The Temptation by Cheyenne McCray

down from his stare. “I, too, do not forget faces and I’ve never met you. I am certain I would remember if I had.”
    As I gripped my evening purse beneath my arm I turned away from him, but still felt him watching me. He said nothing else and I thanked God that the elevator reached the floor where I intended to get off.
    The moment the doors opened, I stepped out and moved purposefully down the hall and away from the elevator. If he were still watching me, I would at least look like I knew where I was going. Which I did. I headed for the stairs.
    “Smooth, Lex,” came Ryan’s voice over my earpiece as I walked. “Now let’s hope he doesn’t put together your face with your disguise.”
    “No kidding,” I said beneath my breath.
    “As short as you are, the camera on your necklace doesn’t do a whole lot of good when it comes to seeing faces, even with the wide-angle lens,” Ryan said. “Wear higher heels next time.”
    “Even if she wore six-inch heels it wouldn’t be enough,” Zane said.
    “Bite me,” I snapped.
    Zane laughed. “We’ll leave that up to Donovan.”
    My face went hot. Damn it.
    When I reached the stairs I pulled open the heavy door and let myself into the stairwell. I was careful to let it close slowly so that it didn’t slam. When it was completely shut I tried the doorknob. Locked.
    I didn’t have much hope that the door that led from the stairwell to the penthouse was unlocked. I climbed the stairs and reached the landing, and tried the doorknob. Yep, it was locked. I reached into my bra and pulled out my lock pick kit.
    It took only moments before I had the door unlocked and open and I tucked away the kit. Very slowly I opened the door and peered into a hallway that was luxuriously appointed. A large vase with an enormous bouquet of fresh cut flowers was on a table in the center of the wide semi-circular area in front of a pair of double doors to my left and an elevator on the right. As far as I could tell, the penthouse probably took up the entire floor.
    I frowned. Now what? I couldn’t just walk through the doors and announce myself. That would certainly be convenient for Bachmann.
    My mind turned back to Rori and I wondered if she was in there. I prayed she was, and that she was safe and no harm had come to her. As evil as Bachmann was, it was hard to believe he wouldn’t hurt her, but it was all I had to hold onto.
    The knob of one of the double doors started to turn and I stepped back into the stairwell, keeping the heavy door open just a crack so that I could see through the narrow gap. I took my pendant, raised it, and held it to the slim opening so that we could record anyone who came through that door.
    A man stepped out into the hallway and I caught my breath. It was Senator Brent Mackie who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate. What was he doing here?
    Cold washed over me as he went to the elevator. If Bachmann really was in that penthouse, and Mackie had been in there with him, we might have a much more serious problem than I’d thought. This whole thing could go to the core of the U.S. Government. The fact that we continually saw government officials and judges regularly going in and out of the hotel at odd hours might be evidence of that. Of course this was D.C. and politicians were everywhere. But the hours were certainly odd.
    If members of the government were in Bachmann’s pocket, it might explain how I had been found. There was no telling what he could do if that was the case.
    Goose bumps pebbled my skin and I shivered as I watched Mackie go to the elevator and press the button. Maybe it was a wild leap to think members of the government were involved with Bachman, but why else would he be here?
    I lowered the pendant. “Did you catch that?” I said when Mackie was gone.
    Ryan gave a low whistle. “Sure did.”
    For the benefit of Zane, Nick, and Georgina who couldn’t see the video like Ryan had, I told them who had just walked out of the