Ava Gray - Skin Game

“Again, no help.” She wanted to punch something.

The clock was ticking away. Every minute they spent trying to figure out where Mia was, her chance of survival went down. In many respects, this was like a kidnapping. They’d already lost valuable time.

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything out online,” Apex said eventually. “It looks like this guy’s too smart to leave a trail, point us the way.”

“Agreed.” Reyes spun to regard the rest of the crew who had been remarkably patient up until this point. “Time to move to phase two.”

“Finally some action,” one of them muttered.

“Keep your heads on straight,” Apex warned. “No drinking, no gambling. I took the man’s money in good faith, and I don’t want any trouble in the casino that we haven’t been paid for.”

The plan was simple. Apex and crew would roll into the Silver Lady via the front doors. They’d start some low-level hassle: heckle dealers, mock the slot monkeys, maybe steal a few quarters. Eventually security would be dispatched to deal with them, at which point they’d do what they did best—run. Reyes had promised to bail out anybody who got caught. And while everybody was looking at the front doors, Kyra and Reyes would sneak in the back.

“Who’s your best at security?” she asked.

Apex smiled. “I guess that would be me.”

With a mental apology, she touched him lightly on the shoulder. “I should’ve guessed. Thanks for your help.”

It had been long enough since she’d used the ability that she felt it flaring through her now, new neurons firing. She could tell Apex had noticed the theft, but he didn’t know what to make of it. He frowned, glancing at where she’d touched him. Then he rubbed his shoulder, eyes narrowed.

Kyra jogged upstairs to get ready. Reyes made her wear one of her church-lady outfits, a pair of lime green double-knit polyester pants and a matching print blouse. For good measure, Kyra covered her freckles with foundation that make her skin look sun-damaged and orange. With her hair caught up in a barrette and a cheap pair of granny glasses, she hardly recognized herself.

“Damn.” Apex offered up a wolf whistle, gently mocking.

Since she’d stolen from him, she let it go with a wry smile. Reyes paid her no attention, giving their crew a last-minute briefing. At last they were ready to go.

“You’re crazy,” Apex said. “It’s gonna be hell getting up to the top floor, dude. But we’ll do what we can to give you the opening. I’m just glad you paid up front.”

Reyes laughed. “You wouldn’t work for me any other way.”

“Point. Let’s roll out.” He signaled to his boys and they took off.

“Just let me change.”

Kyra almost said she liked him the way he was—and then she remembered that she didn’t. Her heart hurt anew as she waited for him. She’d just gotten caught up in the excitement of planning their next move.

Within five minutes, he came downstairs wearing a sky blue leisure suit. He had on white shoes, a matching belt with enormous belt buckle, and he’d slicked his hair back with enough product to groom half of Manhattan. Somehow he’d managed to twist the leashed menace of his presence into a parody of itself; he’d become a joke.

“I’ll never ask you to do anything I won’t do myself.”

Kyra couldn’t help but laugh. “We look too goofy to be dangerous, is that it?”

“That’s the idea. If they find us wandering where we shouldn’t be, they won’t immediately be on guard. That’ll give us a few seconds to take care of business.”

She knew what he meant. Sober now, she nodded. Maybe she didn’t entirely like the idea of killing some unknown security guard, but she liked the idea of losing Mia even less. She’d do whatever it took to get her friend back.

Beyond this point, the plan was fluid. If they saw a chance, they’d take Serrano out, but they were hamstrung by not knowing where he’d stashed Mia. Reyes thought he had some failsafe in place—if the guards didn’t hear from Serrano at a certain time, they’d kill her and clean up the scene.

Therefore, the primary objective was to get into security and make copies of the logs. They could review them elsewhere, and possibly figure out which of Serrano’s men had taken her. At the least it might give them a direction to look, which was more than they had now.

“We need to make this fast. As of now, I can get us upstairs, but I don’t know—”

“How long it’ll last,” he finished. “Let’s go.”

And so Kyra returned to the Silver Lady. In the one move Serrano would never anticipate, because assholes like him valued self above friendship, she walked right in the front door. She knew where the security cameras were, but she didn’t look for them. Instead she feigned awe, gazing around at all the noise and flash. Serrano was like that, she thought, all sound and fury, signifying nothing. She couldn’t remember where she’d heard that line, a movie maybe.

From her peripheral vision, she spotted Apex. Reyes gave him the signal as they passed through the casino. All the players were in place, so it was show time.

They couldn’t be too direct in their approach to the doors at the back of the casino marked “private” but at the same time, they needed to be quick, or Kyra’s stolen skill might go poof. Reyes knew a little about security, but he was no Apex, and he wouldn’t want to bet their success on his rusty aptitude. It took all his self-control to lead them on a meandering path through the noisy casino.

He stopped twice to play the slots. Beside him, Kyra feigned an expression somewhere between disapproval and awe, as if she hadn’t seen this place a hundred times before. He could almost believe she was a tourist from Minnesota.

Bells rang; lights flashed. The Silver Lady was perfectly garish. Too much time in a place like this could drive a man mad, and Reyes longed for somewhere quiet, but he’d see this damn thing through. He owed Kyra that much.

On cue, Apex’s boys started some trouble. At first it was minor, and the security guys at the back of the room ignored it. Gradually, they escalated, and the guards had no choice but to move in. As soon as they did, Reyes took Kyra’s hand, towing her toward the double doors that led into the private part of the casino.

That went without a hitch. Without the burly guys in suits, the door opened freely, as employees just had to flash a badge to get through. Security would get tougher as they went deeper. Kyra was silent beside him, completely focused on the mission. They followed the beige and bisque corridor down to a set of metal doors.

Their first challenge came in the form of a keypad. Reyes glanced at her in silent inquiry, and was surprised when she answered. Nobody had ever been able to read him like she did.

“I can do this,” she said, already popping the panel to reroute the wires.

She worked for thirty seconds and then a spark lit up the display; the light flashed green. While he pushed the door open, she fit the cover back in place. It would withstand cursory scrutiny.

Inside the doors, he heard footfalls, more security. Fleet ingly he wondered what the hell Apex was doing out there. But he’d paid well for a distraction, and his boys loved the chance to cause trouble for a guy like Serrano. Kyra was already looking for somewhere to hide. She found it in the form of a locked room.

“I have no tools. Shit. Credit card!” she demanded.

He gave her his AmEx, and she worked the door as the sound of running amplified. Any second now, they’d round the corner and find them. The lock snapped open and he shoved her through, not much caring what waited on the other side. He didn’t want to fight this early in the game. If they started leaving bodies behind, it would get hard as hell to hide the fact they were coming. They’d find a small army waiting for them at the top. Plus, he objected on principle to killing guys who were just doing a job.