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“On it,” I say and twist the key in the ignition.
We leave the city center behind and take several additional routes to avoid the heavy traffic. The streets are teeming with cops. They’ll turn Everton inside out in their attempts to find us, so we need to get away and stay away for a while. That means I won’t be able to see my mom or my sister for who knows how long.
“They’re going to be okay,” Ariana says once we’re out of the city. It’s as if we can both breathe easily for the first time since we left the cabin this morning. “They have to be okay.”
“Whatever happens, we push forward,” I tell her. “If we give up now, it will all have been in vain.”
“We’re not giving up. If anything, I think I know what to do next.”
I give her a curious look. “What’s brewing in that fine noggin of yours, Ariana?”
“There may be crucial evidence back at my father’s house,” she says. “I know that place inside and out. I know where he might’ve hidden anything he didn’t want to be found. I also know that we need to get him out of the house in order to search it. And I know how to do just that.”
I’m intrigued. “Why are you doing this?”
“How can you even ask me that at this point?” she scoffs. “There’s more proof against my father than there is in his favor. The Black Hand keeps trying to kill me while he’s out there moping to every camera about how he wants his daughter back, alive and well. And there’s a pretty good possibility that he had something to do with my mother’s death. I need the truth, Sky.”
Ariana is, of course, familiar with her father’s house. We both know he wouldn’t keep anything incriminating in his office. No, he’d keep it at home. The home where Ariana was raised.
21
Ariana
It takes a while, but with some help from one of the Steel Knights’ IT kids, we manage to arrange a meeting with Thierry Estes a couple of miles north of the city. The Golden Plum estate is the perfect rendezvous spot for businesspeople, and it’s secluded enough to allow us to sneak onto the property without attracting any attention.
We needed a few days of planning, however.
All I needed to do was figure out the best route in and out of the estate, get our hands on a luxurious-looking car that wouldn’t draw attention from the estate’s security, and sync our ingress to match a shift change for their restaurant’s service staff.
“You sure do know this place,” Sky says as he walks with me through one of the hallways that connects the staff quarters to the restaurant. “I can tell.”
“Dad had a lot of business meetings here. I’ve never been on this side of the building, mind you, but once I saw the blueprints, I realized that this wing is a mirror of the public wing. Same corridors, same layout, same entry and exit points.”
“You sound like an expert in tactical ops,” he chuckles softly.
We’re dressed in waiter’s uniforms—black pants with white shirts and purple vests. Raylan and Kendric are already in position, having assumed their own disguises. We paid off the staff who were supposed to be here in our stead. They were more than happy to stay home and relax for the day, considering they were paid a month’s salary to do so.
It’s not too busy at this early hour. The resort’s clients are leaving the breakfast room and heading out in different directions.
“Get behind the breakfast bar,” Sky tells me. “I’ll wait by the beverage coolers.” He checks his watch. “He should be coming in soon.”
I settle by the buffet. Most of it has already been cleared out, but the cereal dispensers need refilling, the plates and bowls need to be restacked, and the coffee machine and the tea kettle are both waiting for a wipe-down. I’ve got enough to keep my hands busy while my eyes are locked on the breakfast room’s double doors.
“Hey, there,” one of the waiters nods as he passes by the buffet.
I give him a slight smile and focus on emptying one of the cereal bags into the first dispenser. He frowns slightly, not recognizing me, but he doesn’t linger, either. He’s got a whole cart of bottles and carafes to take back to the kitchen.
“You okay?” Sky asks me from across the room.
“Yeah, just waiting.”
Kendric comes out of the kitchen with a whole box of bread and muffins, wearing a slightly confused look on his face. “Where is that fucker?”
“He should be here any minute,” Sky replies.
“He needs to hurry. Raylan’s about to get into an argument with the sous chef about a fucking pea soup,” Kendric shoots back, and I can’t help but giggle.
Even in the middle of this storm, my men still find ways to seize every moment, to live each second with their natural passion and penchant for trouble. No wonder the three of them get along so well. They balance one another out, from what I’ve seen. Sky may be the leader, so to speak, but Kendric and Raylan are just as capable of taking over when the situation demands it.
