Chapter 200

200 Getting to Hoovers

It was the next day, and ready to find where Dr. Jameson is. I woke up from my comfortable bed, that was in my office-dorm room, and stretched as I looked at the clock that was on my desk beside my bed. It read 5:00 AM.

It was really early for me to be up, but I had to get ready for this mission since we were leaving at 6:00 AM to head over to his location, if we even had it. While I was making my towards the lobby, I heard someone catch up behind me.

I turned around, and my heart rose with glee.

“Hey Malachi!” I said as he rushed in with a very embracing hug, which made me laugh in happiness as I wrapped my arms around him as well, as I could feel his muscles were tensed up from excitement and nerves for this mission. “We have to hurry.”

“Yeah, we gotta go,” he said as we moved up the stairs and into the lobby. As soon as Malachi’s head barely showed, everyone began to clap in jubilation of his return. “Welcome back Malachi,” September said as she went over to him with another hug, then pulled away after a moment as she looked up at him with her smile widening.

“Hey September,” Malachi said as he grinned, “How are you?”

“Fine, you?”

“Could be better,” he said with shrug. “But here we are.” Agent Nelson looked back and gave a quick wave, before she looked back to the screen. “We found his location,” Agent Nelson announced. “Who exactly?” Malachi asked.

“Dr. Vance Jameson,” I filled in for him, as Agent Nelson nodded, “He’s somewhere in Las Vegas.”

.....

“How do you know that?” Nikki asked as she looked up from her computer as well as she stood from her chair to come over to us. “Max looked into his whereabouts, and we noticed a pattern in his daily life,” Agent Nelson began once she came towards us.

“We looked at where he’d be at a particular time of day and who he’d be with,” I told her as she looked at me with a confused expression. “We’ve also narrowed down what he likes to eat for breakfast.”

“What location do you think he’d be at?” I asked. Agent Nelson smiled as she snapped, catching Agent Max’s attention. “Pull up the security cameras to Hoover’s, which is the casino we’re going to go to first.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Max replied. Agent Nelson then turned to look at the screen. “I’m gonna get some clothes and a weapon from our team car,” she said as she left the building. “Hoovers?” I muttered in confusion, never hearing of that place before. Malachi shook his head as well.

“It’s one of the most prestigious casinos in Las Vegas,” September spoke up. “They’re owned by the Lobos.”

“Who’s the Lobos?” I asked September and she shrugged, “I dunno.”

“Me neither.” Nikki added.

“So you’re telling us that he’s somewhere at this casino?” I asked. September nodded.

“It’ll be hard to find him since he’s a secretive person, but we’ll find him,” September told me. “Let’s go.” She immediately made her way towards the elevator, as we quickly followed after her. As we walked over to the elevators, the doors opened and September rushed in first, followed by Malachi, myself, and Nikki.

“Hey, where are you guys going?” Tisiah asked as he ran over to our side of the elevator, making his way in. The door closed and I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest with all the nerves that I had. “This one should go well,” September said, looking at each of us, “But you never know what might happen.”

“He could have friends with him,” Malachi commented as I felt my heart rate go down, “He might have an accomplice.”

“Well, let’s just hope for the best,” September said. We walked out of the ground floor and into one of the SUVs that were in the parking lot. It was black and shiny, so it didn’t blend in with the other cars that were there. September quickly got inside and the rest of us got in after her, Malachi sitting in the front passenger seat, Nikki sitting in the middle, and me in the backseat.

“Alright, is everyone in?” September asked, as I gave a thumbs up quickly. “Great.” She quickly pressed a button and we began to drive away from the building. “Tisiah, you can take the back.” I saw the back open up and Tisiah got in, “I’ll sit in the middle.” Nikki sat next to Tisiah and then Malachi got into the front, pulling out his wand and activating his magic.

“I can’t wait to get my hands on him,” Tisiah muttered.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, feeling a bit concerned, especially after what happened yesterday.

“Connor Drails!” Tisiah said with a slight smirk, “You’ll see.” He seemed very happy. I felt a little uneasy at that moment, but then I remembered Tisiah had been there to save me since the beginning. But that comment was weird in many ways, and I mean really weird.

“That’s not a very good thing to say,” Nikki spoke up.

“Oh, I know that!” Tisiah replied quickly, “I mean it in a way that will benefit us all.”

“Yeah...” September agreed sarcastically, before she pressed her earphone. “What’s the address for Hoover Casino?” Silence was breaking inside of the SUV for a moment, before September nodded. “Alright. Let’s go.” The car suddenly sped up and made its way towards Hoover Casino. I could see the streets through the windows. It was clear outside, so I could see some of the city lights and buildings, as well as other cars that were driving along the streets.

“We’ll find him there,” September said to everyone, “And once we do, we’ll find out why he’s there and who he is working with.”

“And where the virus is I hope,” I added on quickly, as we sped through the streets of Las Vegas.

“Of course, of course,” September said as we continued to drive towards our destination, “You can’t have a virus without a virus.”

“Huh?” Malachi muttered in confusion. “I guess that makes sense, but how is that important?”

“Because,” September began, “If they don’t have the virus, then they can’t spread it to us.”

“I’m sorry,” Malachi said, “I don’t follow.”

“They definitely have a virus, meaning it has a location,” September explained, as realization came over us, “We’ll find him at Hoover and we’ll figure out what’s going on. We’ll stop it.”

“Why is he there?” Nikki asked. “It sounds like he’s not supposed to be there.”

“Probably isn’t, but he goes here every day. It would be a natural occurrence,” I said, as Nikki nodded in agreement with me.

“This is an investigation,” September stated, as she drove carefully, “We will find what he is doing there, and then we will deal with him accordingly.”

“Oh... so we’re going to kill him?” Tisiah asked, his tone changing from happy and excited to more of an annoyed one. He seemed upset with the prospect of killing the other man. “No,” September shook her head. “I hope not.”

“We could torture him first,” Tisiah suggested. “Then we could find out what he knows. Then we could kill him.”

“Torture?!” I shrieked in more concern, “What did this guy do to you?”

“I-I didn’t do anything to him!” Tisiah stuttered.

“Then why did you suggest that?” I asked him, and he rose both of his hands in innocence, before he let them fall back into his lap.

“I’m just trying to help!” Tisiah cried, “It would be the right thing to do!”

Worry filled the room, and confusion raced through our minds, but after a moment of silence, we all agreed to keep going to Hoover Casino. There were no other options besides going and stopping the virus and possibly stopping the mysterious spy mage, who was trying to do whatever he was planning on doing.

Soon enough we arrived to the parking lot, with the parking lot smelling like cigarettes and smoke.

“That’s not good,” I said to everyone, as I saw the smoking area.

“Yeah,” Nikki said, “That’s not good at all.” She began to slightly cough from the smell, before she took a deep breath in order to get over it.

“If the person we’re looking for is here,” September began, “We’ll see him here.”

“Okay,” Malachi said, as he was staring up at the building. “Let’s go.”

We entered out of the car and began making our way towards the casino, still smelling the smoke-but at least it was as bad before we went in.

“What are we going to say?” I asked as we made our way inside. I saw a sign that said, “Hoover Casino welcomes you to Vegas!” Trust me, Vegas hasn’t been really welcoming these past few days, and this place certainly didn’t help.

“We’ll just say that we’re looking for somebody,” September began. “If he’s here, we’ll find out what he’s doing.” We made our way inside of the casino, and when we did-I felt as if my eyes were completely just burst from the light, and I was blinded by the brightness.

“Ugh,” Nikki moaned, as she covered her eyes with her hands, while September covered her mouth with her hand to stop her from breathing in any smoke. “This place needs entire cleanup,” Nikki complained, as we made our way through the hall of gambling machines, slot machines, and different games.

We began walking down a long hallway where there were games like poker, craps, roulette, blackjack, slots, and everything in between. Men rolled dice and hosting games everywhere that I looked, but I saw no sign of anyone in particular that we were searching for.

“Where do you think we should start?” Tisiah asked. “There’s a lot of people here.”

“Let’s split up,” September suggested, as she continued to look around. “Malachi with Tisiah, Nikki with Connor, and I’ll just look for him by myself.” “You sure?” September chuckled as she looked at me directly. “I’m pretty sure I can,” she said with a very wide-but fake smile, “If you’ll let me.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes at her.

“Oh, I know you will,” I said with confidence.

She walked away from me, while I watched her with a look of amusement on my face. She looked like she was about to lose it, but I had a feeling that if she did, she would probably laugh it off, or at least not make too much of it.