Brian stood and put on his black trench coat and began checking his Glocks.
Ford came back out with a tracker about the size of a twenty-five-cent pack of gum. “Don’t worry. Duke covered everything. We’ll get in. And this isn’t the type of place with metal detectors and a pat-down before you can enter.”
Dana
Like always, Duke came through. They got in with the bouncers barely giving them a second look. When they walked inside, Dana was surprised and put off at the gaudy glitz and glam. Virgin white and gold as far as the eye could see. He immediately wondered how the hell they kept all the white clean. He looked around at tables covered with white tablecloths, gold flakes littering the tops. Even the candles were glittering. The music was good and it flowed from a state of the art sound system while immaculately dressed bodies moved stiffly to the beats. It looked like half of the space was set aside for dancing and mingling while the other side had tables where waiters brought foo-foo food delivered on gold trays. The customers sat at two-, four-, and even eight-top tables, with their noses in the air and Waterford crystal stemware in their hands.
Looking at the grand staircase that led to the second floor, he couldn’t see anything of interest up there since there was a large white curtain obstructing his view. A man sat on a stool just outside it. His thick arms were crossed over his chest, daring anyone to approach that shouldn’t. “I’m in the Twilight Zone,” Dana murmured.
“Agreed.” Ford was behind him, his deep voice drifting over the hard bass of the soft rock playing. “Let’s find this girl and get out of here. I’m getting a bad feeling.”
Already. Oh no. They’d only been there two minutes. Dana didn’t like Ford’s bad feelings, if his partner felt something wrong in the air, then something was off. He trusted Ford’s instincts. He was a SEAL, he could assess and react quickly. They’d hashed out a plan before they left, now they needed to execute and get the hell out of there since they were already sticking out like renegades in the bright white room of model citizens.
Dana felt it the moment Ford left his side. He turned and watched him move through the crowd, earning way too many looks for Dana to be comfortable. He and Brian went to the bar, and from there they discreetly scanned the room looking for the face they had committed to memory.
A bartender in a cute white dress, with a gold-colored pendant pinning her bright auburn hair on top of her head, stopped in front of them, placing two glass coasters on the bar. “I don’t think I’ve seen you two in here before.” She had a smile of perfect white teeth a mile wide. “Believe me, I would know.”
Brian stood there watching the woman closely, his dark gaze taking her in, not giving anything away but a hint of mysteriousness and a whole lot of danger. Dana spoke up after she flushed under Brian’s inspection. Perfect. Now that Brian was working his dark magic, all Dana had to do was order a couple drinks and turn on the charm, then he’d get her to talk.
“Sweetheart, let me get whatever you have dark on draft, and the same for—”
She giggled, stopping Dana mid-sentence. “Now I know you two aren’t from around here. Look around, gentlemen. There are no taps here. That would look too tacky… according to management, anyway.” She veered closer like she had a secret, showing a tasteful hint of freckled cleavage as she did. “Personally, I love a good slider and a Miller draft, but you won’t find either here.”
Dana felt slightly embarrassed, but he didn’t let it show. “Of course not. Wishful thinking. So what can you recommend, love?”
She stood back up and tapped her shiny, purple fingernail to her chin. “If you like dark, I have an imported Schorschbock 57, it’s smoky and nutty. Tastes delicious. Ohh, I also have Carlsberg’s. It’s barreled for six months and its vanilla and cocoa taste is to die for.”
Dana winked. “Alright, babe. I’m sold. Give us two of the Carl’s.”
“Coming right up.”
Dana turned to Brian, who gave him an irritated shrug. Yeah, he had a feeling they both hated this place for the same reasons. It was nice they had a down-to-earth bartender, and it looked like she’d be their best bet to squeeze some information out of.
She brought back two frosted mugs that looked too expensive to drink from. Both bottles were wrapped elegantly in a white cloth. She unveiled one and presented it to them like it was Dom Perignon 85. It’s just beer. She looked at Brian and he gave her a tight nod, his jaw as stern as a drill sergeant’s. She swallowed hard and poured the bottles with grace, leaving exactly a quarter inch of dark foam at the brim. “Enjoy, gentlemen.”