Tricks and Traps (Gray Spear Society Book 7) (30 page)

"I'll try anything."

"Let's go down to the medical lab. I want to give you an EEG."

They went downstairs.

Sheryl was resting, but she was slouched over and clearly wanted to sit down. Aaron was using the time to punch a heavy bag. His bare fists struck with a shocking amount of force, probably enough to kill a man.
Legionnaires
tended to become ridiculously strong after a few years of service, and that was certainly true in Aaron's case.

Smythe and Jack continued to the medical lab. Jack sat on the operating table while Smythe fussed with his equipment.

"Is this going to hurt?" Jack said.

"No. I'm just going to tape pads to your skull and look at your brainwaves."

"What will that tell you?"

"Maybe nothing," Smythe said. "I'm just grasping at straws here. The team got some interesting information today. The guy who owns the Pot of Gold Casino is Neville Cantrell. He was a spy, but the CIA fired him six years ago. He was part of a secret research program involving doctors and psychologists. It seems likely the monkey machines are a product of those experiments."

"Now I feel like a lab rat."

"That's not far from the truth. Hold on. I need an extension cord." Smythe quickly left the room.

Jack noticed some white pills on the floor near the wall. They were the knockout pills he had accidently spilled last night.

They gave him an idea. It was a bad idea, maybe the worst in his life. It was so wrong it made him sick.

Regardless, he was compelled to get off the table. He swept up the pills with his hand and dropped them into the pocket of his bathrobe.

Smythe returned with an extension cord and used it to power the EEG machine. Jack recognized the device from movies and televisions shows. Several pens were positioned over a scrolling sheet of paper on a flat bed.

It took a long time for Smythe to attach all the electrical pads to Jack's skull. All the while, Jack heard the jingling sound. It was making him twitch.

Finally, the EEG machine was running. Jack saw his brainwaves recorded as squiggly lines on the paper.

"How does my brain look, doc?"

"Like wavy lines," Smythe said.

"You're funny."

"To be honest, I'm not an expert on EEG readings. I'll have to consult with another doctor to get an official interpretation."

"How are you going to do that, sir?" Jack said.

"I'll use a fake identity. In the meantime, all I can give you is a rough assessment. These readings don't look like they should. They're more characteristic of somebody who is still sleeping. Maybe a stimulant is the right treatment for you. My prescription is three cups of fresh, hot coffee, enough to make you sweat. Let's see what that does."

"Yes, sir. As long as I'm brewing a pot, do you want some?"

"Sure," Smythe said.

Jack went back to the workout area. Sheryl's training had switched from kicking to stretching. She was attempting to do a full split and grimacing in pain. Aaron watched with his arms crossed.

"The doctor ordered me to drink coffee," Jack said. "Sir, are you interested?"

"Yes," Aaron said. "Hot and strong."

"Sheryl?"

Sheryl grunted and nodded. Her stretched legs were quivering.

"Reach down deep," Aaron said softly. "God's anger is a limitless source of strength and endurance for us. It will help you get through this."

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"I know. Part of the process."

Jack went into the kitchen. He assembled the coffee pot from parts on the drying rack beside the sink. He used a grinder to produce a big pile of fresh ground coffee.

While the coffee was brewing, he sat at the kitchen table with his face in his hands. He was miserable. The jingling of the monkey machine played over and over in his head.

He felt an overwhelming compulsion to return to the casino. However, he was under house arrest. Aaron would never let Jack go, no matter how much he pleaded and argued. If he tried to escape, he would be killed for blatant insubordination before he got out of the building. The place was full of hidden automatic weapons. Somehow, he had to get away without anybody noticing. There was one way to do it.

Jack pounded his forehead with the palm of his hand. He was caught in an impossible situation. He hated himself for even considering the idea.

Finally, the coffee was done. He poured four steaming cups.

His hand reached into the pocket of his bathrobe and found the white pills. He fought the urge with all his willpower, but he wasn't strong enough. The monkey machine was too tough an opponent. He dropped one pill into each cup of coffee.

He left the kitchen carrying two cups in each hand by the handles. Without speaking, he delivered them to Aaron, Sheryl, and Smythe. Jack averted his eyes the whole time. He couldn't have felt worse about what he was doing.

He took the last cup to the security booth and knocked on the door.

The door opened, and Nancy was standing there with her usual generous smile. Her frizzy brown hair stuck out in odd directions.

"Is that coffee?" she said. "Great! You're my hero."

Jack gave her the cup and followed her into the booth.

"How do you stay so happy all the time?" he muttered.

"Why wouldn't I be happy? I have a great life. I get to do stuff like this all the time." She pointed at a set of architectural plans lying on the security console.

He examined the simple line drawings. "What's this?"

"The Chinatown project. I'm designing a backup headquarters. If we have to abandon this place, we'll need somewhere to go. Might as well start preparing before it's a crisis. We don't want to repeat the mess that happened last time." She sipped her coffee.

Jack nodded. "I haven't been over there."

"The building is perfect. It's practically a fortress already, and we haven't even started the big security upgrades. It's like the place was originally built for us. The only major problem is the proximity to the river. The ground is wet, so anything deep will have to be watertight."

"Just like the old headquarters on Wacker."

"Yes," she said, "but now we have new materials to play with. There are high-tech clays and plastics that form a tough permanent seal." She drank more coffee.

Her eyes were starting to droop. She was looking at him instead of the monitors.

"Did Kamal go home?"

"Yes," she said. "He was here all night."

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack watched the internal surveillance feeds. Sheryl and Smythe were already down and out. Aaron was staggering.

"Nancy!" he yelled sluggishly. His voice came through the speaker in the security booth.

Nancy looked at the monitors. "What? Sir! What's going on?"

"Watch out for Jack. He betrayed us." Aaron fell on his face.

She had a gun in a holster. Jack slickly stole the gun, backed up, and aimed at her head.

Her eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

"Just drink your coffee."

"Jack..."

"Do it!" he yelled. "I'm not screwing around. I'm getting out, one way or another. I can't leave you awake in here. You'll kill me before I reach the parking lot."

Nancy looked down at her cup. "Is it poisoned?"

"It's just a sleeping pill. It's safe. Come on!"

Jack fired the gun past her ear. The bullet broke a monitor behind her.

Her hand was shaking as she drank her coffee.

"Do you understand what will happen to you?" she said.

"Yes. I'll get to play the games again."

"Jack, you're not thinking clearly."

"Shut up!" He waved the gun menacingly.

"I've known you a very long time. This isn't you. Please, I'm begging. If you back down now and apologize to Aaron when he wakes up, he might let you live. If you leave headquarters, you're dead. No place on Earth will be safe for you."

"Drink!"

She drank more coffee. She was having trouble staying upright.

"Now lie down on the floor," he said. "Quickly!"

She almost fell over as she went down.

The closet containing the cash and gold was in the security booth. Jack threw open the door. The pile of gold bullion on the floor was impressive but useless to him. He grabbed thick stacks of hundred dollar bills from the shelves instead.

Before leaving the booth, he checked Nancy. Her pulse was slow but steady. She was definitely asleep. With nobody at the weapons controls, he could leave headquarters safely.

Now he had to find some clothes. He couldn't go to the casino wearing a bathrobe.

Chapter Sixteen

An hour later, Jack drove into the parking lot of the Pot of Gold Casino. The big sign in front was gone, and he wondered how that had happened. Maybe it was being replaced by an even bigger one.

The casino had added valet parking. He drove straight to the front door and handed his keys to the attendant. It was early in the afternoon and not as busy as last night, but the parking lot was still almost full.

When he stepped inside, the sounds of the machines washed over him. It was a welcome relief. He was back where he needed to be.

Not everything was good though. Jack had left his phone behind so he couldn't be tracked, but Aaron would know Jack had come to the Pot of Gold. As soon as Aaron woke up, he would come looking with two fistfuls of God's wrath. Jack desperately needed to avoid that deadly confrontation.

He tried to ignore the distractions all around as he made his way through the casino. The interior was a maze of irregular caves and passages. Brightly colored lights and blaring sounds added to the disorientation. There were no signs. The color scheme was startling. It was a place designed to trap gamblers in a surreal world until they ran out of money and were shown the door.

Eventually, Jack found what he was looking for. A red velvet rope blocked a stairway leading from the second to the third floor. Two large men in tan security uniforms stood in front of the rope.

Jack walked up to them. "I'd like a private game. I want a room to myself."

One of the guards gave him a dubious look. He had a bushy, black beard and a scar over his left eye. He looked a little like a classic pirate.

"I'm sorry, sir. The private rooms are for VIPs only," he replied in a heavy Russian accent.

Jack was carrying a gray nylon gym bag. He unzipped it and showed it was full of stacks of hundred dollar bills.

"Am I a VIP now?"

"Yes, sir," the guard said. "Follow me."

The velvet rope was unclipped, and they went upstairs to the third floor. The first thing Jack noticed was the quiet. The jingle jangle of the machines had been left below.

The central room had a domed ceiling painted dark blue. Couches and chairs were arranged to create a large waiting area. Straight corridors branched off in several directions.

Four men were sitting around a table in the corner. They were holding cards and pushing chips.

"Is that poker?" Jack said.

"We usually have a table going," the guard said. "The casino staff likes to play, but it's open to everybody, I suppose."

"Why don't you use the monkey machines like everybody else?"

The guard's face showed utter contempt. "Follow me, sir."

They went down one of the corridors. Golden paint gleamed in soft light. Jack heard bells ringing behind the walls.

The guard opened a door. "After you."

Jack stepped into a room the size of a large bedroom. Tracks, tubes, ramps, and bells covered the walls. Thick glass barriers protected the delicate machinery from being touched. There was no way to cheat.

"It's an inside-out monkey machine!" Jack said in a delighted tone. He was actually inside the machine.

"Yes, sir. The money goes in the control console."

Jack walked up to a complex hunk of machinery in the center of the room. It had more buttons, knobs, and levers than an old-fashioned pipe organ. All the parts were made of steel and looked capable of withstanding a lot of abuse.

There was a slot underneath for accepting money. It was marked "$100 only." He took a bill out of his gym bag and inserted it into the slot.

The machine came to life all at once. Balls were launched onto tracks from several locations, surrounding him with exciting activity. He felt an immediate thrill. Hesitantly, he pressed a control lever. A flipper on his left popped.

This could take a while to figure out,
he realized.
Good thing I brought plenty of money.

The guard said, "Enjoy, sir." He stepped out and closed the door.

* * *

Tawni looked out the windshield of the police car. They were driving into the parking lot of Jim Bob's Barbeque Ribs. The restaurant was painted to look like ancient weathered wood, but the surface was actually just stucco. The only real wood was an awning over the front door, and it looked new.

Norbert was at the wheel. He drove around the restaurant and found a secluded spot in the back. After checking carefully in all directions, he parked.

Everybody got out. Norbert opened the door for Ford so he could escape from the back seat.

A blazing sun made Tawni sweat in her police uniform. Ford looked even more uncomfortable, and it wasn't the heat in his case. He was about to have the meeting of his life.

Norbert opened the trunk of the car. He took out a small, steel case and walked over to Ford.

"Is that the bug?" Ford said.

Norbert nodded. He opened the case to reveal several small gadgets. He took one shaped like a pin with a black knob on top. He stuck it into the lapel of Ford's suit in a place where it couldn't be seen.

Norbert took out an earpiece and slipped it over his ear. He gave another earpiece to Tawni.

"Talk normally," he said.

"One... two... three...," Ford said.

Tawni heard his voice echoed in her ear.

"It's working," she said.

"The range is short," Norbert said, "so we'll be in the restaurant with you."

"Won't that look suspicious?" Ford said.

"Cops eat lunch, too. We'll go first and find a table on the other side of the room. Wait a few minutes, then come in. I don't have to tell you that running away would be a bad idea. You wouldn't get far."