Ardos, Cipher's Grand Master, is in jail. Over 20 years have passed since Snag Machines and the Purify Chamber were needed. A land where the sun outshines the gale of darkness seems too hostile for evil to thrive.
When two International Police offic...
Aiko borrowed a designer dress and wig from a dancer at The Under's gay bar. She stuffed tissues into a bra too big for her. Her chest looked a little lumpy, but it was easily hidden by a huge, fluffy scarf. Once her blue contact lenses were in, she called a limousine to take her and a Grunt, Elijah, to the Selenite Resort.
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Sunglasses hid his eyes. He looked the part in the tuxedo he wore to his wedding.
The sprawling resort and its rose-shaped colosseum were a hub of light in the darkening desert. Its reflection twinkled in its pools and artificial lagoon. Bellhops hurried to take the suitcases, filled with junk so they didn't seem empty, from the limousine. Aiko tipped them generously. It wasn't their fault they worked at a Cipher resort, or at least she didn't think it was.
Inside the air-conditioned lobby, there was a faint smell of fresh flowers. A guitarist sang. The floor was so shiny that their own reflections were visible in the perfectly clean tiles. Before arched windows with views of the illuminated colosseum, marble steps spiralled up to the great doors of a luxurious ballroom.
It wasn't Aiko who paid the limousine company or the resort. The Kalosian trillionaire she hacked wouldn't miss P5 million supposedly spent on an architect. She learned Kalosian from Lyndon's best friend and Lyric's dad, Verzant. Her accent was a little too Orrean, but the receptionist wasn't perfectly fluent, either. She didn't know any better. A bellhop wheeled their suitcases into the chandelier-lit elevator. It slid smoothly up to the 29th floor, where every sumptuous suite had its own floating pool amidst a lush garden.
Once the door shut, Aiko opened her laptop. The stickers were hidden by a plain black case. She loaded an app to scan the resort's network for hidden cameras. Elijah took out a radio frequency scanner. The only cameras were in the corridor. They weren't being watched or listened to. Aiko temporarily removed her scarf.
'I didn't expect to find any cameras... because I'm pretty sure most of the suites belong to the people they were built for... Cipher Admins. Their buddies probably stay in the others, like this one. They can't risk anyone accessing footage of them Cipher-ing. Now... let's see if they know how to hide their gadgets.'
The resort's network was as heavily protected as Lyndon's devices. That, Aiko thought, was suspicious in itself. No other hotel was like that. She took on the easier task of scanning for devices connected to the 29th floor's wi-fi.
'We have... Oleana... Primula... and her nephew... Leroy. But that's normal, I guess... they work here. Elijah... are you still confident that you can drop listening devices outside their doors without being detected?'
'I don't think I'll be detected, but... I'm starting to think... they're probably paranoid. What if they find our stuff?'
'Hmm... yeah. Once we're gone, it doesn't matter, so... we'll just do it right before we leave.'
