Imagine (Black Raven Book 4) by Stella Barcelona

Author:Stella Barcelona [Barcelona, Stella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

1:45 a.m.

Leo and Kamin paused at a vent, looking through the slats into the theater. They were positioned above the tenth row of seats, towards the left of the stage. Ceiling height varied as the floor sloped towards the stage. They were a little more than twenty feet above the floor, with a view of two-thirds of the theater, from the middle rows to the stage. A syrupy version of “White Christmas,” playing on theater speakers, provided low background music that juxtaposed a layer of surrealism over the drama unfolding below them.

Her hand slipped, as one of the wiring tubes that ran along the floor of the crawl space rolled from her weight and the ship’s movement. She readjusted her body, using her forearms for balance and her core strength to stay still.

The theater had seating capacity for two hundred. Plush, forest-green drapes, with gold trim, were drawn across the stage. A cluster of three blue spruce trees, flocked lightly with a dusting of white snow, stood in a grouping at center stage, on platforms that could be moved as needed for performances. Golden bows, sprays of holly, and twinkling, star-like lights made the trees picture perfect. Ornaments in varying sizes, all red, green, gold, and white, reflected the lights.

Guests sat in burgundy-velvet, theater-style seats, looking smaller than they had when they’d been in the casino. Most wore the cocktail clothes they’d planned to wear to the opening night’s festivities—glittering, low cut gowns, and tuxedos. Some wore casual clothes they’d worn in their rooms as they dressed for the night’s festivities. Others wore plush, cream-colored robes that had been in their staterooms. Some were pale. A few were crying. All had their attention focused forward, towards the stage.

Eight men in camouflage stood in the orchestra pit, with QBZ-95s hoisted and aimed at their captive audience. Five more armed men roamed the aisles, their weapons pointed at the guests.

A tall man, also in camo-gear, stood center stage on the semi-circle portion in front of the drapes. Pale skin. Dark hair and eyes. Mixed Asian heritage. On the ship’s manifest, he’d been identified as Chad Ting, head of Quan Security. Leo hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to Ting before the siege. Now, Ting was speaking in English, with a trace of a German accent.

He spoke loudly enough for her to clearly hear that his voice was the same as Skylar’s, which she and Ace had been hearing on line sixteen. “They damn well didn’t jump in the ocean and swim away. I’ll double the pay for the man who brings Ling Wen to me.”

Leo tuned out the responses, as she focused on the closed, leather-bound folder that Skylar/Ting held in his left hand. Her gaze was drawn to, and then riveted upon, the table on stage next to him, in front of the Christmas trees. There were several dozen or more black-leather bound folders stacked neatly in piles on the table. Four men in business suits flanked the table.

Those definitely aren’t Christmas presents.

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