“A car bomb, weird lights, smoke, bangs, a whole bunch of tear gas, throw in some garbled communications. Help me, help me, we’re all going to die sort of thing. Then someone,” Jefferson made quote marks with his fingers, “will direct fire on the parking garage of this casino. By the time the entire Nevada National Guard has emptied a magazine or two into it, Stricken will think the monster is inside.”

“You really think that’s going to work?”

“Trust me. MCB are masters of hoaxes. If too many people are getting curious about a real monster phenomenon, then we make up some evidence to add to the real pile. Then when everyone is looking at that, we arrange for it to be revealed as a clever fake. That makes the real evidence look bad too, and pretty soon everyone forgets about it and moves on with their lives. There’s a certain psychology to this sort of thing…It really is rather impressive.”

“This is my not impressed face, Grant.”

“Fine, it only has to work for a minute. Anything else?”

Holly shook her head. “We’ve got it.”

“I’ve got to hurry.” Jefferson got a really awkward look on his face. “Be careful, Holly. I know we’ve got some history with me and MHI, but—”

She held up one hand. “It’s cool. Water under the bridge. You did what you thought you had to do. I can respect that. We’ll see you back at the Pancake Hut. Good luck.” And with that, she turned on her own flashlight and turned down the appropriate tunnel. Jefferson watched her for a moment, as if trying to decide to say anything else, then hurried in the opposite direction.

Mosh only banged his head on pipes twice more while trying to catch up to her. Holly was waiting for him next to a big green door. She kicked at a passing rat with her stolen shoes. “You think this is going to work?” Mosh asked.

Holly was inspecting the door, confirming that Agent Archer had already tampered with it. “I think we’re another part of the distraction. I think Myers’ real plan all along was to see what kind of weapons or tactics Stricken uses to respond to this fake attack so he can copy them. That’s his real goal. Our showing up was just gravy. Myers probably thinks that we’ll get caught, and when we do, by then Stricken knows the other attack was a ruse, MHI will get the blame.”

“But that means…” Mosh was flabbergasted. “What about the whole running to Costa Rica thing?”