Rarities Unlimited 02 - Running Scared

a running commentary?”
    “Nothing so obvious. She just turned her phone up to max sensitivity and put it in her jacket pocket.” Along with a gun, please God, Niall added silently. Dana hated them, but he had made sure she knew how to use one. “Bugger!”
    He switched lock picks and went back to work.
    Shane stood to one side of the front window and watched for the flash of headlights entering the parking lot.

Chapter 68
    Las Vegas
    November 5
    Night
    “R ight at the intersection after the next light,” Dana said.
    Risa glanced in various mirrors as she braked for the yellow light.
    “See anyone?” Dana asked.
    “No.”
    Dana could have told her she wouldn’t—not if the follower was Niall, at any rate.
    Her cell phone beeped softly, warning her that a call was trying to come through the open line. With rapid motions Dana closed the connection to Niall and picked up the incoming call.
    “Dana here. Make it fast.”
    “This is Ian. Silverado hasn’t moved.”
    “All right. Obviously we’re going to be first in. Risa will have my phone, so don’t call back.”
    “Gotcha. Want me to come in?”
    “Stay with Silverado.”
    Dana broke the connection.
    Risa glanced sideways. “What’s this about your cell phone?”
    “It’s going in your pocket with an open connection to Niall,” Dana said, punching in numbers as she spoke. “That way he’ll at least know what you’re up against. Have you had any weapons training?”
    “No.”
    “Unarmed combat?”
    “No.”
    “As soon as this mess is cleared up, report to Niall for both. I won’t have my staff ignorant of self-defense when their jobs put them in situations like the one you’re in tonight.”
    Risa blew out a breath and didn’t argue. Right now the few nasty little tricks she had left over from a rough childhood didn’t seem like much of a shield against Socks or whoever had killed O’Conner and Cline.
    Glancing at her watch, Risa silently willed the light to turn green. Eventually it did.
    “How are we for time?” Dana asked.
    “Five minutes.”
    Dana looked at the map she had printed off a Net site. “We’re fine even if we hit a few more red lights. Go left at the next corner. After one mile the motel should be on the right about two-thirds of the way down the block.”
    Risa turned left.
    No one else did.
    The closer Risa and Dana came to the motel address, the less traffic there was. The distant, glittering Strip was a magnet sucking all the money away from this part of Las Vegas. The businesses that could move to the Strip did. The rest began a steep and dusty decline.
    “When you make the turn at the motel, find the room and then back into a nearby slot,” Dana said. “Turn out the lights and leave the engine running. When you come out to get the money, you won’t see me, but I’ll be behind the wheel. If you don’t like what you see when you walk in the room, turn around and get out now. Clear?”
    “What about the gold?”
    Dana was counting on Niall to take care of any gold artifacts that were lying about, but she didn’t think Risa was ready to hear that. Nor had Dana mentioned that there was a quicker way to the motel. They had been given fifteen minutes; Niall would need every second of it for whatever scheme his devious and yet breathtakingly pragmatic mind had hatched.
    “We know who Cherelle is,” Dana said. “We’ll find her again.”
    Risa’s fingers flexed and released on the steering wheel. The quality of Dana’s voice said more than words about what she thought of Cherelle Faulkner’s chances of getting away from a full Rarities search.
    “Okay,” Risa said. “You worry about the gold, and I’ll turn and run if I don’t like the setup.” And if I can. “I have to admit that I’m beginning to see the appeal of self-defense training.”
    “From what I saw on the casino tape, you have the first requirement for coming out on top.”
    “Speed?” Risa asked dryly.
    “Brains. You never stopped thinking.”
    “Cold sweat must lubricate the mind.”
    Dana laughed. “Niall will enjoy that one.”
    “Good for him. I sure didn’t.”
    The gold neon crown that marked the Midas Motel rose along the right side of the road like a dusty, gap-toothed smile. When she saw it, Risa’s heart slammed, then settled into a different, more rapid beat. She could feel adrenaline lighting up her blood, making colors clearer, more vivid, and each sound as crisp as glass breaking.
    “Remember,” Dana said