Part 30 (1/2)
Before Emma could respond, a whizzing sound came from the back of the crowd. A man yelped. She heard something hit the carpeted deck with a thud. The entire group turned around to look at the new disturbance. Emma took advantage of the moment to move up the stairs, backward, keeping her face to the crowd. Cindy stayed right behind her, moving in unison with her. From this position Emma had the added advantage of being above the men's heads and could see past them.
Sumner and Block stood at the far end of the hall. Emma made out the shape of a square device in Sumner's hand that looked like a gun with a boxy muzzle. His face held its usual determined look as he calmly went about reloading the weapon. Block looked far less calm. In fact, he looked furious. His color was as high as that of the men around him, but Emma thought it might be induced from pure rage rather than a drug.
”What the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing, pus.h.i.+ng a woman?” Block's voice pulsed with anger. Emma heard Cindy gasp. The men began to step toward him but stopped when Sumner held up the stun gun.
”Anyone comes closer and he gets to go lights-out courtesy of fifteen thousand volts.”
The men stopped. Sumner flicked a questioning look at Emma. She nodded to let him know she was unhurt. A man from the center of the group yelled in a language that sounded like Russian.
”Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” Sumner said. The Russian s.h.i.+fted into German without missing a beat.
”Ja, drecksack! Get out of our way. We're going to the captain.”
”You've all been drugged,” Emma said.
The crowd fell silent and turned back to Emma.
”What do you mean, drugged?” The beer-bottle holder spit out the question.
”Just what I said. Someone on the s.h.i.+p is drugging the pa.s.sengers. I want you all to think-did you feel any type of stick or sting followed by a surge that might have been a chemical entering your system?”
A man in the center of the crowd spoke up. ”I did. A guy fell against me. I felt the sting and the rush right after. I didn't think anything of it.”
”What did he look like?” Emma asked.
The man, a younger pa.s.senger with ginger-colored hair and a large-framed body, hesitated. ”He was a s.h.i.+p employee. He wore a white uniform. But I don't know which one.”
Emma wasn't surprised at this information. Only s.h.i.+p employees had access to the cargo bay where the vials were located.
But before she could respond, the s.h.i.+p's alarm went off.
49.
BANNER STEPPED INTO THE VIP LOUNGE. THE VIBE HERE WAS completely different from the Eroscenter. This club evoked the feeling of men's social clubs in an era gone by. Heavy paneling covered the walls, dark velvet draperies lined each window, and leather chairs with matching ottomans faced a fireplace with an elaborately carved mantelpiece. The smell of old cigars and new cigarettes permeated the air. Three silver-haired men strolled past the reception desk, headed up a flight of carpeted stairs to the second level. As in the establishment before, the VIP receptionist was a somewhat beefy man. Banner stepped up to him to begin his rap.
”I'm-”
”Here to check out the poker game.”
”The Eroscenter called you,” Banner said.
The man nodded. ”You'll need at least two thousand euros to join, but that will cover your initial chip allocation of five hundred, all your food and drinks, and one session with the girl of your choice after the game.”
”Steep,” Banner said.
The man shrugged. ”It's a good game. You could win, and if you don't, at least you'll leave here fed and happy.”
Banner chuckled. The man had a point. ”Do you take credit cards?”
The man shook his head. ”Not for this. The game's off the books. We need cash.”
”I don't have it.”
”There's an ATM down the street to the right.”
”Don't they usually have five-hundred-euro limits?”
The man nodded. ”Maybe you come back tomorrow. Least now you've seen the place.”
”How about I give you five hundred cash? That will cover my chip allocation. I'll pay for food on the card, and I won't touch the women.”
”You're gonna want to touch the women.”
”I don't doubt that, but beggars can't be choosers.”
The man considered the offer. ”Okay. But you change your mind about the women, you're gonna have to leave the game and go to the main area of the club. They take credit cards.”
”It's a deal.”
The man pointed to the stairs. ”Up there. Second door on your left. Give the guard the cash. Good luck.”
Banner thought he'd need it. He headed up the stairwell. At the top was a long hall with several doors on either side. A young man reading a paper sat in a chair with its legs tilted and its back against the wall. He dropped the chair legs to the carpeting when he saw Banner and stood. Banner handed him five hundred euros. The young man opened the door.
”Play well,” he said with a smile.
Banner stepped into a rectangular room. A circular table, positioned in the center, acted as a focal point. A stained-gla.s.s lamp hung over it, illuminating the green felt top. Five men sat with cards in their hands. Off to the right, three women, all dressed in thong bathing suits and high heels, hovered near a wet bar. They were model thin, on the verge of emaciation. Each one gave him an a.s.sessing look as he walked in, and each one smiled after the look.
Rickell was on the far side of the table. Deep circles rimmed his eyes, and his hair was plastered to his head as if by sweat. His skin was a pasty white, and his lips were cracked. He had a stack of chips in front of him, but something told Banner he wasn't winning. He didn't have the look of a winner. Banner stepped closer to the table, into the light. Two of the men glanced up from their hands with irritated expressions on their faces. He was interrupting a hand. Rickell never lifted his eyes from his cards. When the other men halted, Rickell looked up. His face took on a resigned expression.
”So they're searching for me,” he said.
Banner nodded. ”Time to go.”
Rickell shook his head. ”No.”
Banner had expected this response. Rickell probably viewed himself as Banner's superior in many of the ways that counted. Without Rickell's signature, Darkview wouldn't land the lucrative DOD contracts that kept the company humming. Banner, however, viewed no man as his superior. Either they partnered with him in ventures where both gained something or they stayed away. Rickell's office had hired Banner to bring Rickell out, and that's what he'd do.
”We leave now. I haven't much time.”
”No.”
The men at the table waited, watching them both with interested eyes.
”I'll drag you out of here if I have to. I've been hired to get you, and, as you know, my company delivers. I can't afford to fail. Not given the current climate surrounding Darkview. Plus, I've got mouths to feed.”
Rickell snorted. ”You don't have any children.”