Page 37 of Maximum Bet

“Lucas, go,” I say as my soldier yells, “Got him!”

“Search the bodies,” I instruct my group. “Find out exactly who these assholes are.”

“The Russians heard the shots,” Leo says. “They’re on the run.”

“I’m on the thirteenth,” Marco says. “Coming out of the stairs.”

While commotion breaks out from one end of the floor, Lucas and his team arrive from the opposite direction, meeting me at the Medina bodies.

“Let’s go,” I say, leaving the dead men to rot. “Where are the Russians, Leo?”

“They went into the staff elevator. Hold on, I’m switching feed.”

Lucas and I take careful steps while we wait for Leo, guns raised, prepared for confrontation.

My adviser’s next words aren’t the ones I want to hear. “Well, shit.”

Marco groans. “Let me guess, they shot out the camera.”

“Not only that.” Leo sighs. “They shot the number panel. I have no way of knowing where the elevator is heading.”

“Won’t destroying the panel make it stop?” Cassandra asks.

“Not necessarily. Elevators have different default settings when they’re damaged. I don’t know if this one will trap them, go to the floor they selected, or go to a random floor.”

“Shit,” I mutter.

Reaching the staff elevators, Lucas and I wait for Marco.

“Can we pry the doors open?” Lucas asks.

“We can try,” Marco says as he arrives and grips the doors, pulling with everything he’s got.

“You take one side, and I’ll take the other.” I join him, working to get the tips of my fingers between the doors.

“Stop,” Leo barks. “You need the elevator key.”

I step back. “Get it for us.”

“I’ve got to get maintenance involved,” Leo says. “It’s going to take a minute.”

I rake my hand through my hair. “Involving maintenance is going to be an issue. We’ve got a couple of dead bodies up here.”

“Can you pull them into a side room?” Leo asks.

I glance down the hallway toward the deceased Medinas and laugh.

I don’t know whose idea it was to paint the hallways white, but in a Mafia-run hotel, that might not have been the best color scheme. Crimson splatters the walls, and pools of blood cover the floor.

“It’s almost artistic,” Marco comments with a snicker.

“Yeah, uh, Leo.” I cock my head. “No way we’re hiding this.”

“Oh, God.” Cassandra gasps. Leo has clearly switched the camera feed to show the massacre in the hallway.

“Cassandra, don’t look,” I beg.

“I switched the feed,” Leo says.