Part 17 (1/2)

He let out a laugh as he pulled the gloves from his hands with a snap. ”Ring tones! I proved with Fiona this year that we could use the compliance drug to make her download a ring tone that would only go off when we called. Then, when she called back our router, we would give her instructions to follow. Afterward, she didn't even remember what had happened. We don't need that same level for the general populace, of course. All we need to tell them is to obey Marduc with the same fanatical loyalty as the priests already have. Of course, Sargon's goal was to have the entire of Wolven just as devoted by use of the drug so that they would run interference against anyone who tried to stop us. We were hoping for the same thing with Angelique, but we're not certain now, since Wolven recaptured her. Still, Paolo told me that he gave her instructions right at the end that would make sure she showed up at the ceremony on time.”

Merciful Adad. I couldn't tell Nasil about my conversations with Tony, but since Angelique was in the clinic when they took me . . . yes, now was the time to reveal what I knew in a way that would earn me further confidence. ”Ah,” I offered with sincere satisfaction. ”Then I know where the new temple is!”

Nasil paused and looked at me open-mouthed and his taste held honest astonishment. ”You do?

Where?”

”Atlantic City, New Jersey. Charles and Lucas had to chain Angelique down to prevent her from flying there. It was when I was trying to free her that they captured me.” It wasn't precisely a lie, since I could well have been doing just that when I went berserk.

He furrowed his brow and tapped a finger on the table. ”Atlant . . . but the Mayans didn't travel that far north.”

I smiled and it was more sinister than happy. ”Why find a temple when you can build one? In a city of glitz and wors.h.i.+p of almighty gold, who would notice one new temple, dedicated to the G.o.ds of decadence?”

Now he smiled too, but closer to a leer. ”A casino. That is brilliant, which means it can't have been Paolo's idea. He's vicious and ruthless, but doesn't have the brains to plan that. No, this must have been Sargon's Plan B. He'd talked of something else in the works, but had never revealed the details. You know how he was about keeping secrets.”

Oh, I did indeed. ”We should make plans immediately to fly there. Where is Tuli?”

Nasil shrugged. ”I haven't seen her this morning. Perhaps you should go look for her. Or-” He paused and looked at me with a significance I didn't grasp. ”Maybe you should just concentrate and tell me where she is.”

I shook my head, not understanding. ”You're speaking in riddles. Just get the plane ready. I'll go find her.”

He gathered up the vials and put them in a burlap bag and answered with seeming innocence. ”As you wish. But my way would be faster.”

I walked out into the sunlight and had to s.h.i.+eld my eyes until my pupils could adjust to the brightness. Then the brightness wasn't the sun. It was a lamp and I was staring directly into the bulb from underneath. I rose to my elbows and heard Sue breathe a sigh of relief.

”Oh, good. You're back. Lucas called while you were . . . out.”

Ah. That would explain the buzzing in Ahmad's mind and feeling fuzzy. I was trying to wake up on this side. ”What did you tell him?”

”We just hung up. I pretty much told him everything that had happened so far . . . at least what you've told me. But I did say that you were probably in his head again and might have more information when you came to.”

”Did you mention the swords or the prints?”

She looked at me askance. ”Do I look like an idiot?”

”Good. Then we're going in quiet. Ahmad might make it here in time, or not. But either way the goalpost has moved a little. We're going to see what we can do to make sure a bad-a.s.s baby snake is never born and I think I know just how to make it happen.”

Chapter Nineteen.

CASING A PLACE is always critical to any successful operation. The blueprints were terrific, but they're one-dimensional. I needed to see things, smell them, taste them-and the only way to do that was to actually visit the casino. It was afternoon by the time we got there, after studying the prints, reporting in on the new information, and putting on a disguise so I might actually make it back out of town alive.

The Quetzalcoatl Casino was open for business, which made it more surprising that Sue was able to get the prints. It's hard for me to walk in a casino during the moon. There are too many noises and smells that make keeping the wolf at bay really hard. So I had to really concentrate, which meant I wasn't going to be much good at keeping track of tiny details. That's what Sue was for. We decided I was the bigpicture guy and she was the detail girl. There were still sections walled off with notices of UNDER CONSTRUCTION and TEMPLE LOUNGE-COMING SOON! plastered everywhere, but the main area was abuzz with happy gamblers. It was a Mayan temple theme, with stepped stone facades everywhere, but they seemed to have stolen heavily from Egypt. I was pretty sure the Mayans didn't use the ankh symbols to decorate their pyramids.

When a waitress came around offering cups of soda, Sue and I each took one. I was in disguise, naturally, wearing a blond wig and moustache, along with green contacts that very nearly matched Sue's irises. She'd lost so much weight from her illness, and carried herself so differently that she didn't need to do a thing except put on some tight, touristy clothes that would make men keep their eyes on her chest, not her face.

It was still odd to see her not minding being stared at. A part of me was a little nervous about that, but her smile was just for me, so that settled the wolf inside.

I raised the cup to my lips to take a sip but one sniff made me drop mine and slap Sue's away before she could drink. I tried to make it look like an accident, apologizing to the nice lady at the slot machine next to us when she got splattered. But as Sue and I were mopping it up, I whispered into her mind. Don't drink or eat anything here. It's loaded with the drug. I'd told her as much as I knew about the effects. Her eyes widened and she nodded.

”Do you think they're giving it to all the visitors?” She probably should have spoken into my mind, but we tend to first think to speak out loud unless there's a reason not to.

She'd overheard all the gory details when I was talking to Lucas earlier. He'd been extremely alarmed by more than one of my revelations from Ahmad's conversation and confirmed that the phone bills Sue had tagged were Fiona's.

There was a lot of swearing after that, and whispered side conversations I couldn't hear. But Charles got on the phone and vowed to bring her in from the field immediately, before she could do any more damage. Then I heard Amber cautioning him that she didn't want her sister put down if there was a chance the drug could be reversed.

They started arguing again, so Lucas took back the phone. ”I don't want you anywhere near this, Tony. Come back in.”

”I agree with you totally.” I didn't want me near this, either. ”It's just a shame I'm the only one here.” Of course, I didn't actually promise to keep out of it since, after all, I had to be here when Ahmad arrived.

Charles got back on to tell me to have Ahmad leave it alone too. They wanted to talk, as a council, about how to handle this new threat . . . from Marduc and the drugs. Of course, talking's great when you've got time. I had a feeling we didn't. Otherwise, why move the egg here in the first place, risking Nasil finding them and being annoyed enough to kill them? I was thinking they found something inside that last pyramid that changed their plans. Something that moved the date up or forced the change of location.

Sue and I found a row of slot machines that we could play and watch the whole room behind us in the mirror. Every time a staff member would walk by, we'd be chatting amiably and making all the right sounds when we'd have three bars or a wild symbol show up. ”It's interesting that there isn't a Sazi in the place. I'd have thought the place would be swarming with snakes.”

Sue shook her head and as soon as she replied in a whisper, hand over mouth in case the mirror was two-way, I understood the logic. ”No, they couldn't do that. Snakes make people nervous, even if they can't smell them. n.o.body would stay or recommend the place. They need lots of people in here. There are a lot of junkies in the world, but not nearly as many as there are gamblers. It's better to fill it with human staff, give people the drug, and then, when they're hazy and compliant, you can spring the predators on them.”

So, we needed to find what rock the snakes were hiding under. Unfortunately, it was pretty tough to see whether the prints matched the final product, because so many areas were still closed to the public. I shrugged after getting turned away from entering yet another door. ”We'll just have to play it by ear later.”

One of the things I noticed she was doing I had to ask her about. She kept sticking her hand in her pocket and then I'd hear a click. Then she'd do it again. I motioned to her and we turned into the hallway where the bathrooms were located so she could explain. ”I have a pedometer in my pocket. It has a feature that you can hit a b.u.t.ton like a stopwatch and flag up to ten locations on your route. Like, if you know it's five hundred steps to the corner or a thousand steps to the store, then, if you forget the pedometer in future walks, you know how far you went. I was marking how many steps it was between emergency exits . . . you know, in case the lights go out or we sneak in after hours.”

That just amused me to no end. ”Not many after hours in a casino, but an interesting idea. You never know if it's going to come up.”

”I'm on my last click, though, so let's go to the front entrance.” We proceeded that way, with her quietly counting under her breath. Her eyes were still on her feet when I tried to make a hasty backpedal as I saw who was coming inside. Vito Prezza, in all his glory, along with several of his goons. He didn't smell happy and I had to make a sudden stop at the big slot by the door-the one you have to use both hands to pull the lever. Sue lost me for a moment but looked around and spotted me. Fortunately, Vito didn't see me. He spoke with one of the security people and followed him up a flight of stairs, after moving aside a chain and sign marked EMPLOYEES ONLY.

”I need to get up there and find out how these guys are connected with Prezza.” I whispered the words out the side of my mouth while continuing to feed dollar bills into the machine.

She thought for a moment and started looking around. She apparently spotted something. ”Wait here.”

She was gone for a few minutes, but I didn't dare follow her in case they came back downstairs. Of course, there might be a back staircase, but I didn't remember one on the prints. I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun to see something that made me blink. It was Sue, but she was wearing a waitress outfit that showed every curve. The little white priestess dress was a mini and had a tight waist and bodice. The hose were patterned with little roses down one leg disappearing into spike heels. I raised my brows and thought into her mind. Where did you get that?

She shrugged and smelled both embarra.s.sed and afraid. Knocked a waitress over the head in the bathroom. Tahira taught me a nifty trick. We don't have long, though. Someone's bound to ignore the OUT OF ORDER sign I put on the door pretty soon.

Um . . . wow. And you plan to do what?

She smiled and held up the tray in her hand, filled with cups of soda. Go up the stairs, of course. You get to listen in through me. I'll probably be kicked out soon, but I can adjust my panty hose or something for a few minutes once I can hear their conversation.

This was deeper than I wanted her to get involved and I could feel my heartbeat increase. You be careful. Get out if it gets rough.

She rolled her eyes. Yes, Dad. Now open up the door so you can hear.

Then she offered the tray to me in full view of the front door security and I dutifully took a gla.s.s. She walked over to the stairs like she owned the place and opened the chain. n.o.body stopped her and I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

This new lack of fear was scaring the s.h.i.+t out of me. I was going to have to talk to one of the Sazi shrinks about this. Probably John-Boy or Betty. They're both psychiatrists and have worked with Sue on and off since I met her. I think they'd be equally alarmed by this new trait. Still, I couldn't deny it could be useful.

I moved to another station to sit down and stared at the video slot blindly. I'd opened the door in my mind and pushed gently inside. I didn't want to distract her, but I did need to hear. It wasn't enough so I pushed farther. I heard her gasp and then I was in. In fact, I was in all the way. I could see the hallway where she walked and I realized my wolf hearing had augmented her ears. She could stand perfectly still and hear what was happening in various rooms.

Okay, a little farther. No. Not that room. Keep walking. I could see her shoe tips as they came into view but her eyes were straight ahead, listening and watching. A glance to her left now and . . . terrific! There was an employee lounge. That could come in handy. Not yet, though. Keep walking, keep walking, okay, now stop.