Page 58 of The Devil Went Down to Laughlin
Sometimes, it was good to have friends in high places.
The hallway on the other side of the door was much less flashy, the walls painted a pale gray, the close-pile carpet underneath a darker shade of the same dull color. That was all right, though — they weren’t here for the décor.
“There’s a stairwell at the end of this hallway,” Pru said, still pitching her voice low even though Caleb guessed that Ty was making sure the security system wouldn’t pick up anything they said. “I figured it would probably be safer to take the stairs, although there’s also a cargo elevator.”
“No, the stairs are better,” Ty replied. “Less obtrusive.”
Caleb supposed that was one way of looking at it. So far, they hadn’t seen anyone else on this level, which meant Pru had apparently been correct in her assessment that a lot of the corporate employees probably took lunch around the same time.
They came to a landing with a door. Affixed to the wall next to it was a small sign that announced it opened onto Sublevel 2.
“Looks like we came to the right place,” Caleb remarked, then went ahead and opened the door.
Just beyond was another hallway that appeared to be identical to the one they’d just left. Well, the architects and the designers had probably decided there wasn’t much point in trying to make these lower levels visually appealing when this section of the hotel was off-limits to the public. However, he could see how the corridor made a sharp turn at either end, telling him that the stairs must have opened onto the first hallway and that there were probably more stacked beyond what they could currently see.
“Which way?” he asked, and Pru shrugged, looking uncertain for the first time.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I mean, most of this level is storerooms, so they could be holding Delia anywhere.”
Caleb glanced over at Ty, who appeared equally flummoxed.
“I’m not sensing much of anything,” he said. “Or rather, I can tell spells of concealment have been cast down here, but it almost feels as if they’re coming from everywhere at once, so I can’t really narrow it down.”
Great. Caleb had also felt the slow pulse of some sort of energy as they descended into the bowels of the hotel, although he’d thought it was just his demon senses picking up the energy of the river, now only fifty or so yards away.
And maybe that was all it had been. He and Ty were unlike enough that it was entirely possible they would sense and react to the energies here in very different ways.
“Then I guess we just need to be methodical about this,” Caleb said. “Let’s start with the hallway in front of us, and if we don’t find anything there, then we’ll move on to the next one and so on. She’s got to be in here somewhere.”
At least, that was what he hoped. Yes, he’d heard Delia’s voice in his mind telling him she had been hidden under one of the towers at the Aquarius, but what if their assumption that it would be the same one where August Sellers had his office turned out to be wrong? There could be an entire complex identical to this one hidden under the south tower, and they’d have to start all over again.
If the keycard Pru had stolen would even work over there.
Caleb told himself to stop borrowing trouble. It seemed far more likely that Delia was here somewhere, and that all they had to do was keep their cool and they’d eventually find her.
However, as they tried each doorway along the first corridor — it seemed Ty didn’t have a problem using his angelic powers to unlock a door, even though he drew the line at pickpocketing — they found absolutely nothing of any use. Brand-new furniture still swathed in plastic, pallets of similarly unused plates and glasses, other rooms that held stacks and stacks of chairs, most likely for when banquets and weddings were held here, other rooms with furniture that had been sent down to storage after being deemed too banged-up to be used by the guests any longer…yeah, they found plenty of that.
But no Delia.
“On to the next,” Pru said, her tone falsely cheerful, and they went around the corner to the next hallway.
In there was only more of the same, and tension began to creep into his back and gut.
What if she really wasn’t here?
Now both Ty and Pru were beginning to look grim, and Caleb could tell they were thinking the same thing, that maybe they’d assumed way too much and that she might actually be hidden under the other tower.
But then they came around a corner…and saw Aaron Sanchez standing guard in front of a door in the middle of the next hallway.
Chapter Fourteen
It was hard to say who looked more surprised — Aaron, or Caleb and his companions.
“What — what are you doing here?” Aaron stammered.
“We might ask you the same thing,” Caleb replied. “I have a feeling you’re not hanging out in front of that door just so you can enjoy the scenery.”
The other man blinked at him, his expression suddenly vague.
