Mardock Scramble

trigger.

Shell shook his head condescendingly. “That isn’t your job. I’m talking legally. With cards. There’s no need to take their lives here.” He straightened his posture and took a deep breath to calm himself.

His voice dropped to a whisper. “They came here to completely waste my time. Time is vital. And I’m not talking about the regrettable wastefulness of the passage of time. Time is dreadful. Because time that’s passed affects the time that’s left.”

The chief lazily tilted his head.

“Don’t you understand?” Shell continued. “I’m running from time’s curse. That’s how I’ve been able to climb this far. But my method isn’t perfect. That’s how I end up in situations like this. Things I’m supposed to have forgotten flash back. Flashbacks—this world’s foulest curse. And I hire men like you to cast them away. Men like the card killer. Do you understand?”

“Yes, well, sort of,” the chief muttered. Then, remembering something, he said, “By the way, Boss, about the people we had to let go today—”

“You mean the mechanic in the poker room?”

“No, no, who gives a damn about a little twerp like that? But down in the roulette area, someone else was fired.”

Shell nodded curtly. “What about her?”

“For a casino around these parts to fire Bell Wing? That’s unbelievable.”

“Get to the point.”

“Couldn’t you let her stay? I’m asking as a representative for the employees here.”

Shell aimed a scornful smile at the chief. “And what kind of representative are you?”

“One who’s loyal to his boss, of course.”

“Good. I’ll consider it. But only once you’ve completed your work. Now, I have to greet the partners in my important business deal. Understand? While I’m gone, do your job. To the fullest of your abilities. That’s why I pay you so well.”

“Understood, Boss.”

The chief bowed respectfully. Without getting up from his chair, of course.

“That’s an order, Ashley. Don’t let them any closer to me.”

Shell put his sunglasses back on and stormed out of the room with such force that, had the door been closed, he would have kicked it right down.

The chief muttered, “Flashbacks, huh. I don’t want a job where the trigger’s being pulled on me.” He turned to the still-cowering floor manager. “Hey, you. I’m changing the plan.”

“H-how so?

“Split the files into two thousand pieces and mobilize all the dealers currently on break. Track all of their movements since the moment those two entered the casino, and report everything directly to my ears.”

In time with the last two words, the chief tapped his headset.

“I’ll be with you. Don’t let them leave here alive.”

The floor manager’s face tightened in an instant, like a soldier just given orders to launch the assault in a battle where victory is assured.

“Yes, sir!”

He swiftly did an about-face and left at full speed, not stopping to look over his shoulder.

“What’s with those two?” the chief grumbled. “One’s the dog wagging its tail, and the other’s the tail wagging its dog. How insipid.”

He leaned back into the chair and returned his attention to the monitors. Noticing something in the picture, he touched his finger to the screen. The ConsoleView, responding to his touch, froze the image. He slid his finger right, and the playback rewound.

“Ah, that’s too far back.”

This time he slid to the left, and the image moved forward frame by frame.

The chief stared at the screen. On the other displays were playbacks from other, random points in time. As he looked from screen to screen, he snorted like a dog on the scent.

“So she’s left-handed.”

But the girl on the monitor was taking in a chip with her right hand. Not just any chip, but one of the most valuable chips in the casino—in all of Mardock City, even.

“Hmmm… I see,” he said, nearly yawning. His eyes were affixed to her left hand.

“I don’t know what your trick is…” he muttered with indifference, “but those gloves are well made.”

The chief—Ashley Harvest—hauled himself up out of his chair and slid his feet out the door of the control room.

?

Shell dashed into his office and, like the fleeing heroine of a horror movie hiding herself in a room, closed the door with the slightest of sounds.

With one hand he snatched a microphone and into it shouted orders to his staff to take over his hosting duties, and with the other hand he mashed the redial button on his cellular phone.

Finally the line connected, and a low voice came over the phone—the steadfast voice of a man charged with erasing Shell’s flashbacks.

–It’s me. Weren’t you supposed to be in the middle of a deal, Mr. Shell?

“Boiled! It’s awful! Where the hell are you?”

–I’m investigating them. What’s wrong?

“Investigating? Investigating? What are you talking about? They’re here, right now!”

Boiled was silent.

“They’re here, all dressed up, like they’re going to a party!”

–I see. I thought so, Boiled said under his breath.

Now Shell was silent.

–I’ve been searching for them in your casinos. Of the four, I just finished up at the second. You’re at Eggnog Blue, right? I’ll head over immediately.

“Y-you knew? That they would come to one of my casinos?”

–I found a card game crib sheet in their hotel room.

With a trembling hand, Shell removed his sunglasses. His eyes were wide with the dawning realization of his current situation.

–Are you there? Boiled asked, and Shell jolted back to attention. Please answer me this. Whatever is involved with your business deal—is it there or not? That’s all I’m asking.

Shell’s mouth worked open and closed and open again, and finally, he took a deep breath and said, almost in a moan, “This is where my first Show was. It was my first step… Everything always begins here.”

After a brief pause, Boiled said, –I will be there within an hour. I will take them down. My usefulness will prove that you’ve made the best decision.

Boiled disconnected.

For a time, Shell remained still. Then he muttered a single word.

“Usefulness…”

A bold smile spread from cheek to cheek.

“Yes,” he whispered. “Your existence is indispensable. You’re the hammer of God, and you’ll shatter that filthy rotten egg.”

He put his Chameleon Sunglasses back on. The lenses had turned a harsh red color.

?

“Isn’t it a little early to leave?”

Just as Bell Wing had finished packing up her things in the anteroom, Ashley called out to stop her. He was