Heaven Painted as a Poker Chip

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  Then Tommy climbed them out of the cab, the briefcase and bag in the guy’s hand as Jewel rode along comfortably.

  “That actually works,” Tommy said, turning as the cab drove away.

  “It does,” Jewel said.

  Tommy moved the guy over to a sheltered place out of the traffic and said, “Ready to jump ship?”

  “You got him all prepared?”

  “He’s going to discover he likes Miss Small a lot more than he thought he did,” Tommy said.

  With that, Jewel moved away from Rocky Manning and a moment later Tommy followed her into the warmth of the early morning.

  They both stood there watching as poor old millionaire Rocky shook his head and looked around, clearly surprised at where he was. Then suddenly he looked down at the wet spot on his crotch and instantly put the briefcase in front of it.

  Rocky moved over to the bellman and said, “Cab please.” He handed the guy a twenty and two minutes later good old Rocky Manning, their first ride together, was headed off toward the airport without them.

  “That was fun,” Jewel said, taking Tommy’s hand.

  “And even more importantly,” Tommy said. “We can do it. Who knows when that’s going to come in handy?”

  “Handy? Jewel asked. “Good old Rocky didn’t even need any hands.”

  Tommy laughed and kissed her. “Who knew such a horny and sexy woman lived in Buffalo Jump, Montana.”

  “As we’re discovering,” Jewel said, smiling. “You never know what’s just below the surface of a person.”

  “Boy is that the truth,” Tommy said. “But I have to tell you, I really like what’s just below the surface of your clothes.”

  She kissed him again for that one.

  THIRTY

  THE GOLDEN NUGGET was nothing at all what Jewel expected. It was beautiful and ornate, in a comfortable way, with the center of the entire hotel being an outdoor pool enclosed with glass from the hotel itself.

  And over the center of the pool sat a massive fish tank full of huge sharks and other sea creatures in deep blue water.

  Staying inside the hotel, you could walk around the giant pool area on three sides. And there were many very attractive women and men out there sunbathing so that everyone walking inside could see them.

  And there were a few others who should have never been allowed out there.

  Jewel was really shocked at one woman who had to be in her thirties, at least, who stood no more than five-two and must have weighed over three hundred pounds. She was out there so everyone could see her in a far too tight bright pink bathing suit that left no fat roll to the imagination.

  Jewel and Tommy were standing off to one side of one of the main hallways as traffic went past, looking around. Jewel pointed to the pink-suited woman on the other side of the glass. “You want to explain that to me.”

  “Las Vegas,” Tommy said, shaking his head. “She doesn’t know anyone here in Las Vegas, so who back home is going to care that anyone here sees her like that?”

  “So no shame and enjoying herself,” Jewel said, admiring the woman’s courage. Jewel never wanted to even wear a swimming suit when she got more than five pounds overweight. She couldn’t imagine the confidence and self-image that woman must have to be in front of thousands of people per hour dressed like that. Or not dressed as the case might be.

  She and Tommy managed to walk around the pool and into an older wing of the hotel, then back around the pool again to a newer tower without brushing through more than three or four people.

  In the new tower area, there was a second front desk with a huge fish tank behind it that filled the middle area of what looked like a fancy dinner restaurant. There was no one at the counter and a woman behind the counter looked bored waiting for someone to come up. She was shifting from side to side slowly.

  “Let me see if I can get the senator’s room number and when he arrives,” Jewel said.

  Tommy nodded, so she headed through the big front desk and merged with the woman.

  The poor woman had to pee really bad, and the person who was working at the desk with her was late getting back. Since she was the supervisor, she was going to have a thing or two to say to him.

  Jewel forced the thinking of having to pee down and got the woman to the hotel reservations screen. A moment later she had pulled up the reservation for the senator and his staff. It was blocked, but she used her supervisor status to get through with the late-arriving employee’s identification number.

  It seemed the senator and his party was taking over two 23rd floor suites at one end of a short hallway. He was checking in the day after tomorrow at 2 p.m. and would be staying for only one night. Both suites were one bedroom and very nice.

  Jewel cleared the board and then made sure the woman didn’t leave any trace in the system that she had accessed that information from her board, so if anyone checked, it would look like the guy who was late coming back had done it.

  Jewel then left the woman and moved back to Tommy.

  “Got it?” he asked.

  “Got it,” Jewel said, “I’ll tell you about it in a minute, but right now I really have to pee.”

  Tommy glanced over at the woman shifting slowly from foot to foot and then laughed.

  She hadn’t felt that she needed to pee before taking the woman’s mind over, but now it was really strong. Power of suggestion or reality, she didn’t know, but she didn’t want to test it.

  Jewel headed at a quick march back down the hallway to where they had passed restrooms with Tommy following close behind.

  THIRTY-ONE

  THEY SPENT THE rest of the afternoon exploring along the giant Fremont Street covered mall area, looking into gift shops and playing tourist. Tommy was impressed at how nice the entire area felt. Tourist, yet welcoming and comfortable, at least as much as a casino culture could be welcoming.

  They went back into the Golden Nugget and were heading for the buffet when they passed the poker room.

  “Shall we test a little something,” Tommy asked, pulling Jewel off to one side near some empty slot machines and out of the traffic pattern.

  “We got forty-eight hours until the senator arrives to do just that,” Jewel said.

  “I want to see what it would be like to play some poker,” Tommy said pointing to a table with five guys around it. From the looks of the chips and such, it was a no-limit hold’em game.

  “This should be interesting to watch,” Jewel said.

  “Don’t play poker?” he asked.

  “Strip poker once in high school. Bored and scared at the same time.”

  Tommy just was never going to be surprised at Jewel. She had so many levels that he wanted to keep learning about.

  “You’re going to have to tell me all about that later,” he said, giving her a smile.

  “Have fun,” she said as she moved over and stood with her back against a wall close to the table.

  Tommy picked a young man with brown hair who had the least amount of chips at the table and sat down with him. The guy was named Richmond and he played every day in one room or another in Vegas. He was good, but he didn’t make a lot of money at it. Just barely enough for a small apartment, a car payment on a used Lexus, and food, mostly with coupons at buffets.

  The guy wanted to prove to his family and friends back home that he had the ability to play and be a professional, but after six months now in Vegas, he was starting to have his doubts. He had a master’s degree in math and really had no desire to teach college.

  Tommy stood, staying attached to the guy as the dealer shuffled and started to deal. “This kid’s name is Richmond and he is a good guy,” Tommy said to Jewel. “I’m going to see if I can give him a boost.

  As Richmond looked at his cards, Tommy could see he had a pair of tens. A decent starting hand, but not great. The kid would have to play it right or fold it.

  Tommy reached over and picked up the ghost cards for the man across from Tommy. He had a king-seven suited
. Horrid. The next guy over came out with a twenty dollar raise with a pair of sevens. The right play. The next guy folded before Tommy could see his cards, but the guy next to Richmond hesitated and Tommy picked up his cards to see a pair of nines.

  The guy called. Richmond had the best hand, but he had no way of knowing it. Both the raiser and the caller were good players, so chances are they had strong hands. Richmond was about to fold, but Tommy stopped him.

  Then in Richmond’s mind he put the simple thought, “The reason these guys run over you is that you play scared and they can see it.”

  Richmond stopped.

  Tommy could see that the realization that Richmond had been playing scared made sense to him. He looked down. He had about seventy in front of him.

  Tommy smiled when Richmond pushed his chips forward. “Raise all in.”

  The initial raiser stared at Richmond, then folded his small pair. The guy beside Richmond folded as well, and Richmond took down the forty dollars plus blinds.

  Tommy sat with the kid for two more hands as the kid went back to tossing bad cards away.

  On the fourth hand, Richmond called the five dollar blind with a ten jack. Three others called and the first three cards on the board came out Ace, queen, six, missing Richmond completely.

  “Aggressive,” Tommy planted in his mind.

  Richmond nodded, as if understanding and bet out thirty. He got one caller.

  Next card on the board was a four.

  Tommy wasn’t even going to look at what the other players’ cards were. If he was going to help this kid take the next step to making his dream, he had to help him cleanly.

  Tommy nodded and bet out forty bucks.

  The guy who had called him the first time looked at the board and then called.

  Richmond clearly thought “The guy is waiting for a flush. More than likely has a pair of kings.”

  The last card was a jack that made Richmond’s straight, but did not match the suit on the board.

  Richmond didn’t even hesitate. He shoved his entire stack of chips forward again.

  The guy shook his head and tossed in his cards and Richmond pulled the pot once again.

  “Alternate timid and scared with aggressive,” Tommy planted in Richmond’s mind. “They won’t know what hit them.”

  Again Richmond nodded and Tommy stood and moved over to Jewel.

  “Was it fun?” she asked.

  “It was because Richmond there is a good kid with a dream. Felt good to help him a little.”

  Jewel looked at Tommy. “When did you learn how to play top-level poker?”

  Tommy laughed, not wanting to tell her right there that he had earned some of his way through college by playing online poker before they banned it. And that one of his drunken trips to Vegas was playing in the World Series of Poker main event. He hadn’t started drinking until he got knocked out of the tournament on the third day.

  “After you tell me about your strip poker,” Tommy said, “I’ll tell you about how I learned how to play poker.”

  “Deal,” Jewel said, giving him a sexy smile with those green eyes that promised a wonderful evening ahead.

  They stood there watching the table for another ten minutes in which time Richmond took down another big pot.

  Suddenly Tommy had an idea. He turned to Jewel. “How about I get inside the senator and plant in his mind that he really, really needs to play poker after he gets done with his meeting here?”

  “So he doesn’t go back to his room until very late?” Jewel said.

  “Poker rooms are open all night,” Tommy said, smiling. “How about he never goes back to his room? If I’m inside him, I can keep him alert and playing and winning until he needs to catch a flight.”

  “You think it might really be that easy to stop this attack?” Jewel asked.

  Tommy had no doubt that it wouldn’t be that easy to save this senator. “No, I don’t. But it might be a start to a plan.”

  “And a good one,” she said, nodding.

  THIRTY-TWO

  BY THE TIME they got through most of their lunch in the sparsely filled Golden Nugget Buffet, Jewel had more questions about how to fight these other ghosts that neither of them had answers to.

  She had thought that she would just have a salad for lunch after the huge dinner last night and breakfast this morning, but after the salad, she had gone back for some wonderful deep-fried shrimp, some freshly cut turkey, and some corn-on-the-cob dipped in butter.

  And it all tasted wonderful.

  “We need to talk with K.J. again,” Jewel said, wiping some of the butter from the corn from her mouth and the side of her face. Ghost food was as messy as real food it seemed. Ghost food just tasted better, as if they were taking the essence of the food out of it.

  Tommy nodded. Then he said into the air, “K.J., when you get a chance, we have some questions.”

  This time K.J. appeared in a tight pink dress, black gloves up to his elbows, and bright red lipstick. He had a black, wide-brimmed felt hat on and he looked to Jewel like he was straight out of the 1940s. He was also wearing bright ruby shoes and carrying a wicker picnic basket with a pink ribbon on it.

  The tight dress showed areas of K.J. that Jewel was sure he wanted to show. He clearly wasn’t wearing any underwear at all under the tight cloth.

  Tommy blinked twice, and Jewel was proud of him for not laughing or saying something.

  “Like the outfit?” K.J. said, spinning around once before sitting in an extra chair at the table. “It’s my costume for tonight’s costume ball.”

  “What are you going as?” Jewel asked.

  K.J. smiled. “A slutty old Queen Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz,” he said. He reached into his basket and pulled out a long, pink penis-shaped vibrator.

  “Meet Toto,” he said, petting the long vibrator like it was a dog.

  Jewel loved it and laughed. Tommy laughed, but looked just a little shocked. She liked that about him.

  “So much about my coming night’s adventures,” K.J. said. “Or better put, my night’s coming adventures.”

  He laughed at that play on words and then looked at Tommy. “What’s the questions?”

  “If the senator is killed playing poker, will that cause the problems?”

  Jewel watched as K.J. seemed to be listening off into the distance, then he came back into his dark eyes. “No. What causes the problem is if the senator dies in a compromising position in his room with a teenaged girl.”

  “Good,” Tommy said.

  “If one or both of us are inside a person,” Jewel asked, “and someone from the Brigade wants to get inside, how do we stop them?”

  “Fill the entire body,” K.J. said. “Did you try riding in the same person?”

  “Yes,” Jewel said.

  “And it felt like we were both in there, cuddled together,” Tommy said.

  Jewel nodded.

  “If you don’t want someone to join you,” K.J. said, “just imagine yourself filling every inch of the person’s body, matching the person in size and shape. No one can get in then with you. Might need to practice that a few times.”

  “But that would let the Brigade know there was a Ghost Agent inside the person, right?” Tommy asked.

  “Afraid so,” K.J. said, nodding, his big felt hat flopping as he did so.

  “So if the Brigade agent started firing at the person I was inside,” Tommy asked, “would I be hit?”

  “Not if you went to the person’s toes,” K.J. said. “Remember you can move around inside of people as much as you want, be as big or as small as you need to be inside there.”

  Both Tommy and Jewel nodded. Jewel could see all kinds of possibilities, but she wasn’t sure how any of them would work.

  “Looks like you two agents have some practicing to do before you start your first mission,” K.J. said.

  He stood and twirled around in his tight, pink dress and ruby-red slippers. Then he pulled Toto from the basket and waving th
e big pink vibrator he said, “Me and the big dog here have some baying at the moon to do.”

  Then he clicked his heals together three times saying three times, “There’s no place like an orgy.”

  Then he vanished, leaving them sitting with their mouths open.

  THIRTY-THREE

  AFTER LUNCH BUT still in the buffet, in quick practice sessions, Tommy occupied a man completely and Jewel failed in trying to join him, saying that it felt like she was just running into a normal person.

  Then they reversed that a few times on different people in the buffet, Jewel in the women, Tommy in the men.

  To Tommy, when Jewel fully occupied the woman, it felt as if he could actually touch the woman. Tommy figured that had some interesting possibilities down the road, but not for this first mission.

  Then they both climbed into a woman who wanted to go back for another helping, but was afraid of what her husband would say about her weight. He wanted her to stay very, very thin.

  They had her stand up anyway and go for a third plate of food, and while she was walking and they were controlling her, they went to her feet, Jewel in the right foot, Tommy in the left. Worked fine.

  Tommy felt like he was a tiny person inside a giant. He could still see out of the woman’s eyes and control her, but from a distance.

  “That was weird,” Jewel had said after they got the woman back to the table and her frowning husband. “As a doctor, having that skill would have sure come in handy to explore what was wrong with someone.”

  “You’re still a doctor,” Tommy said. “And it’s going to come in real handy tomorrow, I hope.”

  After a bunch of experiments with other customers, they decided to head back out to the MGM Grand.

  Tommy took over a cab driver just to make sure he could drive while in control of someone. He wanted to make sure that was possible and thankfully, it was.