Blood Money (24 page)

“Obviously,” Nicholas said. “We have already
set up one of the phones in the lobby for you to use.”

“Sounds good,” Kelton said. “What exactly do
you want me to say to him?”

“That you are in Las Vegas and that you are
ready to hand him the girl.”

“The girl has a name,” Jessica said from her
chair.

“You are right,” Nicholas said, turning
towards her. “I am sorry, Jessica.”

She flashed a humorless grin. “I’m sure you
are.”

Turning his attention back to Kelton,
Nicholas said. “Tell him you want to meet him at the Round Table
Hotel, near—”

Kelton was shaking his head.

“What is the problem?” Nicholas said.

“That’s not going to work.”

“Why not?”

“Because he always picks the places for us
to meet,” Kelton said. “If I try and push a place on him now, he’ll
know something’s fishy for sure.”

“Then do not push,” Nicholas said after a
brief pause. “Do what you normally do. Let him pick the place. But
I must warn you, if we do not like the situation, we will call it
off.”

“You guys do what you have to,” Kelton
said.

“Do not worry,” Nicholas said. “You can be
assured that we will.”

“All right,” Kelton said with a sigh. “But
no running around like maniacs after he tells us where to meet. We
have to assume he’s already here, and watching the meeting place
closely. So make sure your guys play it the right way. Keep things
as low key as possible. You don’t know Walter like I do. He’ll
sniff this ambush out if we’re not extremely careful.”

“Do not worry about our part of the job,”
Nicholas said. “You just worry about getting Walter to show up, and
we will take care of the rest.”

“Oh, he’ll show up,” Kelton said. “After
all, the old man trusts me.”

The phone on the far right side of the row
was the only one the NDC had tapped, but it was currently in use. A
man of middle-eastern descent was speaking an unfamiliar language
into the receiver. His face was a dark shade of maroon and spittle
flew from his lips as he spoke.

They walked past the row of phones and
stopped a few yards away, pretending to look at a menu framed on
the wall, waiting.

“I wonder if our friends are getting
anything good out of
that
conversation,” Jessica said.

Kelton laughed softly and snuck a glance at
the man. The tone of the conversation had softened considerably.
“If this thing doesn’t go the way we want it to, we’ll probably be
in a cell next to him tomorrow.”

“With these guys, I wouldn’t be at all
surprised,” Jessica said through her teeth.

The man hung up the phone and walked away.
Kelton waited a moment, then approached the phone. Jessica was
right behind him.

Kelton picked up the receiver, wiped the
mouthpiece on the front of his shirt, and dialed Walter’s cell.

It was picked up on the second ring with a
rough “Hello?”

“It’s me, Kelton.”

“How are you doing, my friend?”

“Same as before,” Kelton said. “What about
you?”

“Hanging in there,” Walter replied. “Did you
get yourselves settled in?”

“Yeah. We’re staying at a little place just
off the strip called The Round Table Hotel.”

“I know right where it is,” Walter said.
“It’s a nice little hotel.”

“It’s not half-bad,” Kelton said. “No
casino, so it’s pretty quiet.”

“Were you planning on doing any gambling?”
Walter said.

“I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“I think you should,” Walter said. “There’s
a casino I’m partial to, pretty close to where you guys are
staying. It’s called The Cleopatra. Have you ever been there?”

“I can’t say that I have.”

“You should go check it out, play a little
cards, have a few drinks.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Kelton said.
“What do you suggest we play?”

“I’d stick to blackjack if I were you,”
Walter said. “There’s a run of tables away from the main part of
the floor, on the east end of the casino, over by the Sports Book.
I’ve always had good luck there.”

“I’ll check it out.”

“Good,” Walter said. “And what about our
friend?”

“She’ll be sitting right next to me,” Kelton
said. “I’ve still got enough of a bankroll for both of us.”

“Sounds like a grand old time. I might even
stop by, say hello.”

“You should do that.”

“I think I will,” Walter said. “What time is
good for you?”

“The sooner the better,” Kelton said. “I
want to wrap this thing up as quickly as possible. I need some
sleep. It’s been a pretty tiring couple of days.”

“I hear you there my friend. Been a little
stressful for me too.”

“I’m sure it has,” Kelton said. “It’ll be
good to get this whole thing over with.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Walter
said. “How does an hour from now sound. Six o’clock sharp?”

“Perfect,” Kelton said. “We’ll be waiting
for you.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll see you soon. And
don’t get yourself into too much trouble before I get there. I hear
Vegas is a good town for that kind of thing.”

“I won’t,” Kelton said with a soft chuckle.
“I promise.”

He hung up the phone, glanced at Jessica,
and wondered if she had any idea what was going on here. He didn’t
think so. He wished he could warn her, but knew it wasn’t worth the
risk with all the surveillance in the hotel geared towards them.
That was all right though, she’d find out soon enough.

As long as everything went according to
plan, of course.

They headed back up to their room.

Nicholas beat them there. He was waiting for
them as they entered, this time standing in the center of the room
when they opened the door.

“Good to see you again, my friend,” Kelton
said as they walked in. “Did you get everything?”

“Yes we did,” Nicholas said.

“Is the setup acceptable?”

“Very much so. You did well.”

“Thank you,” Kelton said. “Although we’ll
see how well it truly went in a little while.”

Nicholas tilted his head slightly. “Why do
you say that? Do you think Walter may have seen through you?”

Kelton shrugged. “No. But you never know
with Walter. He’s a sly old bastard. I won’t feel comfortable until
you guys have him in custody.”

“Nor will I,” Nicholas said. “But do not
worry. Everything will fall into place. You will see.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The casino floor of the Cleopatra was a
beehive of activity. There were at least 40 tables lined up in the
center of the floor, and nearly every seat was occupied. Thousands
of slot machines surrounded the table games, their bells, whistles
and buzzers going off incessantly, people slipping bills into the
machines as though they believed the world was coming to an end
within the hour.

All the aisles were filled with people
walking around, talking, laughing, taking in the sights, and
generally making fools of themselves. Their dress varied from suits
and ties to t-shirts and shorts, their ages from 21 to 85.

“Absolute craziness,” Jessica said as they
walked through the aisles towards the area Walter had directed them
too.

“It sure is,” Kelton said.

“What the hell compels all these people to
give their money away? I’ve never understood it.”

“Las Vegas is the embodiment of the American
Dream distilled down to its most basic elements,” Kelton said. “One
in a million get rich while everyone else loses, gets drunk, and
goes off to look for sex.”

“And the one winner just ends up gambling it
away trying to double their winnings,” Jessica said as they snaked
their way through the throngs of people. “I just don’t get it.”

“Neither do I,” Kelton said absently. He had
spotted a scantily-clad young woman walking down the opposite
aisle, a tray full of cigarettes in her arms and a wide, impossibly
bright smile on her face. He turned to Jessica, told her to hang on
a second, then walked towards the cigarette lady.

“How much for a pack of Kools and a
lighter?” Kelton said as he approached her.

“Seventeen dollars,” the young lady said,
her smile nearly blinding Kelton with its radiating glow.

Kelton reached into his pocket, pulled out a
twenty-dollar bill and set it on her tray. She handed him the
cigarettes and a lighter.

“Keep the change,” he said.

Still smiling, the young lady nodded and
offered her thanks.

“What the hell was that all about?” Jessica
said when he was back within earshot. “I didn’t know you
smoked.”

“I was once known to throw a cigarette in
every once in a while,” Kelton said. He pulled the cellophane off
the box, dropped it in a trash can. “But this is the first pack
I’ve bought in years.”

She shot him a confused look. “Why now?”

He tapped the top on his hand a couple of
times, shook out a single cigarette. “What, you haven’t heard of
having a smoke after sex?”

“Of course,” Jessica said. “But usually it’s
right afterwards. Not an hour later.”

He put the cigarette in his mouth, lit the
tip, and slipped the rest of the pack into his front pocket of his
jeans, along with the lighter. “Hey, better late than never.”

Kelton finished his smoke just as they
arrived at the blackjack tables suggested to them by Walter. At the
end of the row was a $50 minimum table that had just opened. They
sat in consecutive seats near in the middle of the table. The
dealer nodded towards them, waiting to exchange their money for
chips. Kelton reached into his pocket pulled out some cash, set it
on the table.

While the dealer counted the money, Kelton
let his eyes wander. He was trying to get a feel for which of the
fellow casino patrons might be NDC agents, but as usual, it was
impossible to tell. There were simply too many people in the
cluttered area. He did however, let his gaze linger on the
emergency exit directly across from them, about two hundred yards
away. Nobody seemed to be paying it any undue attention.

“Are you sure Walter will be able to find us
in here?” Jessica said as the dealer waited for the pit boss to
okay the transaction.

“I’m sure he’s got his eyes on us
already.”

“So this is it, huh? The moment of
truth?”

Kelton nodded. The pit boss gave his
approval and the dealer pushed the chips forward. Both Jessica and
Kelton put out two $25 chips and then watched as the dealer turned
over a blackjack on the first hand.

“Typical,” Jessica said. She put out another
$50 bet to replace the one the dealer had taken.

This time the dealer turned over two kings.
Once again, he took both their chips.

Jessica snorted, shook her head. “This is
why I don’t gamble.”

Kelton said, “I had a friend once who,
whenever anyone asked what he did, told them he was into trading.
They would eventually ask what type of trading he did, and he’d
tell them that he worked at a casino.”

“How is that trading?” Jessica asked.

“That was the question he always got,”
Kelton replied as the dealer pulled yet another blackjack and took
everyone’s money.

“And what did he tell them?”

“That people traded him their money for
chips, and then their chips for unhappiness.”

Jessica smiled. “That’s not half-bad,” she
said. “But what does it have to do with anything?”

“It doesn’t,” Kelton said. “I’m just trying
to keep myself from thinking about what’s going down right
now.”

A young man in a shirt and tie sat down next
to Jessica. The dealer paused, waiting for the money to hit the
table. The man told her to go ahead, he’d get in on the next
hand.

“What time is it anyway?” Jessica said.
“They never have clocks in these places.”

The man to her right looked at his cell
phone, which he had set on the table in between him and Jessica. “A
couple minutes past six.”

She said thanks and flashed him a smile.

He returned the smile. “My pleasure.”

“I think you just made his night,” Kelton
whispered to Jessica.

She giggled softly and gave him a kick under
the table.

Kelton smiled and had just started to reach
out with another two green chips to bet on the next hand when he
heard the braying of an alarm. It was followed immediately by
another, then another, until the whole casino was filled with the
sound, drowning out even the slot machines that dominated the
floor.

The alarms were followed by what sounded
like a thousand showers being turned on at the same time. Suddenly
water was falling in sheets as the fire sprinklers that were set in
three-foot intervals along the ceiling all went off at once. The
casino was filled with screams—some panicked, some angry, most
indiscernible—and then the floor started to rumble as the masses of
people ran for cover.

Kelton immediately understood what was
happening. He grabbed Jessica’s arm, turned, and headed through the
mass of people towards the emergency exit he’d been eyeing when
they’d first sat down.

“What’s going on?” Jessica said, yelling
over the rising din.

“Just keep your head down and your face
covered,” Kelton said. “I’ll explain later.”

With Jessica in tow, he made his way around
a large group of Japanese tourists who were trying to escape the
torrent by huddling together, over a young couple who were cowering
on the floor, and past a 25 year old kid in a suit and tie who was
standing directly under one of the sprinklers with his hands up in
the air, yelling obscenities.

People were running in all directions,
trying desperately to find some respite from the flood of water
coming down on them from the ceilings, but there was nowhere to go.
The water from the sprinklers covered every square inch of this
section of the casino floor, drenching everything below them with
impunity. Security guards ran through the aisles recklessly, while
pit bosses stood in the middle of the downpour, screaming at
dealers to cover the chips and stand guard.