Gambler

by S. J. Bryant

  "Did you find anything?" she asked.

  "Nothing of special interest," Crusader's voice came over the speakers.

  "Where's Cal?"

  "My Class Four Labourbot is recharging."

  Nova waved her hand but said nothing.

  "Would you like me to show you the few images of note from last night?" Crusader said.

  Nova nodded and continued to eat the cereal. The image of blue sky through the ship's front window disappeared, and was replaced with the dimly lit and flashing interior of the casino. The image was on fast-forward and Nova smiled as she watched people walk with double speed from table to table.

  "Here we noticed two men acting suspiciously," Crusader said. "But they were only exchanging drugs."

  A red circle highlighted the men exchanging the illicit material.

  "Do a scan of the warrants. There must be someone who will give me money to bring those guys in," Nova said, resolving to get paid for at least something whilst she was here on this god forsaken planet.

  While running from her dreams the previous night, Nova had come to a resolution. There was no way she was going to let the pouty-mouthed Vicki beat her at a hunt. The woman's only skills were batting her eyelashes. Nova felt an inescapable need to outdo the other woman, sure that if she failed she would have to give up the Hunter life forever.

  "Anything else?" Nova asked, pushing thoughts of Vicki from her mind and focusing on the job at hand.

  "A few more minor incidences," Crusader replied.

  The screen split into four, showing footage from different cameras and different times of night with various red circles highlighting the unsavoury behaviour. A prostitute was selling her wares in one screen, a small robot flitted between the crowds stealing cred-sticks and jewellery in a second, and a brawl broke out in a third. None of them pointed towards the casino losing money. Chances were high that Cracos had a hand in all of the unsavoury pies being shown and was definitely taking a cut of the profits.

  An hour later, Nova threw up her hands. "Nothing! All of that and we're left with nothing." She stood up and paced around the command pod.

  "Our probability calculators suggest it is eighty-nine per cent certain to be an inside job, committed by a member of the casino's staff," Crusader said as Nova paced.

  "I'll look into the staff. At least most of them are in the dark about the investigation; as long as that woman at the front desk can keep her mouth shut."

  Nova left her formal dress on the floor of the ship and instead headed to the casino in her usual black pants and top. The familiar trench-coat billowed out behind her as she marched around the side of the casino to the staff entrance. She held her wrist against the lock. A moment later it flashed green and she pushed her way through.

  Inside, the staff room was bare. The walls and floor were grey metal, lit by dim bulbs in the ceiling. The only decorations in the room covered the staff lockers, a few of which had various insignias stuck or carved into their surfaces. According to the casino schematics, this staff room was for the people who had direct access to the casino's money. If the theft was an inside job, the person's locker would be here.

  Nova walked to the closest locker and went to work opening the door. The lock was basic at best and it took only a few moments for her to break through the simple encryption. The locker door swung open with a squeak and she peered inside, but revealed nothing except a change of clothes and a poster of a half-dressed woman.

  She went to work on the second locker, then the third, and on along the rows. Most of them contained nothing of interest. Some contained personal items which would raise a few eyebrows, but nothing that would suggest a major theft operation.

  Nova's stomach tightened as she went through the lockers. The one consistent thing was desperation. It leaked out of the lockers and spread across the floor like a noxious gas. As much as she wanted to get paid - and beat Vicki - a part of her wanted the thief to go free. They probably needed the money a lot more than Cracos.

  In the end Nova found three lockers with items that could potentially be linked to the casino crime. The first contained a collection of small bottles, two of which were empty, one was half-full and those at the back remained unopened. With steady hands she picked up an empty bottle and peered at the worn label. She would recognise the logo anywhere. Siness.

  The company name was used as a front by the biggest drug-dealers in Tabryn. To anyone on the outside they looked like simple medicinal jars but to anyone who had seen the underbelly of Tabryn, the jars contained Zine, the premier street drug, a combination of enzymes which removed inhibitions and increased adrenalin. If it was made by Siness it was guaranteed to be good quality, and an expensive habit. Nova looked through the rest of the items in the locker but aside from the vials there was nothing of interest. She took note of the locker number and moved on.

  The second suspicious locker overflowed with photos. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over the pictures. It was odd for images to be stored in physical format - the cost compared to digital was astronomical but here they were. A whole locker full.

  Nova studied some of the pictures. She had no doubt that they were for blackmail. They depicted various persons in compromising situations; often half-clothed. She flicked through more images; People doing drugs; having sex; or simply exchanging items of value in darkly lit alleyways. Cracos featured in multiple images, appearing naked with a variety of people, both men and women.

  It was as if the photographer had walked around Outer Tabryn taking snapshots, but Nova knew that couldn't be the case. The subjects of the images were too well-dressed, too clean, their environments too luxurious. No; these photos were of powerful people and someone wanted control over them. Clearly this photographer had contacts, as well as the mental capacity to come up with an intricate plan.

  Nova took note of the second locker's number. In her mind she ran over the limited information she had. It was far more likely that the blackmailer was committing the crimes than the druggie but she needed more information.

  In the final locker of the row, Nova found that the lock had been upgraded. In fact it was one of the best models Nova had ever come across. She worked at the encryption but it took far longer than she'd expected.

  Her heart jumped and she glanced at the door at the tiniest sound. She'd chosen the middle of a shift, but she'd already been searching for hours and people could return at any moment. She didn't want to know what they might do if they found her snooping through their things.

  With a last desperate pull the metal door swung open. Nova's eyes bulged. A pile of cred-sticks almost filled the locker and when Nova first opened the door a few rolled out and fell to the floor. She picked them up and stared at the numbers running up their sides. Each stick held tens of thousands of credits. The locker had to contain over a million credits.

  Nova stared at the fortune and a part of her wanted to grab the sticks and run. She'd go to Crusader, fly off into the stars and live out the rest of her days as a very rich person. The rest of her resisted the urge. Where could a simple casino worker get so much money, legally? The only answer Nova could come up with was that they couldn't.

  The drug addict and the blackmailer disappeared from Nova's mind as she stared at the cred-sticks. She needed to find out who owned this locker.

  "Cal, take note of locker number six-seven-seven," she said aloud.

  "Acknowledged," Cal replied. "But shouldn't you get Cracos there now?"

  "Innocent until proven guilty. If Cracos sees this he'll just take it. We need to be sure this is our guy before we get Cracos involved."

  "Acknowledged."

  "Oh, and note down two-eighty-three and three-three-three," Nova said as an afterthought. She had already discounted those lockers once she'd seen the cred-sticks, but maybe there were warrants outstanding on the owners and she could make some extra credits.

  She was sure to place the cred-sticks exactly as they had been and then re-locked the cabinet; the
last thing she wanted to do was alert the offender. She left through the back door and strode with her coat pulled up around her face, trying to be as casual as possible, until she reached the safety of Crusader.

  "Get me Cracos," she said as soon as she was inside.

  By the time Nova reached the control pod, the screen showed Cracos's face.

  "Bounty hunter, do you have some good news for me?" Cracos asked. A fat cigar hung out of the corner of his puffy lips.

  "I need some information on locker numbers."

  "That's hardly a breakthrough," Cracos said. "You're the second one to ask me that today."

  Nova tried to hide her surprise at his statement, while begging that it hadn't been Vicki.

  "That's good to know. I need to know who owns lockers six-seven-seven—"

  "Let me guess, six-seven-seven, three-three-three, and two-eighty-three?" Cracos said, rolling his eyes.

  "Um, yes."

  "As it happens I already have the names in front of me." Cracos smiled at her and pulled the cigar from his mouth, allowing a plume of smoke to drift up out of view.

  "Siaro Gallon, Zodac Xion, and Fenton Pict," Cracos said.

  "Excellent."

  "If that's all?"

  "Yes, thank you," Nova said, waving her hand to end the communication.

  Cracos's face disappeared from the front screen and was replaced with blue skies. Nova pondered what she had heard. She wasn't the only one who had searched the lockers and whoever it was had found the same things she had. There was no time to waste, she had to find the criminal before anyone else, and if the locker full of cred-sticks turned out to be the one, then she was already far behind.

  "Get me Tanguin."

  At Nova's voice the screen flashed and Crusader's voice came over the speakers. "Calling Tanguin at The Jagged Maw."

  In only a few seconds the screen flashed and Tanguin's face appeared. Her black hair shone in the light of her computer. She smiled when she saw Nova.

  "Nova, how's the hunting?"

  "Not too bad. I've got some cash for you if you run some names for me." It was a small price to pay given that Tanguin would get the information in a fraction of the time it would take Nova.

  "Sure thing."

  Nova repeated the names to Tanguin. "I need full background and personal details."

  "No problem boss, I should have that within an hour. It's pretty slow here at the moment."

  "Good." Nova nodded at the screen and gave a brief smile before waving her hand and causing the screen to turn blue once more.

  Nova took the time to eat a burger and take a shower. The warm water felt good on her skin. She let the sound of the shower take her mind away from her current mission. She allowed herself to drift through her mind and to fully relax for the first time in days.

  She was drying under the hot air jets when she heard Crusader's voice. "Incoming call from Tanguin."

  "Coming!" Nova called, rushing to throw clothes on as she ran back to the command pod.

  Tanguin's face was already on the monitor and she rolled her eyes at Nova as she plonked down into her chair, not quite dry from her shower.

  "What have you got for me?" Nova asked, ignoring Tanguin's expression.

  "I'm sending you through personal details, addresses, known contacts, etcetera."

  Nova nodded approval.

  "There wasn't much in their histories. One was suspected of drug abuse, but they never found evidence. As far as the records show, these people are clean," Tanguin said, shrugging.

  "I guess I'll have to do some deeper digging."

  "Be careful, Nova," Tanguin said, staring hard at Nova's face. "Don't do anything stupid just because Vicki's there."

  Nova's eyes hardened as she looked at the screen. "How do you know that?"

  "Because she called me half an hour ago for the same information I just gave you."

  "Did you tell her?" Nova stood from her chair and it swung backwards. Tanguin did jobs for most of The Jagged Maw for a tidy profit. As the resident Un-Connected, she was an invaluable resource to the bounty hunter guild and almost everyone called on her at some point or another. Having spent the first half of her life inside a virtual reality, she was good with computers. That was before the servers shut down and thrust the whole planet into the harsh reality and the Connected became the Un-Connected.

  "Of course I didn't. I told her I have too much to do."

  "Thank you," Nova replied, her voice softer. She pulled her chair back into place and sat down.

  "She can still find the information. It will probably just take her a bit longer," Tanguin warned.

  Nova nodded, but said nothing.

  "Don't be stupid," Tanguin repeated as she watched Nova's mood darken.

  "I never do," Nova replied, waving her hand and cutting off communication before Tanguin could reply.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The simple white shirts and black pants of the uniform she'd taken from the staff bathroom rubbed against Nova's skin. She strode around the main floor, surveying the rest of the room. Men and women walked back and forth, drinks in hand as they migrated between tables.

  She nodded as one of her friends from The Jagged Maw walked past, but she didn't stop him for conversation; she was focused. It was good to see a friendly face, rather than Vicki's perpetual smirk.

  The blue streak in Nova's hair shone under the neon lights but her alteration was nothing compared to some of the outrageous modifications others had. Coloured skin and tattooed make-up were some of the more conservative sights floating around the casino that night. Nova ignored the extravagance; she was here for one thing only.

  That was when her target came into sight. The man wore the same uniform as she did and walked between tables with complementary drinks in hand. She watched him for some time, and at first she saw nothing out of the ordinary. But over time Nova noticed little things, like the way the man kept looking over his shoulder. Or the way he peered into the darkest corners of the casino, as if looking for something. Nova also saw the way he occasionally spilled drinks, as if his mind was far away. Clearly this man was worth talking to.

  Nova strode in broad circles for over an hour before she made her move. The man ambled into the waste disposal room and Nova entered just after him. Three doors marked male, female, and other led out of the entrance room. She couldn't be certain which one he had gone through and so she waited in the hallway.

  People stared at her with a mixture of confusion and disdain as they walked past. She was staff and therefore a lower form of life in many of their eyes. Nova was beginning to think that Siaro had disappeared, before he finally stepped out of the male waste-disposal section.

  She didn't waste any time and leapt straight for him, pushing them both back through the door and locking it behind her. She shoved him to the side and did a quick walk around the room to confirm that there was no one else.

  "What is the meaning of this?" Siaro demanded.

  Nova looked at him for a few moments, taking the time to judge the man's character. He wore the casino's uniform but his hair was better kept than many of the others. From his accent, Nova knew he came from Inner Tabryn, or at least close enough that he shouldn't have to work at a casino.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked, blocking the door, a hand on the gun tucked behind her back.

  "I work here," the man said as if talking to a simpleton. "What are you doing here?"

  "Also working."

  "You don't work at the casino."

  "No, but I work for the casino." Nova narrowed her eyes, her hand clasped round the stunner in her pocket. Siaro didn't look dangerous, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  "What do you want?" he asked.

  "I just need you to answer a couple of questions."

  "I don't see why you had to accost me and drag me into the bathroom for that."

  "Trust me, that wasn't even close to accosting. Explain this." She held out an image of his locker and the pil
es of cred-sticks.

  "How did you get that?" The colour dropped out of his face and a bead of sweat dribbled down his forehead.

  "That doesn't matter. Tell me what you're doing with all of that money and I'll be on my way."

  "If you stole my money I will wring your neck. I swear it." Siaro stepped closer to Nova and raised his hand.

  "No closer." She pulled out her gun and held it out between them, only centimetres from Siaro's chest. "I didn't take your money. Now, where's it from?"

  "It's mine."

  "Really? And do you usually wander around with that much credit on you?"

  "Of course not! Do I look like an idiot to you?"

  "Then what was it doing in your locker?"

  "It's all of my savings. I needed it."

  "Why? Developed a bit of a habit?"

  Siaro shook his head. "No! No. Nothing like that."

  "Well?"

  "I need to hire some people." Siaro's eyes darted from side to side.

  "What kind of people?"

  "Mercenaries."

  Nova thought for a few moments, staring at him. "Why would a well-dressed man such as yourself need mercenaries?"

  "I need them to—" The man looked down at his feet. "I need them to find my daughter."

  Nova's arm dropped to her side as Siaro spoke. Her brows drew together.

  "Tell me about it."

  "Why should I tell you?" His voice broke and tears hovered at the corners of his eyes.

  "Maybe I can help."

  The man stared hard at her. "How can you help?"

  "I know people. Just tell me what happened."

  "She was taken; disappeared without a trace."

  "From Tabryn? Are you sure she didn't simply walk away?" Nova asked, thinking of the rampant drugs which could easily suck anyone in.

  "No! It wasn't like that. She was there one day and gone the next."

  Nova felt a momentary pang of sadness as she remembered Caila. She too had disappeared suddenly without a trace, even if her body was still there. On Tabryn that kind of thing happened all the time.