Chapter 17: Vegas

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Las Vegas, Nevada – United States

McCarran Air and Space Port

Tommy got on his Kawasaki, Bishop already on his Harley-Davidson, Gareth seated behind him. Xen was also ready on his chopper. The rest of the Coven were already at the hotel, taken there via bus while Egad prepared himself for this, hopefully, final confrontation with his brother.

Finally, all was ready. Once Egad was inside, Mick started up the Audi, and drove off of Foxtail-1’s boarding ramp, Johnathan Flond following him in his Aston Martin.

They drove through customs, and then started off into the city, Tommy, Xen, and Bishop maneuvered their motorcycles alongside the Audi, all the way to the casino.

Once at the casino, Tommy, Mick, Xen, and Bishop gave the valet drivers their keys, and followed Egad into the casino. The rest of the Coven had waited at the doors. Once their Master was inside the Casino, the rest of the Coven split up to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, while Galen, Uniko, Zhal, Jet, Tommy, Bishop, and Johnathan stayed with Egad. Everyone had small radios that let them keep in contact thanks to Xen, who was keeping tabs on radio and network transmissions in the private bus that Egad had for his coven.

Once inside the casino, they saw Cailus waiting in the central area, waiting with Eric Cardigan the doberman, and a group of private security guards. Egad walked up without fear, stifling down any doubts he had. It was too late to second-guess the situation.

“Glad you could make it… Brother.” Cailus sneered with a razor-toothed smile. “The tournament is being held inside the Black Room. Follow me,”

Egad and the group followed without question.

“I hope you have room for an extra player,” Egad said curtly.

Cailus rolled his eyes. “As if that will increase your chances,”

A short while later, they ended up at the doors to the Black Room, a poker room reserved for the most elite members of society in the galaxy. Egad and his entourage stepped inside.

It was too late to back out now…

Casino Floor

Maintenance Tunnels

Mick walked along with Gareth, Amon, Luso, Damion, Eli, Chaos, Hatred, and Zarch, hiding when necessary by activating portable active camo stealth devices on their belts. After a while of searching, they found a security room. Mick hacked the door lock and stepped in with the rest behind him.

Once inside, they found the room was occupied by Cailus’ goons! The real security guards had been knocked out!

Mick silently plucked a knockout flash grenade from his pocket. The quietly stepped outside the room, Mick flinging the grenade in and shutting the door! After hearing a loud pop, followed by a slight rumblings sound, Mick opened the door. The goons were out cold!

Mick and Codec walked up to the terminal, focusing in on the cameras in the Black Room. The tournament had just begun. “We’ll keep an eye on Uncle from here, you guys just cover my back so none of Cailus’ goons tries to catch us off guard,”

Gareth nodded. “Me, Eli, and Damion will keep outside. Zarch, you and your sons patrol the hall.” He said. He stepped outside, and kept watch, as Zarch, Chaos, and Hatred went out into the hall, patrolling for any other troublemakers.

A while after this, Gareth saw two of Cailus’ goons coming down the hall, the leader slamming the but of her gun into one of the Casino’s janitors! It was Sheila, with Eric Cardigan! Which Gareth knew was impossible, since Eric was dead, but he didn’t count out that Egad had somehow resurrected him with black market science. Gareth kept in active camo, stepping around and into a pouncing position. Eric kept walking, and stopped at the door to the security room Mick and Zarch were in!

Gareth made his move! He launched himself into a quick pounce, switching off his active camo! Gareth tackled Eric to the floor, and they instantly started wrestling with each other before Eric threw Gareth off! Gareth quickly got to his feet, as did Eric. Eric then charged at Gareth, who quickly sidestepped and slammed Eric through a door into a men’s restroom! Eric slammed into the wall, but quickly got his bearings as he reached for his sidearm: A softnose-tipped blaster pistol!

Gareth charge and grappled with Eric, the both of them struggling against one another to get the weapon! They slammed each other into the bathroom’s sinks and stalls, breaking everything around them as they turned the once tidy bathroom into a wreck, the room looking like a tornado hit it! Gareth, after a large struggle, managed to slam Eric’s hands into a wall, causing the doberman to lose his grip on the pistol! Gareth then grabbed Eric by the collar, and slammed him into the other wall, then dragged him over to a toilet and stuffed his head into the bowl, literally water-boarding the doberman!

Gareth struggled to keep Eric under the water. He remembered what Master had said: Give the enemy no quarter, and show them no mercy as they will not show you any, will not leave any openings of their own. Gareth had never killed, but knew he had no choice in this situation. Eric’s struggles began to cease, as his strength left him while he was drowned under the water. Eventually, his body stopped the struggle, spasming a few times before going still.

Gareth, heaving a big sigh of relief, let go of the doberman, and walked over, catching his breath as he bent over and retrieved the softnose-tipped laser pistol.

Suddenly, Eric’s body shot up from the toilet bowl, as he flung a spare gun from under his vest! Gareth spun around, and fired the liberated softnose pistol at Eric, the blast boring right between the doberman’s eyes! Eric dropped dead in an instant!

Gareth, breathing heavily, did his best to straighten out his shirt, smoothing any wrinkles and debris off of his jacket and pants. He then splashed some water on his face from one of the remaining sinks, and quickly vacated the scene.

One pawn down, he thought to himself.

A short time later, Shiela walked in, carrying a concealable hold-out blaster in one hand.

“This is how far you’re prepared to go, Gareth?” She asked with abrasion, not even the slightest hint of honey in her tone.

“You’ve revealed your true intentions the moment you came to the castle,” Gareth replied, his tone a mirror of Shiela’s. “Tell me, just how much of your father’s money did you invest into C.A.I.’s stock?”

“More than enough,” Shiela replied, she and Gareth starting to circle one another. “And even if I die here, in this room tonight, your new ‘master’ will not leave here with the sweet taste of his victory. I’m sure your death will embitter that quite a lot, my love. Unless you surrender, of course.”

“I’m not planning on surrendering to you anytime soon, Brightstone.” Gareth growled. “And don’t call me ‘love

Shiela laughed. “So you would rather die, all alone in the ruins of this wrecked bathroom? That doesn’t sound like the plan Ryan would have envisioned.”

Gareth gave Shiela a confident smirk. “Who said I was alone?”

With that, Damion and Eli materialized out of thin air, dropping their active camouflage fields! Damion grabbed Shiela’s gun arm, squeezing tightly to make her drop the pistol, which she did! Damion then wrenched the arm behind her back, rendering her immobile and restrained in his grip.

Eli stepped in front of her, holding a tactical aerosol can the size of pepper spray. “Sorry, sweet lady poison, but we don’t have time to deal with pit vipers like you. Master Egad needs us…”

Eli then sprayed the contents of the can in Shiela’s face, who immediately passed out upon breathing in the tranquilizer gas.

Damion then let Shiela fall down onto the floor, the she-wolf snoozing deeply. “We’d better check with Zarch, Chaos, and Hatred. They may have found Blondie and her goons by now.”

# # #

Casino Maintenance Halls

Zarch, Chaos, and Hatred walked down the maintenance halls, taking some tactical goggles out of their material storage buffers on their belts, and activating the active scanning modes.

Hatred looked up to the ceiling, seeing something in his thermal imaging scanners hanging out in the rafters: Outlines of a vixen with a pair of menacing-looking komodo dragons! It was Blondie and her henchmen!

“Look out!” Hatred shouted, as he, his brother, and his father took cover right as Blondie and her cronies opened fire with automatic machine-lasers!

“I have the high ground, ma cher!” Blondie said. “An unfortunate situation, no? I suggest you make this easy on yourselves and surrender, oui?”

Zarch sighed. “I’m not impressed, lady! You’ll have to do better than simple machine guns to take us down!”

“I’ve taken necessary cautions, cherie! We came here with solid ammunition in the form of blessed silver bullets, soaked in holy water with oak shavings! A rather unique venerability of you and your sons, monsieur Zarch?”

Zarch laughed. “So, you know who I am? In that case, I doubt you know all of my abilities!” Zarch quickly cast a lightning ball, spell, and hurled it into the rafters!

Blondie looked through her scope, dumbfounded as she saw the electric ball heading straight for her! She and her two henchmen were forced to jump out of the rafters and land in the middle of the floor!

Zarch saw his chance: He cast a seal in the middle of the floor, cutting Blondie and her henchmen off from escape and reinforcements! The whole room took on a psychedelic color scheme.

“What is this?” Blondie asked, confused.

“Just a simple spell of mine that separated us from the normal world.” Zarch said, cracking a dark grin. “Welcome to Purgatorio, and your death!”

Zarch quickly cast another spell, shouting out an incantation! Arms shout out of the floor, grabbing Blondie and her cronies, dragging them into a portal in the center of the room.

“You made your bed, now you must lie in it, lady!” Zarch snarled. “Enjoy your time in Inferno!”

With that, Zarch cast another spell and brought him and his sons back to reality, out of Pergatorio.

# # # # #

Casino

Blackroom

The tournament of Texas hold ‘em was now down to three players: Egad, Johathan, and Cailus. The Flop had been played, with what looked like the necessary cards for a possible royal flush. It only remained to see who had the cards necessary for the win.

Egad looked over at Cailus. It was then that the bets were made. Cailus went all in, throwing the cards for Egad’s shipping company stocks onto the table with the 40,000 credits he brought.

“I see your bet for 4,500, and raise you Johnathan. All in,” Cailus said. It was now Egad’s bet.

Egad remembered what cards he had in his hand: An Ace of Spades, and a King of Spades. Combined with the rest of the cards on the table, it gave him a high chance of winning. Egad put on a smile.

“Well, I’m not sure of this hand, but I’ve got to see your hold card. I call,” Egad pushed his chips into the center of the table.

The dealer dealt the remaining cards, down to the river card. The cards on the table were a 10, jack, and queen, of spades with a king of hearts, and a queen of clubs. “Cards, please?”

Cailus pushed his two cards to the dealer, who flipped them over. It was a king of clubs, and a queen of hearts.

“Cailus Foxmorre has two pair,” the dealer said.

Johathan pushed his cards to the dealer. His two cards were a pair of jack of hearts, and a jack of clubs.

“One pair of jacks for Mr. Flond,” The dealer said.

Egad then pushed his cards to the dealer. The tension in the room was palpable. When Egad’s cards were flipped over, the room let out a collective gasp!

“An ace of spades and a king of spades. Mr. Ryan Foxmoore has the royal flush.” The dealer said. “Mr. Ryan Foxmorre takes the pot, and the win,”

Cailus looked at Egad with a glare of icy venom, then rolled his eyes. “This was merely a game. There’s always next time,”

“I’m afraid for you, there won’t be a ‘next time,’ Johnathan snapped his fingers. The next moment, the doors to the Black Room were thrown open, and there was the sound of unholstering guns in the air as a GCOC Hazard Team stormed into the room! “Mr. Cailus Foxmoore, you are under arrest for attempted corporate sabotage,”

Cailus just rolled his eyes. “You don’t think I expected this?” His body then began to distort, revealing a machine hovering in the center of the room where he once stood! It was a holographic-kinetic decoy! The decoy then popped after an overload sequence was initiated, and fell to the floor!

“Dammit,” Flond sighed. He got on his radio. “Cailus swapped himself with a decoy, all personnel, spread out and search the casino! Repeat: All personnel, spread out and search for Cailus Foxmoore!”