The third wheel clanged to a stop with a sound that seemed to echo throughout the warehouse.
Saturn.
Johnny sort of leaned forward into the machines.
Geneva screamed in pain.
Then Johnny and the ghost slot machines shimmered and disappeared, leaving the warehouse gray and much darker than a moment before.
I stared at the blank place where the slot machines had been, not believing what I was seeing, or not seeing as the case might be. The old row of slot machines that filled the wall looked like a row of perfect teeth with a front tooth missing.
“Where did they go?” Tech asked.
Geneva was on her knees staring open-mouthed at the empty place in the row of old, dead slots.
“Geneva,” I said, using my most commanding voice, “do you sense Johnny?”
She slowly shook her head.
Then she looked up at me with the most horrific empty look I have ever seen. “He’s gone.”
Chapter Twenty
MATH DOESN’T WORK
I DON’T THINK anything had ever shocked me, at any time in my life, as much as the machines vanishing had done. Yet I knew that’s what happened every time a person was taken by a machine.
Why would this time be any different?
Yet I hadn’t expected it and I should have.
Now the connection between Johnny and Geneva had been broken, and who knew where the slot machine had jumped to.
Or if it was even coming back.
I needed answers and I needed them fast.
I moved quickly to the pile of tarps, grabbed the top one and swung it around and up over the space where the ghost slots had been. It settled over their form there, just as the tarp that had been over them originally had. We couldn’t see anything in that spot, but the part of those evil machines were still right here in the warehouse.
“They’re coming back,” Patty said.
“That they are,” I said as I yanked off the tarp and tossed it back on the pile. “But if my guess is correct, they need a person to jump.”
“Not necessarily,” Tech said. “They jumped out of here without a person.”
I stared at the kid. He was right. They had.
“Where were they headed in the morning?” I asked.
“Johnny’s got the paper,” Geneva said.
“Circus Circus,” Patty said without hesitation, staring at me. “Back wall of the main casino on the far right.”
I must have had a very puzzled look on my face because she said, “I know exactly where and when. I memorized the list. Part of my skills.”
I had no doubt that was only a minor part of her skills, and I was looking forward to learning a lot more of them, but I didn’t let myself go down that road of thought. The ghost slots were loose again and we still had people to save.
“Patty, get on the phone to The Bookkeeper and tell him what happened. Ask him if that changes things on his projections.”
She nodded and grabbed her cell phone, stepping away.
“Samantha, Ben, Tech, stay here. Geneva, Screamer, come with me. We’ve got to get the police to the Circus Circus if they aren’t already there.”
Geneva, Screamer, and I had taken no more than a dozen steps down the aisle between all the old slot machines when from behind us Samantha said, “Too late.”
The three of us spun around like someone had pulled on the same rope. The shimmering of colored lights pushed the gray of the old warehouse away as the ghost slots came back.
And with them the intense desire to sit down and lose myself in their power.
“Johnny,” Geneva said softly beside me.
“You two back in touch?”
“We are,” she said, nodding and smiling at the same time. “Thank god.”
“Is he all right?” Screamer asked.
“He’s fine,” Geneva said, beaming like a kid given a long sought-after toy at Christmas. “He just found Harry.”
“How is Harry?” Tech asked.
“Weak and very tired, but still alive.”
“Fantastic,” Screamer said.
“Thanks,” Patty said, turning back toward us and snapping her cell phone closed in disgust. The super-powered woman I was in lust with had a lot of emotions, and I sure didn’t want the one she was showing right now directed at me.
“The Bookkeeper his old charming self?” Screamer asked.
“He said we’re all idiots,” she said, clearly disgusted.
“We know that,” I said, trying to lighten her mood a little. “But did he say if the machine would stay on the pattern he worked out.”
Patty smiled at me and nodded. “It went to Circus Circus and stayed until it got someone, then came back. It’s next trip out, unless we feed it someone else, isn’t until tomorrow at a few minutes after noon. It will go back to the Horseshoe then, same spot near the stairs.”
“And if we feed it again,” I asked.
She looked at me with a very funny look on her face. “It will jump to the Horseshoe early is all. But why would we do that?”
I pointed at the machine. “Because right now there are four people in there.”
“Oh,” Tech said, his voice hushed yet. “The math doesn’t work.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“Oh, no,” Samantha said.
Patty just stared at me, her wonderful brown eyes wide. She knew, without a doubt, just as I did, that we were going to have to feed more people to the beast before we had any hopes of saving everyone. Two more people to be exact. One here and one at the Horseshoe.
I glanced around at the shocked team.
Patty and I and Screamer couldn’t go in, since we were the rescue team needed to get everyone out. Geneva had to stay out as well since she was the contact with Johnny and Harry inside. That left Tech, Samantha, and Ben. And Ben had already been in the thing once before. I don’t think we dared stress him with twice through a ghost slot machine.
“I’ll go,” Tech said, stepping forward.
“So will I,” Samantha said.
“No, I will,” Ben said.
“Get Ben to do what I was doing and let me take a crack at it,” Screamer said.
In all my years of helping people, I had never seen a braver bunch of people in one room. At that moment I was very, very proud to be working with them.
“Ben,” Patty said, “we don’t dare send you back inside. We don’t know what twice through that thing would do to a person.”
“We don’t even know the long-term ramifications of once through,” I said. “And Screamer, we need your practiced quickness and knowledge of when to get people out of that chair. I don’t want to take a chance on someone new at this point.”
Screamer nodded. He knew I was right, just as I knew he had to offer to go inside.
Ben started to open his mouth to protest, but Samantha took his hand and squeezed it lightly, some sort of private signal between them that he shouldn’t say anything.
I glanced at Patty and she nodded, understanding and agreement in her wonderful brown eyes.
“Geneva, Patty, Tech, Screamer, the four of you go out and convince Johnny’s partner out there that he has to take Tech to the Horseshoe. Ben, go with Tech to the Horseshoe and show him exactly where the machines appear. Tech, when you are in position and ready, call Patty.”
“I’m going in here?” Samantha asked, her voice firm.
I nodded.
“Now wait,” Ben said.
“It’s all right,” Samantha said, turning to face her husband. “These people rescued you and all those others. They’ll get me out as well, along with everyone still inside there. You need to help Tech make sure he’s in position so we do this right.”
Ben nodded after a moment, then bent down and kissed his wife. Then he said, “I’ll be waiting here when you come out.”
“Actually,” I said, smiling at him. “We plan on having all of them out of there before you can get back here from the Horseshoe.
So she’ll be waiting for you.”
Ben stared at me for a long moment, then nodded.
“Let’s go,” Patty said. She, Geneva, Tech, Screamer, and Ben headed for the door to the warehouse.
“Looks like all we have to do now is wait,” Samantha said.
“The really fun part,” I said.
Samantha eased herself down onto the pile of tarps and I sat down beside her. The things were a lot firmer than I had thought they were. More than likely a few of the people we had rescued were going to be very bruised and sore from being tossed on this pile.
“This is a brave thing you are offering to do,” I said. “You know we can find another volunteer from the police outside.”
“No,” Samantha said. “I’m going to do it. I got all these sensory powers from your friend Stan so that I could help. You saved my husband, it’s the least I can do in helping the others still trapped in that monster. If this is how I can help, then this is what I’m going to do.”
I nodded, gave Samantha a quick hug around the shoulders, then stood, moving over and leaning against an old quarter slot machine across from Samantha. The silence of the big warehouse became heavier with each passing second. The bright lights and colors of the four Saturn Slot machines seemed to call to me, like a bully who just wouldn’t give up.
There were four people inside that machine under that giant image of Saturn. Two more of my team were going to willingly go in there to try to save them, under my direction. I just hoped I was making the right decision in letting them.
In all my years as Poker Boy, I had never lost someone who tried to help me. But in all the years, I had never sent anyone into such danger before. Normally I went into the danger myself, making sure the others helping me were safe.
This time, I needed to stay outside of the danger and let friends put themselves purposely at risk so that I could help rescue them and others. Patty and I and Screamer were the superheroes here, yet we really weren’t taking any risks.
That didn’t feel right.
In fact, it felt just plain wrong. But for the life of me, I couldn’t see another way.
And that didn’t feel right either.
Chapter Twenty-one
DEATH AND THE MACHINE
AFTER WHAT SEEMED like the longest time, Patty and Screamer and Geneva came back inside the warehouse, moving toward Samantha and myself at a quick pace.
“All set,” Patty said. “Tech and Ben have a police escort to the Horseshoe.”
“Good,” I said, moving away from the machine I had been leaning against and facing Patty. “How are you feeling?”
She shrugged. “Tired, but fine.”
“How about one more quick practice before we send anyone else in there?”
I didn’t want to tell her that I had gotten more and more worried about my powers fading. I often had powers for a time outside of a casino, sometimes a few hours, sometimes half a day depending on how long I had been in the casino and charged them up. So I was getting a little worried.
She smiled, her brown eyes taking me in clearly. “I was going to suggest the same thing. You reading my mind now?”
“Not yet,” I said. “But there’s still hope.”
She laughed at my lame joke and then reached out and took my hand.
Again the feel of her skin against mine gave me sensations I never wanted to let go of. Little shivers up my back, along with a warmth inside my gut. It was amazing I had been able to concentrate as much as I had so far.
I pushed the hope of helping her shower with a fresh bar of raspberry soap away and replaced it with the image of my friends dying in front of my eyes because I screwed up. That kind of image will shut down just about any erotic and fancy-filled thoughts, and that’s exactly what it did.
“Ready?” I asked, looking into her eyes.
She nodded, tipped her head back, closed her eyes, and slowed time down around us.
“You got it,” I said. “Now, let me see if I can still make this work.”
She squeezed my hand and said nothing.
I focused on taking the two of us between seconds. For a fraction of a second I couldn’t feel anything different, then suddenly it worked, just as it had all evening.
“Got it,” I said.
Maybe being around all the old slot machines was like being in a casino. Or maybe Stan had increased my powers like he had with Samantha. Either way, Poker Boy was still in full force and I was damned glad of that.
“Letting go,” she said.
She did and opened her eyes. She glanced around at the frozen time and then smiled at me. “I think we’re ready.”
“I do too,” I said, letting us drop back into real time.
“Problems?” Screamer asked.
“None,” Patty said.
I regretfully let go of her hand and moved back to the quarter slot I had been leaning against a few minutes before. Samantha looked nervous sitting on the tarps and finally climbed to her feet and started pacing.
Patty watched her for a moment, then moved over to Geneva. “Are Johnny and Harry all right in there?”
“They are,” Geneva said. “And Harry completely agrees on the problem with a three person payout. He was afraid that might be a problem, and was hoping we could figure out a way around it. He thinks we’re nuts for doing it the way we’re doing it, but is thankful we are at the same time.”
Since Geneva was connected clearly to Johnny, and he was with Harry, I had a question I had been worrying about. “Did Harry notice anything when the machine took Johnny and jumped? And then when it took the other person at Circus Circus and jumped back?”
“Nothing,” Geneva said, relaying Harry’s answer through Johnny.
“Good,” Patty said. “I had been wondering about that as well? Samantha’s and Tech’s jumps won’t bother anyone then.”
“Nope,” Geneva said.
Again, the big warehouse went deathly silent as we waited.
There was nothing worse than waiting, and nothing worse than the silence of a bunch of dead, dust-covered machines that once had been active. Only the ghost slot looked alive, its colorful lights filling the space between the rows of dead slots.
I wondered how many other ghost slots were functioning in this building, maybe not active now, but waiting for a little bit of energy, a little bit of attention like Harry had given these Saturn Slots.
Harry’s mistake in trying to save himself by getting the machine to pay him back out was the only thing that might end up saving him. His mistake had caused the ghost to keep hunting and take lots of people, even though it had him inside.
And it was the sudden large amount of people going missing that had led us to this place, this moment. Thankfully, most of those people were now safe and back with their loved ones. Only four more to save, but to do that, we had to risk two others to get the total right so that the machine would work.
Patty’s phone rang with a Mozart tune that seemed very out of place.
Samantha froze and turned to face Patty.
Patty pulled the phone from her pocket and answered it with a simple, “Yes.”
“Good,” she said. “You’re near the top of the restaurant stairs?”
“Okay,” she said, “here it comes.”
She clicked the phone off and turned to face me. “Police in position, have the area blocked off completely. Only Ben and Tech are there.”
I turned to Samantha. “You ready?”
“One problem,” she said.
“What?” I asked, suddenly getting very worried about her.
“Can I borrow a nickel?”
She smiled at our shocked faces, then turned to Screamer who was digging in his pocket.
He handed her a coin. “Safe trip. See you shortly.”
Samantha took the coin. Then, with a quick adjustment of her sunglasses, moved over to the machine and sat down, her back to all of us.
“The machines seem very intense, radiating energy in a numbe
r of spectrums,” she said, fumbling with the coin for a moment before putting it into the coin slot.
“Coin and machine noises are very loud,” she said, reporting the experience to us and more than likely keeping herself as calm as possible under the circumstances.
She reached out and pulled down on the metal arm.
“Noises even louder now,” she said, turning her head slightly as if listening to the wheels of the slot machine spin. “Almost like voices calling to—”
The first wheel locked down onto Saturn and she jerked with the electrical shock going through her arm.
The second wheel locked down onto Saturn and she jerked again.
The third wheel stopped on Saturn and she slumped forward toward the machine as it took her and vanished.
“I hope I never have to see that again,” Screamer said, his voice low and angry.
I felt the same way. I was angry that we had to put Samantha through that.
And scared for her as well.
“You in contact with Johnny?” Patty asked.
Geneva shook her head, the empty and scared look back in her eyes.
“Deep breaths you two,” Patty said, turning to face me and Screamer. “There are some brave people risking a lot right now. We are shortly going to have work to do.”
Patty smiled at Screamer, then at me. Whatever calming superpower Front Desk girl was using at that moment, sure worked on me. I smiled back at her.
“Ready,” Screamer said.
“Ready,” I said.
“Now all we need is a ghost slot machine,” Patty said, taking my hand.
The three of us stood there, waiting, facing the empty hole in the row of old slot machines, waiting for the ghost slots to come home.
Three superheroes with nothing to do until the enemy showed itself.
Five long seconds later it did exactly that, shimmering back into place, very much alive and radiating light and energy.
The three of us, like a military unit, stepped forward and into position behind the seats of the four slot machines, with my left hand in Patty’s right hand and my right hand holding onto Screamer’s belt.
“Tell Johnny to tell Harry we’re ready,” I said to Geneva after getting a slight hand-squeeze from Patty.
Slots of Saturn: A Poker Boy Novel Page 14