Grant managed to find a seat and was greeted warmly as he received his counters. It was easy to survey the room and he noted that again there were doors at the back, these one’s not guarded, though there were a few security guards dotted around the room.
He chatted to the people next to and across from him, two men and two women. They were discussing a trip to Vestul.
“Go in Spring,” Grant advised.
“Oh, yes?” the Oncolutian woman asked.
“Yeah.”
“We’d heard Summer was best,” her husband said.
“That’s what they say, but I tell you Spring is better.”
“And why’s that?” the other man, a Tarancort asked.
“Everyone says go in Summer to see the Quorotoba and, yes, it’s worth it. If you get to see it through the tourists. Most of the natural beauty of it has been lost to carparks and cafes.”
“It’s the same the Universe over,” the Tarancort woman bemoaned.
“Yes,” the Oncolutian man agreed. “Anything worth seeing gets ruined.”
“It’s not just that,” Grant continued. “Something gets famous, mentioned in Vachier’s Guide or the like and then that’s it. That’s all anyone wants to see and they miss so much more.”
“So then, why Spring?” the Tarancort man asked.
“Firstly you get the Winter runoff. People go to see Hartlett’s Falls, but it’s not as famous as the Quorotoba because everyone goes in Summer. In Spring, after the ice melts, it’s magnificent. Plus you get the Vestul Garn blooming over the mountainsides and the Tickentine Forest is amazing. And then you can stick around for the Quorotoba if you like, catch it early.”
They all nodded in assent.
“Well, thank you, young man,” the Tarancort lady said.
“The Singing Forest of Oswith, also better in Spring,” Grant nodded to himself.
It was his turn and he considered his move before making it.
“Now, you’re putting me in a tight pickle,” the Oncolutian woman said weighing up what to do with her turn.
“Well let me ask you guys a question. What’s with the doors at the back of each floor? Where do they go?”
“Thought so,” the Oncolutian man said.
“What?”
“You’re police,” he said proudly. “Pegged you for it, I did.”
“Ex,” Grant said. “Used to be InterG, but they wouldn’t give me holidays in the Spring.”
The five of them laughed.
“Well it depends on the floor, dear boy,” the Tarancort man said.
“It’s not good to think about,” the Oncolutian lady said with a frown.
“How come?”
“We come here because we always have,” her husband said, “but it’s not the place it used to be. You’d think gambling was bad enough, but people want more.”
“Such as?”
“We don’t go in for such things,” the Tarancort man said.
“Now, come on, you know I’m not suggesting you do,” Grant said.
“Girls, illegal substances, banned gambling, we hear all such things.”
“Used to be owned by the Karillo Brothers, but they got themselves into trouble. Debt,” the Tarancort man shook his head sadly. “Bought by a Gothra. Shady person.”
“Gothra? How do you know that?” Grant asked surprised.
“Used to be in banking, still have some contacts. It was buried, but that was where the trail ended.”
“Kept himself busy one terrible winter, that little search did,” his wife said.
“Interesting. So what’s behind these doors? Any idea?” Grant asked.
“Can only say I’ve seen staff come and go,” the Oncolutian woman said and they all agreed.
“If you want to know more about the workings of the place, you should talk to Harper,” the Oncolutian man said.
CHAPTER 19
They met back at their little hotel to share information. It was generally agreed that it was an inside job and that was good because Grant and Tsyrker had already booked rooms at the casino. Kov had also booked a room while the others were scoping the place out and was able to get some equipment inside. This was mainly audio equipment. For this they needed radios that couldn’t be seen by security and such small equipment needed a boost receiver close by. He had also taken in equipment that would hopefully safeguard the radio transmissions as well as stuff that Gulch needed to help lock down the security.
“So what did we learn?” Grant asked before taking a drink of his beer.
“If we need a diversion, the Rey’o floor seems good,” Loveritto said. “Not unusual for someone to have a blow out there.”
Grant nodded.
“Yes. Good.”
“Cameras everywhere,” Tsyrker said. “I hate to assume, but I’d think they’d have a lot of people watching them.”
“Good alarm system, I noticed it on all the doors,” Tandish said.
“Right,” said Grant, “making it difficult to do when the casino is closed.”
“Unless we take out the alarm,” Regrette said.
“Difficult,” Gulch said. “Places like this, you can’t cut the alarm from inside the building.”
“You know that?” Regrette asked back.
“We’re pretty certain,” Gulch nodded.
“Where could we cut it from?” Kaskey asked.
“No idea,” Gulch admitted.
“And how’d you go, Kas?” Grant asked.
“I made a name for myself. Showed I had the money to play with the big boys.”
“Then we need to get you into a private room. Gulch, we’ll need to fix the checks,” Grant said and Gulch nodded.
“More checks?” Kaskey asked.
“You have to get a scan,” Tsyrker said. “Prove you’ve got the money to play with the big boys. They’re in there to play big money and get annoyed if you bail from lack of funds.”
“We can do that?” Kaskey asked.
“We can reroute through a bank,” Tsyrker said.
“Cool.”
“And Stephen?” Grant asked.
“I had a wander. You’re right, the security office is big. Lots of eyes on the floors and the manager was competent. Not the best I’ve seen, but not bad.”
“Wait, you got out the back?” Kaskey asked in wonder. “Did you find the girls?”
“I found some girls,” he shrugged.
“And?”
“And it’s not like they let staff and guests wander into the places they hold slaves.”
Kaskey just stared at him.
“But how did…” he started, but dropped it.
“And what about you, Ben?” Tsyrker asked.
“Well I found out the place is owned by our friend Gothra.”
“Really?” Regrette said with interest.
“Which means it’s now linked to the Desards,” Gulch said.
“Right,” Grant agreed. “Which makes it more dangerous. We’ve just raided one of Gothra’s bars.”
“Well if we’re on their radar, we might as well keep going after them,” Regrette smiled.
“We’ll see,” Grant said flatly.
“I don’t think I want to be on their radar,” Tandish frowned. “We have to work on this planet.”
“You’ll be fine,” Tsyrker soothed.
“How can you know that?”
“I’ll make sure of it,” she assured and it worked.
Tandish didn’t know who this woman was, but she spoke with a calm authority; walked with assurance. If she said she would, then she would.
“I also met a man by the name of Harper. Turns out he knows a lot about the casino.”
“How come?” Loveritto asked.
“He used to work for the Karillo Brothers…”
“They used to own the place, I remember,” Loveritto said.
“Yup. Forced out. Got into debt, but according to Harper that was by Gothra’s design. He knew what was happening and he got out before
it all ended, that’s how no one knows him, but he sure is annoyed by it and looking for revenge.”
“What happened to the Brothers?” Tandish asked.
“I did hear of them a while back,” Regrette said. “Running a little beach bar on Doriss.”
“Well old Harper hung about and waited for the new management to replace people and then got a job there as a watcher.”
“A watcher?” Tandish asked.
“Watches the players, spots cheats,” Kaskey said. “It’s why I never tried casinos. Least not the big ones, watchers are too good. Known good people get taken down by them.”
“You get a job like that, you get good access,” Grant told them.
***
That night Grant sat in his room at the casino. It was plush, a perk of the job, though he was going to have to find a high paying job after this to top up his funds.
It was going to be risky, if they got caught they were dealing with some bad people. Especially if they were linked to the bar, though he doubted high up criminals would be too quick to admit they got caught out, especially as they lost nothing. Wouldn’t be good if they bumped into one of them here though.
All this for one girl, well hopefully four, and logically his brain told him it wasn’t worth the risk, but his heart told him a life always was. This wasn’t some trinket someone had misplaced, this was a girl, girls, who had their whole lives ahead of them. And what was it that Hounsards had said? Find Maggie Desard and they’d find a lot of missing people. People whose lives had been taken from them. It made him angry to think about it. To think that people could use and abuse others as if they were not as real, not as important as themselves.
He decided to take a walk, perhaps find a drink. There was a bar two floors down and he headed there. The casino would be just closing up, but the hotel above it was still going. The bar was full and had a lively feel to it, Grant assumed there was another bar for people drinking away the memory of their losses, though at this level, maybe they didn’t care. Some people had a well of money that never ran dry, but then it was that type of person who thought people could be bought, used and sold. Perhaps he should have stayed in his room.
He went to the bar and looked around while he waited for his drink. He could see Rainsford in the bar and even Kov. Kaskey would book in in the morning so it was harder to link them together. Regrette would find his own way in, as he was trained to do. He looked over at Rainsford as his drink arrived.
She was sitting at a table talking to two women about her own age and they seemed to be having a good time. That always surprised him about her. She was so serious about her job, he forgot she had a sense of humour, forgot she liked to relax. That was part of the reason she worked with him, he knew; that compared to what she did as a job, stuff like this was relaxing.
And Kaskey seemed to have settled down, perhaps because he was on familiar territory, using his skill set. Perhaps he was just focussed and forgetting the bigger picture. Grant couldn’t blame him for being hesitant, this was not a nice world they were walking through and most people didn’t want to see that. Thankfully most never did.
The Universe was an amazing place and the United Trading Network was a wonder. A body that spanned the entire Universe and, with the exception of the Laikan War, kept it peaceful. Everyone had the right to live happily and enjoy all the good things the Universe had to offer. He wondered how long it could last, surely they were living the dream and dreams flee in the light of morning. And it was people like Gothra, like the Desard family, that were helping to crack the peace. They were like rot that slowly spread through a house until the whole thing fell down.
***
She had been missing for fifteen days by the time Grant sat down with the local police. He knew he was dreaming because Kas was there and that wasn’t right. They were sitting in an office as the officers ran through the case. All Grant could think of was the waste of time. Why hadn’t this just come through to the InterG straight away? He went straight from the meeting to the scene and Kaskey followed along dejectedly. All he could do was moan that they were wasting their time and that the girl was gone. It was too late, Grant, you know that. Just file it and be done. Kaskey, who hadn’t been Kaskey, would be the first in a long line of partners that Grant would have. He told his partner to go back to the station, file reports; do what he wanted. Grant was going to stick around though he knew Kaskey was right. There would be nothing there to find anymore.
No, that wasn’t right, there was enough to look. His dream had jumped and he was interviewing a friend as his partner, now Rainsford, looked on bored while leaning on the doorjamb. It was all covered in the original police report, but it was through a different lens. That was what his superiors wouldn’t see. They thought in terms of solving cases and they had timelines all worked out as to whether a case could be successfully solved or not. This case had already passed the line for being solved.
Except it hadn’t, there was information here, there was a lead, but the locals had read it as a runaway. No one had bothered to come back to it when it had become clear that she hadn’t. It was like a hamster wheel where all they did was change the hamster and hope it might get somewhere the others didn’t.
***
The next morning Grant took an early morning stroll out in the streets. The casino didn’t open until lunch time, at least the top one didn’t. Mostly only those that catered to the desperate opened in the morning, though some of the more touristy casinos opened for jovial holiday makers to have a flutter before heading out for the day. He walked to the Grackhaus Gallery having read about it in his hotel room. It held a number of paintings by the artist Scofus and Grant was interested to see what all the fuss was about.
It was in front of ‘The Crash of the Spaceship Theotarkin’; a massive rendition of a spaceship on fire that was about to crash into water; that he met with Kaskey.
They both stood and looked at it, not once looking at each other.
“They say it’s on the planet Trinx,” Grant commented.
“So I hear, though they’ve never found it so…”
“Yeah, hard to believe.”
“You ever think about stuff like that?” Kaskey asked.
“There’s enough to think about in the Universe without thinking beyond it. Or worse, to other Universes.”
“I read a book on it once. Other Universes, I mean. It was left in a hotel room and I got so into it I missed my mark.”
“Well let’s focus on today. You ready?”
“Yeah. I really think I am,” Kaskey nodded to himself
“It’s a hustle, plain and simple.”
“I know that, man, I didn’t think we were meeting for a pep talk.”
“Well you’re getting one. You’re not in there to save anyone, you’re there for information. If anyone knows about the ‘extras’ the casino offers it will be the people in that room.”
“I got it, I told you.”
Grant put down a bag he was carrying.
“Clothes. Any girl you get to your room, get her changed and we’ll walk them out.”
“Cool. We done?”
“No,” Grant said with frustration. “It’s that attitude that’ll get us all in trouble. Calm your jets, Kas.”
They fell silent as a young couple looked at the painting.
“We’re going in for one girl, Kas, like it or not,” Grant continued after they had gone. “Above all we have to do the job we’re being paid for. You don’t endanger yourself or this mission to save others.”
Kaskey couldn’t help but look over at Grant.
“I know, alright,” Grant said.
Kaskey looked at the painting again. He didn’t know what to feel. They were going to leave others to the fate they were trying to save one girl from? He could see on Grant’s face that he didn’t like it either, but he had the brain of a cop, he had to make these kind of decisions. That didn’t make it any easier for Kaskey to swallow.
“Alrig
ht, man, but if I can I will.”
“Good,” Grant smiled a little at the painting. “And Kas? If it all goes south, then just leave. Keeping your cover is better for everyone, including the girls.”
“OK,” this he could accept.
He didn’t like it either, but as a hustler he knew when to walk away in order to win the long game.
“Good. Good luck,” Grant said and walked off to look at other paintings.
Kaskey left to book into the Loggajello Casino.
***
Rainsford Tsyrker had gone to breakfast in the restaurant and then hit the gym and the pool. Afterwards she went to the reception.
“Good morning, madam,” the Grey behind the desk greeted.
“I hope it is,” Tsyrker replied. “My people should have contacted you about a private entertaining room.”
“And under what name is that?”
“Coterro.”
“Ahh yes, Ms Coterro, we’ve had something in this morning. You are entertaining a Mr. Charles who already has a room booked.”
“Good, that is good to hear. He’ll want to play the tables of course, but afterwards I want to make sure he has anything that he wants. This is a very important deal,” she looked at his name badge, “Mr. Bozeernere. Can you do as I wish?”
“I am not in a position to say anything other than to confirm your room booking. I shall, however call down one of our events staff.”
“Events manager,” Tsyrker said firmly.
“Of course,” Bozeernere nodded and picked up a phone.
“I shall meet with them in the bar,” she said and walked away.
***
Stephen Regrette had spent the morning getting the casino ready for opening. He had cleaned tables and made sure that all the machines worked. He’d never tell anyone, but he really enjoyed it. He always liked this part of the job, pretending to be someone else, usually someone with a menial job, though he didn’t think of them as menial. It was the little people that kept the Universe running. Kept it clean; kept it working; kept it communicating; kept it safe. And yet it was the little people who got trodden on the most. Got the lowest pay and no recognition. What would happen to the UTN if all the so-called menial workers stopped doing what they did? How long before people couldn’t move due to rubbish? Couldn’t communicate due to broken machinery? No more public transport, no one to make the spaceports run. But he liked it because he liked the work. Just walking around cleaning tables, taking pride in seeing them glean at the end. Getting chips and cards for each table knowing that because of him people could play. It was easy and his mind could be at peace. There was no threat of death because he did this job well, or failed at it. It was peaceful and he liked the attention to detail so many of these jobs required.