“Take away all the lights and glitz, and what you have left is more lights and glitz,” Tiffany agreed, then frowned. “Say, speaking of being outside, didn’t the captain say something about our jurisdiction only being inside the complex?”
The stuntman thought for a few moments.
“You know, you may be right,” he said finally. “It seems to me there was something in one of those briefings. There were so many of them, though, I can’t recall for sure. Oh well, we’ve come this far, we might as well take a look before we head back.”
The light dimmed radically a bare dozen steps into the alley. The casino light shows were designed to impress and lure the tourists on the Strip, not the hired help, and there was little point in wasting wattage on areas traveled only by residents and employees. Walking down the alley was like entering another world, a land filled with shadows and blind angles giving it such an air of gloom and menace that it was hard to realize there were lights and teeming humanity a stone’s throw away.
“I don’t see anybody,” Tiffany said nervously, peering into the almost impenetrable shadows that lined the access.
“Maybe he woke up and moved on,” Doc said. “We’ll just check a little further, then-uh-oh.”
“What is it, Doc?”
“Just keep walking, Tiffany. Don’t look back.”
Too startled to think clearly, the actress immediately shot a look behind them toward the mouth of the alley.
There were three men, faceless in the gloom but unmistakably heavyset, following the mock Legionnaires. When they saw Tiffany had spotted them, they quickened their pace as if to close the gap separating them from the pair.