“Let’s get going,” I said. “A few minutes have passed. Sooner we can get this job done the sooner we get Eve back. Then we get supplies and get back to Jatal.”
“Got it, Captain,” Z nodded, and she followed me to the door of my hospital room.
We stepped out into a hallway that smelled of a hospital. The guards who had unlocked my handcuffs stood down the hall about four meters, and they nodded their heads in the other direction. Z and I turned that way and saw the exit doors some fifty meters down. We passed a few pairs of guards, a trio of nurses, and two orderlies as we walked, but everyone just ignored us.
Then we passed a front desk packed with guards. The men and women here were busy taking statements from citizens of the station, and no one paid us any attention. I grabbed onto Z’s hand, and we walked the rest of the way out of the building and into the cobblestone street.
“Easier than I expected,” Z said. “Probably wouldn’t have been if we tried to bust Eve out.”
“Yeah. We need to find out where Huyan Kar and Byron Jacobs are.”
“Tight Uniform Bitch said Kar owned some clubs in this district,” Z said as she pulled out a transponder. “They took my Persephone unit with the map loaded, but it looks like this one has a map as well. They also took my computer, my knife and my stun gun.”
“They took my knife also,” I said as I checked my belt.
“So we’ve got no weapons, none of my hacking gear, 2,000 R-credits, and a map of the station. Did they at least feed you?” Z looked like she was about to cry again.
“I think they put a tube in my stomach when I was sleeping. I don’t feel hungry.” I tried to think of something that would make the blonde woman feel better, and I finally thought of it. “You want to grab something to eat real quick while we think about our next steps?”
“I still want my steak, but it won’t taste as good without Eve around. Let me see what we can find in the way of clubs that also serve food. We can grab a bite and ask the wait staff for information. Yeah. That’s a good idea,” Z smiled a bit, and I guessed she was getting her emotions under control.
“Which way?” I asked her, and she pointed to our right after she glanced at her map.
It took us an hour or so to wander through the streets, check the map, ask for directions for, as Z called it “the hottest club in the District,” and find our way to the place called Benjo. The outside of the building was crafted in a Victorian style, with a pointed steepled roof, stone molding, and decorative archways. The inside of the entrance was covered with wood paneling, and I guessed it must have cost them a lot of R-credits to put the building together.
“Can I help you?” a woman wearing a tight corset dress asked as we approached the front of the door.
“You open for business?” I asked as I looked past the woman at the open door.
“We have a dress code,” she huffed as she looked at our attire.
“Even if we just want a bite to eat?” Z asked.
“Yes. Sorry. It keeps the feel of the place. Come back when you can indulge us.”
“Does Huyan Kar own this place?” my friend asked before I could say anything.
“Yes?” The woman raised a painted eyebrow as if she wanted us to tell her how we knew the man.
“We are friends. Can you--”
“I doubt that.” The woman let out a short laugh. “There are other places in the district to eat. You should go there.”
“Is he here right now?” I asked.
“Should I call security?” Her face soured. “I feel as if I am being too polite.”
“Listen, you surly--” Z started to say, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
“We know he owns the place. That was the goal. Now we need to get inside and meet the guy,” I said after we had walked to the far side of the street.
“Yeah. That’s gonna be hard. That woman wasn’t smitten by your charm, and I don’t have any other ideas.”
“You are fucking with me.”
“Yep,” she said with a shit-eating grin.
“Glad you are feeling better.”
“Walking helps I guess. Maybe we try Byron Jacobs first?” Psycho Bitch said he runs some gambling rings. Maybe I can find info about it on a terminal somewhere.
“There is a hotel,” I said as I nodded to a building down the street. “We’ll need a room regardless. They will probably have a terminal there.”
Z nodded, and we walked toward the building. Most of the citizens we had passed were dressed nicely, but the people in this area were very well dressed. My friend and I stuck out like a rusty pair of nails on a satin sheet, and I could feel Z starting to grow uncomfortable.
“This place is going to be expensive,” she said as we walked under the archway of the hotel.
“I’ll talk to the front desk while you try to find some terminals to use,” I said.
“Good idea. Take the R-credit card and get a room if it isn’t too much. Even if we don’t stay, they will probably have faster ones here.” She pushed the piece of plastic into my hand and then continued walking while I stood in line at the reception counter.
The Victorian flavor to the district was present inside of this hotel, and I admired the wood molding on the walls as I waited. Soon I was at the desk and speaking with a man who wore a fancy looking pinstriped suit.
“How much are rooms?” I asked after we exchanged greetings.
“They are five hundred a night, Sir.”
“Damn,” I sighed. “A bit--”
“We are the only hotel within three kilometers of the District B Entertainment Center.”
“What is that?” I asked.
“The streets around us. We have the best attractions, restaurants, shows, dance clubs, drug rooms, and gambling halls in all of Queen’s Hat.” The man wore a plastic smile, and his eyes flashed down at my clothes.
“Ahh. I just got to the station.”
“Ohhhh, first timer. That explains it,” he said with a practiced nod.
“I stick out that bad, huh?” I chuckled.
“It is fine, Sir.”
“Do the rooms have information terminals I can use to find out about the station?” I asked.
“Yes, Sir. We have the best.”
“You mentioned gambling?”
“Yes. We have a marvelous casino in the hotel, but there is a dress code,” he said with a grimace.
“I’m looking for something a little…” I leaned in closer to the man, and he mirrored my movements. “Off the street, if you know what I mean. Heard there was a guy named Brian Jacob who runs stuff. You heard anything about that?” I said the name wrong so that the man might not think I was too knowledgeable about the topic.
“Ahh.” The man nodded. “You’ll want to visit our casino then. The dealers there know all the best places to gamble. You will need to use your keycard to enter, and we do have a dress code. How many nights will you be staying with us?”
“Let’s do one night,” I answered. “Where can I get new clothes?”
“We have a tailor located on our mezzanine level, but there are other tailor shops within a five-minute walk. The concierges can give you directions when you wish to leave.”
“Thanks,” I said as I gave the man my R-credit card. I half expected the thing not to work, but he presented it back to me with a smile and then gave me directions to my room. I thanked him again and then went to find Z.
She had managed to sneak into the hotel’s business center, and I found her hammering her fingers on one of the keyboards. There was another woman in the room working with one of the systems, so I leaned in close to Z so that we could whisper to each other.
“You might be surprised to know that I can’t just do a database search for ‘underground gambling rings in District B.’”
“I didn’t think it would be that easy,” I said.
“Yeah, I know, but sometimes I feel like you think I can do all this shit with computers like it’s a magic trick o
r something. I don’t have my interface. It’s going to take a while,” Z glanced at the other woman working in the room, and her jaw hardened.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“I got a lead, and a room,” I said, and she nodded as she glanced at the other woman a final time.
Then we both left the business center, walked to the elevator, and rode it up to the floor of our room.
“Did she say something to you?” I asked as we rode the lift.
“Who?”
“The woman in the room.”
“She didn’t need to. A look was enough. I fucking hate people sometimes,” The blonde woman closed her eyes and leaned against the wall of the elevator. “I miss Eve. Ha, you would think I would be terrified of someone who could see all the ugly shit going on up in my brain, but she doesn’t judge me.”
“We’ll get her back,” I said as the doors opened.
We walked down the hall and into our room. It was an opulent set, with a massive four post canopy bed and a desk hutch that concealed a data terminal. The room also had a high wing couch, and a bathroom with a clawfoot tub.
“Damn, how much was it a night?” Z asked after she poked her head in the bathroom.
“Five hundred,” I answered.
“Five hundred? For the night?” she gasped.
“Yeah.”
“That’s a quarter of our funds! How are we going to--”
“I’d like you to keep fishing for info on Huyan Kar and Byron Jacobs,” I said as I pointed at the desk with the terminal.
“Yeah, but what are we going to do for money?”
“I’ll worry about that. I just need you to work on the computer,” I said as I moved to the door.
“Okay, but where are you going?” she asked.
“I’m going to go spend some more money.”
Chapter 5
I returned a few hours later with new clothes for Z and me. I had hit a few shops to try and find the best price and finally ended up back at the first place I’d walked into. The sales girl there flirted with me the most, and I was able to talk her into cutting the price on my entire purchase, so I felt as if I had gotten a bit of a deal.
I’d still spent 600 R-credits on the outfits.
Z didn’t like my plan, but in the time I was gone, she had only been able to get the basic information about Huyan and Byron. We were going to have to do this the old fashioned way: Charm, bribes, or intimidation.
“Are you almost ready?” I asked as I finished putting on my leather dress shoes. My outfit was a black suit with a darker black paisley pattern, white ruffled shirt, and silver ascot tie. I would have never thought to buy it, but the sales girl said it was the latest style.
“Uhhh. I’m working on it,” Z called out from the bathroom. I’d taken a shower first, but she’d gotten out a good forty-five minutes ago and hadn’t left the bathroom yet.
“We’ve got some time,” I said as I looked at the clock. It was set to traditional Earth time and said 8 pm. There were a few restaurants connected to the casino, and I figured we would grab a much-needed meal before we tried to find someone that would tell us about Byron.
“As of now, security officials in District B still haven’t been able to find out who thwarted the robbery on the bank. Witnesses are saying the man who protected them turned into a large striped cat-like creature during the fight, and he left the scene with two women.” The voice on the TV caught my attention, and I turned to watch a news reporter speaking at the camera. She was standing in front of the bank that we’d visited yesterday, or maybe it was the day before. I didn’t know how long I had been asleep.
“Thanks, Terza. Have the security officials released video recordings of the assault?” The camera turned back to a man sitting inside of a studio.
“No, Chuck. They have said that their security footage was ruined during the robbery,” the woman answered.
“That’s a shame. I’m sure everyone would like to see someone change into a cat!” The man laughed, and then he turned his report to another story.
I sighed and rubbed my hand over my face. I doubted Elaka Nota, or the group that experimented on me, would get wind of this report, but I didn’t like the idea of leaving any sort of trail.
The news broadcast also made me think of the security footage I’d asked Z to retrieve. Persephone had shown me a strange solar system on her map, and then the creepy red numbers had scrolled down the holographic image. Part of me wondered if I had dreamed the event since the map changed back as soon as Z called out to me.
The video footage Z finally found showed me walking out of my room, through the bridge, and then standing in front of the map.
I’d stood there for three hours and just stared at the image. The map hadn’t changed, my body hadn’t moved, and it appeared that I actually had imagined the whole thing. The situation made me think that my mind was starting to crack, and I wondered if my transformation was beginning to unravel my mind.
“Uhhh, Captain?” I heard Z call out.
“Yeah?”
“I kinda need your help with something.”
“In the bathroom?” I asked as I walked across the hotel room.
“Just my dress. Sorry,” she said as she opened the door.
The slender blonde woman was wearing the dark gray dress I had bought for her. The garment fit tight across her torso but had an opening at the chest to showcase her cleavage. The bottom part of the dress was cut high and tight in the front to display her long legs, but the back part fell in a wave of dark lace fabric. Like my suit, there was a black paisley pattern across the dress, but each of the flowery waves was stitched on with a dark red thread.
“I’ve been trying to zip it myself, but I just--” she started to say as she pointed at the back of her dress.
“No problem. I’ll get it,” I said as I gestured for Z to turn her back to me. The zipper ran the full length of her back down to the top of her butt. I squeezed the ends of the dress together over her bare skin and zipped it up with a quick motion of my hand.
“Thanks,” she whispered, and I saw that her cheeks were glowing bright red.
“It’s fine. The dress looks good on you,” I said as I glanced down at her stocking covered legs.
“Ahhh. Yeah. It’s kind of fancy.” She coughed a bit and then cleared her throat as she turned her eyes away from me.
I didn’t think she could turn any redder, but her arms looked as if she was sunburned. I got the hint and stepped out of the bathroom.
“You almost ready to go?”
“Uhhhh. Sure. I just need to put on these heels. Thanks for buying low ones.”
“Those are low?” I chuckled as I looked at the shoes. They had platforms on the bottom and would probably give her an extra fifteen centimeters of height.
“I’m being sarcastic,” Z said with a snicker.
“Ahh. The sales girl told me to get those ones.”
“I bet she did. Bitch.” My friend laughed and finished putting the second shoe on. Then she stood and took a few hesitant steps.
“Looks good,” I said.
“Yeah, uhh, you look really good too,” Z crossed her arms and glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “I mean, you look good. Well, really good is fair, but it’s not like I am trying to say that you don’t normally look good, you do. You are just really handsome in a suit. But, no! I don’t really mean it like that. Just that you’re still taller than me, even with these heels on. That’s, uhhh. I like it, is all, but don’t take it as I’m coming onto you or anything like that. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, but only because I didn’t know what else to say. I knew how the pretty hacker felt about me, but Eve had indicated that she’d probably grow out of it. I didn’t think confronting her would do anything but make her more uncomfortable. Z knew how I felt about Eve. I didn’t need to badger the point.
“You’re staring at me,” the hacker whispered.
“Yeah, so
rry. It’s a nice dress. You ready to go?” I asked as I pointed at the door.
“Yeah,” she replied, and we walked out of our room toward the elevator.
We took the lift down to the casino floor and showed our room card to the suited guards at the front door. They nodded after they checked it and then gestured for us to enter.
The casino was much as I expected. The same Victorian theme was appointed to the carpet, wallpaper, crown molding, employees, and guests. I estimated the area to be about nine-hundred square meters, and there were numerous game tables. The night was still young, but the place was busy enough, and I began to worry that we might not be able to speak with a dealer in a private fashion.
“We gonna grab some food?” Z said as she gestured to the nice looking restaurants on the far side of the casino.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I replied, and we began to walk across the floor.
“We don’t have to eat anywhere nice. Eve isn’t with us,” Z said as we approached.
“What do you mean?” I asked as I looked at the blonde woman.
“Oh, just ummm. Well, I wish Eve was here. You don’t have to treat me to anything special.”
“You are my friend and my crewmate. It is our money,” I said with a shrug.
“Yeah, but we don’t have a lot left. I’m not used to this,” she said as she gestured down to her lovely dress. “Eve should be here with you, not me. Why did you pick me? I’m kind of confused.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said as I pointed at the second restaurant ahead of us. “This place looks good. Steakhouse. You wanted a steak.”
“Uhhh. Yeah. Sure,” the hacker said with a nod, and we continued our walk.
I noticed all the men we passed looked at Z with desire, but they turned away before I could make eye contact with them. We got a seat in the restaurant easily enough, and our table overlooked one of the casino thoroughfares.
“Can we afford this? How much of that 2,000 do you have left?” Z asked after she opened a menu.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said as I looked down at mine.
“Uhh, it’s like 50 R-credits a plate. I’m sure this place is great, but should we eat somewhere else? We are going to be cash-starved soon.”
Zeta Hack: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 3) Page 5