Tom looked at his friends. “What do you say, guys? Shall we take things underground?”
“Starting early,” Kelvin said, checking his expensive ringwatch. “I like it.” He stood and held his hand out to Kara. “Shall we?”
She took his hand. “Lead the way.”
They easily cleared the security measures and she found herself dropping in the silver elevator capsule with Tom to the underground cavern. Again, she made a note to thank Chaney’s lawyer for making it happen. They stepped out into the old candle-lit underground tunnel, and waited for the others to arrive. When they did, Salvi began heading toward the entry for Diabolique, hoping she wouldn’t see Erica there. Hoping Chaney hadn’t said anything to her about Salvi being a cop.
She looked back at the group following and wondered if Caine had done this exact thing with these guys. Wondered if they’d been the ones Caine had spent his last moments alive with. Wondered whether they had taken him to this other club. Wondered what Caine had seen to have ended in his death. Wondered whether one of them had been responsible for it.
Tom whistled, catching her attention. She looked back at him.
“Wrong way,” he said.
She looked back toward Diabolique. “But–”
“I thought you wanted the big leagues?”
Salvi paused and smiled. “I do.”
“Then that’s this way, my dear.”
Kelvin laughed as he slung an arm around Kara’s shoulders and began leading her down the tunnel in the opposite direction. Edward, VR glasses alight with scrolling text, grinned and followed. Tom held out his hand to Salvi and she took it, as Travis gave Bronte a friendly slap on the back and ushered him forward.
“Oh, we are in for some fun!” Travis grinned.
They moved down the tunnel and Salvi was certain that she was walking the same footsteps as Caine. Maybe even the Chief’s daughter too. She recalled Chaney talking about his silent partner, how they’d set up the kind of club they’d wanted to; a club, that took things further than Chaney was comfortable with. She was sure it was this club that Tom and his friends were leading them to, that Caine had seen, and that it was this club, and what Caine had seen there, that had gotten him killed. She glanced at Kara and Bronte, checking to see if they were sensing the same thing. They were both chatting with the others, laughing now and then, but she still saw an alertness in their eyes.
Tom bumped her shoulder with his, looking at her. “Penny for your thoughts?”
She smiled and shook her head. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was letting my imagination run wild.”
“I don’t think your imagination can fathom all that lays before you,” he grinned.
As they walked along, Salvi wondered whether the club was down here somewhere or if they were merely heading toward an alternative exit. If it was an exit, she sure hoped it was one that Cyber had noted and placed surveillance on.
They reached a curve in the tunnel and followed it around, out of sight of the tunnel behind them. Before them was a dead end and the group slowed to a stop. Salvi saw no doors.
“Are you pulling our legs?” she asked the group. “I don’t see any more clubs down here.”
“Oh, this is the way to the club,” Tom said, grinning. “Isn’t it, Travis?”
“Sure is,” he answered. “The doorway is just there.” He pointed to the wall of the tunnel.
“Once you step through, though,” Edward said, plucking a haptic glove from his pocket, sliding it on and tapping the air in front of him, “there’s no turning back.”
“What does that mean?” Salvi giggled, although the truth was she felt an alarm rising within her.
“It means, this club is beyond secret,” Kelvin said, as they stood around in a rough circle. “Like, once you see it, you’re in it for life.”
“As in,” Edward grinned, glasses aglow, “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” His friends laughed.
“Oh yeah?” Salvi said. “Sounds like I need to sign another NDA.”
They laughed again. Bronte joined in.
“Chaney was such a nerd,” Travis said. “Making people sign NDAs.”
Salvi shrugged. “Privacy’s big for him. I get it.”
“An NDA is just a piece of paper,” Tom said, shaking his head. “Who is going to take that to court? The club is secret, right? No one’s going to talk about it anywhere the cops can get involved. They might as well indict themselves.”
“So what do you do for this other club you’re taking us to?” Salvi said. “You want us to sign in blood or something?”
“Something like that,” Edward said, grinning as he continued to tap away at the air. Tom took Salvi’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly, giving her a smile to match.
“Well, here we are!” Edward said, raising his hands.
Salvi, Kara and Bronte looked around and saw nothing but the end of the tunnel and its walls. She looked back the way they’d come but only saw the curve in the track and solid walls of concrete and steel.
“You’re kidding, right?” Kara said.
Salvi nodded. “They’re definitely having a laugh at our expense.”
“No really, it’s through this door,” Edward walked over to the tunnel wall, removed his haptic glove and pressed his hand against one section. Beside it they saw a panel rise, which revealed a console. He punched in a code and, sure enough, part of the tunnel wall slid back. The door was a new installation that she doubted was on any of the city plans that Noble and his team had analyzed.
From Salvi’s angle, she couldn’t see what was on the other side, but it dawned on her, the confirmation this was how the Chief’s daughter had been seen entering Floor to Ceiling, but never leaving. This was why she wasn’t picked up on any surveillance footage taken in the area; because she left the club this way. A secret way. Underground. Just like John Dorant had. Which made Salvi wonder, were these guys linked
