Sworn to Protect (12 page)

The woman who worked for the outside catering company they’d hired nodded. “No problem. We’re going to start breaking everything down now unless you think we should let the food sit?”

“Go ahead. If you or your boss need anything else just let me know. I’ve got my phone attached to me.” Smiling, she patted her jacket pocket. “I’ll be here for another hour at least.” As the woman left, Athena turned, looking for Travis or Quinn.

Over half the vendors had already left and the other stragglers were either talking to potential clients or each other. No one had to break down anything today since the tradeshow was all week. The final day would be the crazy one, but for now things had run smoothly with only a few minor blips. Athena was running high on the adrenaline of the first day’s success and everything that had happened between her and Quinn.

After fooling around last night and again this morning before their very early in-room breakfast, he’d been a little tense, almost distant, but she was ninety-nine percent sure that had nothing to do with her. She’d heard him on the phone with who she guessed was Grant when she came out of her bedroom this morning, talking about Glenn White. But Quinn hadn’t told her that she needed to be worried about anything and she knew he would if they were in imminent danger. So she was putting all that out of her head even though Quinn seemed to be worried about it. Not that she could blame him.

It took a few minutes of navigating through the display tables, but she found Quinn and Travis talking to an attractive woman with dark brown hair streaked with auburn highlights. She wore a fitted black suit similar to the one Athena had seen Iris in earlier. But as far as Athena could tell she wasn’t carrying a gun, so she didn’t think the woman was hotel security. She probably worked here though, given the style of dress.

Travis and Quinn both nodded when they saw her approaching, though Quinn’s gaze softened just the tiniest bit. The woman looked at Athena, smiled briefly, then nodded at the two men.

She touched Quinn’s forearm briefly. “I’ll see you in a bit.” Then she was gone, her heels clicking rapidly as she hurried toward one of the exits.

Athena wasn’t sure what the woman meant and wasn’t going to ask—even if curiosity clawed at her. “You guys tired after today?”

They both smiled, nodded. “And starving,” Travis said.

Quinn shook his head. “You’re always hungry.”

She let out a brief laugh, tuning out the echoing sounds of the catering staff breaking down the food display tables. “How did everything go with security?” They’d only checked in with her a few times over the course of the day. Their job had been to coordinate with The Serafina’s on-site security and she hadn’t interfered because that wasn’t her strong suit. She knew how to make an event run smoothly, but throw in the security aspect? She’d leave that up to the pros.

They did that dual head nod thing again, making her laugh as they said “Good” almost in sync.

“If there were any issues or anything I need to be aware of for future events, just send me a detailed report. I don’t even want to talk about it until I get food. You guys want to grab dinner?”

“Absolutely,” Travis said, running a hand over his Mohawk.

For the briefest moment, Quinn looked uncomfortable, but then his expression went carefully neutral in a way that made her stomach twist. “I can’t.”

Athena blinked, waiting for him to continue, to give a reason, something. When he didn’t, she pushed back the disappointment that swelled inside her. “Ah, okay.” She certainly wasn’t going to ask him why he couldn’t or what he was doing, not in front of Travis. She looked at Travis. “Want to grab a meal here or walk around and find something?”

The two men shared a look she couldn’t quite decipher before Travis slid on another easy smile. “I’ve been wanting to try Cloud 9 and Iris said they’d fit us in anytime.”

“Sounds good to me.” She glanced at Quinn. “I’ll see you later then?” Ugh, she felt so awkward. They hadn’t defined their relationship and she didn’t want to come off as needy by asking him when he’d be back to their room. Even though she really wanted to know.

He just nodded, his expression impossible to read. “I’ll see you soon.”

As she headed out with Travis she hated the uncomfortable feeling twisting in her gut. This morning she’d been so sure about them, that Quinn’s mood and clear edginess hadn’t been about her. But what if she was wrong and he’d changed his mind about them? What if he’d once again decided that the virgin thing wasn’t something he wanted to deal with?

Those stupid insecurities flared up again but she told her inner voice to shut the hell up. She needed to trust him and stop over-analyzing everything. “So you’ve heard good things about Cloud 9?” she asked Travis, wanting to keep her mind off Quinn for now.

“Yeah, Noel told me she’d read an article about it and I had to try it. I’m surprised they didn’t cater for the tradeshow.”

“They’re way too busy.” Athena had wondered the same thing and that was the response she’d gotten. “So what’s Quinn up to? Is there a security issue I need to know about?” So maybe she wasn’t exactly keeping her mind off Quinn.
Freaking sue me
, she thought.

Luckily Travis didn’t seem to have a clue about her and his friend because he shrugged. “He’s meeting with Margot—that was the woman we were talking to before—for drinks.”

His words were like a solid punch to Athena’s gut. An unwanted iciness invaded her veins, but she pasted on a smile she didn’t feel. “Should one of us pick up Raegan from the airport? I don’t mind if you want to kick back after dinner.” Her assistant’s flight had been delayed but she was arriving in a couple hours.

Travis shook his head immediately. “I’ll get her. You should stay at the hotel.”

The noise level in the wide open lobby of the hotel as they crossed it was surprisingly minimal. Animated yes, but nothing too obnoxious. She glanced at him. “Why?”

He shrugged, but his shoulders seemed tense. “I know it’s your first big job. Anything could happen with the tradeshow and you should be on site.”

He wasn’t wrong, but there was something off about his tone. She didn’t know Travis remotely well though so she couldn’t be sure.

“If for some reason you decide to leave, you need to tell Quinn or me.” Now his tone was serious.

“Ah, okay.” It seemed odd, but she’d known working for a security company would be different than her other jobs. And she wasn’t just doing contract work anymore so this might be a companywide protocol. She started to ask Travis but they’d reached the entrance of Cloud 9. The restaurant was considered fine-dining but there was a man in front of them wearing a Tommy Bahama shirt, linen pants and flip-flops. Freaking Vegas, she supposed, the sight making her smile.

Not that it did anything to take away from the hurt and annoyance gnawing at her gut. So Quinn was having drinks with some woman? No big deal. Except it felt like it was. He could have told her. Unless his reason for having drinks with the woman was romantic.

Her mood darkened even more at that thought and when she caught Travis giving her a curious look, she pasted on another fake smile. She was good at that.

* * *

Feeling smug, Glenn strolled across the lobby of The Serafina, disguise firmly in place. The beard he’d opted to use looked real and did the job of covering his facial features well. He doubted Quinn would ever imagine he was here in Vegas, but when Quinn and the Manikas woman went missing it was feasible that Glenn would be looked at as a suspect. So he’d taken all precautions. He’d left his cell phone in Miami so he didn’t have to worry about his phone pinging off any towers here and being tracked. And on the very real chance that any of the cameras here at The Serafina were looked at, his face wouldn’t show up on any of them because of the beard and hat. Any type of facial covering messed with the recognition software programs.

He’d even added padding to his middle so he looked as if he weighed about twenty-five to thirty pounds more. The pullover sweater he wore with jeans and sneakers was a simple attire and the sweater covered his tats so there were no visible identifying features. The ball cap and beard covered enough of his face so he’d never be identified. Yep, he’d covered all his bases.

The sight of Athena walking into a restaurant with one of Quinn’s coworkers made Glenn smile, but he didn’t look at them too long. He just kept making his way toward the entrance of the casino. All day he’d been in and out, coming and going as he pleased, keeping an eye out for either of his targets.

That alone sent the biggest rush of power through him. He’d seen that mouthy bitch working the tradeshow. Some kind of transportation thing going on. Tomorrow he’d go inside but today he’d wanted to get things in place.

So far he had a van that he’d bought in cash from a shady car dealer. It had been all under the table too. Glenn only needed the thing to transport Athena. After that he didn’t care what happened to it. Though he’d probably burn it in the desert once he’d killed Quinn and Athena. Maybe with their bodies inside. He’d have to wipe it down first though to cover all bases. He wasn’t taking any chances.

As those thoughts assailed him, he shook his head, focusing on his surroundings. He couldn’t afford to get distracted now. The loud sounds of the various machines and people shouting in excitement at their wins accosted his senses as he stepped fully onto the main floor of the casino.

After the long day he’d had he was going to gamble a little then head back out and see if he could secure a place to hold Athena once he’d kidnapped her. He’d scouted a few abandoned places today, both residential and commercial, but he needed to see what they were like at night. That would make all the difference.

Tomorrow, using his new fake ID, he’d enter the tradeshow and get a feel for the layout, see what the woman did all day. He needed to look for security weak spots and when she went places alone. If he could get a handle on her schedule, getting Quinn to come to him would be easy.

Then the fun would begin.

Chapter 9

Quinn was off balance, his need to get back to Athena overwhelming. But he kept his expression neutral as he stepped off the elevator with Margot onto the security floor. The fiftieth floor wasn’t accessible to the general public or even most of the hotel and casino staff. Just select individuals.

“How long have you been with Red Stone?” Margot asked, placing her hand on the biometric scanner of the security area.

Glass doors whooshed open and they were immediately inundated by a steady hum of voices. Walls were covered with video screens and people in suits and headsets talked at rapid speeds. “About six years.”

“That how long your guy was in jail?” she asked, motioning for him to follow her along a walkway that rounded the main security center.

“Yeah.” Quinn wanted to send him right back there too.

“He’d be stupid to follow you here, but I’m glad you told us about the threat.” Margot stopped in front of a closed door, rapped once.

It opened a second later. Iris smiled and stepped back. Once they moved into her sleek, not-surprisingly minimalist office, she pressed a button on a window that Quinn now saw overlooked the hub of the security area. It immediately frosted over, giving them complete privacy.

“We’ve got some possible matches,” Iris started, stepping over to a panel of four wide screens. “But nothing more than thirty-eight percent probability, which you know as well as I do is useless. These matches might as well be Martians.”

Though it punched through him abruptly, he didn’t show his disappointment. “How many matches?”

She picked up a remote and flipped on the screens. “Twelve.” Twelve shots of men flashed on screen, layered next to each other. He stared at all of them. The images were clear enough, but most had beards and all of them had ball caps or other style hats on—and their body types varied. Quinn couldn’t tell if any of them were Glenn because he could have made changes to his appearance. No, not could have, if he was here, he definitely had. The man wasn’t stupid.

She continued. “We used White’s driver’s license photo from six years ago and his more recent one. We’ve also plugged in other identifying factors like his new tattoo. But none of this does us any good if he’s wearing a disguise. Anything that covers his face or eyes messes with our program. It’s top of the line, but technology still has limitations. And we’re not focusing on the body at all since that can be altered far too much with padding.”

Jaw tight, Quinn nodded, scanning over the images again. He resisted the urge to pace. Damn it, he hated that no one with Red Stone could track White down yet. The guy had just ghosted. “I appreciate you doing this at all.”

Iris nodded while Margot leaned against the front of Iris’s desk. “We’ve checked commercial flights and car rentals and haven’t found anything,” she said. “So why are you certain he’s here?”

“I don’t know that he
is
here. But his cell phone is still at his place.” And who the hell left their cell phone for long periods of time?
No one.
Not unless they had a good reason. “My guys haven’t seen him return to his place for days and there’s been no use of his credit cards. It’s like he fell off the face of the earth.”

Iris lifted a shoulder. “Maybe he just rabbited out of the country.”

“If he had he would have cleaned out his bank accounts.” At least that was what common sense told Quinn. Because White would have wanted to buy a new ID. He’d have the contacts, but it wouldn’t be cheap. But Quinn didn’t think White would just leave without wanting payback. “Bottom line, my gut tells me he’s here. Or at least trying to find me and possibly Athena. White isn’t just going to walk away, flee the country. He’d want to kill me first. He blames me for his wife leaving.” Which was complete and utter bullshit, but there would be no reasoning with a wife-beater like White. A man who blamed everyone else for his problems. Weak and pathetic at his core.