“Nice, smooth way to change the focus on you. Her name’s Paige. I haven’t seen her in years, not since that time we went to San Francisco.”
San Francisco was two years ago. It had been one of our leads on Balthazar that led nowhere.
I was glad though that Wes had found someone.
“Maybe you’ll see more of her after this,” I filled in.
“I want to, it’s not good to live the way we do sometimes. I love the adventure, the thrill of the shit we get up to but it’s a nomads way. Comes a time when you want some place to call home and a woman to call yours.” He chuckled.
I’d never heard him talk like that before, not in all the time I’d known him.
“Why haven’t you mentioned her before?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m always mindful of what you had with Claire. I see the way you look sometimes whenever someone hints at what happened or you might have to mention her. She was your serious. Paige became mine over the years.”
While it was nice to hear she was his serious, I felt bad that he had someone like her and thought he couldn’t talk to me because of what happened to Claire.
“Wes, I wished you’d said something. Hell, you’ve been with me this whole time helping me track Balthazar.” He had, and most of those leads we’d followed were of the dangerous variety where he could have gotten killed. “I’m happy for you. I would have understood if you wanted to spend time with her.”
“Xander, I know you would have.” He grinned. “Maybe I was just exploring what I had with her before getting in too deep. You know I didn’t exactly have the best examples growing up.” He raised his brows and I nodded.
I never knew my mother, and what I’d known of my father was enough to not want to know him. I grew up in foster care until I met Jack and Claire and lived with them. Jack was my example and if there was ever a woman he’d been with he always showed her love and respect. So that was what I knew.
Wes’ family however was a whole other story. He came from a wealthy family in Boston. He was the only child. His father cheated on his mother every chance he got. She killed herself because of it, and all his father did was take another wife who treated Wes like shit for all the time he lived with them. It was at least five years.
Then his father mysteriously died of a heart attack when Wes was twenty one and his step mother made it so she inherited nearly all of what he should have had. He tried to fight it and lost, that was when he headed off to this nomads way of life he spoke of and ended up meeting me. Both of us meeting at the right times.
“But, she’s your serious now?” I asked. I understood wholeheartedly what he meant by exploring what he had with Paige. I think I would have done the same thing too.
“She’s my serious now.” The proud look on his face was enough to confirm he was done exploring and ready to take the next step. “Last time she told me she’d wait for me. We message and write to each other as often as we can. She’s been studying and working abroad for the most part. She’s a paleontologist. She finishes up her current project at the end of next year. It looks like she may be thinking of slowing down then, being stationary here and teaching. So, yeah, maybe I’m hoping for a change or two after we get this done. And of course, after we find Balthazar.”
I was grateful to him for his support.
“Thanks man. But promise me you do what you have to do. I want to see you happy.”
“I promise, but if you’re implying for me to leave you to do what you have to, it’s not gonna happen. Someone has to make sure you don’t run off and get yourself killed.” He laughed.
He was right to put it that way. It held some element of humor but he was right and I was grateful. There were countless times that Wes had saved my life and more importantly we stuck together, more like brothers than best friends. He’d helped me get through the last few years, emotionally and physically.
“Well, I’m not gonna say no to that since someone has to watch your back too.” I dipped my head for a curt nod.
He chuckled then glanced ahead and the seriousness returned to his face.
“There.” Wes pointed down the path and shined his light ahead to a wall with graffiti on it. There was a drain pipe below that looked like it hadn’t been in use for decades.
“You sure?” I shone my flashlight over the area and checked it over.
“Yeah. This section here will tell all,” Wes stated pointing to a vent in the center of the wall across from us. “From our bearings it looks like we’re adjacent to the casino underpass. Directly where the secret chamber should be.”
I could see that. It was just knowing where to enter.
This section here could be good indeed. We were outside the chamber but the whole area gave off the vibe of secrecy. As far as I knew it didn’t exist and it could have been that way to everyone else too. Giovanni hadn’t made any kind of movements down here at all.
The place looked out of use, but I guessed that was what made it the perfect hiding spot. No one travelling the tunnels and no one knowing what was beyond them. If nobody knew about it, nobody would think to look down here.
It was perfect for secrets.
“Only one way to find out.” I got out my tool kit and pointed over to the large Deflecto style vent on wall above the drain pipe. “This looks like a good way in.”
Wes shone his headlight over it. “Agreed.”
He tapped on his temple signaling to switch back on the microphone on the communicators. I followed him as he switched his back on.
I wondered if Ethan could see the area well enough. “Ethan are you there?” I asked speaking into my microphone.
“I’m here, can barely hear you though. Lost you a few times. I can’t see much just a lot of darkness,” Ethan answered.
I shone my light over the area hoping it would brighten the place up a little. “Found an entry point, we’re going in.”
“Cool, be careful.”
I backed off my jacket but kept on the headlight.
Pulling in a deep breath, I took out my drill and started undoing the screws, hoping like fuck no one was on the other side. The knights were supposed to be away from the casino tonight, but that didn’t mean Giovanni didn’t have separate people down here.
He could have different security altogether, like he had everywhere else. This was more than risky.
The screws gave and came free. When I pried open the panel, light came through from the crevices of another wall before us, showing a cavity between the section where we stood.
I slipped through and thanked God for small mercies when I saw a metal door a few inches down from me. It looked like one of those standard maintenance doors you’d find in a subway.
Moving to it, I picked the lock and pushed the door slightly open. The light then illuminated the area revealing similar vaulted spaces and aisles to the ones above in Giovanni’s Castle courtyard. Up there, I’d mainly seen a bunch of diamonds in the vaults I’d been in. This section definitely looked different. It also didn’t seem like there was anybody else down here.
“We’re in,” I whispered to Ethan, still erring on the side of caution.
“Good work,” he replied.
Wes and I both went in. We held our guns at the ready and only put them away when we were absolutely sure we were alone.