Of the three days I had left to find the laptop, half was already gone. Despite how hard I tried to figure out where that damned computer might be, there was still nothing in sight. It almost seemed silly that I'd thought three shifts would make a difference. I should have quit when Lex had asked me, and stayed safe with him instead of this.
Now, I only had this afternoon and tomorrow to find Becker's dirty little secret. And given that I had his daughter's quarters and his wife's walking closet on my list of duties left for today, it wasn't likely I would.
I was feeling pretty defeated as I made my way from the break room to the upper floor. All of this had been for nothing. I'd been taking risks and cleaning this asshole's home for jack squat. When I passed the hallway that led to his office, I eyed the door with disappointment. How was the computer not there?!
Instead of heading for the stairs, I changed course and went to the office instead. If I didn't check it now, I wouldn't have another opportunity to do so before I quit.
There was no one in the hallway, so I swiftly walked to the door, opened it, and slipped into the room. Alright, I needed to be strategic about this and not waste time I didn't have. I swept the room yet again, trying to think outside the box. I even moved the butterflies, to make sure there wasn't a button or something behind the small frames, moved the desk to look for a hidden safe on the floor...
I was so focused on searching efficiently and fast, I barely noticed the lights blinking. It actually took my brain ten seconds to register what had happened. The fixtures on the walls and ceiling had just dimmed and come back. Twice.
My entire body froze, and a dreadful sensation crawled up my spine.
This was Lex. It was our signal for danger.
After it felt like it had stopped altogether, my heart suddenly hammered in my chest. Adrenaline rushed through my veins, triggered by survival instinct. I needed to leave. Now.
Had Becker figured it out? Was he looking for who I really was?
With silent steps, I sprinted to the door. I wasn't supposed to be in here in the first place, so I needed to exit discreetly, to not raise any suspicions. Carefully, I turned the handle and peeked outside. Voices came to my ears, including one that I recognized as being Becker's. Fuck, he was close.
Before I could assess the situation, he came into view, his tall frame entering the corridor. Was he coming to his office?! Quick as lighting, my eyes flew to the man who accompanied him. Pure terror invaded my mind as I recognized his face. Or rather, I recognized the snake tattooed on it.
Instantly, I closed the door and leaned against it, already hyperventilating. Was this the danger Lex had tried to warn me about? The snake guy was in the penthouse. And while Becker didn't know what I looked like, he would. One look at me, and he'd know who I was. He'd know I was Lex's girlfriend. He'd figure out there must be a reason for me to be here, acting like a staffer.
Lex and I had thought the tattooed man was some random guy from the internet, who'd found out about the price on Nammota's head. We hadn't found anything about him, and even less about any affiliation with Becker. But if he was really here right now, he must have been more involved than we'd thought, taking his orders directly from the man who wanted us dead.
I'd never been this scared in my life. No thoughts managed to make it past the raging sound of my blood beating in my ears, clogged by sheer panic. If they found me here, that was it. I'd be dead before the day ended. And they'd probably use me to get Lex as well.
Tears filled my eyes, and I only noticed it when some rolled over to fall down my cheeks. I should have listened to Lex and quit when he'd asked. I'd pushed my luck too far, and now it might all be too late.
Fuck... I didn't want to die.
The voices outside came closer to the door, and that prompted some good sense to strike me. Before I could even think about it, my feet were rushing to the small closet, the only place where I could hide in this room. I opened the door, threw myself inside, and just as I closed it, isolating myself into darkness, the men entered the home office.
My utter distress was aggravated by the fact that I couldn't breathe. My lungs weren't working, refusing to expand, and all I could muster were shallow and short intakes. Closing my watery eyes, I forced myself to calm down, focusing on my sternum to take deep, long, and slow breaths. In... and out... If I started sobbing or kept being so loud, they would find me and kill me.
The first few seconds, all I could do was work on regulating my breathing, so I wasn't panting with anguish anymore, to be as silent as possible. I didn't even pay attention to what they were saying, too preoccupied with everything else. If Becker needed anything from this closet, it would be the end of me. The two men would find me hiding in there, and the snake guy would recognize me.
Eventually, I was appeased enough to make out what they were saying on the other side of the panel. "So, do you have the chrysalis, Zane?" Becker was asking. So, that was Zane Horvat? The snake guy was the same one who'd posted about Nammota's bounty? We'd though he was just a hitman, someone ready to make some movey, but he was much closer to Becker than that...
"Yes. Came all the way from Tennessee. It's been a long drive." It was the first time I heard the snake guy's voice, and it sent icy chills under my skin. His tone was coarse, like someone who smoked too much, and there was something cold and lethal about it. "I think you'll like this one," he continued. "I have a picture if you want to see for yourself."
What the hell was this about? Was the snake guy Becker's hitman and his supplier for his collection?
There was a moment of silence, where the snake guy must have been showing Becker the picture of the chrysalis.
"Hmm... Beautiful specimen. You outdid yourself, Zane," Becker approved with esteem. There was something in Becker's tone that made me shiver. The man's enjoyment of butterflies went further than simple appreciation. "You'll get your payment upon delivery, and if the picture is accurate, I'll even throw in a bonus."
"The usual time?"
"Yes. The guests will start arriving at eight, so be here before seven."
The strangeness of their exchange almost distracted me from the fear of getting caught. Earlier today, Mrs. Reed had told the maids we needed to double up on the effort, as Beckers was hosting another one of his parties on Saturday evening. Apparently, he did those monthly, and the entire household was used to it. The entire staff was dismissed for the night, aside from a few security guards, and no one really knew what it was about. He was extremely secretive about it, which led me to believe it might have been some sort of swingers thing.
Apparently, it involved a chrysalis, though?
Before I could dwell on it and ask myself more questions, the conversation outside took an unexpected turn.
"Any news on the other matter?" Becker asked.
"No. I'll make a move on his girlfriend's family soon. It worked last time, so it might now too. I tried his relatives, but they are untouchable. I haven't seen him in almost a month now, so I'm not even sure they're still in Seattle."
Holy fuck... They were talking about us. About Lex and me... If that bastard even touched a single hair on my family's head—
"I thought you'd get rid of him faster. It's been months now. Are you even trying?"
"I'm doing my best, boss. The man knows how to cover his tracks. There's also the bounty going on, so someone else might end up doing the job for us. Although, it's possible Coleman isn't Nammota."
"You've read the file Willard sent. Coleman has to be that damned thief."
The name Willard was familiar, but it took me a few seconds to remember where I knew it from. It dated back to what felt like years ago, during Lex's preliminary trial. Willard was the judge who'd sentenced Lex to remain in jail until his trial. He was the man who'd made sure he'd be locked up. Weren't judicial files confidential? Why would the man send them to Becker? Was the judge a crook?
"He should have taken the ten years deal, as we planned," Becker continued. "Then die in mysterious circumstances two years in, as intended. I don't know why he didn't. We surely did everything we could to make it appealing."
"I told you we should have gotten him killed before his trial. It was safer and cleaner."
"We're not talking about this again. Willard was certain he could tilt the verdict in our favor, Coleman somehow managed to get himself out, and now you're in charge of getting rid of him. Stop putting the blame on me and do your damn job, Zane."
I was stunned, completely and utterly shocked. Becker had been on Lex for even longer than we'd thought. He'd even tampered with the trial back then, to make sure Lex wouldn't ever be free again.
What the fuck...
Admittedly, what we'd done ought to hurt a man in his pride, but it was just money. We'd taken a fraction of Becker's fortune, one not big enough to make a dent in it. Why the hell was he so pressed about it, so hell-bent on getting revenge?
"What's wrong with the lights today?" Becker complained out of the blue.
Oh, no...
It was our agreement that if I didn't call him within five minutes of the first signal, Lex would do it again to make sure I'd gotten it. He must have been worried sick, wondering why I wasn't calling him, why he wasn't seeing me on any of the camera's footage. Stuck in utter darkness, there was nothing I could do to warn him I was okay for now.
A tiny 'blip' came from my right, and I almost jumped at the unexpected sound. A faint glow illuminated the confined room right after, and I turned to find its origin. The wall was covered in old-school wallpaper, and I noticed a luminous rectangle, the size of a credit card, that came from behind it.
When I reached for it, I realized there was a piece of the wallpaper, at about eyes' height, that could be lifted. Right there underneath it, there was a small LED screen. One I'd never noticed before. On it, the word Smaug appeared, and a circle that slowly filled itself, indicating some sort of system was booting.
What the hell... How had I never even seen this before? It was luminous enough for me to have noticed when I'd searched this closet. The answer came quickly, as the circle became full and the screen turned off, plunging me into darkness again.
The men outside were talking, but I ignored them, sending a hand up to the small electronic panel. It was completely embedded in the wall, rendered invisible by the wallpaper. When I touched it, it lit up again, and a fingerprint appeared with arrows on each side. This was a biometric check? Did it mean there was a safe hidden in there?
Using my fingers, I tried to find the shape of it around the LED screen. There had to be at least a separation between the wall and the safe. As I spread my fingers around, I sensed it, a barely perceptible dent, and the cut in the wallpaper. I followed to outline the safe, which must have been twenty inches wide by fifteen tall. Holy shit... It had been right under my nose the entire time, so well-hidden, I hadn't noticed it despite looking.
I'd found the safe. Right here, behind whatever unbreakable material it was made of, there was Becker's computer. The solution to all our problems was inches away from my hands.
The joy of having finally found it was killed by the voices outside. Fuck, right... It didn't matter if I'd found it right now. What I needed was to make it out alive first, so I could tell Lex and we could find a way to break into the safe.
They weren't talking about Lex anymore, but the modalities of their next meeting, on Saturday evening. Stuck in the dark closet, I prayed and prayed that none of them would open the door. If they did, there was no way I would escape them. Even if I made a run for it and reached the corridor, I still had the entire penthouse to run through, and then I'd have to pass through a door that needed a guard to push a button to open. And even if I managed to leave, I wouldn't be able to come in again, ruining our chances of ever getting the laptop.
The two men evolved into the room on the other side of the panel, and one of them would sometimes walk right in front of the closet, making my heart painfully clench in my chest. Please, God... Please, please, please... Let me get out of here alive, and I'll be the most pious and perfect servant. I prayed in Spanish and in English, trying to remember what were the prayers I'd heard before.
What felt like hours later, even though it lasted for less than ten minutes, the two men outside left the room. I fell to my knees with gratitude, feeling like I could breathe again. The relief brought tears to my eyes, and I stayed in there for a few more minutes, thanking whoever had heard me up there. I would try to sin less for sure, as a sign of appreciation. My chest was still tight and aching, but it slowly improved as the tension left my body.
Once I was absolutely certain no one was coming back, I lifted myself to my feet and quietly opened the door. The brightness of the room made me blink a couple of times, and I turned back toward the closet to turn on the light.
Even now that I knew where the safe was, it was hard to spot. The wallpaper had been glued over the whole thing, and its intricate pattern made it impossible to discern the cut that followed the safe's edge. I lifted the small strip of the digital panel and touched it again. The fingerprint scan screen appeared again, and in a top corner, there was the word Smaug, which looked like a logo and must have been the safe's brand. When I came closer, I noticed a tiny hole right from the screen, pierced into the wallpaper.
Fuck, we needed to get in there. We needed that laptop.
Before someone could catch me in Becker's office, I lowered the wallpaper strip again, turned off the light, and closed the closet's door, making sure I left everything in the same state as before. With my ear on the door that led outside, I made sure no one was there before opening it and slipping smoothly back into the hallway.
As soon as I reached an area that I knew had a security camera filming, I halted my steps and angled myself toward it. After a few seconds, I signed "I'm fine," hoping Lex would see it and be reassured. The gesture was inconspicuous enough so no one else but him knew what I was doing.
Still, I needed to call him and tell him about my findings, so I headed over to the employee's section. I had to get to my phone and call him as soon as possible. It was hard to walk fast without looking suspicious, especially with short legs like mine, but I tried my hardest to find the right balance.
As I came closer to the kitchen, I recognized the housekeeper's voice. Fuck, if she caught me, she would send me back to work and I wouldn't be able to call Lex until much later. It seemed I'd used up all my luck back then in Becker's office, because right when I passed the open door, she called me.
"Hey, you!" I stopped in my tracks, mumbling a curse. "¿Qué estás haciendo aquí? [What are you doing here?]"
"[Lo siento, señora Reed. I need... a new pair of latex gloves,]" I invented.
"[Well, you'll get it later. Mr. Becker has a guest for tea, and I fired Camila this morning. I have no one left to do the service.]"
"[Camila is gone?]" Aw, she was a nice one.
"[Along with Eduardo. That's what happens when the help starts sleeping with one another. Anyhow, you look decent enough, you can handle the service.]"
Oh, no. No, no, no. There was no way I'd entertain Becker and his guest. "[I can't, I need to go back,]" I tried. Oh, boy... Mrs. Reed did not like that at all.
"[You will do as you're told, Perdita. The tray is here, you'll take it, bring it to the blue parlor, pour tea for Mr. Becker and his guest, and then get back to whatever you were doing.]"
Unsure what to say to that, I gulped hard. What the fuck kind of choice did I have? Frustration roamed through me, and I clenched my fists by my sides. After three weeks of looking for it, I'd finally found the safe. And now, minutes later, I was losing it all over an impossible conundrum. If I refused to do it, I'd lose my position here and never be able to access the safe I'd finally found. But if I served tea to Becker and Zane, I'd lose my life.
The choice was quickly made.
I opened my mouth to tell her no just as she lost patience and angrily pointed at the tray. "[Go on! The Senator doesn't have all day.]"
Her words surprised me, and I frowned, confused. "[The Senator?]"
"[Yes, Mr. Becker's guest!]"
Oh... So it wasn't the snake guy? Was he gone? Really gone?
Having reached the end of her patience, Mrs. Reed took the tray herself and shoved it in my hands. "[The blue parlor. Now. Try not to spill tea everywhere.]"
Still conflicted, I nodded and made my way out of the kitchen.
If 'Zane' wasn't here anymore, it would be unwise and pointless to anger the woman further and get fired. I was too close to the end of this to risk my strategic position here. I'd still be cautious, and if I was in danger at any point, I'd run for the hills.
The things on the silver tray clung together slightly as my hands trembled the whole way there. By the time I reached the opened double doors of the parlor, I still hadn't seen any signs of the tattooed killer. In there, Becker was sitting in the middle of one of the massive leather chesterfield couches, and in an identical one in front of him, I saw the back of what must have been the Senator.
I quickly scanned the room to make sure there was no one else, and walked in with the tray, struggling to keep it steady. I hadn't seen Becker since that time he'd found me staring at his butterflies, and I honestly preferred it that way. The less he saw me, the better I felt.
The men interrupted their conversation when they noticed me – something about an upcoming campaign – and I went to settle the tray on the coffee table between them. They both wore expensive suits, and the Senator must have been in the same age range as his host. Compared to his strangely attractive interlocutor, the Senator didn't have any sort of charm, pale, balding, and with a thick belly.
"Is this one new?" the senator asked.
"I think so. Haven't seen much of her so far."
"Can I touch?" Oh, I hoped to fucking God the man wasn't talking about me. Since I wasn't supposed to understand any of what they were saying, I held back my anger.
My anxiousness must have been obvious to them, as the teapot shook while I lifted it, but I made sure not to spill anything as I poured it into the first cup.
"You know my staff is off-limits, Parker," Becker replied.
"Unless you want them for yourself. I couldn't blame you, though. That Colombian girl was sublime."
My heart twinged at his words, but I concealed it. Was it what had happened to Ana-Lucía's friend? Becker had taken what he wanted and then had gotten rid of her?
"I know you already took care of the entertainment for Saturday," the Senator continued, "but this one would make a lovely side attraction. Look at that ass she has on her..." Right, I needed to get the fuck out of here.
As soon as I was done pouring the steaming tea, I settled a cup in its saucer in front of Becker. When I gave his to the Senator, he offered me a sweet smile that was pretty convincing. "Thank you, whore," he told me in a perfectly innocent tone. It took everything I had in me to remain impassive, and I offered him a small smile back. "I need to start doing like you, old friend," he told Becker. "I can see the appeal of having staffers who can't understand what's going on."
I excused myself with a vague smile and exited the room. I wasn't into politics enough to know who this Senator Parker was exactly, but as soon as I'd get home, I'd look for whatever dirt I could find on the pig and get him yeeted out of Washington.
"Are you sure we can't have her?" I heard the Senator ask.
"We'll see, Parker."
Shivers of disgust crept under my skin as soon as I left the room, and I shook them off with a grimace. It seemed Becker mingled with men as equally twisted as he was. Maybe Lex and I wouldn't stop with him, and would dismantle the entirety of his awful gang.
Remembering I had yet to call him to tell him about the safe, I made my way back to the staffer's rooms, and arrived at the lockers unbothered. After making sure no one was there, I quickly fished my phone out of my bag. I had several missed calls from him, so I wasted no time speed-dialing him.
"Are you okay?!" he asked as soon as he picked up.
"Yes, I'm good. Nothing happened to me."
"I couldn't believe it when I saw him on the screen. I— I froze, and it took me a few seconds before I could think straight and send you the signal."
"You still did good, baby. It gave me enough time to hide in the closet in Becker's office."
"They were in the office with you?" He sounded absolutely livid.
"Yeah, I nearly shat myself. But, oh my God, I found it!"
"Found what?"
"The safe! I found the safe with the laptop!"
"What! Where?"
"In the closet! It was completely hidden in the wallpaper, impossible to find in the light. But I think you made it glitch with the low voltage. It rebooted just when I was in there."
"Do you have any details about it?"
"Yeah, the maker is called Smaug, like the dragon in The Hobbit. It seems to be all digital, so I'm not sure we'd need a key to open it."
I heard him type something and waited for his verdict. "I'm not familiar with what they do, but I've heard about them."
"Baby, I need to go before the housekeeper catches me slacking. Keep looking, and I'll call you again when I'm off. Oh! And the name of the tattooed man is apparently Zane? I don't know if it can help figure out who he is," I quickly added.
"I'll see what I can find about him."
"Perfect! Talk to you in three hours."
"Be careful, Andrea."
"Yes, always."
We hung up, and I swiftly put my phone back into my bag before returning to my tasks.
I would be extremely careful from now on. We were so fucking close now, I could almost taste the sweet savor of victory on my tongue. All we had to do now was find a way into the safe. And as solid and advanced as it might be, it had a flaw we could exploit.
It was electronic. History had taught me that with enough patience and resources, anything was hackable.
Especially with our combined brainpower.