Code Name: Nina's Choice (Warrior's Challenge) (35 page)

“T-man,
no way.
Not this time.”

“I agree, Tony,” Nina
added. “There’s no way I’m going to let you sacrifice your job for me.”

Tony’s
expression morphed into angry, something that didn’t happen often.
His stat
ure
flared like the head of a cobra.
“Listen,
you two.
Squirt means something to me. I’m her uncle.” He pointed
to Nina with a stiff finger. “I love you.” The finger shifted. “And you. I
don’t give a rat’s ass about my job if someone in my family is in dan
ger.”

He and Nina shared a
look. “I appreciate—”

Tony grabbed Nina by
the arm and pulled her to him. “Get in my fucking car, Mace. Nina, grab what
you need.” She ran for her purse. “Do you have your phone, Nina?” She checked
and nodded. “On the way you’re
calling your parents.
The money will be the last resort, but would they have it available?”

“Yes.”

Mace tried again to
dissuade his friend, but Tony’s hand shot up. “Get—in—the—car.”

Mace walked backward
and gave the other three men a wave. All three of
them
looked ready to chase after them. “Stay. If you find out anything, call me.
We’ll keep you advised.”

Chapter Twenty

Getting lost in the
myriad of people snaking from sidewalk to casino floor wasn’t difficult. Like a
chameleon, SEALs were trained
to merge with their
environment, walk unseen amongst a crowd. Tony knew every move he made was
watched by hotel security. Scanned, assessed and if facial recognition didn’t
tie him to a database, security moved on, watching only for known card con men
and
women who made their living duping the casino.

Tony’s eyes scoped
like a camera, scanning and moving on, looking for Cayson. They’d scored a room
at the Grand Palms hotel, one of the newer casinos on the Strip. Mace had
convinced Nina to call her parents
and ask for the
money. His best friend did it to divert her attention to something other than
her mounting fear. Tony couldn’t help being impressed with Nina’s ability to
keep it all in perspective, but he and Mace weren’t fooled. The fire in Nina
burned a
t a habañero scoville level.
She was a mama bear ready to destroy the
person who had taken her cub.

Waddling old women
with muumuus and long-legged twenty-one-year olds with short sparkling minis
crisscrossed the gaming floor. Tony positioned himself besid
e a bank of slot machines, each seat filled by people who
didn’t mind losing to the worst odds in the house. Gambling, other than a game
of poker to kick back with some of the guys on a Saturday night, was not his
idea of a good time. He didn’t understand
the
mentality of dropping coins in a slot, and in return getting a quick song and a
spin of the reels as a reward.

Two seats over, a
husband hovered behind his wife, patiently waiting for her to get her fix. The
woman’s fingernails dug into the soft leathe
r-bound
corner, which meant she had little left in the machine and she wasn’t getting
more from the husband. If the machine didn’t pay up, she was outta the game.
Her husband’s expression was of anticipation. He wanted to move on. Tony stood
close enough t
o make himself look like he was doing
the same to a young woman who’d spent too much time at the pool. Being a
redhead, her burn filled in the roadmap of freckles across her cheeks and nose.
He adjusted his shades, and let his eyes scan the crowd.

“Where a
re you from?” the girl asked.

“Chicago,” he lied,
not looking at her or offering a smile.

“I’m here with my
friends. Wedding,” she added.

“Congratulations.”

“Oh
no, not me.
I’m single.”

Great
.
“Sorry, honey, I’m not.”

The little redhead
collected her purse
and quickly departed. No one
liked being shot down, but he’d also managed to lose his cover.

“Drink,
sir?”

A sweet, busty gal in
the house uniform hovered with a tray balanced in one hand, and an interested
tilt to her head. “No
thanks,
honey.”

She nodded
curtly and moved on; so did he, shifting to another bank
of machines. He scanned the lobby with a parallel search pattern. Sweeping
through the crowd, and starting again. His eyes stopped short on a woman.

Crossing the vast,
marble lobby with long-legged
strides and a quick
step, she walked as if she were on a tightrope a hundred feet in the air.
Tourist?
Nope. The expression she wore wasn’t of
awe or searching for a lost friend. The woman walked with purpose. She knew
where she was going. Her ponytail flo
unced with a
thick sway as she weaved through the people. She was definitely in a hurry.

Before he realized it,
he’d taken five paces to watch her a little longer. Tony forgot all about his
mission until she disappeared into a mass of people swelling towar
d the lobby. He blinked, and gave himself a mental kick in
the shins.
Kick in the shins
—
The
thought reminded him of squirt when she’d kicked him after
he’d called her that the first time. He grinned. He liked the little redheaded
twerp. They’d get her bac
k, take care of Cayson, and
hightail it to Coronado. The discipline would be swift, but the severity is
what Tony worried about. Going AWOL was serious, but his swim buddy’s mission
was more important. They’d explain their position, and maybe with the Admi
ral’s help and Redding’s, they’d only be demoted or docked
pay.

For now, they needed a
knowledgeable contact. Everyone was connected. He’d learned that rule long ago.
They’d come to Vegas with nothing but a name: Pedro Quadero. Tony needed to
find that som
eone who knew everyone in Vegas.

They didn’t have weeks
to burrow into the darker side of Vegas. Cayson owed money to this guy, and he
was using his own daughter to get it. What kind of a bottom-dwelling bastard
did that? Pedro had to be linked to a gang o
r mafia.

The mafia was still
alive and well, they just conducted business differently in the twenty-first
century. Whether they were cartels or gangs, they all existed here; preying on
people and their addictions to drugs, gambling or sex. Everyone had a w
eakness. Human nature made everyone fallible, but SEALs
knew the triggers and their weak spots. Training taught them how to control or
overcome them, and if not that, then a fellow SEAL set you right again.

Tony stepped onto the
patterned carpet that acted
like a yellow brick road
into the thick of the gaming tables. Where was he going to find a contact who
would lead them to Gabbs? Time was ticking and they needed the upper hand
before they paid the men who had Gabbs. He knew Mace would only allow the mone
y to change hands as a last effort.

* * * *

Lumin fought her way
through the tight corridor of performers. Only five minutes late. There was
still time to get into her costume, and be ready for her performance.

“Hey Lumin…late
again,” her friend, Star, s
houted from a makeup
mirror as she wiggled a tiara into place on the crown of her head.

“Not late, Star, just
fashionably tardy,” she said, grinning back.

“Don’t think Gordon’s
gonna see it that way. He was here a minute ago looking for you.”

Sure he was,
Lumin thought to herself, but it was more likely a hopeful
attempt at getting her into bed by threatening her job for the fiftieth time.
Although she was only a second liner, people still came to see her. It was her
act they air brushed onto the publicity
posters
secured to cabbie roofs and on billboards along the Strip.

Lumin quickly slipped
into her costume, adjusted her headpiece and bolted for the door.

“‘G’ was looking for
you,” Alejandro said, doing preshow practice stretch-outs.

“Which way did he go,
so I can go in the opposite direction?” she asked, slowing
her step.

With a flick of his
head, he motioned to the left. Lumin twirled to the right and headed toward the
other stage access. The house was sold out. They called their show the
affordable Cirq
ue de Soleil. When her cue came, she
ran onto her mark. The theater was circular in shape. The stage sat in the
center so everyone had a premium view.

She never imagined
she’d follow in her mother’s famous footsteps, but the world of acrobatics came
easy t
o her as she and her brother traveled with
their parents from show to show growing up. Her mother had brought breathless
anticipation and joy to those who watched the Prima Donna of the high-wire act.

Her parents’ routine
had moved to Europe five years ago
and Lumin had
opted to remain in the States.

A line descended from
the dark ceiling where the crew deployed them coordinating the different
routines. Gripping the loop, she was quickly hoisted thirty feet above the
floor. A complex system filled the stage
with water,
and blocks grew from the depths below as the show progressed.

The audience clapped
when the lights crossed at the point where she hovered above the stage
spotlighting her. More lines drew up a team of men, their bulging arms and
strong torsos
in stark comparison to her lithe frame.
When her line began to swing in long circles, she hooked a toe and inverted her
position. The guys performed their acrobatics with quick, strong turns and held
their bodies horizontal while they swung in expanding ar
cs. The air show was one of the favorites. The crowd loved the tension,
building as they spun and twirled with the chance that one of them could fall.
It happened, but not often. A small beam was lowered to hang high above the
crowd, and her line, with exp
ert precision from the
crew above, swung her close enough to take hold of the stabilizing bar. When
she hooked her leg around it, she released her safety line and found her
footing. There was a slight sway to the beam, enough that she had to
concentrate.

T
he music altered to a low, mysterious ballad with a hint of
suspense. One light targeted her, and the audience fell silent. Her first step
was always the unknown step until she made herself one with the beam, the feel
of it curling beneath her toes. With c
areful,
graceful movements she made every step count. She felt the atmosphere and her
audience, smiling as her mother had taught her to do when she was a little
girl, learning to balance only three feet off the ground. She loved the freedom
of dance and th
e danger that came with the height as
her beam was drawn farther away from the ground.

Lumin reached the
other side, and the crowd exploded with applause. Within seconds, a line
dropped from the darkness and she hooked one foot through the loop. With a gra
ceful dive from the beam the men above swung her across the
audience. The stage below came
alive,
blocks grew into a mountain rising out
of churning water with several plateaus. She was as much at home in water as
the element of air. Her friend Star was th
e premiere
swim lead, but Lumin could hold her own in the water. Star moved through the
bubbling lake surrounding the stage like a mermaid, swift and graceful. She
scampered up the side of the mountain to the peak. Thunder and lightning
flashed above them.
From the tormented sky, they were
lifted aloft and then dropped into the pool, each with an arcing dive.

Her part had a tragic
end. She and Star were sisters during the act, and the loss of Lumin began the
adventure for Star.

While the other actors
contin
ued the show, Lumin snagged a makeup station
and applied a little lip gloss after drying off. Not much makeup covered her
twenty-six years. She stared at herself. Slim features with high cheekbones and
bright blue eyes reflected back at her. Thousands of b
eautiful
women lived and worked in Las Vegas, and every guy who traveled into town for a
three-day package figured they could score with the blonde who stared back at
her in the mirror.

She started when
Gordon appeared behind her.

“You made your mark
with
little time to spare,” he said, placing his palm
on her bare shoulder.

Gordon managed the
show, and thought it gave him an open invitation to every female performer
which included an option between their thighs. She’d politely rebuked his
advances and woul
d continue to do so. She could
headline in several shows along the strip. Gordon mistakenly held the same
thought as other men: because she was blonde, she must not have been born with
brains. She had plenty.

Her mamma had tried to
keep the act in long-run
ning shows while they were in
school. Sometimes Lumin and her brother Jed were homeschooled, but they’d
finished the last three years in Las Vegas. She learned early on to keep her
eyes and ears open. Information flowed like fiber optics, and she learned a
lot that way, especially in a town like Vegas that held
secrets most tourists knew nothing about.

Locals ignored the sea
of changing faces that swarmed like ants in the casinos, but she could retain
them all. Each one left a small seed to germinate in her
mind. The criminal element tried their best to remain unseen. Innocence
bumped against dark shadow and brushed shoulders with it all the time in the
desert city. The dark side of Vegas was best left to back rooms and alleyways.