Gambler (19 page)

In the end, Nova sighed in frustration and
all but yelled at the food generator. "Cereal!"

The food generator complied and Nova
stumbled through the ship with a bowl in her hands. After eating a
few mouthfuls she felt more human; the out of step feeling receded
and her hunger quieted.

"Cal!" she called. She heard banging from
the store room and a little time later Cal hovered into view. "I
need a tracker," she said.

Cal disappeared. Nova could have sworn she
heard him grumble as he floated off. She narrowed her eyes after
him, but he didn't turn around.

He returned with the tiny device held
between his thin pincers. She took hold and lifted it to the light.
It was about the size of her fingernail and just as thin. The
technology was available to make them smaller of course, but
keeping track of the tiny objects was nearly impossible.

"You'll be going back to the casino?" Cal
asked.

"Yeah."

"Let the records show I advise against it
for medical reasons."

"Yes, Cal, I know. You're released from all
legal obligation, etcetera, etcetera," Nova said while waving her
hand.

He nodded and floated off down the ship. As
he disappeared, his voice echoed off the metal walls. "I suppose
you'll want a new dress?"

"Yes," Nova said. "Something I can run in."
She wouldn't let herself be caught out again, this time she would
be ready if Cracos tried anything.

Half an hour later, Nova disembarked from
her ship in a short black dress that allowed her legs full
movement. Her usual coat covered most of her body and concealed the
multiple weapons she had stashed about her person. Stuck to her
left hand, partially hidden beneath a ring, she carried the
tracker.

She strode with her head held high past the
guards; one of whom was the same man who had tossed her into the
Hole. He opened his mouth as if to jeer at her, but one glance at
her hard eyes as she walked past and his lips froze.

The tide of people instinctively moved out
of her way. Nova ignored the sideways glances and the following
eyes. She made her way directly for the card tables. Just as she'd
suspected, Ted sat bent over his cards.

"We meet again," Nova said, flashing a smile
at the man.

"Hello," Ted said with a wink. "I hope
you're doing better than I am every night, otherwise you should
really be somewhere else."

"I could say the same to you!" Nova said,
her tone light. The last thing she wanted to do was put him on
edge. The elderly man chuckled and shook his head as he returned to
his cards.

She studied the man's clothes; they were
much the same as every other night, simple and worn. He wore the
same jacket as the previous night and no jewellery adorned his body
that she could use to hide the tracer.

She pretended to gaze at her cards as her
mind ticked over the possibilities. Then, as if on command, a
drunken man stumbled over his own feet as he hobbled past. He fell
onto Nova and she used the momentum to fall into Ted. She dropped
the tracer from her jewelled finger into his pocket.

She let out a cry as her shoulder collided
with the older man and pushed the drunkard from her. She scowled at
the intoxicated man and he held up his hands in surrender. A small
crowd gathered around the commotion and Nova was sure to look
pointedly at the few guards who had seen the sequence of events. As
if at her mental command, two of them strode to the table and
clamped their hands over the drunkard's wrists, leading him to the
main exit.

"Sorry," Nova said to the elderly man who
had almost been knocked from his stool. She batted her eyelids and
was sure to cast an angry glare at the retreating figure.

"No harm done," said Ted. He smiled back at
her as he brushed some of his spilled drink from the tattered
sleeve of his jacket.

"Right." Nova nodded and turned back to the
game. She played a couple of hands before letting out a deep
sigh.

"I don't think I can play any more of this
tonight." The way she said the words one would think that having
someone trip into her had been the worst thing to ever happen in
her life.

"Probably a good idea. I won't be far
behind," the elderly man said, nodding at Nova as she rose from her
seat.

She strolled away from the table, sure to
keep her pace steady. She moved her head about the room as if
taking in the wonder of the casino. Really, she was looking for
Cracos and his men. Nova's mind was already racing with the many
ways she could pay Cracos and Vicki back.

Once out in the night air, Nova dropped her
air of wonder and marched to her ship. Safe inside its metal walls,
she let out a sigh of relief.

"Get that tracker online. I want to know as
soon as he leaves the casino."

Nova peeled off the dress and exchanged it
for a loose pair of pants and a black long-sleeved shirt. She
tossed on her trench-coat and checked that her weapons were still
in place. She pulled on a pair of thick boots and flicked the
collar of the trench-coat up so that it covered most of her
face.

"He's on the move," Cal announced as he
watched Crusader's main screen.

"Wonderful," Nova said, pulling a portable
tracker from its place in the ship's wall.

She waited on the inside of Crusader's door
as she watched the small red dot move across the satellite image of
Tabryn. The red dot moved out of the casino and paused just outside
the doors. Nova tapped her foot as she watched the dot refuse to
move. It stayed still so long that she felt the need to rip open
the ship's door and make sure the old man was still there.

Her hand rested on the door's activator when
the red dot came back to life and moved up the street. She gave it
a few seconds head start before she opened the door and stepped
down onto the sidewalk.

She hunched her shoulders in her large coat
and hurried down the street after the red dot. The sea of people
parted before her and she walked with relative ease. Every few
moments she glanced down at the screen in her hand. She kept a
steady pace, she didn't want to catch up to Ted but she also didn't
want to let him escape.

The device clutched in her right hand picked
up sound from the tracker but it was difficult to distinguish from
the general sounds of the street. It wasn't until the red dot
turned off the street and into an adjacent building that the noise
from the device quietened.

Nova's pace slowed as she approached the
building. It turned out to be a large hotel of a prestigious chain.
It serviced many of the wealthier travellers, while also providing
hundreds of jobs to the residents of Tabryn.

Nova stood to the side of the door, facing
out towards the street as if waiting for a friend. Out of the
corner of her eye, however, she watched the hotel like a hawk.

Ted did not re-emerge and so after five
minutes Nova pushed herself off from the wall and marched
purposefully through the glass entranceway. Inside, the hotel was
nothing short of glamorous. Gold lining adorned most of the
furniture, and classic pieces of art hung on the walls. Men and
women in fine clothing strolled about the room, staring at Nova
with scorn. She ignored their stares and instead watched the
tracker. The red dot had moved to the side of the building and had
stopped.

Her brows furrowed as she watched the
stationary dot. She moved her eyes from the screen to the wall
where Ted should have been standing. Instead, there was a set of
elevators.

Nova rolled her eyes at herself, of course
it looked like he was standing still; he was moving vertically. She
walked to the side of the lobby and took a seat on a luscious
chair. She sunk into the cushioning and couldn't prevent a small
sigh of comfort.

"It's working."

She jumped when the voice emanated from the
device in her hand. There was another voice but she couldn't make
out the words, they were probably too far away from the
tracker.

"About forty thousand credits," the first
voice replied, no doubt that of Ted.

The second voice spoke again, this time
slightly louder. Nova only caught a few of the words. "Total…
People… Suspicious."

"What do you suggest?" Ted asked.

"It would be easier if you actually won a
few games," the second voice said, ringing with frustration.

"Why don't you go in then?"

"You know I don't do that," said the second
voice. "But it's getting too risky. I say we do one more, bigger
than ever."

"How big?"

"I've got about one hundred thousand in
chips."

"That's a lot of money," Ted said. "The
casino is going to notice."

"Exactly! That's why we make this the last
one; we're in and out. Then off this pathetic rock."

"I don't know if it's a good idea. I have a
bad feeling."

"Don't be pathetic. They have no idea what's
going on. Who would suspect the chips? They're too busy looking at
the staff or examining their books."

"Okay, fine. One more, but then we get out
of here," Ted said, a tremor in his voice.

"Done."

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE

The following night Nova draped her
trench-coat over her shoulders, her mouth dry. She'd never
deliberately gone against an employer before, but Cracos had
crossed a line. She clenched her fists as she contemplated revenge.
She had a weapon in every pocket in case things didn't go to
plan.

"You are going against the prime directive,"
Cal said as Nova prepared to leave the ship.

"I know," she replied, grabbing her familiar
bag.

"It is advised that you abort current
mission and instead report to the paying client."

She rolled her eyes at Cal. While sometimes
the robot could be unsettlingly human, other times he was nothing
but robotic.

"I have to give him a chance," she said,
marching out of Crusader.

The tracker had stopped transmitting not
long after Nova overheard Ted's conversation the night before. It
was possible that it had malfunctioned, or been exposed to heat or
water. She refused to think of the other possibility; that it had
been discovered. Even without the tracker she walked through the
casino with sure steps, knowing exactly where to find Ted.

"Ah, if it isn't my fellow gambler," he
said, as she approached.

"I know what you've done," she whispered,
sitting next to him.

His brows furrowed as he looked at her. "I
beg your pardon?"

"I know what you've done and I know what you
plan to do," she said under her breath, pretending to study her
cards.

"I don't know what you're talking
about."

He fidgeted on his chair and his eyes darted
around the room, his face flushing red.

She felt sorry for the man. He'd been nice
to her, and on Tabryn you never knew why someone needed money.
Maybe a loved one of his had been kidnapped too? Nova didn't think
so. One thing she did know for sure; she didn't like Cracos and the
man could probably stand to lose a few hundred thousand. Despite
the bounty hunter's code, Nova felt no ethical debt towards Cracos;
the man could be thrown in his own Hole for all she cared. On the
other hand, Nova needed the credits and what Ted was doing was
wrong.

"I don't want to turn you in. Cracos tried
to have me killed, so as far as I'm concerned he can choke on a
crabstick. But, I do want to get paid, and I do want revenge."

"What are you suggesting?" Ted said, a bead
of sweat sliding down his forehead.

"I've got a plan. All it'll cost you is two
thousand credits and a few of those special chips you've been
collecting."

Ted stared at her out of the corner of his
eye. "I feel like a drink."

"Me too," Nova said.

They folded their hands and walked away from
the cards to a secluded table in the shadow of the bar. There, Nova
explained her plan. As she spoke, the sweat disappeared from Ted's
forehead and he nodded along with her.

"You can't come back here," Nova warned,
once she had finished. "There are lots of Hunters on this case and
it won't take them long to work it out."

"I know. I'm done with this."

"Good."

***

Nova tucked the cred-stick into her jacket
as she strode towards the main exit. Just as she reached the door a
grating voice called out.

"Oh, Nova. So good to see you're still
alive."

Nova glanced back to see Vicki sneering at
her, wearing a low-cut red dress that matched her blood-coloured
lipstick.

Nova's teeth clenched and her hands balled
into fists inside her pockets. "No thanks to you."

"Oh, don't tell me you're upset about that,"
Vicki said, pouting and batting her shadowed eyelids.

"Why don't we settle this?" Nova said, anger
boiling in her chest. "You and me, blackjack, alternate
banking."

Vicki threw back her head and her red hair
bounced as she laughed. "I don't think you'd be able to handle
it."

"Try me."

Vicki shrugged. "Your money."

She turned and strutted to the private
tables, her eight-inch heels shining in the neon lights. Nova
stormed after her.

They sat across from one another. A new deck
of cards sat to the left and Vicki snatched them up, ripping the
plastic wrapping with the sharp edge of her nail. The cards were
smooth and shiny as she shuffled them.

Nova plunged her hand into her pocket and
drew out a fistful of chips that she dumped onto her side of the
table. Vicki placed hers in neat towers and dealt the first
hand.

They played without talking, barely glancing
at their cards as they glared at each other across the table.
Vicki's face was plastered with a condescending sneer, while Nova
settled with a glower of contempt. No one tried to join them, no
doubt sensing the waves of animosity pouring off the table.