Niall (Vigilance 2)

“Fuck right we will. My fucking knees hurt.”

“You think I actually care?”

“Hell no.”

I groaned. “We really have to eat dinner with these assholes, don’t we?”

Marco groaned and laid his arm over his face. “I need a minute before I can even think about that.”

“I’m sure you do. With as good as I am, it will take you a while to recover.”

He flipped me off with both hands.

15

Marco

Dinner was delicious—buttery, melt-in-your-mouth lobster tail; crab legs; and amazing stuffed flounder. The meal was surprisingly uneventful. The other guests were already drunk by the time we finished dessert, and I could tell things were quickly shifting from dinner to orgy. As soon as we could, Niall and I slipped away. I played the possessive Dom who couldn’t wait another minute to get his hands on his man but who had no intention of letting anyone else see what was his.

Once we were out of hearing range. Niall glanced at me. I slid the master key I’d stolen from Compton out of my pocket and held it up. “You want to search their rooms?”

His eyes widened. “You really got it?”

“I told you I would. If you’d spent years on the streets, you’d be this good at picking pockets too.”

“I learned a hell of a lot in the FBI, but pickpocketing wasn’t a skill I picked up.”

“I can teach you a thing or two if you’d like.”

“I… Maybe, but we need to focus now.” He glanced back at the dining room. “Are they all as drunk as they seem? I mean, we faked it. It’s possible some of them are too.”

We’d used various methods to look like we were keeping up with the others from sloppy spilling to pretending to get refills. I’d maybe consumed the equivalent of one drink but had been acting like I was barely able to stand. “I’m certain of all of them but Compton.”

“I agree,” Niall said. “He might come after us, but I’m not sure when we’ll get another chance to do a search. At least without his key, he won’t be able to walk in on us.”

“Right. Let’s try Arlington’s room first. For all that Compton wants to act like he’s in charge, I have a feeling Arlington is actually more senior in this operation.”

“That’s my impression too.”

Arlington’s rooms were on the ground floor. Based on the plans Emilio, our favorite hacker, had found for us, it looked as though Arlington had a large apartment about twice the size of the suite Niall and I have been given.

I laid a hand against Niall’s back. “You go in. I’ll stand look out.

“I think that will only attract more attention. The only way we’ll have an issue is if Compton comes looking for us, but unless he realized his key is gone, he’ll have to go back and find another one.”

“And if Arlington comes?”

“We’ll hide and slip out while he and his minions are falling all over each other.”

I stared at him. “You seriously think we can pull that off?”

He slid the key into the door, opened it, and gestured toward Arlington’s patio. “All we have to do is slip out through the sliding door.”

It was the perfect escape. “I think the ease of everything so far worries me more than if we were struggling to get anything out of them.”

Niall frowned. “You think they might be onto us.”

“I hope not.”

“Either way, we need all the information we can find. I still think it’s a possibility Arlington is just overconfident.”

“If so, it’s no wonder Swain doesn’t want to show up here.”

“That’s true, but don’t you think they would’ve gotten rid of him if he’s that careless?”

“Ultimately their arrogance is what will bring them all down, some of them faster than others.”

I slipped in after Niall and locked the door behind us. “Arlington doesn’t have as much at stake as Swain. He’s got piles of money and family connections behind him. Maybe he feels more insulated.”

“Possibly. He hasn’t shown the same fear of being caught as Compton and Orly.”

We didn’t say anything else, focusing instead on our search. We divided up the apartment and went through it carefully, looking for anything that might be of use.

I started in Arlington’s bedroom. I found a very interesting array of sex toys and lingerie, but nothing to help us identify any of the other players or get further information about things like where they were keeping their victims or names of customers.

When I stepped out of the bedroom, Niall looked up. “Did you find anything?”

“No, and I haven’t been able to get into his laptop.” We’d hoped Arlington would have an obvious password. “But I planted a bug in the desk drawer, so even if we get nothing, this has been worth it.”

I frowned. “We’re probably going to hear some things we wish we hadn’t.”