Page 116 of Breaking Point

She died. But the truth is that I did what I could. Sometimes it just isn’t enough.

“Skar got me out. He had my back. Helped me get my head screwed on straight after. I couldn’t do it alone, and I don’t think you can either.”

I see the hotel’s shining gates at the end of the road. The parking lot is packed with guests driving in for the event. I veer onto a hidden path. Minutes must pass, and I half-wonder whether Harvey might say anything else.

“You’re probably right,” he admits quietly, but when I hear something muffled over the earpiece, I lift it back into place.

“We’re clear,” Skar says.

I nod as Harvey looks at me in question. I reach into my pocket for the spare earpiece. Dropping it into his palm, I grab his wrist, halting him. “I need your head in this. Right now. This can’t wait.”

He looks at me carefully, nodding with a slight smile. “I suppose we should probably talk about your job when we get back.”

I smile, dropping his arm, because at least he’s admitting that there will be time when we get back. “Definitely a conversation for later.”

He puts the tech in his ear, the feedback quieting. We drive to the back gate, and after flashing our badges and being waved in, I park as Harvey and I share a look.

I nod. Harvey clambers out of the car, and I do my best not to sigh as we stroll to the back doors. My palms are clammy, unsteady, as the doors open. It’s dark- almost completely so, and in my gut, I hate knowing that we’re probably walking into a trap.

Through the earpiece, Harvey is breathing heavily, breaths too fast to count. It’s an effort not to rip the ear piece out and change the whole plan.

I should do this alone,I think. But I can’t. I force myself to focus on the task at-hand.

“Stop panting,” I coach quietly, and he swallows.

Harvey takes an employee entrance immediately to the right. He swipes his card, and the scanner illuminates green as I disappear into the ballroom.The room is loud with the clamor of guests. I spot a detail of guards stationed near the balcony and all entrances.

“In yet?” I hear Skar over the earpiece.

“Which hall?” Harvey asks. He’s probably made it past the reception desk by now.

“Go forward past reception. Take the stairs to your right and there will be a door with keycard access.”

Violin and piano float from the room, but I hover outside the doors, acting as security as I watch people float about.

I hear Harvey shuffling. Then the distinct sound of a door opening. “Now what?” he says. “There’s no one here.”

Lucky, I think, remembering the path he’s meant to take on the blueprints.

“Hurry. There’s going to be three doors on either side. Take the last one on the left, and it should take you to an electrical closet. Find it?”

It’s unlikely that the hotel leaves their cameras unmonitored, so there’s only a slim chance that security isn’t already on their way. I eye a guard across the room that’s looking my direction.

It’s quiet for a moment...

Then, “I’m inside.”

“Remember what Taylor told you. Access the Central Reservations System. Figure out which room they’re in.”

I hear him clacking away at one of the computers. “What am I looking for?”

“Anything that might tell us where Olivia, Aleks, or Rema is,” Skar interrupts. I hear the sound of a door opening through his wire.

“There’s… There’s only a few rooms without reservations. Including the rooms for private events. Third floor shows… Fully blocked off. But- I don’t know what to look for!” Harvey hisses quietly. “Wait. 3rd floor balcony. Company Dinner, it says. That's where we were supposed to meet originally.”

“I’ll start there,” Skar says.

“Is there anything else? Anything unusual?”

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