“Chloe seemed tothinkso.”
Alexei scowled at the control screen, swiping through the commands so he would know what was available and wouldn’t be caught unawares in an emergency. “Not care what Chloethink.”
A softpingsounded through the suite before the AI’s clear, female-sounding voice came through the speakers embedded in the walls. “Your room service order is on its way up,” Artemisannounced.
Madison raised her arms above her head and cheered as she got up to answer thedoor. “Food!”
“Which one of you go with Sean?” Alexeiasked.
“Trevor lost therock-paper-scissorsgame, so he’sonduty.”
They’d all agreed that, in the event he and Sean needed to separate, one of the other three would always keep guard duty on Sean. Alexei could handle himself, but the team was in solid agreement that Sean took risks while alone they didn’t muchcarefor.
Sean came out of the bedroom just as the server finished setting a veritable feast on the dining table. He’d changed out of his business suit for a pair of brand-name boardshorts, a white T-shirt, and brown boat shoes, with a pair of sunglasses perched on his head and tablet in hand. Alexei tracked his approach, taking in his lean, bare arms and legs with a slow rake of his eyes. Sean was always so buttoned-up in his suits that this was the first time Alexei had ever seen him inanythingelse.
The picture he made wasn’thalfbad.
Sean took one look at the spread of food Alexei and the girls were positively drooling over and shookhishead.
“We have dinner plans tonight,” he warned before turning to leave with Trevor. “Don’t fill up on foodrightnow.”
“Will have room,” Alexei replied as he speared a steak with his fork and put it on his plate. “Promise.”
As if Alexei would ever say notofood.
6
The HouseAlwaysWins
“If you wanted to eat,you could’ve stayed,” Sean said on the elevator ride down to thelobby.
“Jamie would kick my ass if we let you wander around alone,” Trevor replied as he flipped his sunglasses off his head and ontohisnose.
“Jamie’snothere.”
“And if something happened to you on our watch, I can guarantee he wouldn’t be happy. Nah, it’s fine. They’ll save me something and we’ll eat before the dinner party tonight. I doubt we three will have a seat at the table like you andAlexei.”
“You’ll be relegated to the sidelines. Probably won’t even be allowed in thehouse.”
Trevor turned his head to look at him, gaze unreadable through the dark sunglasses. “Youthinkso?”
Trevor was an inch or two taller than he was, stocky in build, with the rock-steady hands that were the hallmarks of his medical profession. He looked every inch the bodyguard right then, down to the faint scruff on his face. Under any other circumstances, Sean wouldn’t converse with him in order to keep their covers intact. But with the way Alpha Team functioned, no one would think very much of their interaction if outsiders knew theirbackground.
“In situations like a private dinner party, personal security is relegated to the vehicles outside. Rarely are they allowed amongst the guests,” Seanexplained.
“I take it you’ve done something like thisbefore?”
“Once ortwice.”
His deep cover missions weren’t always confined to street-level groups of criminal organizations. Every wannabe crime lord wanted to claw their way into the upper echelons of society, but shaking off the gutter was never easy. Sometimes the job called for a more sophisticated persona. Watching Jamie in London had been a master class on richsnobbery.
Trevor didn’t ask any more questions, well aware they were out in public and not behind the electronic jamming shield Annabelle had set up in the penthouse suite. He just stepped in front of Sean when the doors opened, taking point to lead him through the crowd of thecasino.
Olympus had two main wings that stretched back behind the front façade, nearly enclosing the central courtyard area where the pools were located. To get there, they had to take a different hallway that skirted the gambling rooms to their right, bypassing the entrance to the buffet restaurant where people streamed in and out for a late lunch. Trevor guided him through the crowd with ease, heading toward the sliding plas-glass doors that opened up into the pool courtyard. Other guests in fancy swimwear wandered in and out through the main poolentrance.
They stepped outside into the shaded sunlight, greeted by a row of towering marble pillars rising three levels into the sky. The pillars stretched the entire length of the hotel wings. They held up no roof, enabling sunlight safely filtered through the biodome to shine down on the partiers gathered in the pool courtyard. Trimmed trees and other plants were interspaced between low-roofed cottages that hotel workers manned while on duty, ferrying clean towels and other items to guests. Olympus had five separate pools of various sizes in the courtyard, all discreetly separated by low cement walls and yet more plantbarriers.
The Parthenon Pool was the largest, long and rectangular, shallow enough to swim in but not to dive into. Reserved lounge chairs, covered cabanas, and small tables filled with a multitude of drinks surrounded the main water attraction. Servers in skimpy white togas passed through the crowd to clear empty glasses and bottles and take new orders back to the busy bartenders who held court at various huts scattered between pillars. The Parthenon Pool was open to everyone, while the other four pools ranged in levels ofexclusivity.
