Page 81 of Sinner's Salvation

“So, what are you going to do?” the twin on the left asked. “Walk out into public as if your camo and weapons are part of your business suit?”

“Yeah.”

“That might be fun to watch,” the twin on the right said.

His brother grunted at him.

Baz rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’ll show you the way. Mason and Magnus will look after the hotel. Hopefully, they won’t kill too many people.”

The twins both grunted at that remark and went to the elevator.

Evan followed Baz to the panel in the wall that concealed the secret staircase and followed him down, down, down. The staircase ended in a small room no bigger than a closet with a narrow door that didn’t have a doorknob, but a latch on a pulley system. It was easy enough to use from this side, but on the other side, you’d have to know where to engage the pulley in order to open the door.

Baz triggered the latch and opened the door.

Evan followed him and discovered they were in a janitorial closet full of cleaning supplies and equipment. All of it looked in recent use.

Baz patted his arm, then allowed the door to close. He showed where Evan needed to press. It was a power outlet set at about knee height on the wall. Push it in and the door popped open again.

Evan grinned at Baz, who shook his head.

Baz opened the janitorial room door and stepped outside. Evan followed him, discovering that the stairs let them out exactly where he wanted. They were inside the hotel on the parking lot level.

He shut the door behind himself, then turned to study it for a moment. There was another door a few feet to the right of the janitor’s closet with a placard on it that read: Maintenance. Another door further down the hallway had a placard too: Storage.

“Sometimes, there’s a lot of traffic down here,” Evan said to Baz.

“Sometimes. This room is fully functional, which means no one asks questions about it. There are no security cameras on this hallway. Not until you turn the corner.”

“What’s around the corner?”

“The exit to the parking lot or the elevator going up.”

Baz walked with Evan down the hallway. They turned the corner, then Baz went left and Evan went right.

He got into the elevator and went up a couple of floors to the lobby. He stepped out into a space that had lots of people in it, but it still didn’t feel crowded.

The last time Evan checked, Marek was in the restaurant with a cup of coffee and a laptop.

He entered the restaurant and saw Marek seated along the back wall, facing the rest of the room. Their gazes met.

Evan smiled and waved.

Marek’s eyebrows rose.

Evan started toward his boss, walking past some FBI agents on his way to Marek’s table. They stared at him with wide eyes, and he had to work hard not to smirk.

Evan sat down across from his boss, but before he could say hello, a waitress was standing next to him. He ordered a coffee and a full eggs and bacon breakfast. She tapped his order into her tablet and left.

“Where the hell have you been?” Marek asked, in a deceptively light tone. “I was beginning to think you were dead.”

“Not dead,” Evan said. “Lost.”

“Lost?”

“Yeah, down in the subway. That place is crazy, and they don’t have any handy maps on the walls outside the public platforms.”

“Weird place to go sightseeing,” Marek remarked, in that casual tone that wasn’t casual at all.

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