Shell barged into the control room, glaring at the two men, and barked, “Some rich person is winning like crazy, and that’s got your spines all bent out of shape?”
“Some show-off prick with a girl along. Not that he’s a show-off prick because he has a girl with him. What I’m trying to say is, he’s a show-off prick. Word from the floor is they’re uncle and niece.”
“What’s their winning percentage?”
Shrugging his shoulders as if it were nothing, the chief answered, “A little more than sixty percent.”
Shell took off his sunglasses, and his Emperor Green eyes shone with rage.
“Sixty percent? Over how many games?”
“Last time I checked, two hundred sixteen.”
“What’s their method?”
“We don’t have any theories. We don’t know. They use the basics, sometimes. They don’t seem like anything more than a couple of amateurs throwing their chips around.”
“I see. Like someone who, after throwing their chips around, turns one hundred dollars into more than seven.”
“Well, it can happen sometimes.”
“I suppose. I’ve seen it myself. But what are the chances someone can randomly throw chips around and win more than sixty percent of the time?”
The chief, as if the motion were more of a bother than it was worth, made a circle with his right pointer finger and thumb. The circle itself had no meaning, but the space between his two fingers carried his silent message.
Shell nodded. “Right. Not one in thousands.”
“But not zero, either.”
Shell bellowed, “Are you trying to be funny with me, Ashley?”
The floor manager trembled, but the chief, like a scolded child unrepentant, simply scratched his cheek.
“Take care of them,” Shell continued. “As if they were pros who came with clear plans. That’s an order.”
“Pros, you say… They don’t look like pros to me.”
“I’m the one who will decide that. Show him to me, that show-off prick.”
Shell leaned forward, looking over the chief ’s shoulder at the screens on the wall. With a shocked expression, he said, “I see. That is one show-off prick. Like some cream puff playing dress-up as a hustler. You’re right, a pro coming in here looking as stupid as that, that would be…”
His voice trailed off into silence.
For a moment, the low buzz of running electronics was the only sound in the room.
The floor manager, unable to withstand the silence, asked, “Boss?”
But just then, Shell exploded, “What the fuck is this?!”
The floor manager jumped. The chief, calm as ever, simply furrowed his brow as he gazed at Shell.
Shell was staring at the screen with a dumbstruck expression, his face pale.
“What the fuck! What the fuck are they doing here?”
“What, you know them?” the chief deadpanned.
Shell, his face tense, as if a loaded gun were pointed at his head and the safety had just flipped, stared down at the chief and said, “Ashley, kill them. Chop them up with your cards. Give them your usual.”
“What? You mean, kill them dead, kill them?”
The chief formed a gun with his fingers. He aimed his index finger at the screen and mimed the pulling of the 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.
