I grinned. 'Going to risk the management's curiosity at this casino, too?'
'Not after the way you changed my luck. I'm going to watch
play.'
I shrugged and followed her over. It wasn't as if I'd had any plans for the money. I edged into the playing order behind several quick losers. She moved behind me to watch.
My turn came up fairly quickly. A lot of losers haunted that table. I asked for a new pair of dice, got them, twiddled with them awhile. What money I had went on the table. The crowd faded the bets, and I cut loose with the cubes.
'Nine,' said the croupier-a woman my age with an expression of Stakhanovite gloom about her. She slid the dice back to me.
I rolled again. A three and a six. The money piled up, but I let it lay. The onlookers plunked their chips down. I glanced behind me to see Blondie watching me. Her beautiful brow frowned in vague puzzlement, as if the numbers the dice generated were some secret code she had to break. I grinned and returned to the work at hand.
I rolled a seven and left the chips showing. It took longer for the bets to get covered. More rubberneckers drifted to the table, drawn by the noise the others made every time I won.
The dice bounced across the green again. Seven. The crowd gasped. So did I. This time the covering bets came faster. I had to lose sooner or later, didn't I?
Roll. Seven!
A mania seized them. Chips clacked on top of chips, and paper rustled onto the cloth. I grinned at the lady behind me. She smiled and nodded at the dice, urging me on.
A pair of threes. Carefully maneuvering between the piles of chips, the croupier slid the dice back to me. I threw them down the emerald field, a pair of rubies dancing.
'Again six,' the woman said.
I was beginning to amaze myself.
I picked up the dice, checked that my bets were faded, and rolled. Two and four.
The crowd had polarized into two factions. The bettors desperately wanted me to crap out. The onlookers cheered for me to roll another six. An intoxicating amount of wealth covered most of the table.
I rolled.
When the crowd gasped, I peered at the dice. A one and a five.
'Jesus Christ,' I muttered. As I said it, the one tipped on its side to expose the two spot.
'Seven,' the croupier announced with smug finality. I'd been obliterated. Sort of the way I'd be in a few months.
For the moment, though, I had a hundred friends. The gamblers all loved me. They gathered up their huge winnings and offered to buy me drinks, dinners, women.
The lady in silver laughed, her voice tinkling like small clear ice cubes in a glass of purest crystal.
I smiled at her over the heads and shoulders of the happy crowd. 'The old man's had a big night and has to go to bed now.' I pocketed what little money I had left.
'Don't fool yourself, Mr. Ammo. You're not quite as old as you think. Take a long hard look at yourself when you get home.'
'Yeah, sure, dollface.' She would take the opportunity to get away right about then, I thought. And sure as clockwork she turned away. She hesitated, though, like a vixen curious about a strange creature she sees before her.
'I-' She turned back to look at me, a desperate decision forming behind her eyes. 'My name is Ann Perrine. I work at the Bautista Corporation on Cordova. If you ever need help, give me a call.'
'What makes you think I'll need help?'
