Chapter 9
July 11, 2034
Triad Casino Las Vegas Strip, NV
The opponent was Kara “Fireball” Simpson, nicknamed for her flaming red hair and her explosive punching power. Minerva was in for a good fight, but she was confident she could take her. It had been five months since her last fight, and she was a little rusty; but Minerva kept her skills sharp in the real world fighting thugs and goons twice her size. Kara shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.
Minerva and one of the other security guards from the Maximus had showed up an hour before the fight. He would be acting as her corner man, but had no knowledge of her real mission. She would ditch him after the fight. She had picked Mike because he had a reputation for being a ladies man, and she figured he would be distracted by the female fighters and fans. They had no trouble getting in and were escorted down to the fighter rooms.
She blocked everything out and started warming up. She needed to focus on winning the fight and then she could work on getting upstairs. Jonas had provided her with an electronic pick to hack the elevator controls. Where he had gotten it from she had no idea and he wouldn’t say. Despite their closeness, he still kept a number of things from her. That was okay, she didn’t tell him everything either.
Like how much she loved to fight. Or that the brief skirmish with the bikers had been the high point of her day and that she secretly hoped they would try again. It wasn’t that she hated men, she had boyfriends and lovers, it was that most men in the World After were dirtbags and scum and deserved to be taken down a notch or two. Women’s rights had definitely taken a couple of steps back because of the Collapse and the Aftermath.
At least they still allowed women to fight. That had been a struggle according to her old teacher. That didn’t surprise Minerva, it was hard to get taken seriously sometimes. Just because she was 5’9” and cute didn’t mean that she was harmless. Drunks and cheaters often found that out the hard way at the Maximus. And now “Fireball” was going to find that out as well.
Kara was shorter, but stockier; and had a reputation as a very hard hitter. She was known for her sprawl and brawl tactics, which meant that she liked to keep it standing and strike. Her takedown defense and wrestling was supposed to be excellent and her four losses had come by way of knockout after long fights. She was known to be tough, able to take a punch, and was very aggressive. That became a disadvantage in long fight, since there were no rounds. The fights went until someone got knocked out, tapped out, or quit.
The fight itself was short and decisive; Minerva didn’t want to take a chance at getting hurt so she ended it quickly. They started the fight circling and jabbing at each other; feeling each other out. Kara had obviously heard of Minerva and was showing her great respect by not rushing in wildly. They clashed several times and exchanged heavier blows, neither doing any real damage. Kara circled away again and Minerva started to get annoyed. She had expected this to go quicker based on Kara’s reputation.
So she dropped her hands and waved Kara in. The other fighter’s face got red and she became visibly angry. Minerva clowning her didn’t sit well with her. She closed the distance and they had a furious exchange of strikes. Minerva blocked most with her arms and gave ground. “Fireball” didn’t disappoint and came after her still swinging. Minerva continued to retreat until she was almost against the cage. The crowd was on its feet screaming and the adrenaline was rushing.
Kara sensed weakness and moved forward to pour it on. Minerva suddenly moved forward and clinched with her. Pivoting around she used a judo toss to throw the smaller fighter to the ground. As they went down she swiveled her hips over Kara’s body while holding on to her arm. When they hit the ground Minerva swung quickly into an armbar and bent her opponent’s arm the wrong way across her body. Kara screamed and quickly tapped out before her arm was broken.
She lay there clutching her hyperextended arm as the crowd cheered wildly for Minerva. The referee raised her hand in victory as she soaked up the adulation. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed the fights, and the glory; she would have to schedule more fights when this was all over. Minerva shook her opponent’s hand and made the obligatory apologies before quickly leaving the cage.
After she changed back into street clothes Minerva told Mike she needed a bathroom break and left him in the company of the other fighters and their seconds. She headed into the depths of the casino basement and made her way to the elevator with a short stop at the laundry along the way. She grabbed a cleaning crew smock and pulled it on over clothes. She grabbed a handful of towels and cleaning supplies to add to her cover. It wouldn’t withstand close inspection, but it would allow her to move around without anyone looking too close.
The elevator was surprisingly unguarded, but it was the service elevator and it was supposed to be locked down. She used the electronic pick that Jonas had provided to unlock the elevator and call the car down. The doors opened and she got on board. The pick also allowed her to bypass the security features and push the button for the high roller floor. The doors hissed shut and the elevator starting moving up.
It picked up pace and sped towards the upper floors. The numbers flicked by quickly until they suddenly vanished. The elevator slowed dramatically and came to a sudden stop. No number lit up on the panel to indicate which floor she was on, or between. Uh oh, this wasn’t good. The doors slowly slid open revealing an open floor without any rooms.
It was basically bare except for carpeting and the support pylons. The far windows were blocked off by a wall and there was a heavy steel door set in a solid frame right in the middle of it. She recognized it immediately. It was a security floor, with a scream room. Security brought unruly guests here to straighten them out, or sometimes to get payback. The floor was soundproofed and didn’t have cameras. What happened here, stayed here.
Six burly men in black suits and ties over white shirts waited for her in a semicircle outside the elevator. They were all tall and muscular and looked like they might be twins, which likely made them clones. That meant they were probably combat trained and had enhanced physiques. Clones were hard to come by, but not as expensive since the Collective had collapsed. All of them held cattle prods in their right hands and had very serious looks on their faces.
Minerva slowly exited the elevator and weighed her options. There was nowhere to run, the floor was sealed and she was too high up to crash out of a window. The floor was wide open so there was nowhere to hide. She could have stayed in the elevator so only one could come at her at a time, but that would have limited her mobility as well. Against hulks like this, speed and mobility were her best assets.
She hadn’t been able to bring any weapons into the casino. The security search was intense as usual and would have confiscated anything she had tried to smuggle in. But she wasn’t exactly unarmed. Moving first, since having the initiative meant you controlled the action; she flicked one of the towels open and over the head of the heavy to her right. He was startled and the towel snarled on his head and blinded him for a second.
Minerva was right behind the towel and slammed into him, which was a mistake because it was like hitting a brick wall. Boy these guys were solid. She recovered quickly and kneed him as hard as she could in the groin. He crumpled like all men do when they take damage to their crotch. She grabbed the cattle prod from his hand and spun around to face the remaining five thugs as he lay there groaning. Technically elite thugs, since they were a step up from the usual casino security.
All five had the same grim look on their faces. Minerva guessed that they had been told that she was dangerous and so they weren’t too surprised that she had already taken one of them out. Instead of all of them rushing her at once, which would have resulted in them getting in each other’s way, they spread out and tried to encircle her. She circled away trying to keep them in front of her as much as possible. The best way would be to keep her back to one wall, but that would trap her against that wall.
Eventually t
hey cornered her and two of them moved forward in almost perfect tandem to attack her. That’s when she raised the can of cleaning spray she had borrowed and sprayed them both in the face. Both brutes screamed and clutched at their eyes as the harsh foaming cleanser burned them. She darted forward and gave each one a jab with the cattle prod. They dropped like the big oxen they were as ten thousand volts flowed through them.
The remaining three started to look a little nervous. She had taken out half their number already and hadn’t even gotten as much as a scratch. These guys might be a step above the regular security but they didn’t have much real combat experience. Manhandling drunken guests didn’t prepare you to face a trained fighter, especially one with a lot of real world experience. She had to give them credit though, none of them backed away.
With a brief glance at each other, they steeled their nerves and came at her hard. All three had their left hands out in front of them to block any attempts to spray them, so Minerva threw the heavy metal can at the one on her left. He deflected the can but it gave her a second to attack. The danger of cattle prods was you only needed to be touched to get stunned, the attacker didn’t have to get in a clean blow or even a hard blow. But that worked both ways, in that it was also an advantage for the attacker.
In the brief second he had his vision blocked she struck at the guard’s hand holding his prod. A brief touch was all it took to numb his arm forcing him to drop his prod. Minerva dive rolled right by him on that side and grabbed his fallen prod as she passed by. She came to her feet and turned to face the remaining two with a cattle prod in each hand. She began weaving them around in a complex dance that would create a shield in front of her.
The last two men hesitated. This was definitely not going according to plan. They had obviously been expecting her, and had planned to incapacitate her in advance of interrogation. They had assumed six men would be enough and they had been very, very wrong. She doubted that the slaver boss was even here. Well, she would dispose of these two and see what was behind that big shiny steel door.
“Enough!” A voice boomed through the empty room.
The two remaining guards looked visibly relieved as they stood down. A young looking middle aged man strode confidently out of the other room as came to stand in front of her. He wore an expensive black pinstripe suit, no tie, and a white shirt open at the neck to expose his hairy chest and gold chains. He had on expensive wing tip shoes and his fingers held a fortune in gold rings. His dark hair was slicked back on his head and he had a huge arrogant smile plastered on his face.
She knew who he was the minute she saw him. Michael Gambrone, the number two guy at the Triad. His brother was the real owner, but he let Michael run it. He was very arrogant and treated women like crap, even though he considered himself quite the player. It was also rumored he had sadistic hobbies that had left several girls scarred for life. That explained the slaver connection.
His brother had publicly announced that Michael was a changed man and that even though mistakes had been made, he was a good guy. All accusations of abuse or torture had ceased at that point. Most people had assumed he just paid them more for their silence, but now she knew the truth. He was buying slaves and then disposing of them when he was done.
She started to move towards him, but he pulled a Beretta 92 pistol from a shoulder holster and pointed it right at her face. Minerva froze. She couldn’t outrun a bullet and she had no more tricks to even the odds. So she waited to see what would happen next. She would die before she became his next victim, but it didn’t hurt to see what he had to say.
“This is not worth the $5,000 in gold they paid me for you.” He said calmly. “Fixing the four guys you damaged will cost me more than that. They said you were a handful, but wow. You took out four of my best guys like they were chumps. The two standing are probably too scared to move on you now if I ordered them to. Impressive.”
The two remaining guards shared a sheepish look and shrugged. The casino boss dismissed them with a wave. “Go get your brothers taken care of. The lady and I need to talk.”
She eyed him carefully as the two heavies starting dragging off their unconscious clone brothers. The other two managed to limp away under their own power, but very slowly. The casino boss never took his eyes off of her as his guards left. He waited until they were gone to continue speaking.
“Don’t even think of trying anything.” He warned her. “I will probably get you before you get to me. And even if I don’t, you don’t want to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life for my brother’s bounty hunters.”
“That’s true, but I have no intention of becoming one of your playthings.” She coldly informed him.
“I wouldn’t dream of it. In fact, I think I can help you in your little quest.”
“What’s in it for you?” She asked in surprise.
“I like your style.” The casino boss told her. “Maybe you would come work for me?”
“Unlikely, I find your style disgusting.” She snapped.
He laughed. “I figured as much, but it didn’t hurt to ask. Let’s just say we might have an alignment of interests. I want Duncan Carter gone and you want to make him gone. How’s that?”
“You mean you owe him money and don’t want to have to pay him?”
“Exactly!” The casino boss said with a laugh.
“Tell me where he is.” Minerva demanded.
“I tell you and you leave and never set foot in this casino again. Deal?” He asked jovially.
“Deal.” She snarled back.