Vampire Beach: High Stakes (21 page)

‘What are they doing? What’s happening?’ Jason ran to the monitor that showed Sienna. She was still in the vault. He grabbed his cell and punched in Zach’s number.

‘Is everything OK?’ Jason burst out as soon as Zach picked up. He knew he sounded panicked, but he couldn’t help it. ‘Are they doing what they said? Are they letting her go?’

‘I’m being taken to her right now,’ Zach told him. ‘Marc is taking Paige to the airport. Meet me in the
lobby.’
He hung up without giving Jason a chance to reply.

‘We’re supposed to meet Zach in the lobby,’ Jason told Adam and Belle. ‘I’m hoping he’ll have Sienna with him.’

They all started for the door. ‘Do we need to do anything with our friend back there?’ Adam asked, nodding in Philippe’s direction.

‘He’s not gagged. He can call for help when he comes round,’ Jason said.

‘I’ll put on my Ms Mayer, so we won’t have any trouble getting out of here,’ Belle said, and she quickly did her transformation thing. But they didn’t need Ms Mayer and her butt-kicking abilities. Nobody tried to stop them.

They started to run as soon as they hit the ‘civilian’ hallway, Belle getting her own face and body back on the fly before they hit the crowded casino. They dodged and weaved, trying not to knock anyone down.

‘There she is!’ Belle shouted. ‘With Erin and Maggie and everybody.’

Jason had already spotted Sienna. He
felt
her from all the way across the room. He picked up speed, weaving around slot machines and roulette tables and people, people, people … until he had his arms around her. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked.

‘I’m fine. I’m fine.’ She reluctantly pulled away. ‘We have to get Paige. Why did you give up Paige for me?’

‘We didn’t. Not really. We have a plan,’ Jason promised. ‘I’ll explain it on the way to the airport. We have to get over there – now!’

BELLE MANAGED TO
cram the Escalade into a parking spot labeled ‘compact’. Then she, Sienna, Jason and Adam scrambled out and started to run across the parking garage.

‘We left practically right on top of them,’ Jason called to Sienna. ‘We’re going to find them.’ He heard footfalls coming up behind him fast. Marc’s goons? He shot a look over his shoulder. No, just the rest of the Malibu group.

They burst out of the garage. Jason didn’t hesitate. He plunged across the street, ignoring the horns of the cabs, cars, and shuttles.
If they don’t like it, they can hit me
, he thought grimly.

The electronic doors leading to the international terminal slid open in front of him, and Jason barreled inside, Sienna on his heels, and everyone else right behind them.

‘The arrival/departure info,’ Sienna called out. She veered toward the monitors mounted in the wall by the
car
rental kiosk. Jason followed, and skidded to a stop in front of the screens.

‘Any departures to France?’ Belle asked from behind him.

‘I’m looking.’ He scanned the columns.

‘I don’t see anything!’ Sienna said. ‘At least, there doesn’t seem to be anything in the next few hours.’

‘Let’s split up and check all the ticket counters,’ Brad suggested. ‘We don’t know what kind of connecting flight they could have got.’

‘Good idea. Whoever spots Marc and Paige first, call me on my cell,’ Jason answered.

‘Van Dyke’s car, start this way. Belle’s car that way,’ Brad instructed. And they were gone.

‘One of us should peel off at every ticket counter,’ Jason called as he ran with his group. ‘Belle, you first. Go!’ She darted away.

‘I’ve got the next one,’ Adam called, leaping over a pet carrier containing one very yappy little dog.

Jason gave Sienna’s hand a squeeze without breaking stride, then broke away, heading toward the Virgin Atlantic counter. The line was snaking out past the ropes leading to the counter. Mounds of suitcases were piled all over the place.

He tried to scan the line. It was impossible to see everyone from all the way back there. He plunged
forward,
making sure to look at each person he passed. No Marc. No Paige. No Marc. No Paige.

‘There’s a line here!’ an annoyed woman snapped.

‘Friend up there, holding my place,’ Jason answered without pausing. No Marc. No Paige. No Marc. No Paige. He stumbled over a lawn-size garbage bag that somebody was using as luggage.

‘Watch it!’ a guy in a USC sweatshirt yelled.

Yeah, I’m very sorry I damaged your Louis Vuitton
, Jason thought. No Marc. No Paige. He could see all the way up the line now. No Marc. No Paige. All the way up.

Crap!
Jason wheeled around and pushed a hole through the line. Then he ran.

‘Sir!’ a security guard called. ‘You’re going to have to slow down.’

Jason forced himself to walk for three steps. He wanted to shout at the man, tell him it was an emergency, but it’s not like he could explain that his girlfriend’s sister had been kidnapped by a killer – a killer who was also a vampire.

Before he could start to run again, Adam and Sienna hurried over to him.

‘We’ve checked all the counters from here to the end,’ Sienna said. ‘A bunch of them were empty.’

Jason didn’t have to ask if they’d seen Paige or Marc. It was obvious that they hadn’t.

‘No calls from anybody, right?’ Adam asked.

‘Not yet,’ Jason answered.

‘What if Marc chartered a private plane?’ Sienna burst out. ‘They wouldn’t be at any of the ticket counters. He definitely has enough money to do it, too. Would they even have to go through airport security? It would ruin your plan if they didn’t.’

Jason had had time to give Sienna a quick version of the plan on the five-mile drive to the airport. ‘I think they’d still have to go through security,’ he said. He looked over at Adam.

‘Everybody does. If they didn’t before 9/11, they do now,’ Adam confirmed, but he didn’t sound completely sure. He sounded like he
wanted
to be completely sure.

‘Let’s go help search the other half of the terminal,’ Jason suggested. They turned around and saw Belle heading toward them. She’d already met up with the rest of the group.

‘Paige?’ Sienna asked as they rushed to meet their friends.

‘Sorry, sweetie,’ Erin answered.

‘We checked everyplace we could get to without a boarding pass,’ Brad added. ‘The international terminal’s just not that big.’

Jason turned to Zach. If anyone knew the answer to the chartered plane question, it would be him. ‘Zach, do you—’

‘Oh, my God!’ Maggie exclaimed. ‘Look back there.’

Jason turned. A small crowd had gathered by the newsstand.

‘This is outrageous! I want my lawyer here. Immediately,’ he heard a voice yell – a voice with a slight French accent.

‘That’s Marc,’ Sienna said.

The crowd parted enough for Jason to see Paige and Marc flanked by airport security.

‘I have to get over there.’ Sienna started toward her sister.

‘Wait,’ Zach said. ‘I’ll make a call. I have an acquaintance.’ He turned and walked away.

‘Let Zach do his thing,’ Jason advised Sienna as the guards escorted Marc and Paige through a door marked ‘AIRPORT SECURITY’.

She nodded, and the group took the row of plastic chairs that had a direct view of the airport security door. Zach returned a few minutes later, and stood next to Sienna, arms crossed.

‘Oh, man, you are good,’ Adam exclaimed, when Paige walked out of the door – unescorted – ten
minutes
later. She ran straight over to Sienna and hugged her.

‘What happened?’ Sienna cried.

‘Marc got caught taking counterfeit money and a gun through security! I thought I was going to get arrested, too, but then, suddenly, everyone was saying that there was nothing illegal in
my
bags and that
I
hadn’t done anything wrong, and one of the guards actually apologized to me.’ Paige shrugged. ‘So here I am.’

‘You think those guys might be here for our friend?’ Van Dyke asked, nodding toward three cops who were walking into the terminal. They strode straight over to airport security.

The smallest smile crossed Zach’s face. ‘I think it’s a good possibility,’ he said.

‘I’d bet money on it,’ Adam agreed. ‘The real stuff,’ he added. ‘Any takers?’ There weren’t any, so nobody lost any cash when the police came back out with Marc in handcuffs.

Belle pulled out her camera-phone and got a shot. ‘For your scrapbook,’ she told Paige, with a grin.

Paige stood up. ‘Marc!’ she called. When he looked her way, she blew him a big, juicy kiss. He did not look too pleased. Belle snapped another picture, and passed her phone around so everyone could see.

‘So now what?’ Paige asked. ‘We still have days to fill with Vegas fun!’

Sienna rolled her eyes. ‘I think I speak for everyone when I say the only fun I want to have right now is a nice, quiet ride home.’

She definitely spoke for Jason. It had been close, very close, but Paige and Sienna were both safe. He was definitely ready to go home. The relief flooding through him right now was better than anything Vegas had to offer.

‘It’s not going to be any fun. The movie is pure chick flick. That was clear from the commercials,’ Jason complained as he drove down the PCH. Not that there was anything he’d rather be doing than hanging with Sienna pretty much anywhere. ‘There’s crying in it. I saw crying.’

Sienna looked over her shoulder at Belle and shook her head.

‘And there’s the wearing of cute pajamas,’ Adam put in. ‘That is one of the four horsemen of the chick flick,
Cute Pajamas
. All I can say is somebody better be buying me a large popcorn with a large Dr Pepper, and Goobers. I’m going to need Goobers mixed with the corn to survive this. It offends my film lover sensibilities.’

‘I just want explosions,’ Jason said. ‘And it wasn’t that kind of crying I saw. It wasn’t crying because there was just an explosion and somebody’s leg got blown off. It was I-got-my-feelings-hurt crying. This is the last night of spring break. I shouldn’t have to deal with crying.’

Actually watching some crying with Sienna was fine. Going back to school was fine.
Normal
was fine. More than fine – even if it was DeVere Heights normal, which was always a little less than.

‘You don’t have to go,’ Sienna told him as he pulled into the parking lot of the New Malibu. ‘Belle and I are happy to watch the chick flick all by ourselves.’

‘And we’ll enjoy it. Because we are chicks,’ Belle added. ‘Then we call one or two of the numerous cute boys we know, who will be more than happy to pick us up and take us home.’

‘Now that just sounds dangerous,’ Adam said. ‘And as the son of the sheriff, I should know. I’m going to have to insist that I accompany you.’

‘And I’ll have to accompany Adam,’ Jason said. ‘He gets scared in these kinds of movies.’

‘Hmm. What do you think, Belle?’ Sienna asked as Jason parked.

‘I think it might be acceptable. If someone buys me a medium popcorn with a large Diet Sprite.’

‘Fine,’ Adam muttered.

‘My parents got a letter of apology from the Lessards today,’ Sienna said as she stepped out of the car. Suddenly, the cool Malibu night felt cold, and the brilliant stars in the clear sky seemed much further away.

‘What did it say?’ Belle asked.

‘It just apologized for Marc’s behavior, without going into specifics. It also included a check to cover any “inconvenience” – a check that will exactly cover the money Zach lost,’ Sienna said. ‘Paige made some acceptable stuff up for my parents. They’d freak if they knew what really happened.’

‘Is Paige doing OK?’ Belle asked. ‘I know that on the trip back she was acting like her usual self, but I wasn’t sure if that was real.’ None of them moved toward the theater. They needed some privacy for this conversation.

‘I don’t know if it was real, either,’ Sienna admitted. ‘But that’s still how she’s playing it. Although, she’s not going back to school in Paris; she’s looking at colleges in London.’

‘With Marc back in Paris, I don’t blame her,’ Adam commented.

‘He’s lucky he has parents who can play the diplomatic immunity card,’ Jason said. He still felt a
little
spurt of anger at the way Marc had got away with everything. True, the fake money and the gun hadn’t been his, so he hadn’t technically deserved to be arrested. But he’d done so many worse things that he deserved to be punished for.

‘You’re going to miss Paige, I bet,’ Belle said to Sienna.

‘I am. For sure,’ Sienna sighed. ‘But I’m not going to miss the drama. Paige always brings the drama.’

‘And the fun,’ Belle added.

‘Yeah,’ Sienna grinned. ‘We should get inside,’ she said. ‘We don’t want to miss the beginning.’

‘God, no,’ Adam cried as they started for the box office.

‘I forgot, I’m also going to need Sour Patch Kids to mix with my popcorn,’ Belle informed him.

‘That is truly disgusting,’ Adam replied.