Aces Wilde: Immortal Vegas, Book 5 by Jenn Stark

Author:Jenn Stark [Stark, Jenn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elewyn Publishing
Published: 2016-08-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

A long, slender sword stuck out near the bottom of the ridged dome, adding an extra bump that didn’t match the other four arcs. Its scabbard reached out a scant inch farther than the other ridges, gleaming with the same metallic sheen as the rest of the gilded dome. I would bet my teeth that scabbard was lined in lead too. That might not have been done purposefully, but it had served to hide the sword better than anything else could have all these long years. After all, the dome was lined with metal—what was one more shard of steel?

Muttering an apology as the rain pounded down from above, I pulled myself up the Maitreya Buddha until I stood balanced, one foot on his shoulder and the other on his head. An outburst far below me on the grounds of Angkor Wat galvanized me to action, and at the next clap of thunder, I leapt, grabbing the edge of the sword—

And I hung there in midair, my feet pumping.

“C’mon,” I gritted out, inching my way up the sword. I had a grip born of strength and desperation, but I couldn’t miraculously put on weight. The sword refused to budge no matter how much I jiggled it.

“Dollface, where—sweet Jesus what’re you doing?” Nikki’s voice boomed across the small space and I glared down at her. “They’ve got the whole cavalry coming up these stairs in another five minutes. There’s some sort of electrical fire on the roof. Get down from there!”

“The sword!” I gasped. “Grab my feet.”

Muttering a curse, Nikki holstered her gun and ran forward, but her long arms were still too short to reach me.

“The Buddha,” I managed. By then I could hear the rush of men on the steep stairs behind me, guards or priests moving up for reasons I didn’t want to consider—whether for a fire on the roof or because they’d seen trespassers inside the dome.

Within the next fifteen seconds, Nikki had hauled herself up to the broad head of the Buddha. “Sorry, big guy,” she muttered as she stepped on the crown of his head, one foot wedged onto his shoulder. Then she scowled at me. “Girl, you better have a tight hold and padded elbows, because this is going to hurt like a bitch.”

“Just go already—”

Nikki hurtled herself off the Buddha and crashed into me, the sword giving way with a crack that sounded far too loud. Then both of us were dropping through the air. I hit the floor of the sanctuary so hard, my head bounced. I groaned, seeing nothing but stars.

“Buck up, Buttercup. We gotta skinny.”

It was too late, though. A trio of cloaked monks cleared the entrance of the dome, chattering in outraged Cambodian. As Nikki stood, they waved long rods that looked like they would hurt a lot, but the men hauling themselves up behind them had guns. Those would hurt more.

“Out! Out! No trespassing!” the monks shouted, first in English, then French. I scanned the floor wildly for anything broken other than my body, but my vision was still processing double.

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