“Beta team came roaring back out of the kitchens and flanked them. We coordinated a retreat, but only two of the vehicles were able to leave. One of our vehicles is still in that parking garage. We’ll go in with the police in the morning to retrieve it.”
“So, no injuries?”
“No shots fired, no punches thrown. Just a lot of posturing and mouthing off. Who’s thegirl,really,Nicolai?”
The question about Lexi seemed incongruous. “I beg your pardon?”
“That girl you’ve got in there, your so-called wife. Who is shereally,and why did her presence draw an attack by two dozen trained professionals like that?”
“Lexi is exactly who she says she is, and nothing more. I’ve never met someone so honest in my life.”
“Nothing else has changed, only that this woman is suddenly in the bubble. We haven’t had a situation likethatin years.”
“Accounting for situations like that is your job.”
Ueli’s eyes narrowed. “Not having all the information makes my job harder. When my job gets harder, principals die.”
At least he hadn’t actually named my parents. When security operators threw their names at me like a bad example, it made my skin crawl. “Tomorrow, we will be on a reduced schedule.”
“I am moving us to readiness level four.”
Readiness level five was our standard operating level. We changed our readiness to “DEFCON Four” probably ten percent of the time, usually for a week or less, before dropping back to five. Level four wasn’t unusual and didn’t even cause my blood pressure to spike.
In theory, when I’d been away at boarding school as a young child, we’d been at level six, but level six had been struck from our operating protocols after my mother had been killed.
The last time we’d been at readiness level one was fifteen years ago. That most-vigilant state was reserved for if I was already dead, and top-level protection was being transferred to the next heir in line.
Kostya.
My brother’s first indication that something had happened to me would be his own smaller security teamkidnapping him to a safer location, telling him nothing along the way. Then a much larger team would arrive and call him “sir” and solemnly inform him of the news and his status.
He would probably figure out within minutes that something had happened to me from the way his team wouldn’t look him in the eye, by the way they would lean with more deference in a bow. Perhaps he wouldn’t believe it for hours, until it became obvious that the bubble was his life now.
And that I was gone.
The way first our mother and then our father had been—gone.
I should tell him not to look for online footage of my assassination, after it happened. That was a mistake.
“Very good, Ueli. We’ll stay at readiness level four unless we obtain additional information. Also, vacate the suite for the night. The active team can monitor from the conference room, reserve team at liberty.”
Ueli’s gaze shifted to the wide tinted windows overlooking the galactic center of Las Vegas. “Level four mandates keeping someone in the suite overnight.”
“Absolutely not. Billionaire Sanctuary has its own security. Essex’s security team has the next ring, then ours. There’s no use wearing ourselves thin in a secure locale. You can station two personnel outside the door if you must do, but that’s as far as I’m willing to concede.”
“Will we be leaving for Paris in the morning? Oranywhere else?”
“No,” I told him.
His jaw sharpened like he was grinding his teeth. “Very good, sir. I’ll see you in the morning.”
The door clicked shut behind Ueli.
I flipped the locks, testing each one to make sureit was secured.
My saunter toward the bedroom where Lexi had disappeared through the doorway seemed quite different now.
I wouldn’t wish my life on anyone, especially not someone who hadn’t been raised in a security bubble, like Lexi.
