“We will adhere to the following schedule when closing down each casino, from the Hotel at Mandalay Bay to the Stratosphere, for four hours each ….”
The mayor’s words faded in Rory’s ears as his mind raced to figure out a way to talk to Susan.
As the crowd was breaking up, Rory saw his opportunity to approach her. Carlos turned to hold back a large man who was angrily shouting at the mayor for daring to close the casinos, wildly shaking his fist. For a moment, there was a space between them, and Rory closed it, taking a step toward her. Even though Susan was dressed in full police uniform, Rory marveled at how gorgeous she was.
He took her hand, not caring who saw them. She looked at him in bewilderment and started to protest, but he cut her off. “Susan, please have dinner with me tonight. I need to see you, to talk to you alone.”
She paused, uncertainty in her eyes.
“Please.”
“Okay.”
And then the crowd moved like a giant wave, and they were separated again.
They met at Alize at the top of the Palms Casino Resort, one of the city’s finest restaurants.
Rory had wanted to pick her up, but Susan had insisted they meet. She was on duty that day and needed time to get ready.
He waited nervously in the classic French restaurant, looking out from his table through the fifty-sixth-story windows at the breathtaking view of the city skyline and the mountainous desert beyond. The sun had set, leaving a fiery orange glow in its wake, giving way to the rainbow of lights that flooded Vegas at night. Some might say man had outdone God in their handiwork, the lighted landscape outshining the night sky, with new “stars” being added as the years passed.
But it all faded in comparison to the vision who walked toward him now, Rory thought with a smile.
Susan approached him slowly, shyly yet beguilingly, dressed in a black sequined tea-length sheath that draped over one shoulder and clung to her curves. Her hair was sleekly twisted up along one side, curls cascading down the other onto her bare shoulder like burnished copper.
Rory reminded himself to breathe, to say hello, to pull her chair out for her, all the while thinking, my God, she is stunning.
He was glad he had decided to get decked out in his best black suit for the occasion, had gotten a haircut, and bought a new tie.
All of the guys back at the Condo had recommended this as the place to impress that special someone. Rory knew dinner would be expensive, but he still had to force himself from reacting when he glanced down at the menu. The prices ranged from thirty dollars for an appetizer to eighty for an entrée, not to mention close to two hundred dollars for a serving of caviar. If left to Rory’s preferences, they would have been eating at the diner where his starched shirt wouldn’t chafe his neck, he wouldn’t feel so awkward, and he wouldn’t be worried that he might not have enough money for a plane ticket back home.
But this is a once-in-a-lifetime place with a once-in-a-lifetime woman. That unbidden thought surprised him. Before he had met Susan, Rory had figured he was finished with women. He had always managed to pick the wrong ones. Haley had been a prime example. Many years ago when he had dated his now ex-wife, she too had been beautiful and seemed innocent, virtuous, and loving.
Time and bitter battles over money and how to raise their kids had not only come between them, but in Rory’s opinion, they had turned Haley into a selfish, spiteful shrew. In the end, nothing he said or did was ever good enough for her. He knew he was also to blame for the failure of their marriage, and not only because of his affair. He had allowed his ex-wife and his guilt to overpower him, rob him of all hope, all joy, and any relationship with his kids. To survive he had eventually become numb to her and unfortunately, to his children and to life itself.
Rory had dated a few women since his divorce, but he had always maintained a detached air of defensiveness, which they all subsequently detected. It didn’t matter how pretty or smart or nice or funny they were. After a time he believed it was just easier to be alone.
Strangely enough, he had never felt lonely—until he met Susan. And even here and now in the city that he felt was the root of evil, or at least all of the evil that had befallen him, he still felt that stone barrier inside crumble a little bit every time he looked into her eyes.
She was pretty, smart, nice, funny and so much more. She was kind and compassionate yet spirited and strong.
“Rory?”
He raised his eyes to meet hers and felt his cheeks flush.
“You were lost in another world. I was wondering what you’re going to order. Maybe we should just get a glass of water. I can’t believe these prices!” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Are you sure you want to stay? This dinner would cost me a week’s salary!”
Rory smiled. “It’s okay, you’re worth it. Let’s not worry about money or time or our jobs or anything else but enjoying each other. Tonight, you are a princess. Let me treat you like one, like you deserve to be treated.”
Now Susan blushed, speechless.
“Ah … that’s better.” Rory suddenly chuckled.
Susan frowned. “What’s so funny?”
“I was just remembering how you spoke up at the conference table when you were being excluded from our trip to see the mayor.” Rory laughed. “You were pretty outspoken. I was secretly really proud of you.” He sighed. “But this is nice too, taking your breath away.”
The waiter arrived just in time to ease the romantic tension between them.
They ordered appetizers of seared foie gras and cured beef carpaccio and steak tartare, entrees of filet mignon and Chilean sea bass, and then decided to split an order of crème brulee.
An easy banter between them continued through dinner, and Rory marveled how, for the first time ever, he felt completely comfortable talking to a woman about any subject, never once running out of things to say.
As they dipped their spoons into the caramelized custard between them, heads bent toward one another, their eyes met, and Rory could feel a palpable electric current between them.
He almost didn’t want to speak, to break it, but he knew the waiter would be approaching again soon with the bill.
Here goes. Deep breath. He took her hand in his. “Susan, I think I am falling in love with you.”
He watched as her brown eyes darkened, widened. She didn’t say a word.
Rory swallowed, and the words he had rehearsed tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. “Pretty soon we’ll be done with this mission of ours … well, one way or another I guess, and either way, I wanted you to know. You don’t have to say anything. Of course, if we don’t get nuked by the Mafia, I guess I’ll eventually be returning home to Ohio, and I was wondering if … if you would be willing, maybe, to come back with me.”
Rory exhaled, not realizing he had been holding his breath.
Susan slowly laid down her spoon. He wasn’t sure if she was shocked or appalled by his outburst, but her words cut him nonetheless. “Rory, I can’t leave Las Vegas.”
“Okay then.” He laid down his napkin and searched frantically for the waiter, who was nowhere to be found.
“Rory, it’s not that I don’t feel the same way, but…” Susan’s voice trailed off in a strained whisper.
Rory felt the wall literally rising, rock by rock, around his heart again.
“Susan, really, you don’t need to say anything more. I get the picture. I’m sorry I said what I did. It’s obvious you’re just saying that now so I’m not completely humiliated.”
“I’m telling the truth, and now I’m angry you don’t believe that.” A red curl came loose across her forehead and she sat up straight, pushing back her chair. “I can’t leave this city and all the work I do, that’s all I’m saying.”
Rory bent forward, trying not to be too loud as they were already drawing attention from a few other diners.
“How can you stay in this … this awful place, dealing with these…people day in and day out? Wouldn’t
you like to settle down, live a normal life, raise a family?”
“I’m not sure what a normal life looks like, and yes, one day I’d like to have a family, but what’s wrong with this place and these people?”
“Look around!” Rory’s whisper was desperate. He waved his hand and looked to his left, then to his right. “These people are all full of themselves. They are the ones who obviously have more money than they know what to do with, who throw it away on lavish dining, drinking, gambling, girls and who knows what else. And then there are the slaves to this city, the victims of it all. We’re not like either of them, you and I.”
“And that, Rory Justice, is where you’re wrong.” Susan stood, regal in her anger, threw her napkin on the table, and walked off, leaving Rory facing a perplexed and flustered waiter holding a very large bill out toward him.
Susan didn’t show up the next day at the Condo for the briefing by Chief Steele. D-day, the Friday when the underground FBI sweep of casinos would begin, was only two days away.
Rory called her after the briefing and a few more times that night, but she never answered. He finally left a voice mail.
“Susan, it’s Rory. Listen, I’m sorry about how things ended at the restaurant. I guess I was hoping you felt the same way I did, and when it seemed like you didn’t, I got all childish and demanding and everything. Anyway, I’m a little concerned you didn’t come in to work today. I hope you’re okay and not sick or anything. I hope it’s not because of me. Please call me.”
After he hung up, he berated himself. I hope it’s not because of me. Now she probably thinks you’re full of yourself. Maybe she’s just not feeling well. You never should have told her you were falling in love. It was too soon. And she obviously doesn’t feel the same way.
But she should at least have the decency to call back and say she’s not interested, that it’s over, that I should just take a hike. Part of him was angry not only at himself but at her. Here she had gotten all dressed up, let him spend half his paycheck on dinner, led him on really. Maybe she was just like all the rest. He decided not to humiliate himself further by calling again.
But when she didn’t show up for work the next day, his anger dissipated, and he was truly concerned.
He approached Mark Glover after the morning meeting. The FBI agent seemed equally perplexed. “I guess you’ll have to ask the chief; maybe he knows.”
Rory cautiously entered Rodney Steele’s office that afternoon.
“Chief, you got a minute?”
The operations leader had his head down studying some papers. He was nearly obscured by stacks of folders that littered his desk. “What’s up, Justice? As you can see, I’m literally buried up to my eyeballs.”
“I know sir, and I’m sorry to intrude, but, well, it’s important. I was wondering if Lieutenant McAfree is okay.”
Chief Steele looked up at him, peering over his glasses, his iron-colored eyes boring into his. “And why do you want to know?”
Rory suddenly felt foolish. “I … uh, we, Susan and I, have become friends … well, I thought, a little more than that actually, and I’m worried about her.”
The chief sighed, wearily removed his glasses, and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “Sit down, Mr. Justice.”
Rory obediently obliged but wanted desperately to take it all back and head out the door. This was a huge mistake, he suddenly realized. The OND team members had all been under strict orders not to fraternize with each other, or anyone else in the FBI or police department for that matter, and now he had just confessed to breaking the rules, jeopardizing not only his future but Susan’s career.
“I’m sorry, Chief, I shouldn’t have come in here,” Rory said, standing again. “If we can just forget I said anything, and I’ll just mind my own business ….”
“Sit back down and shut up for a minute, Rory.” The chief rose, walked around his desk, went to his office door and locked it, then sat in the vacant chair next to Rory’s, facing him. “I’m going to talk to you in confidence. I’d appreciate if you don’t interrupt me until I’m finished since I don’t have a lot of time for this. You, of course, keep what I’m about to say strictly to yourself. I need you to give me your word.” Gray eyes pierced green.
“Of course. I wouldn’t do otherwise.”
Sitting this close to him, Rory noticed the lines on the chief’s weathered face seemed to have grown deeper.
“I have known Lieutenant McAfree for many years and have always thought of her … of Susan as a daughter, which is why, when she came to me in distress two days ago, I encouraged her to take some time off, get away for a few days, even though she really didn’t want to. She was distraught over her feelings for you.”
Rory sucked in his breath and let it out in a deep sigh of relief. So, she is okay. And maybe she does feel the same.
“She confided in me that, even though it breaks the rules, you two somehow wound up as more than coworkers, and she doesn’t know how to deal with that. She doesn’t think she can work side by side with you feeling this way.”
The jagged lines across the chief’s forehead furrowed into a frown. “She’s a good cop, but … well, I’m sure if you’ve gotten this close to her, you’ve found out she’s a bit vulnerable when it comes to men. I hated sending her into that strip club, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer when it came to being of service. Of course, when she told me about your, uh … relationship, I had half a mind to fire you on the spot, but I knew she would have had a fit if I had done that, so I told her to take a temporary leave for a few days until all of this hopefully blows over.”
Rory wanted to ask where she had gone, when she’d be back, but knew better than to pry, so he kept his mouth shut.
The chief rose from his chair, using his only arm to hoist himself up. He moved like a man who was utterly exhausted. This mission had truly taken its toll.
Rory looked at him, waiting for direction, but the chief merely dismissed him.
“Since I gave you your answer, that will be all, Mr. Justice.”
Rory stood and turned to leave, but stopped when the chief spoke one last time.
“I’d suggest you not try to reach the lieutenant, Mr. Justice. If we all survive this ordeal, if Las Vegas survives, I think it would be best—for you and for her—if you leave her alone and forget about her.”
He probably hates me, Rory thought, frustration and self-pity rising up within him at his helplessness and loss.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The casino searches began on Friday, July 4, with FBI and police crews working around the clock on the investigation over the entire weekend. Announcements that the casinos were closing were made only an hour prior to each so as not to give tourists and prospective gamblers a game plan to go from open casino to open casino, which would defeat the purpose of the Responsible Gambling Act. More importantly, the FBI didn’t want to give the Mafia bosses a heads-up as to which casinos were closing next. Just in case, surveillance teams were set up at each of the casinos to watch for any suspicious entrances or exits.
The fight was set to begin at 8:30 p.m. Pacific Coast Time on Sunday, July 6.
By 4 p.m. on Sunday, all but the last five casinos had been thoroughly searched, including the MGM Grand where the fight was to be held, and no bomb or nuclear weaponry had been discovered.
The entire Condo team was on active duty except for Susan McAfree, who, they were told, was on a voluntary leave of undetermined length.
The FBI search teams had equipped them with the latest smart phones to simultaneously alert them if and when anything was found, and give them directions as to how to proceed.
Rory had never been to a live boxing match, or any other type of fight for that matter. He had never even watched one on television. In fact, he had an aversion to the sport in general. But even he was filled with curious anticipation of what had been billed as “The Fall,” and touted as the “Fight of the Millennium” and the “biggest fight of all time
.” It was definitely the biggest since the 2015 Mayweather-Pacquiao “Fight of the Century.”
Celebrities from Hollywood, politics, and the sports world filled the ringside seats, and it was rumored that tickets had sold for as high as three hundred thousand dollars apiece. Every hotel and motel in Vegas was sold out.
Rory’s excitement was tainted by his disappointment that Susan wasn’t there. He had planned to apologize for whatever it was that ended their dinner date on a bad note, although for the life of him, he wasn’t sure exactly what he had said or done wrong.
I guess she thought I was being judgmental, he thought. Oh, well, it doesn’t really matter now. She wants to stay here, and I want to go. Rory felt a bitter bile rise up in his throat. I can’t believe I told her I was falling in love with her. What an idiot.
Just then, the wild cheers of the audience snapped him out of his thoughts. Carlos was clapping and stomping like the rest of the audience around them in time to the beat of Queen’s song “We Will Rock You” blaring over the loudspeaker.
Rory and Carlos were stationed together in a corner of the MGM Grand Arena, but they could still see the action in the ring. They were one of several pairs of agents set up throughout the arena to make sure nothing ran amok as the bomb squads finished their searches in the other remaining casinos.
A spotlight cut through the crowd and lit the entrance of the heavyweight challenger Carmen Gallo. Touted as the new “Italian Stallion,” Gallo had been raised by his young single Italian Catholic mom in the slums of Chicago after his African American father had abused and disgraced her and abandoned them when he was just twelve.
The Runaway Prophet Page 17
