“Unfortunately,” said Olga. “I have a recording of this misunderstanding. Unless you wish for your newlywed wife to find out about what just happened, you will be paying my husband and I our money back, along with all of yours.”
Malcolm couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He took a few breaths, calming himself down enough to speak as he pulled the rest of his clothing back on.
“Oh no,” he said, mockingly. “Please, don’t tell my wife. Anything but that.”
“We are not bluffing, Mr. Adams,” said Olga.
“Was the thing about you not being on the pill that your husband told me part of it, too?”
Olga smiled and nodded.
“We are not that foolish,” she said.
“Clearly,” said Malcolm. “Well, it’s been fun. I’ll be taking my leave.”
He clipped on his bow tie, donned his fake glasses, and made for the door.
“Hey!” shouted Olga. “We are serious!”
“Of course you are,” said Malcolm. “Tell your husband that I had fun!”
He headed down the hallway and stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for his floor. It was in the middle of closing when two beefy men wearing black sunglasses slipped in. They stepped into position on either side of Malcolm, both of them dwarfing him by several inches and at least a hundred pounds.
“Uh…” He scratched his head, unsure of what to say.
“We work for the casino,” said the man to his right. “Mike Redhawk would like to speak with you about your amazing winning streak, Mr. Adams.”
Ah, man. Just when I thought I’d gotten away with it.
The men pressed the button for the basement, and the three of them began descending. Malcolm considered whether he could take both using his wind manipulation. It seemed like a bad idea. Even if he managed to render them unconscious, there would be footage of it from the elevator’s camera, and it would blow his cover.
He played it cool, waiting until the elevator came to a stop. The door opened and the two men pushed him forward by the shoulder. Malcolm scowled at them, but walked out into a hallway, and then into a dimly lit room that smelled slightly of cigarette smoke.
A Native American man with a pony tail and a nice suit sat behind a desk. He gestured for Malcolm to sit, which his two escorts were all too happy to help him do.
“My name is Mike Redhawk,” said the man. “My tribe owns this casino.”
“Under any other circumstances, it would be nice to meet you,” said Malcolm. “John Adams.”
Mike smiled, and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Well, John,” he said. “Do you know what the odds are of some of the winning rolls you had for dice poker?”
“Never tell me the odds,” said Malcolm.
Mike Redhawk tapped his fingers on his desk. There was a computer monitor on his desk, and he took it and swiveled it around.
“The jig is up, you piece of shit,” said Mike. “We know who you are. My computer guy was able to reverse engineer an image of your face with advanced recognition software, rebuilding with a ninety-nine percent probability of what it would look like… without the glasses.”
“You could have just asked me to take them off,” said Malcolm.
“So, Wind Runner,” said Mike. “You think you can come into my casino and use your damn powers to cheat at the games?”
Malcolm shrugged. One of the guards cuffed him across the head. Malcolm reacted without thinking, pushing out with the wind and slamming the man into a wall across the room.
The other guard pulled a gun. Malcolm knocked it out of his hand before he could take aim, leaping out of chair and punching the man hard in the stomach.
“Enough!” shouted Mike. “Don’t antagonize him. Wind Runner, I brought you here to talk. I’m a man who likes to work out his problems with words, rather than violence.
I wonder what that’s like?
“Alright,” said Malcolm. “If you want to talk… How about you tell me about Golden Joab?”
Mike’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Give me your word that you won’t steal any money from the casino by abusing your powers,” said Mike.
Malcolm sighed. He’d had a lot of fun with the dice poker, and had already started working out a strategy for roulette.
“Fine,” said Malcolm. “Now, tell me what I want to know.”
CHAPTER 16
“Golden Joab is eccentric,” said Mike. “But he is still a man.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Malcolm.
Mike shook his head.
“He’s not gifted,” he said. “And he’s definitely not a spryte or demon. I’m assuming that’s why you’re here, Mr. Wind Runner.”
“Can you be certain?” asked Malcolm.
Mike shrugged.
“Not certain,” he said. “But, he’s never done much, outside of his shows, that seems superhuman.”
“What’s the best way of getting a private meeting with him?” asked Malcolm.
“He’ll be at the masquerade ball tomorrow night, and his show is on Saturday,” said Mike. “As far as a private meeting goes, I have no idea. The man is very secretive.”
Malcolm considered the information for a moment, and then nodded.
“Alright,” he said. “That’s helpful.”
One of the guards had recovered and was back on his feet. Mike nodded to him, and the guard led Malcolm out of the room and back down the hallway. The two of them shared one of the most uncomfortable elevator rides ever, and then Malcolm stepped out onto his floor.
“Sorry about the punch to the ribs,” said Malcolm. “Don’t know my own strength sometimes. You know how it is.”
The guard said nothing.
Tapestry was still awake when Malcolm got back to the room. She was wearing a nightgown, and tucked most of the way into bed, reading a novel. She frowned at Malcolm as he came through the door.
“Where did you go?” she asked.
“Down to the casino.” Malcolm kicked off his shoes, sighing as he sat own on the bed.
“You smell like perfume,” said Tapestry.
Malcolm turned and looked at her, feeling caught between annoyance and amusement.
“What happened to the whole us not being married thing?” he asked. “You seemed pretty dead set on forcing some space in between us earlier tonight.”
“I’m just pointing it out,” said Tapestry. “It’s a statement of fact. You smell like something, and that something is perfume.”
It’s like I’m getting the nagging part of a marriage without any perks.
“I was just doing my job, Tapestry,” said Malcolm. “And I happen to have some new information on Golden Joab.”
Tapestry set the book aside, her interest piqued.
“Anything we can act on?” she asked.
Malcolm nodded.
“There’s a masquerade ball tomorrow night,” he said. “Joab’s going to be there. We can use it as a chance to get close to him, or at least get a sense of what he’s like as a person.”
“That’s perfect!” she said. “Good work, Wind Runner.”
“Good enough work for me to get a spot in the bed tonight?” asked Malcolm. “I’m not really looking forward to sleeping on the floor.”
Tapestry considered his request for a moment before slowly nodding. Her hair was loose about her shoulders, and it made her look relaxed compared to the pony tail she usually sported for work.
“Cool,” said Malcolm. He started pulling off his suit jacket and dress clothes.
“You’re… undressing?” asked Tapestry.
“I usually sleep in my boxers,” he said. “That’s okay, right?”
She hesitated, her mouth turning down into a small frown.
“I guess,” she said.
Malcolm turned off the room’s overhead lights and joined Tapestry in bed, leaving ample room between them. Tapestry still had on her reading light, but she turned that off, too, and the two settled into bed in a silent, dark room.