"Why, Sushi! I'm surprised you would suggest such a thing," said Rev. "Everybody in Omega Company is my concern, you know that."
"Right, but the ones with pompadours, sideburns, and pouty mouths are a little bit more your concern," said Sushi. "Don't worry about Do-Wop, Rev. I think I've known him long enough to have a pretty good idea what he does best. .."
Do-Wop looked up with a surprised expression. "Hey, thanks, Soosh. I didn't know you thought that much of me.. ."
"... which is goofing off," Sushi finished.
"Yo! That ain't fair!" said Do-Wop, punching his buddy on the shoulder. "I thought you was gonna defend me!"
"You've known me long enough that you should've known better," said Sushi. "But seriously, Rev, you don't have to worry about Do-Wop. He knows a good deal when he sees one, and this is about as good as he's going to get in the Legion. Trust us-we'll get you results, if anybody can. Now, here's an idea I just came up with..." Rev and Do- Wop bent close to listen, and soon their heads were nodding.
"Pssst-Harry sent me," said a shadowy figure just beyond the perimeter of Zenobia Base.
"Yeah? What's the word?" said Double-X, who'd volunteered for sentry duty on this part of the perimeter. Rembrandt had been mildly surprised that the Supply sergeant's assistant was volunteering for anything at all, but she'd shrugged and put Double-X on the duty roster. Anytime somebody actually wanted to take on nighttime guard duty, it was one fewer warm body she'd have to cajole into doing
it. And while she'd probably wonder about the reason for the unusual request, the captain's policy was to give the troops a good deal of slack, and she wasn't about to overrule him.
"Bird is the word," said the voice from beyond the perimeter.
"What's the bird?" said Double-X.
"Thunderbird," said the voice, somewhat exasperated.
"Hey, can we come in now? This password stuff is silly."
"Aww, you know we gotta do all this stuff in the Legion, man," said Double-X. "You got it right, anyhow. Come on in-but hurry, we don't want the wrong folks to see you."
"We're comin'," said L. P. Asho, stepping out of the shadows. He was followed by Euston O'Better and Austen Tay-Shun. All three were wearing dark coveralls not quite Legion black, but good enough to reduce visibility on a dark night. The three men stopped just inside the perimeter, then Asho asked, "Which way's Harry's place?"
"Straight ahead," said Double-X. "The Supply shed's right behind that big Zenobian machine-watch out you don't trip over it. I don't know whether you can break anything 'sides your toe, but you wouldn't want to find out the hard way."
"Weird-lookin' thing," said O'Better. "What's it do?"
"Damfino," said Double-X. "They call it a sklem, and if you know what that means you're one up on me. Hurry up, now, 'fore somebody spots you."
"We're going, don't worry." The three hunters moved off toward the supply shed, leaving Double-X alone on the perimeter. He watched them go, then settled back down to wait. He'd be off duty in another three hours. With any luck, the off-planet suckers would still have some money left by then. If what Harry said was right, they had plenty to lose. If they'd already been cleaned out, well, those were the breaks. He'd have to take his chances with the usual crew.
"Four thousand dollars?" Lola's jaw dropped. "Victor Phule gave you four thousand dollars?"
Ernie grinned, and he tossed the four Fat Chance Casino chips lightly from hand to hand. "To tell the truth, it was only a thousand." He stopped and laughed.
"Only-and that was really just a loan to play the slots. For a goof, I guess. I won nine thou, and gave him back his one plus half the winnings. So he came out ahead of the game, too."
"All right, but he had no way of knowing. you were going to win," said Lola. "Why'd he give you money to throwaway in one of those stupid slots?"
"He was gonna play it if I didn't," said Ernie. "I think he was just using me to change his luck or something. Or maybe he did know it was going to come up a winner-if he's shilling for the casino, maybe he'd have some way to rig that, figuring that if I do hit a winner, I'll put the money, plus some of my own, back in the machine trying to win again."
"And just as likely, you'll walk away and cash it in," said Lola, frowning. "Which is exactly what you did except you didn't cash in. Why not?"
"I wanted him to think I don't need the dough that bad," said Ernie. "I'm pretending to be a guy with a few bucks of my own. If I cash the chips in right away, it looks like I'm hungry for the money. If I just throw a few thou in my pocket like small change, and walk out like it's too much of a pain in the ass to wait in line to change 'em, it makes the scam look better. Next time I walk in there, Phule will think I'm one of the big boys, just like him. And the chips are good anytime-you could go cash 'em in, one chip at a time, and nobody'd know any better."
"Don't be so sure about that," said Lola. "They may have them marked some way. In fact, they may even have them sending out a signal so they can tell where you've gone with them."
"Ahh, you're being paranoid," said Ernie. "They wouldn't go to the trouble to rig something that fancy for somebody like me."
"Don't be so sure," said Lola. "Remember, we're dealing with two guys who can very easily get their hands on all the latest military and spy hardware. Or are you forgetting just what it is that the Phules do for a living, besides running a casino?"
"Shit, that's right," said Ernie. He stared at the chips for a second, then suddenly stepped over to the bed and stuck them under a pillow. "You think they're bugged?" he whispered.
"If they really are, we're dead ducks already," said Lola quietly.
"Shit!" said Ernie, more vehemently. He stared at the pillow, then turned back to Lola. "I should've known better than to let that old skinflint slip me those phony chips. What the hell are we gonna do now, Lola?"
Lola sat on the windowsill, back to the window. She stretched her arms up and folded her hands behind her head, then said, "We don't have a lot of choices. Either they've got us pinned or they don't. If they're bugging us, they already know enough to kill any chance we have of our plans working. If that's true, we might as well cut and run-and take our chances about Mr. V catching up with us again. I don't like that idea, although four thousand dollars would give us a fair head start."
"Assuming the Phules don't have their security boys waiting to bust whoever tries to cash in the chips," said Ernie, his voice still low. He shot a glance at the pillow covering the chips, as if he expected it to do something unusual. It didn't cooperate.
"Right," said Lola. "The other choice is just to go on with the plan, on the theory that nobody knows nothin' about us and everything's exactly what it looks like. I don't especially like that idea, either, but at least it leaves us with something to play for."
"Yeah, I guess I can see that," said Ernie. He thought a moment, then said, "What if we're wrong about that?"
Lola shrugged. "If we're wrong, we find out just how good Phule's security guards are and just how serious they get with somebody who tries to do what we're planning on doing. At least there's a chance they'll put us someplace Mr. V can't get to us very easily. Maybe he'll even accept it as an occupational hazard if we're locked up somewhere and not come down too heavy on us."
"Yeah, right," said Ernie, gloomily. "So which way do you want to play it, then?"
"Dead straight," said Lola. "Go on back to the casino, joke with Victor Phule about forgetting you'd won, and drop those chips right back in the slot."