In Pursuit Of ✔

Las Vegas

The drive from Tahoe to Bakersfield, CA was their longest yet, and Henley was thankful that she and Nick had gotten a bit friendlier with each other. It made the six hours bearable, having someone to talk to for at least for parts of it. In addition, the pair had come to a compromise when it came to music; Henley now played movie scores off of the Spotify account she forced Nick to get. Nick liked instrumental music and Henley liked music that she was familiar with; it was a nice compromise.

They only stayed one night in Bakersfield, and Henley was relieved that she didn't have any nightmares that night unlike the previous two nights in the Tahoe house. She didn't want to admit it, but Henley figured that sleeping in the same room as the C.O.D.E. Agent gave her subconscious a greater sense of security.

Now, they were making their way from Bakersfield to Las Vegas. The drive wasn't as long as the previous day, only about four and a half hours, but Henley was making the most of it by talking Nick's ear off. Las Vegas wasn't Henley's favorite place in the world, but she had a lot of fun memories of going there with her friends during school.

"And then this one time, we were at Caesars, not staying of course, but this was only about a year ago so it was the first time we had all been in Vegas and were 21." Henley was in the middle of telling Nick her college antics in Vegas with her Berkeley friends, the score to the third Harry Potter movie running in the background, "And so we were just wandering around the casino, we hadn't ever been to a fancy casino before, and there was this couple, dressed in full wedding apparel, not like Vegas wedding apparel, but like an actual full, ballgown dress and a suit with coattails, and he was sitting at a slot machine and she was behind him, sorta egging him on, but oof when he lost she just went berserk, started screaming at him, they had to be escorted out by security." Henley laughed and shook her head. "I have no idea what that was about but if they had actually just gotten married, I hate to think how that went."

"Henley?" Nick said as she paused to take a breath, "I really think you need to breath more when you talk about your college exploits, the lack of oxygen can't be good for your brain."

"Are you feeling alright?" Henley asked, mocking concern. "Because you just made a joke, and I don't think I've ever heard you make one of those."

"Ha ha," Nick laughed sarcastically. "Just because I don't doesn't mean I can't."

"And not to mention that wasn't even a college exploit," Henley carried on, "it's not like me and my friends were causing a scene, we just observed one. Where are we even staying, anyway?" Henley smoothly changed the subject.

"The Hilton."

"That's the second one we've stayed at," Henley commented. "What happens if they think it's a pattern and start staking out Hiltons?"

"Unfortunately, when it comes to Las Vegas, you have to be extra careful which hotels you stay at," Nick explained to her. "The big ones with name recognition and casinos don't work for us. Casino hotels have too many cameras. But we still want to avoid staying in small hotels. The Hilton is big enough to provide cover, but doesn't have a casino. And you can't start identifying a pattern until an event has happened three times. This makes two, and this is the last Hilton that we'll be staying at."

Henley shrugged, trusting that he knew what he was doing, and went back to telling Nick about her adventures in Las Vegas.

Getting out of the car as they arrived at the Hilton, Henley's body welcomed the warmth that washed over her after sitting in Nick's tundra for several hours. Still, despite it not being June yet, the heat was pretty intense and after just a few minutes, Henley had to take off her hoodie and was beginning to regret wearing jeans. She was thankful that Lela had packed her some shorts.