rugged, well built with wide shoulders. An oddly charming expression spread across his normally stern face.
He coolly looked at Bell.
“I didn’t know Ashley Harvest was the kind of man to waste time on someone who just got canned.”
“You know, I’d like nothing more than to have all the other high-paid staff besides me gone.” Ashley made an embarrassed shrug. “But you’re a renowned croupier in the industry. You attract customers, and besides, isn’t there such a thing as duty in this business? Are you going to leave without training a successor?”
“I don’t know when you decided to start acting like a manager, nor do I care. I’ll have you know, I’m not particularly unhappy with my dismissal.”
“Oh, that’s the first I’ve heard that.”
“Well, it’s true. This is by my will. And nobody has the right to criticize it. Who said I was going to retire from the business, anyway?”
“I’m not saying it. But the rookie croupiers, they say you’ve chosen your own successor, and they’re pretty upset about it.”
“Ah. Yes, it’s true. That girl…” Bell gave a heartfelt nod. “The rookies here are considered first class, but she had talent to surpass them all. I’m not saying the rookies are bad, either. It’s just what I saw with my own eyes.”
“For those who want to be seen by your eyes, that’s a bitter pill. So what? You’re going to leave here to nurture that girl?”
“Heavens, no. I don’t think she’d be interested. I’ll just keep throwing roulette balls. Sometimes, I might throw to the right, that’s all. Thinking the whole time…maybe she’ll come…”
“Then couldn’t you stay here a bit longer?”
Bell shook her head coldly.
“Even if, as a representative of the employees, I can turn the odds between me and the owner in my favor?”
“I don’t see why I owe you anything. What, you want my recommendation to the Casino Society for you to run your own place?” Bell asked.
“No, no. You’re a gambler through and through, aren’t you? Or a loan shark, more like it, trying to find the monetary value of every single one of my words. You’re the epitome of a gambler.”
Ashley lifted his hands, raising his pointer fingers. Speaking in hushed tones, he continued. “We don’t know the true nature of our opponent. She’s going by a pattern we’ve never seen before. She’s using some system toward some purpose. We’re working on an analysis, but by the time our staff finishes the marathon of the graphical search, she may already have passed the finish.”
“She’s that good?”
“She’s playing blackjack, and she’s called for a million-dollar chip.”
Bell frowned and looked at Ashley as if she’d misheard him.
“And she’s asked them to leave the eleven remaining chips at the table.”
“To think someone other than you could do such a thing.” Her eyes turned to the corridor leading to the casino floor.
Ashley broke into a smile. “You want to see it for yourself, don’t you?”
Glaring at him from the corner of her eye, Bell said, “I’ll decide when I see her. If I don’t find her interesting, I’ll leave, then and there.”
She started down the corridor.
With a slight shrug, Ashley followed after her.
As they walked, she said, “So this opponent is so good you think someone will be needed to check for the next ones with the same tricks?”
“Yeah, basically. If whatever she’s got is good enough to get a million-dollar chip, copycats may appear at all the other casinos too.”
“If you devise any countermeasures against her system, who will you tell it to? The boss?”
“Don’t be stupid, Bell.” Ashley waved his hand as if he were shooing away a fly. “I’ve got a connection at the top of the Society. If my countermeasures get used by all the casinos in the Society, it’ll mean a lot of money. Then I wouldn’t have to work for that fool of a boss any longer.”
“Don’t you like it here?”
“I overlooked it for a while, since there’s little trouble and the pay is good. But I can’t take it any longer. Our boss had a fifteen-year-old girl living with him—and not as her proper guardian, if you follow—but even worse, he’s so crazed he tried to kill her by blowing up his car engine. For the life of me, I can’t understand why the Society still lets him have a job.”
“Yeah, that’s a mystery. I don’t even want to know what his real job is. Look, I’ve got too few years left in my life without getting involved in all this,” Bell said. “Anyway, if this opponent of yours isn’t interesting, I’m going home. My kids are old enough to support themselves. My only reason for still being in this place is just to lend some meaning to an old hag’s prolonged existence.”
As if presenting to her that meaning, Ashley led her into the VIP room, pointed, and said, “That table.”
Bell froze.
“Her…”
“Her?” Ashley tilted his head.
He looked at Bell and, putting more force into his voice, repeated, “Her?”
Bell nodded. She stared at the girl. She stared at the girl seated at the VIP table, who was intently focused on the dealer’s shuffle.
“Her? She’s the one you decided would be your successor? Oh, she’s trouble.” He snapped his fingers enthusiastically.
But Bell’s solemn expression remained unchanged, intently focused on something. She didn’t even respond as Ashley goaded her, saying, “So now what? Are you going straight back to the bus to take you home?”
She only muttered, “A fifteen-year-old… Death by an exploding engine… So that’s it. That’s her purpose. When you stand in her way, to her, it’s like a test bestowed upon her by the Holy Ghost. And everything has led me here.”
Ashley, somewhat taken aback, gazed into Bell Wing’s face. “Have you had some revelation? You quit your job as a croupier, and now you’re a prophet?”
“I wish you had a little more faith, Ashley. But I should thank you. You brought me here. But I’m just here to observe. I won’t try to interfere. If I do anything to help, it’ll be after this is over.”
“That’s fine. As long as you’ll be my witness, the Society will understand. But Bell…what do you know about them?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all. Just the girl’s name.”
Ashley shrugged his shoulders to say,
“Rune-Balot,” Bell stated with a solemn face. “That’s her name. It’s a sorrowful name; a fitting name.”
02
“Marlowe John Fever.”
At the sound of the harsh, chiding voice, the dealer’s hands froze, and his face went cold. The dealer, having surrendered the first of his crop at the end of a long, brutal cat-and-mouse game, had stopped, completely motionless, in the middle of his shuffle. Marlowe turned to look at the speaker and found a small envelope pressed against his chest.
“Here’s a reference letter,” Ashley continued. “Maybe you can use it to find work someplace else.”
The dealer felt as helpless and humiliated as if he were held up at gunpoint.
“It’s not addressed to anyone. It just has my signature. Make as many copies as you’d like. Just take it and get on the next bus before the owner finds you. You weren’t able to become a star here, but you can still try somewhere else.”
Marlowe hung his head in utter shame. His expression was so dejected that one could scarcely believe it was the same face that had been so passionate when he had been shuffling the cards. Heartbroken, his shoulders sagging as if carrying a heavy weight, he slunk off the floor. The word
“That’s quite different from what you told me,” Bell said to Ashley, standing at his side. “And I’m not sure if I
