* * *
CJ and Julius spent a couple of minutes inspecting their room for bugs and sniffing for any unexpected scents. Satisfied there was no trouble, CJ settled down in a chair while Julius leaned against the wall looking thoughtful.
“It’s not like we thought it was going to be that easy.” CJ shrugged. “Knowing they’re doing something with the Big Apple Sportsplex is not knowing what or where to look.”
“The jogging sweeps are a good initial strategy,” Julius replied, rubbing his chin. “We’re lucky we’re so close to the park. We might be big, but there are plenty of big humans who are training in the park, too, even some guys our size.”
CJ grinned. “I spotted a whole group of guys from a firehouse. If anyone asks who we are, we could lie and say we’re firefighters.”
“No reason to give them a lead to check on. Firefighters are a big deal in NYC.” Julius shook his head. “A lie that can be tested isn’t a good lie.”
“Not all of us are as good at that sort of thing,” CJ grumbled.
Julius stepped away from the wall with a smug smile. “Battles aren’t always won with guns, CJ. If you suck at lying, get better at it. It might save your life someday, and I’m not going to apologize for being good at what I was trained to do.”
CJ grunted. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Of course you did, but I don’t care. We need to concentrate on the mission and getting new leads. We’ve been running past the place for two days now and haven’t seen anything suspicious other than them setting up obstacles outside. It might be time to enter directly. There might be something in the building itself. Getting closer and just inspecting the obstacle course could be good.”
“We risk getting tagged if we do that.” CJ reached up and pulled out his brown contacts, revealing his amber eyes. “Even if they can’t see these, if it’s Ouroboros, they might know our faces.”
Julius scoffed. “Some in the organization do, not every rank-and-file mercenary they hire.”
A beautiful face sneaked into CJ’s mind. He took slow, even breaths trying not to let his imagination wander lower on her body. With Julius standing in the room, it helped CJ consider how she might be useful for the mission.
“I ran into a woman training for the race today,” CJ said. “She’s the first I’ve talked to, but I’ve overheard others during recon that were training for the event.”
Julius nodded. “Yes. It’s like the park’s infested with them.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “What of it?”
“Based on what we’ve seen and what we’ve read, this is a pretty decent-sized event.” CJ shrugged. “It’s not American Samurai Training Challenge, but it’s not six people in some tiny gym.”
“I get where you’re going.” Julius cupped his chin. “That might limit what could be going on.”
“That’s what I’m thinking. Ouroboros might not be the Phoenix Corps or the Horatius Group, but they understand they need to keep a low profile. That’s why they were playing fort and secret tunnels in Hawaii. There’s no way they’re going to show up at some major public event and do something obvious.”
“It could be a dead end. They might even be purposefully feeding bad intel to try and get us and the government off their asses.” Julius shook a finger. “Or we’re not thinking about them the right way.”
“Meaning what?”
Julius inclined his head toward the drawn curtains. “Whatever this is, it’s not like Hawaii. We’re not going to find some hidden lab underneath some random gym in NYC, especially one that’s hosting an athletic competition that’s going to attract hundreds if not thousands of spectators. It might be money laundering, or it might be part of smuggling.”
“I don’t get it,” CJ said. “If they were smuggling, why the event? What about everything you just said?”
“A lot of people are coming in from out of town for this,” Julius said. “And a lot of people will be leaving soon. People are bringing in all sorts of special equipment for temporary training, and it’s not like the competition and all the nearby hotels are going to demand everyone submit to a full security screening.”
CJ chuckled. “Why not just hire some scumbags and smuggle the old-fashioned way?”
“Ouroboros is small, new, and don’t have the full contacts of some of the other groups we’ve dealt with.” Julius’s brow furrowed in deep thought. “The more creative they get with this kind of thing, the harder it is for anyone to find them. I looked over some of the intel sent to Maximus. Most of it wasn’t from the government. Their problem is they’re still stuck hunting someone who operates with a false legal façade like the Phoenix Corps.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue rubber ball. “There’s another possibility, even if it relates to the same idea and might explain why they chose a more public event to hide whatever they’re doing.”
CJ stared at the ball, unsure why his partner had gotten it out. “Terrorism?”
Julius shook his head. “Anything like that would force the government to take them more seriously. They can’t survive both the hybrids and the government hunting them. They must have learned something from the way the Horatius Group crashed and burned.” He raised his other hand and opened his palm, snapping.
CJ blinked and looked at the first hand. The ball was gone.
“Sometimes,” Julius began, “the most obvious thing is nothing more than a distraction.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ball. “And even when you see something right in front of you, it can be easy to hide it because of that.”
“Knowing that doesn’t get us far.”
Julius tossed the ball to CJ who snatched it out of the air easily. “We need an informant. Someone who knows the event better than we do and might notice something or
