As we were driving back to the hotel, I noticed someone following us. “We must be important,” I said to Sky, “they decided to follow us.” “Oh, that is nice,” said Sky, “it is fun to be important.” We parked behind the hotel and went inside and Chuck, plus another man came in and went to the desk. “A man and woman just came in here,” said Chuck, “what room are they in?”

“I cannot tell you that sir,” he said, “but I can ring them for you.” Chuck then put $100 on the counter. “Um, room 710,” said the man at the desk. “Give me the room next to them, either side,” said Chuck. “Sorry sir, but they have both of those side rooms too,” he answered, “he told me he likes things quiet.” “Yes, I do like things quiet,” I said, right behind Chuck.

Sky already had a gun in the back of his friend. Chuck turned around. “You are getting in over your head mister,” said Chuck. “Strange, I was just going to say the same thing to you,” I responded, “now, if your boss would like any information about me, then he can ask me. But you will not like what will happen if you try something stupid like this again.”

We then let them go and they left in quite a hurry. “Well, where are they staying?” asked the boss. “At the Tower,” said Chuck, “but there is something different about this guy, he knows his way around and he sure does not scare easily.” “That is interesting news,” said the boss, “and we have not been able to find out anything about Penny’s bodyguards either, or where she got the money suddenly. I am beginning to see a connection here.”

“You think Penny hired these 2 as well?” asked Chuck, “I don’t know boss, the way this guy acts, he would not come cheap.” “Yes, that is the flaw in this picture,” he said, “keep watching Penny, but stay away from her.” “Right boss,” said Chuck, and he left.

The next day was nice, sunny and quiet. We did make some special arrangements for that evening however. Penny agreed to help us out even though she was nervous. But I told her we would all be watching her carefully and her 3 bodyguards would stay very close to her the whole time. We waited until after dark, then Sky and I entered the casino.

“Those two are back again boss,” said Chuck. The boss looked at the screen. “As long as they behave they can stay,” he said, “but if they cause any trouble, throw them out, fast.” “Right boss,” he said, then he added, “now look who just came in.” The boss looked again and spotted Penny. “Looks like she has 3 bodyguards now,” he said, “and look how she is dressed.”

It was a very busy night, which was perfect for us. We wandered over to where Penny was playing. “You have to watch this guy,” I said to her, “he likes to cheat.” “Hey, that is not very nice,” she said to the man. I could see the man give the signal and two men came over to us. “Would you please come with us sir?” the big man asked.

“No, we will not,” I said, “and those guns of yours do not scare us either.” “I must insist sir,” he said again and he grabbed my arm tightly. “Take your hand off me,” I said, “I do not like being handled roughly by anyone.” Right then Aari and his team entered the casino. “Look who is here Steve,” said Sky. “Hmm, I wonder what he is doing here?” I asked, “I would say you boys have worse things to worry about than me.”

“Those look like trouble boss,” said Chuck. “Yes, they do,” said the boss, “get out there.” Rock was on one side of Aari and Mac on the other side. Aari kept walking, then he stopped in the middle of the room and said, “now”. That is when Rock, Mac, John and Clarence went to work turning the place upside down.

People went running and screaming out the doors. We also made a hasty exit, along with Penny and her bodyguards. Rock and Aari went into the office. “Open the safe,” said Aari. “It does not open until 2am,” he said smiling. “Okay,” he said, “then we will open it.” He called Catalina to come in. “You will want to be outside the room when this goes off,” she said. So everyone went out.

She came out too and pressed a button. There was a loud explosion. It was a full size door for the walk-in safe so Rock went in first and pulled it out of the way. There was a lot of money in there, more than there should be for a casino the size of this one in a small town. They quickly hauled it all away and left. The boss looked around at the mess in the main room.

“I pay you guys a lot of money to protect this place,” he said angrily, “this is not protection!” “We had no choice boss,” said one man, “those gals he had with him had guns on us, big guns.” “They were mostly gals he had alright,” said Chuck, “just four guys.” Hmm, all gals, maybe he is the one helping Penny,” said the boss, “I want to know who that guy is and why he hit us.”

“That other guy that caused trouble the other night,” said one of the men, “he knew who it was and wondered why he would come here.” “Now that is interesting to hear,” said the boss. “Yeah, and he left in a hurry with everyone else too,” said Chuck. “Maybe we should pay a visit to this guy,” said the boss, “a friendly visit this time…”

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.