not long,” he said, watching her finish with the sleeves and unbutton the top. “Five minutes, at most.”
The Eastern dragon nodded. “Give me ten minutes,” she said, and left the car. We watched her walk barefooted across the parking lot, pulling the tie from her bun as she did, and enter the hotel through the front doors. Riley shook his head and glanced back at Garret.
“If this goes spectacularly to hell,” he told him, “I’m blaming you. You realize that.”
The soldier just smiled grimly.
Ten long, tense minutes later, Riley blew out an explosive breath and reached for the door handle. “Okay,” he announced far too brightly. “Let’s go see if our Eastern princess has managed to eat anyone.”
We cautiously entered the hotel and made our way through the long aisles toward room 318. Along the way, a maid stepped out of one of the rooms, pushing a cart, and Riley quite literally ran into it. He tumbled to the floor with a yelp, and the poor maid began a string of rapid apologies, rushing over and asking if he was all right, while Garret and I looked on in confusion. Riley, picking himself up off the floor, suddenly switched to perfect, fluent Spanish, making soothing motions with his hands and, from what I could tell, assuring her he was fine. He said something that made her laugh, and then she thanked him and walked away, pushing the cart down the hall again. I stared after her, then at the rogue, who seemed very pleased with himself.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded. “I’ve seen you move, and there’s no way that was an accident. You ran into her on purpose, didn’t you?”
Riley grinned, dusted off his pants and then held up a card between two fingers.
“I was going to say I left my key card in the room and could she please open the door for me,” he admitted as we quickly moved toward the elevators. “That’s always worked in the past. But I figured this might be faster.”
“Risky,” Garret remarked. “What if you couldn’t lift it without getting caught?” Riley smirked.
“I don’t get caught, St. George. Now, let’s get to Miranda’s room before anything else happens.”
We took the elevator to the third floor and easily found room 318. The hallway was silent, and no sounds or light came from the room beyond the door. Riley cast furtive glances over his shoulder, making sure no one was around, and raised the card he took from the maid.
“All right,” he said in a low voice. “Here goes. Let’s see if that Eastern dragon actually did what she said she could.”
He slid the key into the slot. It beeped green, and we pushed the door open.
The room beyond was empty.
Riley let out a breath, and beside me, Garret relaxed. I slumped in relief, letting muscles that had tensed up for a fight uncoil. “Okay.” The rogue nodded, shutting the door behind us. “I don’t know how she did it, but I’m not complaining. Let’s find that evidence and see if we can discover what Talon is up to. But remember,” he warned as we stepped farther inside. “Try not to disturb anything. We don’t want Miranda knowing we were here. Let’s find what we’re looking for and get the hell out.”
That sounded like a good idea. The hotel room wasn’t large, and we did a sweep of the place fairly quickly. There was nothing in the main room or the bathroom, but when Riley pulled open the closet door...
“Dammit,” he muttered, gazing at several cardboard boxes stacked neatly in the corner. They were taped, sealed shut, with shipping labels stuck to the sides. “Well, here’s the evidence, but we can’t get inside to look at it. Not without Miranda knowing we were here. Where are they sending these? I wonder.” He pulled one of the boxes toward him and looked at the address on top. “NewTech,” he growled, and shook his head. “Son of a bitch, there’s another lab. Firebrand, grab me a piece of paper or something, would you? Looks like we to need to check this place out. Maybe Wes can find something on them.”
I hurried to the desk in the corner and reached for the complimentary notepad sitting beside the phone, then hesitated. The Chameleon’s laptop lay open and dark on the surface of the desk, a mug of coffee cooling beside it. As if she might have been working on something and had to rush off before she could complete it.
I reached for the touchpad and jiggled the screen to life, bringing up a page with an unsent email across the surface.
Mr. Hill, the top line read.
My stomach turned to ice. I sank into the chair, scanning the rest of the message as the cold spread to every part of my body.
I have arrived on scene, the email read. Per Talon’s orders, all evidence at the “crash site” has been gathered and logged accordingly. The human officials are all too willing to accept the cover story, as they have no idea what they are dealing with. They know something unnatural happened, but so far their posited explanations range from the mundane to the absurd. I believe the organization to be in no danger of discovery. As you requested, the first boxes of evidence we have taken from the site will be sent to the specified location today. Expect their arrival in no less than twenty-four hours.
Ut ominous sergimus.
Miranda Kent.
“Ember?” Garret’s voice echoed softly across the room, wrenching me out of my daze. I might’ve gone a little pale, because his gray eyes were worried as they met mine. “What’s wrong?”
“Dante,” I whispered, and both he and Riley jerked up at the name. “Dante is part of this. He’s behind the cover-up. This message is to him.”
Both boys came to my side immediately, peering over my shoulders at the laptop screen. “Well, shit,” Riley growled in my ear. “Then we definitely need to visit this ‘specified location’ and see what the hell is going on.”
I stared at the screen, seeing only my brother’s name, standing out from the rest. Dante. All the feelings I thought I’d repressed—hurt, dismay, anger, betrayal—surged up again, making my stomach turn. Why are you involved in this? What the hell are you doing?
The words on-screen seemed to mock me. I was vaguely aware of Riley grabbing a scrap of paper and scribbling something down. “All right, that’s it,” he announced, straightening quickly. “I think we’ve found everything we can. Let’s get out of here before her guards come back.”
I shook myself, following Riley to the door with Garret close at my back. Now was not the time to dwell on traitorous siblings. I would think about my brother, and his role in this whole sordid mess, later. When we were away from the hotel and shady Talon agents who could return at any moment.
But as Riley opened the door and peered out, voices echoed down the corridor, making him jerk back. Through the frame, I saw two people walking toward us down the hall. One was a large man with a thick neck and chest, one of the guards we’d seen with Miranda. The other, walking beside him, was a small, slender woman with long black hair...
...dressed only in a towel.
For a second, my brain stuttered. It was Jade, I could see that, but the woman walking toward us with the guard was as different from the poised, elegant Eastern dragon as a swan was to a chicken. Snatches of conversation drifted to us, with Jade thanking the guard for escorting her back to her room, and how silly she felt for locking herself out. Her voice was high-pitched, giggly and slightly slurred, and she swayed a bit when she walked, as if very drunk. Of course, the guard wasn’t paying any attention to his surroundings, being distracted by the beautiful Asian woman in nothing but a towel. But we were still trapped. They were still coming toward us, and if we tried to leave now, the man would definitely see us.
Jade looked up, and for a moment, her eyes met mine through the crack in the door. Slowing, she reached out and snagged the guard’s sleeve, tugging him to a halt in the middle of the corridor. The guard turned, frowning, as Jade rambled on, asking him questions and talking so quickly it was hard to understand her.
Now’s