Chasing the White Lion by James Hannibal (best free e book reader .TXT) 📗

the slate would only lead Talia to her own room or the Grand Bazaar, making her hunt in the maze a challenge, even with her eidetic memory. Talia had to lean on Eddie and his algorithms, sending directions to her augmented reality glasses. But her geeky human navigation aid kept getting sidetracked.

“Kill or be killed.” Eddie mimicked the deep voice of the lion. “There is no mercy in this dojo. This guy is like a furry criminal version of the Cobra Kai sensei.”

Talia paused at an intersection, waiting for Eddie to send her a direction. “John Kreese was a criminal too. He beat up kids.”

“John Kreese. You know the sensei’s name. So you’re a fan.”

“I saw Karate Kid once. What part of eidetic memory don’t you get?”

“But you did see it.”

“Eddie.”

“Right. Uh . . .” An arrow appeared in her vision, created by her lenses. “Go straight. I’m directing you to a stairwell. Tyler says the elevators are death traps.”

“How comforting. Thanks.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

The danger early in the game was minimal. As long as Talia’s personal score stayed under ten million, any player who killed her in a hostile takeover would be losing money. But once she covered her ante, she’d have a target on her back.

“Heads up, Talia. Someone’s approaching above.”

Two floors up, she saw the figure. “Jeans. Overcoat. It’s Rudenko, the Snow Leopard.”

“Let him go. We don’t need any stolen terra-cotta figures or Incan headdresses tonight.”

She paused, staring past the Ukrainian antiquities dealer. Above the maze levels, she saw the Atrium. Boyd had filled it with tropical foliage. Something padded across one of its clear walkways. “Eddie. Check the footage. Was that—”

“An actual white lion? Yes. I did some reading about them on the plane. The latest population study I could find was 2018. There were only thirteen left in the wild. But captive white lions show up in smuggling busts and private collections nearly every year.”

“Insane.” Talia shook her head and kept moving. She needed to find her way to the Grand Bazaar promenade, and soon. With Eddie’s profile of earlier Frenzies, Tyler had predicted a physical marketplace, and portions of his plan hinged on the concept. She and Val needed one of those bays.

In the kickoff video, the White Lion had told them the promenade was in the eastern tower. Five aerial walkways joined the two structures. Only one served the Frenzy floors. Talia could see it, glowing blue with high-lumen LEDs, but no matter what she and Eddie tried, she couldn’t get there.

After a half hour of wrong turns and dead ends, Talia found a spot with a clear view and checked the scoreboard—a two-story screen on the central cylinder where the elevators were housed. Two of the bays were taken. Rudenko and Atan, veterans of the game, had already staked their claims. Only one remained.

To make matters worse, the lines for Panthers Eight One and Eight Two had each grown to over three million dollars. Val had made their first scores. Talia had to reach the bazaar, claim the last bay, and get back to the room before her partner had made enough money to turn her into a target. “Val, slow down for me.”

Eddie answered for the grifter. “She can’t. Tyler’s orders. You two have to keep up.”

“Then make me a map to the bridge.”

“Almost there. My computers are analyzing your video, crunching the data. I should have final directions soon.” He paused. “I’ve got movement in your field of view. Check one o’clock low.”

Talia looked slightly right and down. Two floors down she saw a woman in a hoodie. “I see her. It’s Bi Fan.” The Clouded Leopard held the same gray device out in front of her as before. She was heading in the general direction of the sky bridge, one floor up from her and one floor down from Talia. “Eddie, she’s heading for the bazaar.”

“Concur. Hang on. I don’t have a path yet.”

“I don’t have time to hang on. We lose that bay, we lose half the plan.”

CHAPTER

SIXTY-

SIX

WESTERN TOWER

TWIN TIGERS COMPLEX

BANGKOK, THAILAND

BI FANSTOPPEDANDLOOKEDUP. Talia watched her, gauging the hacker’s intent. “I’m so close to the stairwell, Eddie. How hard can it be?”

The two stared each other down for another long second, then both broke into a run.

“No, no, no!” Eddie shouted into Talia’s ear. “Go the other way. The other way!”

He wanted her to run in the opposite direction of her goal, not an easy task for Talia. She slowed, letting Bi Fan pull out ahead. “You sure?”

“The stairwell’s a trap. It’s a double—one good, one bad, side-by-side so you can’t see. Trust me!”

Trust.

“Turning. I’m in your hands.”

Eddie directed her back along the corridor twenty meters to another passage. It didn’t look good.

“We’ve been this way before. It’s a dead end.”

“Not according to the computer. Try running your hand along the wall.”

The computer was right. Near a false dead end, Boyd had planted another optical illusion. The wall to Talia’s right didn’t connect with the back. An opening, wide enough for her to slip through, gave her access to a parallel hallway and an intersecting passage.

“Take the new passage straight to the stairwell,” Eddie said. “You’re set.”

Talia checked on her competition. “Bi Fan got there first. She’s on her way up to the bridge.”

“I’d bet you your five-point-seven-million-dollar score she isn’t.”

“Five-point—” Talia shot a glance at the scoreboard. “Been busy, Val?”

“Having the time of my life, darling. Remember, don’t get killed.”

“Thanks.”

Talia hit the stairwell at a sprint and took the clear steps as fast as she dared. A fall and a broken neck would be a dumb way to end the mission. Below, Bi Fan had stopped at the bridge level. The gray device was gone, replaced with a ceramic stiletto.

“Our hacker is waiting to take me out.” Talia’s hand moved to her waistband.

Eddie read her mind. “Leave your gun hidden. She’s waiting because she’s stuck.”

Trust.

Trust came a lot harder with the threat of deadly action ahead. Talia gritted her teeth and left her