A security detail came in and began sweeping the tables for devices. This was done after the casino closed and again before it opened, they obviously didn’t trust their cleaning staff. He and the rest of the cleaners were told to clear out. The room would be locked from now to opening and they made their way upstairs. He had looked in the private rooms to find nothing out of the ordinary other than the amount of gold that was used in the fittings. There were doors on the other side of the room, but they were locked and another cleaner came in before he could pick the locks.
He went through the Rey’o room and straight to the back doors. They were unlocked and he walked into one. It was, of course, a hustle room. Rey’o was known to get tempers flaring and anywhere that hosted the game was wise to have a room that angry patrons could be hustled into to calm down. Or at least not destroy any more property or faces. That would also mean that the doors on the other side of the hustle room would lead to somewhere that led outside. They couldn’t evict angry drunks back through the casino.
He dusted the room, stopping to spray down what looked like a blood stain and giving it a good scrub, before moving to the door. It was unlocked and he peaked out. There was a corridor, bare of anything but lights and at either end were staircases, one up and one down. This is where he wanted to be, but to slip away now would mean missing out on what was on the next floor. A much more important room according to Grant’s contact, Harper. This guy had been a great help in terms of how the casino ran. He shut the door and cleaned his way back out to the gambling floor. After a while the security detail came in and they left.
This was the least guarded room he knew from last night’s surveillance, what with it being the room for mostly Cannabact tables. There were a few jackpot machines along one wall and again he made his way to the back rooms and again they were open for cleaning. He went in and found what he thought of as a coat room. There was only one room behind the doors and it was cut in half by a counter. He absently started dusting the top as he looked over it.
This was, as Harper had told Grant, an ordering service. This was where the staff came having been given instructions by people on the floor. He went back and closed the door before vaulting the counter. He stripped off his janitor’s uniform to reveal a security uniform underneath. Kaskey would have been both confused and intrigued by how he got his hands on them. Contrigued, you could say. And if you’re not by now you probably won’t any time soon. Anyway…
He started to hack into the computer. It was a smart way of doing it, keeping it off the radio meant that no one could hijack the signal, or simply overhear. The computer was a tough crack, but not when he plugged in a simple device that connected it to Gulch. He didn’t need to say anything, he knew that Gulch would see it and know what needed to be done. Unless Gulch wasn’t at his computer, he chuckled at that (as if) and as the little light started flashing he knew Gulch was at work. After less than a minute the screen changed and he started looking at files. There wasn’t much there, but then the cursor started to move on its own and Regrette stopped and waited. He could only hope this was Gulch taking over. He had to assume it was as he seemed to have cracked into further files or perhaps a cache of data. Regrette took control of the cursor again and looked through it. It was good stuff and he downloaded it all onto the little device he had plugged in. Smart move on Gulch’s part, an all in one hacking device.
He logged out and walked out into the barren corridor.
CHAPTER 20
The casino was bustling and had a good vibe to it. Grant had to give that to the place. It felt like a fun place to hang out despite having the sole purpose of sucking money out of people.
He’d gotten dinner with Rainsford at the famous Javillion Number 1 Restaurant and they’d discussed the latest novel by Hondiet and the recent film adaption of one of his earlier works. They’d talked cricket and places they’d recently been. She didn’t bring up Wotham, but he knew she wanted to. That would come later.
Now they entered the casino as a businesswoman and her client. She played the part well and he just nodded along to her endless spiel. They went to the bar and sat down with drinks.
“This could end badly,” Grant said.
“I know.”
“If it does we won’t be getting out.”
“They won’t call in the police once they realise we’re not robbing the place,” she said.
“Nope. Kinda glad about that, I’m not happy about shooting security as it is.”
“You and your ‘innocent henchmen’ shtick.”
“They’re just doing their job.”
“For people who break the law. You can’t believe they run illegal activity in a place like this without security knowing.”
“Doesn’t mean we have to kill them,” he pouted.
“Then don’t. Just make sure they can’t shoot me,” she smiled and he smiled back.
It wasn’t a great situation to be in, but it was still fun to work with Rainsford. He liked having her around, the way she saw the world; the opinions she had. So different from his own. And then there was Regrette, totally different again and yet they all got along, complimented each other. Who’d have thought it? The ex-cop, the spy, the hitman and the hacker.
They finished their drinks and she took him to the Lukbat tables. Kaskey was already in there, watching a game and talking to a Reutorgian. As they watched a seat came up and the Reutorgian motioned to it and Kaskey laughed and took it. Grant and Tsyrker took chairs at another table and played a few hands, with Tsyrker complimenting Grant’s game all through. Everyone would know exactly who they were; the city thrived on investment and she wouldn’t be the only one there that night trying to butter up a client.
“Shabbus, I wish I had your agent,” the Petruthsian across from Grant said. “I’d invest twice as much.”
“She can get annoying,” Grant replied.
“Yeah, but I haven’t heard her mention your money all the time you’ve been here. All my one talks about. Thought the business stayed in the boardroom.”
“Maybe we should swap,” they were both talking as if their agents weren’t there. “I might invest more if I had a better idea of where my money was going.”
“I’ll swap if she does business in the bedroom as well as the boardroom,” the Petruthsian laughed as if this was the Universe’s greatest joke.
It wasn’t, that honour went to the one about the old lady and the Salway bird in Ictopia.
“I like the Earthen ladies,” he continued with a chuckle.
“I’m sure a place like this can cater to your needs,” Grant said. “I’m certainly hoping it can.”
The Petruthsian said nothing, but winked at him. If Grant hadn’t spent so much time with Gulch he wouldn’t have known it was supposed to be a wink.
They played another hand and then Grant signalled for them to leave.
“Perhaps we’ll see you later. I believe we have a private room booked,” Grant said.
“For later, yes, Tsyrker clarified.
“Lovely,” the Petruthsian said and rubbed his tentacles together. “Latroth is the name.”
“Charles,” Grant nodded. “Till later then.”
They walked to the bar. Kaskey was no longer at the table, neither was the Reutorgian, and Grant hoped that meant his checks had cleared and he was in.
“Great, so now I’m going to have to fend off tentacles,” Tsyrker frowned.
“You could always shoot him,” Grant grinned.
“I’ll shoot you if he touches me.”
***
Loveritto and Tandish were on the Rey’o floor and Tandish was having a great time. Loveritto worried she was having too good of a time, he didn’t want to see her get addicted, nor lose Grant’s money. At this point that didn’t seem to be a problem, though her opponent’s tempers might be. She finished a game and he insisted they go to the bar. She was unhappy about it, but his stern face reminded her that they were there for a reason.
They
took seats near to the tables so Tandish could continue to watch. She had never found a game that used her hand to eye coordination like this. There were sports, of course, but the stature of the Grey was not suited to most of them. Neither was her personality.
“They should be getting into position by now,” Loveritto said.
“How long do we wait?” she asked.
“We’ll hear, remember?”
Right. They had the ear pieces in. She had forgotten about that and was glad for it. She had been terrified that someone would notice it; that it would fall out or that someone would say something and she’d jump.
The plan for them was simple. If nothing else was working then they would cause a distraction allowing for someone to slip through the hustle rooms. If it had been working and now wasn’t they would knock out whoever dragged them into the hustle room and find the others. If all went well then they were to leave and help get the girls to safety.
“I thought we might do more,” Tandish said.
“You seem disappointed.”
“A bit, yeah.”
“It’s not like in films.”
“How come I never knew you were with the police?”
“You never asked,” he smiled.
She thought about it.
“But we have talked about our lives, Loveritto, cooped up in that little office.”
“It’s just something I left behind. I got tired of working for the casinos instead of for the police. They’re in everything in this city, Tandish. You can’t do anything if they don’t want you to, even arrest people.”
“So why not just go somewhere else? Transfer?”
“The options weren’t great. Hard places to police. I guess I’d lost my passion by then.”
She smiled at him.
“Back on the beat now though.”
“Yes,” he smiled back.
***
Kaskey had met up with Awz, the Reutorgian he had played with the night before. He’d made it clear he had more money to bet, but it wasn’t that easy. While his funds were being checked, Awz wanted to check him out, make sure he had what it took to play with real money. He must have impressed because as soon as the check cleared he was invited back through the doors.
The room was impressive, a lot of gold everywhere, including the two tables in there. One table was full, the other only half. The first table seemed to have a serious game going on, but at the second they were messing around, no doubt waiting for more players. A waiter brought him a drink and showed him to a chair.
“This is Koloskaine,” Awz introduced. “He heard there might be some real gamblers in this city.”
“You been to Zazo?” a Human asked him.
This had been in his folder, information on all the expensive casinos throughout the Universe. He had to pretend he was a seasoned gambler and well-travelled.
“The Honnee Palace,” he said. “Bit too much show, not enough serious playing for me.”
“Right,” the Human laughed. “All glitz and glamour, but they took away tables to build a new stage.”
“If I want entertainment I’ll go to the theatre,” an Oncolutian agreed.
“What about the deserts of Peskini?” Kaskey asked. “I liked that the desert gave you nothing to concentrate on but the game.”
“Depends on the casino,” a Byfrok said. “Too many tourists out that way for the islands. Tourists ruin casinos.”
“Hence the private rooms here,” Awz smiled.
“Different type of tourist here anyway,” the Byfrok said.
Byfrok could be described as somewhere between ants and Humans. They had two legs like a Human, but then their body was shaped to accommodate another two sets of arms that ended in pincers that could be used as feet. So ‘arms’ wasn’t an entirely accurate description. The body came to a point between the two pairs of ‘arms’ so that the thorax was an hour glass shape and could swivel like a second pair of hips. The head was neither ant nor Human, it was an ovoid, like a stretched out egg, with a small mouth on one end, much larger nostrils flat to the head and eyes on the side that stuck out so it could look forwards.
“This can’t be it though, I mean just, what? Three private rooms?”
“There are others you can book, but they’re for the one’s that like the show,” the Human said.
“Hey, I’m not adverse to a bit of show, especially a private one, once I’ve got my gambling done.”
“We can look into that later then,” the Oncolutian said. “But for now, some serious gambling.”
Two Tarancorts had walked in and now took seats, giving them enough players for a good game and they wasted no time in dealing out the cubes.
***
Gulch pressed a button that sent a quiet beep to everyone’s earpieces. It let them know that he was about to start talking without, hopefully, making them jump.
He and Kov had been testing the connections and making sure they were secure, the last thing they needed was security, or anybody else, picking up their chatter. They could also switch on and off links so that they could talk to individuals without the others getting distracted by it.
“OK, we are live,” he said. “Please confirm you are in place and ready.”
They had all been given words to use in the affirmative and negative that they could use within their environment without raising suspicion. For instance Kaskey would say ‘nice’ for yes and ‘interesting’ for no as such comments to yourself wouldn’t sound out of place in a game of Lukbat.
Gulch got affirmatives from everyone and checked their positions through the security cameras that he was hacked into thanks to Regrette.
“How’s the feed?” he asked Kov through a different channel.
“No traces on it, we’re still dark.”
“Good,” he nodded to himself.
He watched Regrette on the screen. What they needed was more access to the cameras, but those that would film anything illegal were on a different system to the ones filming the playing floors. There was nothing else for him to do so he went back into the hotel’s computer system.
Regrette had found the system by which people could order things to their rooms or to a private function room such as Tsyrker had booked for Grant. It made him a little sick to look through the list, it was quite detailed in what you could get and what you could do with it, but none of it as troubling as the reason they were there for anyway. What was an issue was that there wasn’t any way of choosing a girl, if that was possible it must go through an actual person. That meant they couldn’t find Veronica Miles.
Still, he could book Loveritto and Tandish a room each and get a girl sent there. That would be two freed and though Grant was right in his insistence they get the girl they were hired to get, Gulch wanted to save as many as he could and he knew that Grant did too. Every person they left behind would eat away at him.
“Where are you, Regrette?” he asked.
“You’re not keeping an eye on me? I’m hurt.”
“In terms of your goal.”
“Oh. Just about ready.”
“OK, Ben, make your move.”
***
Grant and Tsyrker excused themselves from the table they were on and walked to the door to the private room that Gulch told them Kaskey was in. A security guard stopped them and checked Grant’s card.
“More than enough,” Tsyrker ensured him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And you’ll see he has access, arranged through the Events Manager.”
The guard looked down at his little computer, nodded and pulled the card out and gave it to Grant. He opened the door, but as they were about to enter he stopped Tsyrker.
“Sorry, ma’am, only he has access.”
“But he’s my client,” she protested.
“And he’ll have a good time in here, don’t worry, but it is strictly gamblers only.”
“It’s OK, Ms. Coterro, I’ll meet you out here in a little while,” Grant said.
&
nbsp; “If you’re sure, Mr. Charles. I’ll be waiting for you,” she smiled at him and glared at the security guard before walking off.
CHAPTER 21
“I need an in, Gulch, what can you give me?” Tsyrker said.
“We know from Harper that the plans are doctored to hide the illegal activity and Regrette found the room service for illegal goods so there must be a connection from the corridor behind the private rooms to the hotel floors.”
Harper had known a lot about the casino and also the wiring of the place, but he didn’t know much about the hotel nor the illegal areas, so they were still in the dark there.
“So we could just get girls sent to our rooms?”
“Yes, I thought about that; I could get Tandish and Loveritto a room too, but I don’t know if you can choose your girl.”
“And if we get into those corridors we should be able to find where they keep the girls,” Tsyrker realised.
“Yes, but we need the cameras first, Regrette is about to go with that so hold tight.”
“OK, on hold.”
“Ready, Steve?”
“How informal of you, we must be friends.”
“Are you ready?”
“As ever, here we go.”
***
Regrette had slipped a little device onto the bottom of one of the Kuutio tables on his way out after the security had scanned it. It was unlikely even a place like this could detect the kit they were using, Tsyrker supplied them with the best her organisation had. According to Harper the tables were linked into the security systems to stop people tampering with them whilst playing. All Regrette needed to do then was to find another access that Gulch could play with. He found that in a router to the sprinkler systems and had thrown in another device onto a jackpot machine just for fun.
“You got the link?”
“I’ve got it.”
“Show time,” Regrette grinned to himself.
Gulch hit a button and the Kuutio tables shorted out, the cubes on the table going dark, some of the jackpot machines switching off, some of them spewing space pounds into the faces of the surprised but happy players. As quickly as they went off they came back on again; the Kuutio tables were built to weather power cuts and the cubes came back the same colours they had been, but the players were still thrown off their games and annoyed.