Escalade.’ Belle held out the keys and the valet parking ticket. ‘Didier got here on foot, so we probably won’t need wheels to follow him – if he ever leaves. And, if we do, there are a ton of cabs around.’

‘Thanks,’ Jason said.

‘Call if you need back-up,’ Adam instructed. ‘My heroic chin and I are available to come to your rescue if you get into any trouble.’

‘I’ll keep you posted.’ Jason left the club and retrieved the Escalade. With the help of the Streetpilot GPS system in the dash, he was able to pull up just down the block from the warehouse in less than twenty
minutes.
He didn’t want to park right in front. He needed to suss out what kind of surveillance was in place.

Trying to look casual – although it wasn’t exactly the kind of street anyone would pick for a stroll – Jason walked by the warehouse. He didn’t spot anyone guarding the outside, so he crossed the empty parking lot that backed up to the loading dock. Nobody called out, demanding to know what he was doing there, so he continued around the building. The only sounds were his own breathing and his own footsteps. The place felt deserted. But that didn’t mean Sienna – Sienna and, possibly, guards – wasn’t inside.

Unfortunately, the windows were positioned too high for Jason to get a look inside. He retraced his steps. Hadn’t he seen a— Yep, there it was, a Dumpster right around the corner.

Jason climbed up on top of it, grimacing at the noise his feet made on the hollow metal box. He froze for a moment, listening. When it didn’t seem as if he’d alerted anyone, he took a cautious peek in through the nearest window.

The thin coat of grime on the glass and the dim light inside the warehouse made it hard to see, but there were rows and rows of wooden crates.

Jason’s eyes flicked up and down each row of crates,
on
alert for the smallest movement. Nothing. It really didn’t look like Sienna was down there. But there was another whole floor. And there was a fire escape with a ladder that could take him up there.

He sidestepped his way over to the edge of the Dumpster, and reached up for the bottom rung of the ladder. A twinge of pain from his old crossbow bolt wound radiated through his chest. Damn, was he ever going to be able to forget that he’d been shot by a vampire hunter who’d mistaken him for a friend of Dracula? Or was that spot on his chest always going to hurt when he moved a few degrees in the wrong direction?