The video started up with no sound. For a long moment, the van sat with its back doors open but blocking any view inside the vehicle. The windows were tinted, and the camera’s angles kept the driver anonymous, but Grayson caught a shift of shadow from behind the wheel. There was a blip on the recording, and suddenly, two figures appeared at the van’s rear door, one of whom was a disoriented, barefoot man dressed in a pair of plaid sleep pants and a white T-shirt.
Zane paused the video. “That’s Russ, right?” He handed his phone to Grayson, who tilted it so Cass could see the screen.
“That’s him,” she said. “They must have woken him up.”
“Probably grabbed him as he came out of his bedroom,” Zane added.
Grayson studied the still. The kidnapper’s pants, shirt, and ball cap were all a familiar shade of brown. “The Slider made sure to dress the part.”
“Easy enough to do,” Zane agreed.
Grayson zoomed in, trying to get a better shot of the Slider’s face, but it was pointless. Under the cap, the lower half of the kidnapper’s profile was obscured by an olive-green neck gaiter that was paired with black sunglasses. “Nothing.”
“Yeah pretty much.” Zane reclaimed his phone and hit Play for the rest of the recording.
Together they watched as the Slider shoved Russ into the back of the cargo van and slammed the door closed. Then he moved out of the camera’s range as he went around to the passenger side. The edge of the passenger door came into view as it was opened and then disappeared as it closed. Seconds later, the van drove out of view.
“Is that all we got?” Grayson asked Zane.
The Hunter shook his head as he pulled up an image on his phone. “Your electro mage snagged a shot of the van on another camera about a half mile from here.” He turned his phone around so Grayson and Cass could see what he was talking about. “Notice anything?”
The image wasn’t the greatest, but it was definitely the same van. This time, the camera got a front-facing shot. The driver was in a similar getup as the Slider, but that wasn’t what caught Grayson’s attention.
“What is that hanging from the mirror?” he asked.
Zane’s smile was all kinds of fierce and showed a lot of teeth. “That is a parking permit.”
“For…?” Cass asked.
“The Incantanto.”
Chapter 19
Cass
“Your e-geek is damn good,” Zane told Grayson, his attention on his phone as Grayson wove in and out of the traffic.
“What did she get?” Grayson didn’t take his attention from the road.
Stuck in the back seat, Cass smothered a gasp and grabbed for the door handle as the yellow cab in front of them abruptly switched lanes and narrowly missed being rolled over by a truck decked out in billboards. Blaring horns filled the air as the cab blithely hit its brakes and took a sharp turn into one of the many resorts lining the Strip.
Zane, completely oblivious to the insanity, said, “She got into Incantanto’s security.”
“That was fast.” Cass dared to let go of the handle and sat forward, pulling against her seat belt. “Are they there?”
“Looks like it.” Zane shifted his phone so she could see the screen. “Candace says this is twenty minutes ago.”
She watched the white van follow a trailer truck to the rear of the resort. A line of wide rolling doors with loading docks stretched along the rear, and at the far end was a ramp that led to a door that was currently propped open. More than half the docks were full. Forklifts zipped around workers, who shuffled handcarts as they loaded and unloaded the multitude of items needed to keep the tourists happy. The cargo van waited its turn as a trailer truck slowly made its way to an empty dock.
“How are they going to get him in without anyone noticing?” she wondered aloud.
“Not that hard,” Zane said. “Watch.”
The semi inched into its spot, and as soon as there was enough room to pass, the cargo van squeezed by and drove toward the far end. “We’re going to lose them.”
“Patience,” Zane murmured as the image in his hand switched. It was a closer shot of the van as it pulled behind a utility truck and parked near the ramp. Both the driver- and passenger-side doors opened.
Cass’s breath hitched in anticipation. Come on, come on, she silently urged.
