by Imogen Rose
Harry shook his head. “And now what?”
“I guess we lay low for a while, and then go back and check it out,” Kellan suggested.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why do you think Rowena wanted us to go?” I asked.
“She must’ve thought Simla was dangerous somehow,” Harry said.
“How would Simla be dangerous? It’s more likely that someone who is dangerous dumped her there. I can’t even imagine why! Simla?” I couldn’t for the life of me imagine why her. The last time I had seen Simla was at school. “When was the last time you guys saw Simla?” It dawned on me that if I was a year behind, I had no clue what Simla had been up to recently. Her dad had taken me, after all.
“I saw her just a few days ago when you and I rescued her,” Kellan said.
“Rescued her from what?” I snapped. I was so sick of not knowing anything!
“It doesn’t matter,” Kellan muttered.
“Look, I’m sorry. I’m just so frustrated with all these tidbits of information. That’s all. You guys have to tell me what’s going on here. I’m lost.” I welled up.
Kellan put his arm around me and pulled me in. I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I soaked his t-shirt while he stroked my back, running his hand up and down it.
“Shrimp, you’re right. You do have to know what’s going on. The trouble is trying to find a way to fill you in with a whole year’s worth of happenings.”
I pulled away and looked at him expectantly.
“Kellan, let’s try to focus on one thread at a time,” Harry suggested. “Let’s start with Simla.”
“It’s going to be hard to do that without getting into all sorts of cross-threads.”
“Come on, guys! Threads? What are you talking about?”
“You’ve lost a year,” Harry said patiently. “A lot of stuff has happened over the past year. Much more than would happen to a normal kid. It’s been a very, very eventful year. What I want to try to do is concentrate on one thing at a time. We were talking about Simla, and how and why she may have ended up on your bed at the Bellagio. Right?”
“Right,” I agreed.
“When exactly was the last time before then that you remember seeing her?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure. We’re not really friends. I may have seen her in the cafeteria, but not the last time I was there.”
“Okay, so let’s assume that was a year ago, at the cafeteria. You knew that Justin and she were good friends?”
“No. I didn’t really pay much attention to either of them. I assume you’re talking about Justin Weeks, right?” Justin sat behind me in physics class. He played hockey with Harry and Kellan.
“Yeah.” Kellan nodded. “Well, you and Simla had a fight at school, in the restroom, where Simla tried to strangle you.”
“Get out! No way! Simla wouldn’t do that!”
“Well she did.” Kellan looked deadly serious. “She strangled you until you were unconscious. Luckily, Harry and I found you and took you to the hospital.”
I was shocked. “Why? We’ve never had any problems. Ever.”
Harry shook his head. “Let’s not go into the why right at this minute. It’ll just take us off course. The fact is, she did do that to you. She was very angry with you.”
Kellan nodded. “Simla’s mother, Erica, worked for your mother. Simla’s dad, Raj, wanted the blueprints to the portal, so he kidnapped you–”
“What? How? How can I not remember that?”
Kellan ignored my questions. “Raj kidnapped you, Ella, Harry, and me, and then blackmailed your mom using Simla as a go-between.”
“Ella? Was she hurt?” I whispered.
“No. She’s fine. The point, however, is that Simla has been in cahoots with her father, aiding him in any way she can to get those blueprints. And now, she suddenly appears here. It’s not that off the wall to assume, like Rowena probably did, that she’s here because of him.”
“Okay,” I relented. “But how did she get here? Do you think she’d been in the room all along? How did she know I was going to use it? What did she want with me?”
“Well, let’s see,” Harry said. “I guess she could have arrived there before we did. I can’t imagine how she’d have known. Your third question is probably the easiest to guess. Her dad probably sent her to try to either bring you back to him, or try to get you to get the blueprints for him somehow.”
Kellan jumped in. “What’s important right now, I guess, is how she knew to find you there. She’d have to have had help from someone with that. No one should have known where we were, and the only people who could have found out and transported her here this fast would be the Sigma-W-Pi. That means that the security breach is worse than your grandfather assumed.”
Harry rubbed the back of his neck, looking thoughtful. “We knew that Raj must have had some kind of Sigma-W-Pi help, but this kind of a security breach is a lot more serious than Raj involving a lone Wanderer. This is an organized group. It points to Potomal himself being involved.”
“What does this mean?” I moaned. All I wanted to do was get back home. We were supposed to visit Mom. I hoped she was doing better.
“It means that Sigma-W security has been compromised,” Harry reiterated. “Which means that we have to be really careful. We can’t call home in case someone tracks our phone calls. We’re going to hide out until we know it’s safe.”
“What about Ella? Gramadea said that she was going to bring her back to the hotel.”
“I bet Gramadea will figure out that it’s not safe and take her somewhere else.”
My stomach rumbled.
Harry laughed. “You hungry again? Got worms?”
I scowled.
“Anyone got any money?” Harry asked.
We scrambled through our pockets and handed what we had to Harry. He counted it up. “Seventy-six dollars and thirty-two cents. That’s not going to last us long at all. Anyone got a credit card? I left mine at the hotel.”
“Nope, I didn’t grab mine before we ran,” Kellan replied.
I shook my head.
Harry looked down at our change. “I suppose we could try gambling some of it in hopes of making some–”
“Or we could try getting some work. I’ve got my driver’s license, do you?” Kellan asked.
I felt around for mine. I didn’t have it. It would be in my purse, which I had left behind. I shook my head. Harry had his.
“Okay,” Harry said resignedly. “Much as I would like a Stripburger, I guess we better find a McDonald’s or a Burger King or something. Then Kellan, you and I better try to get some work.”
We walked down the strip toward Circus Circus and went into the McDonald’s beside it. It was busy, as expected. We ordered food off the dollar menu and sat down and enjoyed every last mouthful.
It was already past midnight. I was exhausted. “Harry, let’s ask to find out where there’s a cheap place to stay for the night.”
He nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
“This really sucks,” I remarked.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Kellan agreed.
Harry came back grinning. “Well, the good news is that hotels are cheap around here, so we should be okay. We’ll all have to share a room, though. The fact that we don’t have a credit card is going to be an issue; most hotels will want that to book us a room. However, the guy at the counter was really nice and, when I told him that I didn’t have a credit card with me, he suggested a hotel off the strip where his sister works as a receptionist. If we pay her in cash, she’ll let us into one of the empty rooms for the night. He’s going to call her to let her know to expect us. You guys ready?”
We nodded. I was more than ready. We followed the directions to the hotel from a scribbled diagram on a napkin that the man at McDonald’s gave Harry. The walk seemed to take forever; this place was way off the strip. When we finally arrived at the Desert Doll Inn, it was clearly a motel, not a hotel.
In the lobby, there was only the one receptionist at the desk. I had to smile when I saw her. If anyone ever wondered where to find Marilyn in this city of Elvises, this was the place. Her nametag confirmed that she was Clara, the sister the McDonald’s guy had told us about.
Harry walked up to the counter with a huge smile plastered across his face. “Hi, your brother sent us.”
“Yeah. Took pity on you, did he?” She looked us up and down. “You don’t look like the kind of people he needs to be helping.”
“We’ve been robbed; they took everything.”
I was impressed with Harry’s quick thinking.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “All right then, but only because my brother asked. That’ll be ten dollars each.”
Harry put the money on the counter. She handed us a card. “You’ll need to be out of there by eleven. Unless you want it for two nights….”
“We might,” Harry replied. “Can I pay you tomorrow if we need to stay?”
“I suppose. Now, don’t make a mess!”
“Thanks, Clara.” Harry grinned. “We really appreciate it.”
I noticed her softening. Harry’s charm was difficult to resist.
She broke into a smile. “It’s okay. Glad to help. I’ll save you some breakfast. I leave at nine, though, so come down and get it before then if you want some.”
“Thanks, that’s really nice of you. I will.” Harry threw her another appreciative glance before we left.
The room was on the first floor at the back of the motel. A strong waft of tobacco hit us as soon as we opened the door. Almost gagging, I tried not to breathe in the cancerous air. The room was small and dark. We turned on the dusty lamps and stared at a picture of a topless woman hanging above the bed. The only bed. Sigh. “Bagsy me the left side!”
Harry rolled his eyes. “I’ll take the middle. Geez, this really sucks.”
“Let’s just make the best of it,” Kellan suggested. “It’s not like we haven’t shared sleeping space before. Remember a few years ago when we went camping? We had to share the same tent. Let’s pretend we’re camping again.”
“Yeah, well camping sucked. Remember?” It really had. “We swore we’d never go again. Remember those nasty bugs and toilets? Ugh! And I hated sharing that tent with the two of you,” I moaned.
“Oh, come on. It wasn’t all that bad. Plus, we won’t have the bug issue here, and there’s a regular toilet.”
I wasn’t convinced. The room looked like it might have its share of bugs, and I didn’t hold out any high hopes for the bathroom. I was right. Yuck. I got into bed first while Harry and Kellan took turns using the shower. I didn’t notice them getting into bed; I must have been well asleep before then.
Harry woke me up the next morning at nine. He’d brought up breakfast. I had slept surprisingly well, considering. Wishing I had a change of clothes, I got up and took a shower. Somehow I needed to either buy more clothes or figure out a way to wash these. Once dressed, I sat down to breakfast with Harry and Kellan.
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked between bites of my egg muffin.
“Clara offered me a job!” Harry beamed. “She told me to come back later when she starts her shift, and she’d put me to work.”
“Awesome. Hopefully you won’t need to, but it’s good to know, just in case,” I said. “What are we going to do, though? Do you think it’s safe to go back to the Bellagio?”
“I don’t know. I’m thinking of going and checking it out on my own while you and Kellan hang out at one of the casinos.”
“No way!” I protested. “We need to stick together.”
“Shrimp, I don’t know,” Kellan said. “You’re the one they–whoever they are–seem to be after. It would be much better if you stayed away from the Bellagio until we know it’s totally safe. In fact, I’ll go, Harry. You stay with Arizona. You may be a target, too. I don’t think anyone’s after me.”
“No way, Kellan. You’re not going on your own!” That would be totally ridiculous. He wasn’t even directly involved in all this. For him to put himself in danger for me was insane.
“I agree.” Harry stood up. “We stick together. We’ll have to be really, really careful, though. Okay, let’s go.”
As we walked back toward the strip, I had a light bulb moment–about clothes. It might have seemed like an insignificant concern considering, but we seriously needed a change of clothes. We looked like we hadn’t washed for days, even though we had just showered. We obviously didn’t have any money to spend on clothes, but it had just occurred to me that we could perhaps use Mom’s account at Hermès. The last time I had visited Las Vegas, Mom had a shopping spree at the store. Her sales assistant knew her by name and had offered her champagne as soon as she’d seen her walk in. I racked my brain trying to recall the salesperson’s name. I couldn’t, but I did remember what she looked like. It was worth a try. “Harry, let’s stop at the Bellagio Hermès store and get some clothes. Mom has an account there. We look really rough.”
Harry nodded. “Yeah, it’s worth a shot. Come on, let’s pick up the pace.”
It seemed to take ages just to get to the strip, and then we had to walk all the way up to the Bellagio. I normally enjoyed the walk past the Wynn, Venetian, and Caesar’s, stopping in to do some shopping, but not today. The walk left me exhausted and hot. We decided that I would step into Hermès first to check to see if Mom’s SA was around. It was a long shot.
I spotted her in the corner, busy putting away some scarves. She had changed her hair color, but otherwise looked exactly as I remembered. She recognized me right away.
“Arizona! How nice to see you!” She came over and kissed both of my cheeks.
“Hi! I was hoping you’d be working today.”
“Is Dr. Darley with you?” she asked, looking behind me.
“No, just my brother and a friend.” I nodded toward Harry and Kellan. When they walked up to us, I introduced them.
“Looking for a gift to bring back for your mom? I have just the thing.”
“Actually, we have a problem and were hoping you could help us out.”
“Of course.”
“Our airline misplaced our luggage. We need some clothes to get by until they find our bags.”
“Oh, that’s a shame! You know, I always travel with carry-on only these days.” She sighed. “We’ve got some lovely new pieces in, let me show you….”
An hour or so later, the three of us walked out of the store looking pretty awesome. When I asked Mom’s SA to put it all on Mom’s account, she didn’t bat an eye, so I added a Gypserie bag to our haul. I would need something to carry stuff around in. Plus, I knew Mom wouldn’t mind.
“You look good,” Kellan remarked on our way to the elevator.
I checked him over. He looked really good. Hot. I smiled and, when he grinned back at me, I felt that tingle. I had the strongest urge to touch him, to feel his skin. I hastily turned away and slipped my hand into Harry’s.
Harry turned in surprise. “You okay?”
“A bit scared of what we’re going to find when we get up to the suite.”
“I know what you mean. Still, we don’t have any choice. We need to find out what’s going on. You could stay down here, though–”
“No way! Let’s get in.” I pulled Harry into the elevator, and Kellan walked in close behind us. I took a deep breath and pressed the button.
The door to the suite was covered in yellow Crime scene–Do not cross tape.
The three of us stared at each other.
“We should go.” Harry turned back to press the button for the elevator.
“What do you think happened?” I asked, as we got back in.
“Something serious, or that tape wouldn’t be there. Let’s walk around in the casino and listen in on people talking. Maybe someone heard something.”
We walked around the casino floor stopping at the tables to watch the various games. Everyone seemed engrossed in their bets,
not really chatting at all.
“What now?” I was tired of walking around; we’d spent at least half an hour doing that.
“Let’s hang out by the bar,” Kellan suggested.
We looked older than we were, dressed in our Hermès outfits, but we were still underage, and there was no way we would actually be allowed into the bar, so we walked around outside listening in on whatever conversations we could tune into.
Kellan suddenly raised his finger to his lips and flicked his eyes to a group of ladies deep in conversation. I turned my full attention to them.
“You’re kidding! How did you hear that?” a blonde with a Chanel bag muttered in disbelief.
“Why would I make that up?” snapped her friend.
“In one of the suites? Do you know who?”
“No. I just heard the cop talking about a murder.”
The journey from Leeds to San Francisco had been less than ideal–two stops. Dillard had first boarded a British Midland flight to Glasgow, wishing that he’d time to stop in for one of their legendary curries before he had to transfer to the United Airlines flight to Philadelphia. He had managed to get a standby ticket, but his seat was in the back. And it was a middle seat; he was sandwiched between a large lady and a woman with a baby, a baby that didn’t stop crying for the entire flight. He didn’t blame it; he wanted to bawl himself. What was with flights these days? The legroom was practically nonexistent, everyone squashed in like sardines in a tin. And whatever happened to the lovely, friendly airhostesses? They seemed to have been replaced by a bunch of crabby, unattractive women practiced in the art of eye-contact avoidance. He practically had to smack one over the head to get any attention at all.
He didn’t really have a plan for what he was going to do when he reached San Francisco. The man–Raj–had indicated that Dillard had money coming to him. How? Had Olivia died and left him money in her will? He doubted that would be the case. Olivia would leave all her money to a cat shelter before leaving him a dime. What little he’d found out seemed to point to Raj being a dangerous criminal who’d been involved in kidnapping Olivia’s children last year. By all accounts, the FBI was still looking for him. The children were back with Olivia so he must have got what he wanted, a lot of money, presumably. So, what did he want with him? What use could he be to Raj?
