by ST Branton
It was a powerful image.
Monk sat himself down on Eve’s opposite side, directing a smile and a vaguely friendly nod my way. I wanted to get up and maneuver myself beside him so that I might have the chance to ask a few questions, but the weight of a finely manicured hand fell on my knee. Each tapered nail was deep blood red.
Victoria, I think it is time to leave.
I glanced up into Eve’s beautiful, still-smiling face and decided Marcus was wrong. Just because I hadn’t been able to talk to Silas Monk didn’t mean I had to bail already. This was a slow burn kind of deal. It required patience and finesse, two things Marcus didn’t always have.
So, I ignored him. An hour passed, and then another. Marcus periodically tried to get my attention, but I pushed him away and kept talking to Eve. I told her I was from New York. She told me she hadn’t spent a lot of time there—which struck me as odd for such a glamorous woman—and that she’d love to hear more about it.
Every so often, she interrupted my stories to check and see if Monk was available to join in the conversation, but he had always just been snagged by someone else, or he was talking to a reporter, or in the midst of procuring another round for a group of guests.
And before I knew it, the conference center was closing down, and I was in a cab going back to the motel. That was when it hit me that I never spoke to Monk at all.
Not a single word.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
My sleep after the gala was strangely heavy and deep, like I had gone to bed beneath a weighted blanket. The drapes, wine-colored and thick enough to shield me from the prying eyes of truck headlights, blocked out nearly every iota of sunlight that passed through the window on the other side. When I finally forced my eyes open at ten in the morning, the room was as dark as a subterranean cave.
I sort of liked it. Amid the hectic insanity that characterized my version of business as usual, lying around in the dark like a human-shaped rock was a nice change of pace. I indulged myself in twenty minutes of undiluted peace. Then I reached across to the nightstand with the alarm clock on it, grasped Marcus’s medallion, and dragged it over my head.
“G’morning,” I mumbled.
Fine morning, Victoria. How was your rest?
I rubbed a hand over my face. “I dunno, dude. I feel kind of loopy today.”
I do not recall you imbibing too many beverages.
“Hell, no. I only had the one from…” I frowned. “What was her name? The woman in the dress. Monk’s girlfriend.” Troubling blank spots surfaced in my memory when I examined the reception after Monk’s speech. She had told me her name; I knew she did. But it was just out of my reach.
Eve, said Marcus helpfully.
A connection completed in my brain, clearing away a little bit of the fog. “Yes! Eve. She gave me the only drink I had last night.” I studied the shadows lurking on the motel ceiling. “You don’t think she drugged me, do you?” Why was it so hard to remember?
Doubtful. I was vigilant all night. But I would suggest that you exercise caution around her in the future. You were...very open about who you are. That doesn’t seem like a wise approach.
“I mean, she definitely had her boobs done.” Hauling myself reluctantly into an upright position, I ran my tongue over my teeth. The inside of my mouth tasted like a dry sock. “What the hell? I’m officially too old for parties.”
The blurriness surrounding my conversations with Eve still needled me as I trudged into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I sat at that bar for hours and still managed to miss the star of the evening entirely—because I was talking to his girlfriend?
None of that really made sense to me, but I wasn’t awake enough to piece anything together. I just went and sat on the edge of the bed. Then, a definite recollection sprang into my mind. I extracted my phone from my purse on the chair and checked the camera roll. Sure enough, the pictures I’d taken of Monk’s onstage diagrams were there. I put them in an email to Namiko with the subject line: Look what I got!
She replied in less than a minute: Meet at your motel in 15??
I grinned. She was either ravenously interested, jealous, or both.
Part of me hoped for a little bit of both.
***
Namiko knocked on my door in fifteen minutes flat, and when I answered, she was back to being a pair of outlandishly huge, reflective sunglasses wedged in a pile of assorted fabric. She looked both ways along the bank of rooms prior to stepping into mine. Only then did she pull down the scarf. “You can never be too careful.”
I nodded and made sure the door locked behind her. We sat in the dark with the bedside lamp on while she poured over my photos.
“I don’t suppose he demonstrated it, did he?” she asked.
“Yeah, he sure did. He demonstrated the hell out of it.” I pulled up the diagrams on my own phone. “Turns out the laser at its core has some kick.”
“Wow. That’s...bold. He just fired it off? Nothing between you and it?” I shook my head, she shook hers. “That must be their solution to the problem of melting drill bits.” She pursed her lips. “But that could also make this thing exceptionally dangerous if the beam is amplified and used for destructive purposes.” She turned to me then, her huge eyes deadly serious. “Vic, I have something to tell you.”
A tiny chill ran through my bones, but I made my outward mannerisms remain calm. “What’s up?”
“Someone came to visit me after I returned from our meeting yesterday. His timing was rather suspect.”
I felt my teeth set themselves on edge. “Who? A man?”
“Yes. A bit strange-looking, but hey, San Francisco is a weird place, right? Originally, I wasn’t going to let him through the gate, but he asked me a question that I thought you should know about.” She paused thoughtfully, the tips of two fingers pressed in the hollow of her chin. “He wanted to know Silas Monk’s address.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s not good. What did this guy look like?”
Namiko scowled. “He gave me the creeps. He was like three times my size, and he was wearing dark glasses, gloves, and a trench coat. Didn’t stay long enough for me to get a read on him. I think he was carrying something, but I can’t be sure.”
“Something like a weapon?” I asked.
“Maybe, yeah. In one of those holsters across his back. I thought I saw a handle when he turned around.”
“Huh. Did you tell him where Monk is?”
“Of course not. Said I didn’t know, which is true. He doesn’t publicize his personal information. And now we know why.”
“We also have to get to him before this guy does. I guess he could just be a weirdo superfan, but let’s be real about how likely that is. A stalker, maybe? He could be trying to case the place.”
It is also possible that this mystery man is one of the Forgotten.
Damn. This mess was getting worse by the second. “We need to figure out exactly where Monk is staying so we can protect him.”
“Doesn’t he have his own people for that?”
“It really depends on what he’s dealing with.” I knew for a fact that Silas Monk would have been utterly destroyed by any of the vampires I had to kill. And I had a strong suspicion that this new interloper was not on his appointment schedule.
“I’ll take your word for that.” Namiko brought a photo up on her phone. “Here’s a shot of him outside a hotel in Palo Alto. I’m pretty sure it’s the Onyx. That’s probably where he’s staying.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can’t even afford to dream about that place.” But even as the words left my mouth, I knew I’d have to get in somehow.
When I looked the place up online, the idea of infiltrating the hotel seemed impossible. Not only did it have tight security for super wealthy, famous people, but it was also tall as hell.
“He couldn’t pick a place that’s like three stories high with parking lot access?” I grumbled. “It’s gotta be the Everest of luxury hotels, and I’m willing to
bet money he’s on the top floor.”
I still wanted to speak with Monk, but the odds were looking worse by the second. Namiko stood up.
“Take this.” She dropped a device that looked like a tiny bean in my palm. “It’s an earpiece. So I can help you. When I get home, I’m going to see if I can send you some stuff that’ll make your job a lot easier. Watch your phone in like, half an hour.” Without waiting for an answer, she pulled up her scarf and slipped out the door. I peeked through the curtain to see the silver sedan make its escape.
“Do you trust her?” I asked Marcus nonchalantly. A layer of drowsiness threatened to descend on me again. I leaned back on the hotel pillows.
It appears that we have no choice. While my faith in you is unerring, the structure where Monk presently resides would be a fool’s errand for one person to handle alone. If Namiko offers her aid, we must accept or run a much greater risk of failure that we cannot afford. Do you disagree?
I shook my head. “Nope. Just making sure it wasn’t just me.”
Right before noon, my phone shook me out of a daze with a message from Namiko: Put in your earpiece.
I did as instructed. Within seconds, I could hear yet another voice in my ear. My head was getting awfully crowded.
“Vic? Testing.”
“You’re good,” I said. “Loud and clear.”
“I found some maps that might be helpful to you. They’re basically just floor plans, but at least this way you’ll sort of know where you’re going. Obviously, when we’re done with this you should delete them, just in case.”
“Whatever you say, Namiko.”
“Great. It’s not much, and you’re going to have to improvise, but you’re good at that, right? If you leave now, you’ll get there in about thirty-five minutes, give or take a few. Oh, and you were right—Monk is king of the hill. Right at the top. And I’m positive the place is full of security, if only because he’s there.”
I allowed myself no more than a brief moment of self-pity, and then it was time to get ready for the show. Ten minutes later, my Uber driver pulled out onto the road heading south toward Palo Alto.
As I rode, I tried to think of ways to tell a very rich man that he was in mortal danger.
***
“Oh, dammit,” Namiko mumbled through the earpiece. “I have some good news and some bad news.”
“Good news first,” I replied.
“A friend owed me a favor. He has the cameras from the Onyx streaming to my machine as we speak. I’ve got a god’s eye view of the place.”
“Funny.” I paused on my approach toward the ground floor of the Onyx. “What’s the bad news?”
“Remember how I said the place is probably full of security? That wasn’t an exaggeration. Be careful. I don’t know what they’re packing.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said. “Can I bypass the ones on the bottom?”
“Yeah. Go straight through the lobby to the elevators. There’s one that goes directly to the top, but it’s not available to the general public. You’ll need to get off on the level below and find a way up.”
“And I’m guessing there will be guards there, too.”
“You got it,” she confirmed.
This was going to be a regular freakin’ riot.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Onyx had thirty floors, the topmost of which was reserved for the likes of Silas Monk. I sauntered casually across the lobby and front desk security and stepped into an open elevator as if I were a rich person who belonged in here.
Thumbing the button for floor twenty-nine, I clasped my hands in front of me and stood quietly for the smooth and silent ride up, jazz piping through the elevator speakers. The doors opened on a lushly carpeted hallway where sound seemed to stop in its tracks before ever reaching the other end.
I saw the first guard’s shadow on the silk floral wallpaper immediately upon exiting the elevator car.
“Only one,” Namiko said. “Move fast. The others will be coming back around.”
I crouched slightly, pinned my body to the wall, and crept up behind the guard as he stood innocently keeping watch. I struck silently, and my new strength allowed me to let his unconscious bulk down gently to the floor.
“Okay, get ready to do that four more times,” Namiko said like it was no big deal.
I stepped over him, shaking my hands out. “Are they all going to be coming down this way?”
“Yep. Just make sure you get them all so you have the maximum amount of time before someone figures out that something’s wrong.”
“Roger.”
So, I waited in that corridor, put the first two guys in chokeholds, and hit the last two neatly over the head. I left them sleeping peacefully where they fell.
“What am I looking for, now? Stairs?”
“I think so. There should be a stairwell right around—”
“Hey! What are you doing up here?”
I looked toward the owner of the voice—a surprise sixth guard—and then booked it in the opposite direction, hoping he wouldn’t immediately radio for help. He didn’t, which was gratifying. Even more gratifying was spotting an open room door with a housecleaning cart in front of it. Spinning the cart horizontally to block his path, I grabbed the heavy mop from its holder on the side and used it to whack my pursuer from a distance. He crashed to the muffling carpet, out cold.
I glanced around. “The good news is that I don’t see the cleaning lady anywhere, so I don’t have to attack an innocent woman. The bad news: all the doors I’m seeing are marked with alarm signs. There might be one or two that don’t set it off, but I’m not willing to risk it.”
“That is a problem,” Namiko said. She lapsed into focused silence.
“Wait.” I peered into an open room at the sliding glass door leading to the balcony. “I have an idea. A really, really shitty idea. Stand by.”
The glass opened without a sound to admit me onto the balcony. This high up, the wind tossed my hair, threatening to pull out my loose ponytail. I looked directly upward. The bottom of the top floor’s extended balcony hung above me.
Bingo.
I grabbed a chair from the room and dragged it outside. I tested my weight with one foot, and it seemed sturdy enough. I climbed onto the seat cushion and swung my arms a little, preparing for the highest vertical leap I could muster.
“Oh man, this is such a bad idea. In the running for the worst I’ve ever had.” I couldn’t help but laugh a little at myself, even as I swayed in the open air. “Necessity is the mother of insanity.”
I believe that phrase has been altered, Marcus remarked. But fear not, Victoria. This is hardly the most foolhardy thing I have ever seen. There was one time in Rome when—
“Dude, don’t get me wrong. I definitely love every single story you’ve ever told me, but I need to concentrate right now. If I miss this, I’m in some serious shit.”
“What was that, Vic?” Namiko asked in my ear.
I almost laughed out loud. I forgot she could hear every word, even the ones that I said to the centuries-old centurion hanging around my neck. “Nothing. Just…um…talking to myself.” She didn’t respond.
The wind buffeted me mercilessly. Before Marcus or Namiko could start talking again, I jumped.
The tips of my fingers just brushed the iron underbars of the balcony foundation, but I couldn’t quite secure my grip. When I came back down, my balance faltered on the chair’s plush seat, and I almost busted my ass on the floor. “Oh, shit!”
“What’s going on?” Namiko asked, alarmed.
I sucked in my breath. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” The heartbeat jackhammering crazily in my chest suggested otherwise, but she couldn’t hear it, and I wasn’t telling her.
The second time, I bent my knees slightly and jumped when the wind wasn’t blowing as strong. My left hand ended up flailing in empty air, but the right caught hold of a metal rod. Half gasping with breathless, pounding adrenaline, I began to monkey-b
ar my way across the balcony supports until I reached the outer side where the railing was. My hand barely fit over the lip of the balcony floor, but barely was enough.
“Where are you?” Namiko asked. “It’s so loud.”
I didn’t answer, only because I was too busy making sure I didn’t fall to my death. Once I had a firm hold on the iron struts, I hoisted myself up and over the top. Then I lay there for a minute, still gasping and trying not to think about what I’d just done. If anything had gone wrong, I would have died outright. Not my wisest, most well thought out plan, but effective and fun, in a terrifying way.
“Okay,” I told Namiko finally. “I’m on the balcony. The top balcony.”
“You’re what?! How did you get there?”
“Up and over. Took the scenic route.” I was on my feet again, stretching the nervous tremors from my legs.
“That seems rather foolish,” she said calmly. Now that her initial surprise had worn off, she sounded like a long-suffering parent admonishing an idiot child.
I chose to ignore it. “It wasn’t so bad. Now what?”
“The top balcony wraps all the way around to the front entrance of the thirtieth-floor suite. Just follow it until you see another door.”
The wind still tugged playfully at my clothes, though its strength was far less threatening with my feet on solid ground. My hair was a wild mess of tangles, the tie forever lost to the void. On the opposite side of the building, the gale died down, and I was able to smooth my mane into something halfway presentable as I walked up to the entrance leading into the suite.
“I’m here,” I told Namiko. “Should I just…”
Silence. I felt around inside my ear for that little bean, but it was gone. Another casualty of the cruel winds.
