Rouge would certainly fly to his side, and it won’t take a deductive mastermind to figure out that Bianca and I were the last ones in the room before the paramedics were called. She’ll be able to connect the dots. She already knows I’ve been poking around about Maddox, but now her sister will be implicated as well.
Fuck!
The whole time this was going on, the one thing that kept me calm was that if I went down trying to make Rouge face justice, at least Bianca would be okay.
That’s no longer the case.
I should have just killed him. Left his body in his office and locked the door on the way out. That would have at least bought us a few extra hours.
I take a deep breath, try to ease my pounding heartbeat.
Right now I have to focus exclusively on the task at hand. If we can save Jack, we can find a way to pin this all on Rouge. Then everything else will fade into the background.
But one thing is clear.
We’ve got one shot to make this work. No mistakes, no fuckups.
So I’m locking in.
Not concerning myself with what Rouge may or may not be figuring out on her own.
I spend a few minutes helping the other cards with cleanup. Some of them have already changed into T-shirts and athletic shorts, but I have no idea where they got them. I’ll stick out on the bus if I’m still in these booty shorts.
“Ace,” a soft voice whistles into my ear.
Mr. Night. I turn to him, bow my head.
“I assume you’ll be taking the bus back tonight?”
I nod slowly.
“Excellent. You’ll want to grab a spare T-shirt and shorts from the supply closet then.” He points a bony finger toward a gray door between Clubs and Diamonds.
I mouth the words, “thank you,” and then move to the closet. I grab a white T-shirt. It’s a little tight, but it’ll do. I find a boxy pair of shorts and slip them on, pulling the drawstring to keep them on my slim waistline.
While I’m in there, I grab a vacuum cleaner. I’ll plug it in and look busy until the rest of the cards begin piling onto the bus.
It works. Mr. Night gives the Clubs section a final onceover and nods. “Clubs is dismissed.”
“As is Diamonds,” one of the Blackjack dealers calls.
“Spades.” The guttural voice of Dudley—the first words I’ve ever heard him speak.
“Hearts is set as well,” Bianca’s soft voice calls from the stage.
“Excellent.” Mr. Night turns to me and the other Clubs waitstaff. “Off you go, then.”
I get a few looks from the other cards as I line up with them. They don’t recognize me. But I could easily be a new hire. I’ve been here one night before as well, so I have some legitimacy.
A large bus idles in the alleyway outside the staircase of shattered mirror that leads out the red door in the ladies’ restroom. The cards and I pile in. Not a word is spoken. I’m guessing none of them are allowed to speak until they are in their rooms at the Caterpillar. One of Rouge’s Kings, his face shrouded in darkness, sits at the front of the bus.
I wish I had my phone on me. I could keep in contact with Bianca, make sure she’s okay. But she has her spare key, and she’ll be following right behind us. I trust her.
Even if the bus loses her, she knows its destination. We’ve been there before and she can plug the address into her GPS. Everything will be fine.
Unless it isn’t.
I wish she were on the bus with me. Then I could make sure she was protected. I could place my body between hers and the King’s. Do everything in my power—up to my dying breath—to guarantee her safety.
