Page 61 of The Grandest Game
It was something she’d gotten into the habit of saying a year and a half earlier—on rooftops, in parking lots, every single evening, looking out into the night.I know you’re out there.Because if there wasn’t anyone there, then no one would ever know, but if therewassomeone watching her, following her, then Gigi wanted that person to know that he couldn’t hide from her, no matter how much he cloaked himself in shadow.
In her defense, she’d been followed before. By a professional.
“What are you doing?” Knox was bewildered—and pissed.
Gigi ignored him and tried again. “I know you’re out there.” When there was no reply—the device probably doesn’t even work both ways—she turned to Brady. “You said there were rich families, plural, who had taken an interest in the Grandest Game.”
Brady gave a little nod. “I believe most of the interested parties were contemporaries or rivals of Tobias Hawthorne.”
Rivals?That felt a bit… ominous.
“What makes you so sure,” Knox asked Gigi, “that the thing in your hand is a bug? And that it’s not a part of the game?”
“I live a life of stealth and crime,” Gigi replied pertly. “I know a bug when I see one, and I am spontaneously—but also incredibly—sure that the game makers didn’t hide a bag on the island containing a whole slew of capital-O Objects.”
It was so obvious now that she’d seen it. She’d thought that she’d hit the motherlode, but in a game that was meant to be competitive—and fair—why would therebea motherlode?
“Nash told me he liked my necklace,” Gigi continued, her thoughts racing to catch up with her mouth. “I thought he was commenting on it as a kind of congratulations, you know,well done, you tricksy Gigi. But what if he thought it was my necklace? That I’d worn it to the island?” Gigi’s thoughts weren’t just racing now. They were trying to qualify for the Indy 500. “And when Avery mentioned on the beach that some players had found hidden treasure, she looked at Odette, and she looked at Savannah, but I don’t think she ever looked at me.”
There was a single moment’s silence. “If you’re correct…” Brady’s brow furrowed in what Gigi couldn’t help noticing was a highly attractive way. “If the Objects you found aren’t a part of the game—”
“The wetsuit inside the bag,” Knox cut in abruptly. “It was damp.”
“Recently used.” Gigi swallowed. What did that mean?
“Maybe Knox isn’t the only player in this game who has a sponsor.” Brady didn’t stop there. “And maybe the players and the game makers aren’t the only ones on Hawthorne Island.”
Chapter 47
ROHAN
Rohan had no intention of losing his wager against Savannah.
88 LOCKS
WAIT, THAT’S NOT RIGHT
AT LEAST THE ANSWER IS BLACK AND WHITE
Assume the second line refers to the first, he thought. The thrum of adrenaline through his veins was as familiar to Rohan as the need to come out on top.That would suggest that either the number or the word on that line is incorrect.
The number eighty-eight had an obvious pattern to it—the same digit, repeated twice. Likely substitutions included ninety-nine, seventy-seven, sixty-six, and so on, all the way down to eleven. Eighty-eight could also conceivably be converted into eight squared—or sixty-four.
It’s not the number.Rohan hadn’t gotten this far in life by ignoring his instincts.And that leaves only the word.
Lock.Rohan’s gaze went, of its own accord, to the platinum lock on the chain that Savannah wore around her waist. As skilled a thief as Rohan was, he deeply suspected the only way he’d be able to get that chain off Savannah Grayson was by invitation.
Not—at this point—likely.
Rohan turned his attention instead to the blade of the sword. He hadn’t—and wouldn’t—set it down.From every trap be free, for every lock a key.
Another lock.Rohan came out of himself for a moment. It was a thing that happened to him on occasion, most often when he prepared to cross a line that, in the world of decent people, should not be crossed. But this time, in the split second that Rohan felt as if he were viewing his own body from a distance, clarity washed over him.
Wait, that’s not right.
Lock.
Key.Rohan snapped back to reality.Eighty-eight keys.The fire-hot thrill of victory would have been difficult enough to contain even if Savannah Grayson had not been looking right at him.
