Page 66 of A Touch of Treachery
By this point, it was creeping up on midnight, and this side of the hotel was bathed in shadows.Conversation and laughter drifted up from the ballroom below, along with music.Casino Night was still going strong.Good.Chattering crowds and ambient noise were often a spy’s best friends.
Each room on this side of the hotel had a similar balcony, although the ones on the floors below were much smaller, since they fronted less expensive rooms.I swung first one leg, then another, over the balcony railing, digging my toes into the two-inch stone ledge to help with balance.Then I clicked my heels together.
Snick.Snick.Snick.
Tiny spikes popped out of the toes, heels, and soles of my boots.
Next, I reached out, placed one hand on the exterior hotel wall, and tapped my thumb against the stone three times in rapid succession.
Snick.Snick.Snick.
Small hydraulic noises sounded, and tiny spikes embedded in the palm and fingertips of my glove punched into the wall, giving me a good, sturdy grip.I placed my other hand on the wall and repeated the activation process.
Snick.Snick.Snick.
More spikes punched into the stone.Now came the moment of truth.I let out a breath, slowing my racing heart, then stepped off the ledge, putting all my weight—and trust—in the spiked gloves to keep me from falling and being splattered all over the ground hundreds of feet below.
I hung in midair, the winter wind whistling around my body and whipping my legs back and forth, like I was a spider suspended on a silken strand.I grunted and dug the spikes a little deeper into the wall.A few chips of stone sprayed out and sliced across my cheeks, but I didn’t dare massage away the small stings.
The wind shrieked in my ears for a few more seconds, then died down.My legs stopped swinging, and I punched the spikes on my boots into the wall, further anchoring myself to the stone.
And then I started climbing down.
I’d used the spiked gloves and boots many times before, usually to scale cliffs when a target had ensconced themselves in a mountaintop hideaway and there was no other way to reach them.But the stone was much slicker than I expected, and the wind gusted in unpredictable patterns.Hard bits of snow also battered up against my body and stung my eyes, making it hard to see.
Plus, going down was always harder than climbing up.I had to reach and step down with one hand and foot at a time without losing my grip on the wall completely.More than once, my hands and feet slipped, and I had to clench my entire body to stop my rapid slide and keep from plummeting to my death.I made a mental note to do more yoga and Pilates with Charlotte, who was always talking about being anchored in her powerhouse.Well, my powerhouse could certainly use some more anchoring right now.
It took me the better part of two minutes, but eventually, I scaled down the wall.I dropped the last few feet to the ground and landed in a low crouch behind some evergreen hedges that ran along the side of the hotel.I quickly retracted the spikes on my gloves and boots, then cupped my hands over my mouth to muffle my loud, rapid breaths, as well as the resulting clouds of frost.I also shook out my trembling arms and legs and twisted my torso from side to side to ease the burning in my abs.
The conversation, laughter, and music from the ballroom was much louder here on the ground level, although no guests were outside, given the gusty wind and increasing waves of snow.A few guards were roaming along the terraces, but they were sticking to the upper two levels, close to the hotel.Their heads were down, and they were all walking quickly, trying to stay warm.
I waited until the closest guard moved past me, then stood up, crossed the terrace, and darted behind a game booth that was part of the Winterfest event.
Keeping to the shadows, I worked my way around the perimeter of the hotel to the edge of the golf course and plastered my back up against the side of a large open-air shed where the golf carts were stored.A single security light burned above the shed, and a few more lights dotted different holes, but for the most part, the golf course was dark and deserted.
Still, the longer I looked around, the more unease filled me.I could have sworn someone else was out here, even though the closest guard was posted several hundred feet away at the hotel—
“Nice moves, Slick,” a familiar voice drawled.
I whirled around, my gaze snapping left and right.Where was he?
A smoky gray shadow detached itself from the opposite end of the golf-cart shed.The shadow slinked closer, quickly solidifying into the shape of a man.
Gabriel Chase grinned, his white teeth flashing like pearls in the semidarkness.He too had traded in his tuxedo for all-black attire, along with a knit hat pulled down low over his forehead.
Gabriel leaned his shoulder against the shed wall he had just phased through.“Congratulations on not splattering your pretty self all over the main terrace.Although it was touch and go there for a while.I thought the wind was going to blow you off the side of the hotel like a bug on a windshield.”
“Funny how you didn’t call out and offer your assistance, Gaby,” I drawled.
“Nah,” Gabriel replied, grinning even wider.“It waswaytoo much fun watching you crawl down the wall like some wannabe superhero.”
I huffed.“What are you doing out here?”
“The same thing you are—searching for Henrika’s lab.I’ve already checked most of the hotel, but I don’t think it’s in there.Otherwise, one of the guests or workers would have stumbled over it already.My guess?Henrika is hiding her biomagical toys in the woods.”
His logic made sense and matched the conclusions Charlotte and I had drawn, although I would never admit it.Gabriel Chase’s ego was already big enough.
The former cleaner grinned again and held his arm out to the side.“After you, Slick.”
