This casino was strictly for VIPs, the ultra-wealthy, royalty and nobility of the various countries and high level politicians and bureaucrats. Everything in the room bespoke an unbelievable wealth from the statues and ancient tapestries to the rare paintings and the gilded wine fountain. The gaming tables were made from the most desirable wood found on Earth, Mars, and the Moon. Waitresses and waiters carried drinks and some of the most expensive foods in the System to the gaming tables. Expense was not spared on the employees who worked the casino floors, Heck noticed. They all wore tuxedos or gowns of incredible quality and certainly great expense. There did not appear to be any security agents on the floor but the lawman knew that the room must be under surveillance by thousands of security sensors and a host of armed personnel were likely poised somewhere very nearby.
Heck was proud of Lainne. He had warned her that it might be very hard not to seem starstruck by all the important people in on the casino floor and he stressed to her the need to act as though she were among her equals, not her betters. She did marvelously and walked across the floor with an air of nobility he almost believed himself. He wondered if he was just being biased, influenced by his own growing feelings for her, until he saw the way that the other men in the room were looking at her. A casino manager met the couple as they walked about the room.
"Good evening, sir. Madam," the manager said. "May I escort you to the credit counter for a supply of chips?"
"Yes, please."
The man led them to a credit counter and personally established a house account with credit for Heck and Lainne to gamble with. The account had no limit. "I hope you enjoy yourselves. Please, let me know if there is anything at all I can get for you."
Heck nodded, understanding the unspoken offers made by the manager. In a place like this money can buy any eccentricity, and any vice. It was clear that some of the women and probably some of the men were staff escorts employed by the resort to accompany the lonely millionaire gambler.
"What are we doing here, Heck?" asked Lainne in a low voice.
"Looking for leads."
Lainne kept her expression disinterested, but her voice told Heck she was becoming impatient. "Will we find any?"
"If we play our cards right," he said with a smirk. His pun had the desired affect and a trace of a smile crept into Lainne's face.
"So it's poker then?" she asked.
"First, I'd like play the roulette wheel."
"Why that?"
"To get someone's attention."
Lainne knew better than to ask him anything else after that cryptic answer so she walked with him to a roulette wheel. They watched the other players for a while before Heck was willing to make his first bet. With a nod of understanding that Lainne didn't quite get, Heck slid up to the table and squeezed in next to the croupier who ran the table. Lainne stood behind him watching.
Heck placed his chips on the inside betting area at the corner of four intersecting numbers in the area of the wheel he was betting the ball would land. If landed on any of the four numbers he would win, though the amount he would win had he bet on a single number would be far less. The croupier dropped the ball into a slide where slid down the perimeter of the wheel. The ball dropped out of a chute and landed on the wheel, bouncing and jumping about. Some of the players made bets while others shifted their chips around, until the croupier waved his hand across the wheel and said, "No more bets."
The wheel continued to spin and the ball bounced about, finally the ball landed on a number.
"Ahh, so sorry," said the man with a French accent. "Mesdames et messieurs, no winners. Please wait to place your bets until the ball is retrieved."
After a moment the croupier picked up the ball and sent the ball down the slide again where it fell on the continually spinning wheel. Heck placed his bet, this time betting the ball would land on a different area of the wheel. He was right.
"We have a winner," said the croupier as he marked the winning number before picking it up. Heck watched the man closely but saw no signs that the man knew what Heck was doing. "Please wait to place your bets until the ball is retrieved."
The process repeated and Heck placed a bet in another area of the wheel. This time he did not get the right number, but the ball landed on the right area of the wheel. The croupier's eye twitched ever so slightly at Heck, but the ex-lawman noticed. Again the process was repeated. While Heck only won his bet two times out of the next six turns, he chose the right portion of the wheel each time. The croupier had noticed the trend of Heck's performance and became less subtle about his observation of the ex-lawman. The next three spins didn't go Heck's way at all and he finally decided to leave the wheel.
"So sorry, monsieur. Perhaps poker would be a more suitable game for a keen observer like yourself?" the man smiled warmly, but his eyes were daggers. Heck smiled back, patted the man on the shoulder and said, "Your magnets need tuning, I think."
"What just happened? You didn't win very much," she said as they walked away. The croupier from the table watched Heck as he wound his way through the throngs of people, until he could not watch anymore.
"I wasn't trying to win."
"Then what-"
"Later, just smile and look pretty."
Heck took a glass of wine from a passing waitress as he led Lainne to the other side of casino where the poker rooms were. These rooms were private, each with its own bar and credit desk, and one had to get on a waiting list for the privilege of using them. He scanned the lists of the entrants for the poker matches that were slated to begin in the next thirty minutes, hoping to find something of interest. He moved from room to room, casually looking over player lists until he reached the last poker room.
"What is it?" asked Lainne, sensing that the set of Heck's shoulders had just hardened and his head rose slightly. Something was definitely wrong. "Heck?"
"A message," he said simply.
"What? From whom? I don't understand." Lainne looked at the list of the names of the seven players, shaking her head at each one until she read the last name in a whisper. "Laylara Espinosa!"
Heck grabbed Lainne's hand and opened the door. Inside the door was a hallway that led to a private gaming area. He stalked down the hallway to the waiting attendant at the far end, and death was in his eyes.
"They know we're here, now!" hissed Lainne. "What if it's a trap?"
"They've known since the moment we arrived, Lainne. I just made it more obvious by proving to the croupier at the roulette wheel that I knew about the magnets he used to cheat customers. That is something that get's everyone's attention in a casino like this."
"Magnets under the table? And a metal-filled ball?"
"Precisely," he replied in low tones. "And, yes, it is a trap."
"Then why go?"
Heck stopped a moment and looked at her, the fear in her eyes eased his hostility. For a moment. "Lainne, this is what we came to do. To get captured. Gelad is here, Virgil is out there somewhere."
"I think I may have missed the part where I decided I wanted to get captured," she said angrily as Heck resumed walking toward the attendant. "Did something change?"
"Yes, something changed," he whispered grimly.
But the two stopped talking as they neared the elderly attendant on duty at the end of the hallway. He stood by a podium with a holographic interface.
"Sir," said the man nervously. "There are already seven players, I am so sorry but you cannot play."
"Perhaps you should count again," he growled handing the man a roll of paper currency. Paper money was favored on Rigel simply because it was one of a very few ways to spend money anonymously on the luxury drift.
The man held the roll of bills near his waist and flipped through them, then he smiled. "It appears I was mistaken, sir. I believe there was a scheduling mix up. Please follow me."
The two passed through a pair of ornate French double doors into another luxurious room with a large poker table. Several men and women were seated
about the table talking idly amongst themselves, waiting for the dealer. A bar ran the length of the opposite wall with several people standing or sitting, eagerly awaiting the start of the match. Massive vid screens with the sound muted displayed a variety of sports that were being wagered on by the guests of the drift. The atmosphere was quiet and reserved, those who spoke did so in hushed tones.
The attendant escorted Heck to the table and the only empty chair. A vid plate on the back of the seat displayed the name, "Laylara Espinosa." The vid plate blinked off and was replaced by "Heck Thomas."
"Ladies and gentleman," announced the dealer in an American-English accent as he approached the table. "It appears we have had a scratch for this evening's match. Ms. Laylara Espinosa has been replaced by Mr. Heck Thomas."
Heck had to force himself to resume Business Mode as he sat at the table and looked over the faces of his opponents. It would not do to be too flustered and forced out too soon in the match. He made his unspoken statement earlier when he had correctly guessed that the croupier at the roulette wheel was using magnets under the table and a weighted ball to cheat the players. When the croupier figured out that Heck was on to him, he must have sent a silent message to whoever was monitoring his station. Likely the man had been directed through a tiny earpiece to suggest that Heck try his luck at poker.
Heck had the feeling there was still something very big about to happen. The dealer left the table again, as the match wasn't set to start for a few more minutes. Lainne went to get Heck a glass of whiskey, and herself a glass of rum, as everyone waited for the dealer to return. As Lainne returned to the table, a very large and intimidating man approached the opposite side of the table and whispered in the ear of another player. The man immediately stood, was handed a stack of chips, and excused himself from the match.
"I am so sorry," said the dealer as he returned to the table. "It appears there has been another mistake and we overbooked our table. This is quite embarrassing. Our good friend, Mr. Hickman, has generously and kindly excused himself from the match so that the original participants could play on."
Heck looked around hoping to see who was going to replace Mr. Hickman. Down the hallway he heard a rumbling, boisterous, voice demanding entry to the match. He knew that voice, knew it very well, and strained against every fiber of his being to maintain his cool. He threw back his glass of whiskey, knowing that whatever came next he needed to have his emotions completely in check. It was going to test the limits of his endurance simply not to stand up and shoot this man in the head. Despite the desire of raging emotions that were simmering in his internal lock-box and screaming for murder, Heck was determined to play his role through. He was doing it for Lainne.
"Ladies and gentleman, the final player for our match," announced the dealer. Lainne gave an audible gasp as the scarred man approached the table and sat down across from Heck. "Stephen Doolin will take his place at the table. The game will commence in five minutes."
Chapter
Twelve
~
The two stared at each other a long moment, each silently willing the other to break first. Then Dooly's eyelid twitched and he looked over the waiter who brought the man a bottle of rum. By the look in the man's haunted eyes, Heck knew instantly that Dooly was a changed man, and for the worse. Dooly threw back the bottle and drank nearly a third of it at once before placing it back on the table. He glanced up at Lainne, trying to piece together who she was for a moment. Then he gave up and looked back at his old mentor.
"So, this is awkward." Dooly was remarkably calm, Heck noticed. It was out of character for him, but considering the man should be dead he was willing to let that go. "You gonna say anything? Or you just gonna sit there and gawk at me?"
"You should be dead."
A big grin split Dooly's ugly, scar covered, face as he pounded his hand on the table. "Ha! Just like you, ain't it? Don't give a rat's ass about nobody. An apology would be nice, might even forgive you for killing me."
"No you won't," replied Heck. Dooly just snickered.
"You're right, I won't," answered Dooly as the dealer came back. "You know I'm gonna kill ya, right?"
Heck was getting small pleasure from the encounter. Dooly was terrible at keeping his mouth shut and Heck thought the man probably should have tried not to disclose that. Did he really think he could intimidate Heck Thomas?
"So what are the stakes, Dool? What's in it for you?"
"More money than you could ever imagine and the Chief Marshal position in the new Imperial Marshal's Service."
Heck stared at Dooly as the dealer returned and the cards were dealt to the players. Silence was falling in the room but Heck was deafened by the sound of the blood rushing in his ears. He was angry, furious, and was quivering with the anticipation of shooting the smirking fool across from him under the table while they played.
But Heck knew enough about Dooly to know that he wasn't as dumb as he tried to let on.
“Well, ain't you gonna congratulate me?” the man said with a snicker. The rest of the players glanced at him with ire, but none dared comment to the fierce man. “No, I reckon you won't. You always did like me being in your shadow.”
“Dooly,” said Heck, every fiber of his being straining against Business Mode. “Right now I just want to watch you die.”
“Well, ain't that sweet. But I wouldn't get no ideas, old pal,” the man said dangerously. “Your lady-friend might not enjoy her stay too well if something bad happened to me.”
Heck glanced around the room quickly and saw that Lainne was no where to be seen. When he looked back at Dooly he saw the truth in the man's cold, hard, eyes.
“You look like someone just shot your puppy, Heck!” he laughed.
As Heck glared at Dooly he felt the armor of his will breaking. He felt himself getting flushed and hot and his heart was racing. And though he fought valiantly to maintain Business Mode, his will failed him. His world spun out of control to the merry sound of Dooly's raucous laughter and Heck Thomas realized one thing.
It was happening again.
~
The End of Part One
Stay tuned for the exciting sequel.
About this book:
Thank you so much for buying and reading my book. The Orion Deception is the second story in the world of Marshal Henrick (Heck)Thomas. Although the characters called Marshal Heck Thomas and Deputy Marshal Stephen W. Doolin are purely fictional, there was in fact a Marshal Heck Thomas and a William Doolin. Marshal Heck Thomas was a hero of the American West while William “Bill” Doolin was the leader of one of the worst gangs in Old West American history.
Marshal Andrew Henry (Heck) Thomas was a United States Marshal in the late 19th Century. A Georgian by birth, Heck served as a courier in the Civil War at the age of 12 under his uncle, General Edward Thomas. Heck later became a member of the Atlanta Police where he earned a reputation as a fearless fighter.
In the 1870’s Heck had moved to Texas where he worked for the Texas Express Railroad and later became a member of the Fort Worth Detectives Association. Following his appointment to the Marshals Service, Marshal Thomas was assigned to police the lawless Indian Territory. By 1889 the lawman had partnered with fellow Marshals Bill Tilghman and Chris Madsen; the trio became known as “The Three Guardsmen,” and were largely responsible for bringing law to the lawless territory.
The Doolin Gang (AKA the Doolin-Dalton Gang) was one of the most violent gangs of the time. For four years they robbed trains and committed other crimes in Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas. In 1896 the Three Guardsman caught up to the gang and the notorious Bill Doolin. Eventually every member of that gang died fighting, refusing to surrender to the law. Bill Doolin was killed in 1896.
The Three Guardsmen were credited with arresting 300 wanted men during their tenure. Heck Thomas retied in 1909 and died in 1912 of Bright’s Disease. He was buried in the Highland Cemetery in Lawton Oklahoma where his grave remains today.
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“Heck Thomas,” Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia Information retrieved 15 December, 2011 http://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/heck_thomas copyright 2012 Wikipedia
- “Wild Bunch,” Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia Information retrieved 15 December, 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolin-Dalton_Gang
About the author:
Howdy. I’m Tom Bielawski and I wrote this book. So, you want to know a little about me?
I’m a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, and I served “In every clime and place.” After departing active duty I became a lawman, which I still am to this day. I’ve been deputy sheriff, a county police officer and a special agent. I took a short hiatus from policework to serve in Afghanistan for two years as a police mentor.
I’m a husband and a father of two humans, two horses, two dogs, six cats, six chickens, and two ducks. Aside from spending time with my family, I love bass fishing, reading, writing, trout fishing, camping, fly fishing, hiking, fishing, and any other kind of fishing.
Please contact me at my website: www.tombielawski.com
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/thechroniclesofllars
On Twitter: www.twitter.com/TomBielawski
I’d love to know what you think about this book and what direction you’d like to see our hero go in next!
More From Me:
The Chronicles of Llars
I A Tide of Shadows
II The Black Keep
III Shadowblade
IV The Tomb of the Dark Paladin
The Chronicles of Heck Thomas
The Centaurus Legacy
The Orion Deception
My upcoming projects include new series’ in epic fantasy,
modern adventure fiction, and historical fiction.
The Orion Deception Page 20
