Cain put her arm around Emma’s waist as they descended the stairs. “Let’s hope it isn’t the explosive success the last place was.”
“Not funny, darling.”
The techno beat changed to something slow and sexy, and Emma pulled Cain to the middle of the dance floor. “Dance with me?”
“Forever and a day, my love.”
The two agents scanned the room as the Caseys shared a dance, but they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. They’d been a little surprised when Cain had nodded to them on their way in, giving the bouncer the false impression of permission to enter. It was a chance, but it was worth taking, even if they did end up in jail.
Once the dance was over, the rhythm picked up again and Emma followed Cain’s lead as they continued to dance. Emma’s would only have one opening night, and they looked like they were prepared to enjoy it.
Before long, Remi and her date and Mano and Sylvia joined them, making Shelby and Claire relax a little more. From their vantage point Cain knew they were there and didn’t care, and apparently all Cain had planned was a great party.
Forty minutes later, Cain and Emma made their way through the crowd to the back of the room and disappeared behind a door that Merrick opened for them.
“Joe?” Shelby whispered into her mike.
Claire ran to keep up as Shelby rushed toward the exit.
“What’s wrong?” Joe responded.
“Does Cain’s new real estate have a helipad?”
Lionel hacked into the city’s building permits department and started scanning. “Yep. Nothing to accommodate anything big, but it does have one.”
“Scramble something. Anthony was right. She’s got something planned. Probably something remote.” When Shelby got to the front door she could see the bird coming from the direction of the heliport next to the New Orleans Superdome. “Move it, Joe.”
Instead of heading to the car, Shelby and Claire ran toward the building next door, which was one floor higher than the one they’d just left. Their badges got them in and worked again when they knocked on the door of a young physician just getting home from a double shift. When they reached the large windows facing Cain’s building, they saw Cain leading Emma to the helicopter. Again Cain had her arm around Emma’s waist, and Emma was pressed up to her side.
Relief flooded Shelby when she saw another helicopter coming from the west. Unlike the night Cain had lost the agents in Wisconsin with the same trick, tonight they would know exactly where she was going and what she’d be doing once she got there.
“Make sure they stay five hundred yards away. We wouldn’t want to break a court order,” Shelby said.
“Stop making jokes and get your ass on the roof,” Joe ordered. He was driving as Lionel was busy looking at the fueling records for all the private planes in the vicinity, along with any flight plans they might have filed. “We need you airborne before we lose them again.”
“Not going to happen again.”
“Got something,” Lionel said as he tried to keep his seat and ignore the fact that Joe was driving and watching the helicopter more than the road. “Carlotti fueled his plane this afternoon, but the pilot said they wouldn’t have the flight plans until they were ready for takeoff.”
“Hear that?” Joe asked Shelby as he directed them to the nearest interstate entrance ramp. “I’ll call ahead and arrange something, and we’ll meet you there in less than ten.”
Shelby listened, and from their direction, Joe was right. Wherever Cain was headed, she would have to take a plane. Shelby couldn’t understand why she’d pulled such a stunt, but at the moment all the speculation in the world wasn’t as important as keeping up with Cain and, no matter how much she liked her, finally catching her at something so they could shut her down.
The blackness of Lake Pontchartrain came into view, as did the runways of the airport located on the south shore. “What’s your ETA, Joe?”
“If we’re lucky, in about five.” He never let off the accelerator as they arrived at their exit. “Even if they’re twenty minutes ahead of us, we won’t have a problem. A Coast Guard plane’s waiting for us, and she’s fully fueled. Wherever they go, we’ll be five hundred yards behind them.”
Lionel was calling Hicks and giving her an update. They’d need help from the State Department if Cain was traveling someplace they didn’t have jurisdiction. They pulled up as Cain and Emma were landing close to their ride. Again the couple stayed close together as they boarded and never looked back, even though they had to know they were being followed.
“What are you up to, Cain?” Shelby whispered into the noise of the rotor blades as she and Claire landed.
Chapter Forty-Eight
The blinds in Muriel’s private office were down, assuring Cain she was the only one enjoying the vision in the strapless black bra and thong. The extremely revealing undergarments had been necessary for the dress Emma had just taken off.
“What’s all that leering for?”
Cain’s deep chuckle hardened Emma’s nipples noticeably.
“You stand there looking like that, and you wonder why I’m leering? I’m only human, darlin’.”
“Think you’ll still be leering when I’m as big as a house?”
