Cardinal, (Citizen Saga, Book 2) by Claire Nicola

Author:Claire, Nicola [Claire, Nicola]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-10-24T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Shall We?

Lena

An Honourable eating alone was unusual enough to attract attention. Until they made eye contact and were forced to look away. Frost coated my heart, bled from my eyes. I was the epitome of superior Elite.

And I hated it. Even as I knew I had a job to do; a job that would make me feel alive.

I'd been here for over three hours already. Consumed copious cups of tea and several small beautifully adorned cupcakes; their decorations so lifelike I hesitated before biting into the first one. But still I hadn't found my mark.

I was working on a finite timeline. With curfew tonight, I couldn't stay in the open. I considered booking into a room in the hotel to give me more time, but returning to the base was the ultimate goal. Trent would be suspecting something by now. I needed to minimise the fallout, even if I wasn't successful today.

No, what I really needed was a guest residing on the penthouse floor to entertain the idea of high tea in the SkyPark. They'd had three hours already to turn up. There was now less than one left. I'd allowed myself until four to get what I needed here, but if it failed, I did have a Plan B.

Not that Plan B had any significant chance of success. Decoding the security locks on the penthouse floor would carry unseen hazards I wasn't entirely confident I could combat alone.

Not for the first time I wondered where Tan was.

But, if I could steal an access card, and slip into the penthouse floor before the guest was alerted to the theft, then half the battle would be won.

Almost four hours of blistering heat, noisy poolside revellers, way too much sugar and now cold tea for half the battle. But it was, perhaps, the hardest part.

I pulled out my cellphone and scanned The Wánměi Times article I'd left open. The hotel guest residing in The Chairman Suite was an Overseer. One Jeffrey Markham. I wasn't personally acquainted with Overseer Markham, but I knew of him. Not an immediate associate to General Chew-wen's, but perhaps, considering his younger age, a friend now to Wang Chao.

He appeared Elite through and through, according to the gossip column I was reading. Spent most of his time working at the Palace, socialising at private functions, or playing on the high stakes tables in the casinos - behind the strictest of securities.

His wife, on the other hand, was often seen entertaining friends for high tea.

I adjusted my bionic-ear amplifier and scanned the conversations throughout the SkyPark for anything I could use. Normally, on a job like this, I would not be working alone. In the past, Tan and Aiko had acted as decoys or an extra pair of eyes tracking my mark. At the very least, I would have familiarised myself with Lady Markham's routine, to ensure the best possible success of today's heist.

The actual theft would be carried out by me alone. But the background work and additional surveillance would have been covered by my team.

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