Las Vegas’ Kerth Awards, part 2
Casey stepped into the security office to talk to Ed Deline. The casino’s Head of Security was a former CIA agent and even tougher than he looked. Ed was a no-nonsense type of guy and he took the security of the Monticeto seriously. Casey was curious about the increased security for this weekend, but he also just wanted to have a talk with Ed. “Hi, Ed. Got a few minutes to go over the plans for the high stakes poker game scheduled for this weekend?”
Ed looked up from the bank of monitors he was watching and motioned for Casey to take a seat next to him. He then looked back at the monitors and picked up the radio to call out to his right-hand man, Danny. “Hey, Danny, table 15, the guy with the green-striped shirt is stealing chips from the roulette table. He puts one down and palms two or more from someone else’s bet.”
“On it, Ed,” came the reply.
Ed laid the radio down and looked over at his boss. Casey did not come into town very often, and he never questioned what was going on with the daily operations of the casino. He was a boss who looked at the spread sheets and grinned at the bottom numbers. “Well, Casey, what’s so interesting about this game?” he asked.
“It’s just that with the convention in town, and an award banquet tomorrow night, this game is going to be put in a different place than usual. I was just curious about how you had planned to put the cameras in a room we don’t usually use to protect these high rollers? After all, there is going to be a lot of money on the table. Plus, I’ve known most of these guys for years. I have crossed paths with most of them on many occasions. I’m just trying to make sure that they’re comfortable this weekend.”
“Actually, Sam has agreed that the best place to hold this game is in the Owner’s Penthouse. She’s moving down to a single room, and we are presently installing cameras in all seven rooms of the penthouse suite. With the private elevator from the Crystal Suite, and the fact that the players will all have suites on the 25th floor adjacent to the Crystal Suite, we need to actually control very little footage. The Crystal Suite is being used as a hospitality room for the players to go to when they are not in the game or their individual suites.” Ed looked back over at the monitors as he finished telling Casey the details of the game. “We figure they will be playing for about two days or so, and it will take another day for us to remove the cameras and hidden security measures so that Sam can get back into the penthouse. That should bring us up to Monday when it all magically goes back to what it was before.” Ed watched as Danny and Tom marched the man away from the roulette table quickly and efficiently. Ed punched the buttons to record the man’s face into their computer’s face-recognition system.
“Well, these players are well known and expect us to not let them get as much as a hangnail while they are quietly losing sums that would make the rest of the world choke. I’m just concerned that with so much going on in the hotel this coming weekend that these whales will not feel safe and pampered.” Casey looked back at Ed.
“Well, the safe part I can ensure, but the pampered part you will have to take up with either Sam, Mary, or Delinda. That’s their specialty. By the way, I’ve seen the extra girls hired for this weekend, and the complexion of the place is going to get close to beauty queen status.” A tight grin briefly flitted across Ed’s face. “Of course, I’m a married man, but I thought you might like to know.”
That stopped Casey for a minute. He cleared his throat before starting again. “We will be having plenty of prestigious guests this weekend. The Kerth Awards Banquet will have some of the brightest minds in the journalistic world descend on us. The last thing we want is even a minor glitch in security with them around. These journalist guys can make a scandal appear from a bit of pixie-dust. I want us to be pixie-dust-free. I want a smooth and well-oiled appearance to be the face of this place.” Casey knew he was worrying about nothing, but it was still a real concern to him. “Hide the hookers, cancel the meeting of
the hard-core gamblers, and take the drunks to another casino for a few days. I want us to come out of this weekend looking extra squeaky clean when Monday’s magic happens.”
Casey looked over at a monitor as Ed leaned forward to stare at it. He picked up the radio and began to talk immediately. “Danny, we’ve got a weight against a slot machine in the Silver Sands corner, third machine from the end of row nine. Young lady with blonde hair and a white outfit.”
“Mike, handle this,” the radio squawked. As a part of the undercover-security force, Mike stepped into the picture with his tie flapping, put his hand to the side of the machine, palmed the weight, and then he talked to the young woman. By the time the uniformed security guard arrived, Mike had her standing up and the three of them disappeared from view. Ed clicked a picture of her face into the recognition software of the computer. He knew her name would be added by the security force.
“As you can see, we are on top of things around here. Don’t worry, Casey. We’ll flow like melted butter tonight.” Ed did not take his eyes off the monitors, but he put his hand out for Casey to shake. It was as close as he got to dismissing the owner.
*********************
California was having an unusual amount of rain. It just was not like the heavens to leak like they had been doing. Susan was upset that she would have to load the heavy suitcases in the trunk of her car in the rain. She was running late getting to the airport and did not have time to dither about getting wet, herself, but she was concerned about her suitcases. Wisteria Lane was just not its usual cheery self today, and Susan was not pleased that she had put off cleaning out the garage to the point that she was having to park on the street instead of in the garage. And then for it to rain when she had somewhere to be was just inconvenient. She wondered if she could get Lynette’s boys to load her car if she would offer them each a dollar. She picked up the phone to call over to Lynette’s just as her daughter came into the kitchen with her backpack.
“You all ready?“ Julie asked, seeing how her mom looked a little frazzled.
“Yes, Julie, I’m going out the door as soon as Nonna’s mom arrives. I hope you will have a wonderful time with her.” Susan looked at her watch.
“Hey, Mom. Can I have a $20 bill in case we decide to go to a movie or out to eat?”
Susan reached into her purse and gave it to Julie. She looked out the door again, impatiently awaiting Julie’s ride. A car came into the driveway and Susan breathed a sigh of relief. This weekend was really
going to happen.
Julie started toward the door and turned to ask her mother a few questions. “Mom, have you got your paperwork for the trip, your plane tickets, some extra cash, and the fancy jewelry for the banquet you will be attending?”
Susan answered positively to all the questions and scooted her daughter out the door to the honking car in the driveway. As Julie got ready to make a dash for the car, she asked one last question. “You order your cab yet? You need to be at the airport in about an hour so if you don’t order a cab soon, you will be late.”
Susan reached over and kissed her daughter on the cheek. “YES! A cab. He can load my suitcases and I don’t have to worry about finding the car again in the parking garage.”
Julie just shook her head and ran out the door toward the waiting car.
*********************
Lois looked over toward Clark, who was in the process of putting the luggage on the scale. “You want the window or the aisle? It doesn’t matter to me, so you choose.”
“The aisle, I guess. Not that I’m all that comfortable in either position,” said Clark. He read the weight of the combined bags before coming to the conclusion that surely this is more clothes than was needed for a four-day visit. Lois must have packed enough clothes for them to go undercover at the casino or to be able to change every hour on the hour. All he wanted to do was get Lois alone in their room and he was sure that clothing was optional for what he had in mind.
After she finished the paperwork needed to check in, Lois picked up her briefcase and the overnight bag. They went to the gift shop on the same level to get some papers and magazines for the lost time between when they needed to go through security and the plane actually left. At the last second, Lois also added two chocolate bars to the purchase and Clark grinned at her. She was in a good mood if she was openly purchasing chocolate. Clark crammed the papers and magazines in his briefcase and Lois put the chocolate in her purse. They proceeded to the security check-in for the long examination before they were allowed to enter the secured areas where their plane was to be boarded. Clark had made sure that after his patrol over Metropolis he had left the Superman suit home so that it would not show up if they needed to be searched. Considering the lines and all the delays, security went fairly quick and Clark picked up most of the things off the conveyer belt on the other side, while Lois claimed her purse.
Finding some seats to wait the hour and a half before the flight took off, Lois and Clark settled into the chairs at the gate. They talked quietly for a few minutes and then pulled out the newspapers and magazines. Lois was reading a gossip rag when she noticed how Clark stiffened up. She looked over at him and noticed that his glasses were off the end of his nose and he was looking through the closed door leading to the place where their plane would be located eventually. He relaxed and she looked puzzled about what was going on. Clark said, “It was just a bunch of young hoodlums trying to steal food and drinks off a cart sitting in the corridor. The security around here is much better than I thought, because they got caught in mere minutes.” He relaxed back into the seat with his glasses firmly pushed back up on his nose.
Eventually their flight was called and they picked up their carry-on luggage and got in line to go onboard. Finding their seats Lois slipped into the row while Clark stowed their carry-on. At the last second, he pulled the magazines that they had not yet read back out of the briefcases. He sat down and waited for the flight to begin. His thoughts kept circling back to all the time wasted by going conventional airlines. He could have had the suitcases, the carry on, and Lois there long ago and they could have been pulling the lever on a slot machine by the time it took for them to get ready to taxi out to the runway. But, it would have taken a lot of back-peddling when they turned in their receipts for the trip. The bean-counters up in accounting did not like some of the fancy footwork that they already did and they were not about to tempt fate by insisting that they go SupermanExpress and then try later to cover up their tracks.
“Gee, Lois. I feel like a hotdog in a metal bun. This is supposed to be advanced travel? Our method of air travel is so much more efficient.”
“You advertising for customers or just bragging?“ Lois asked with a grin on her face.
The flight was uneventful. Lois read all the reading material, ate the snack brought by the flight attendants, cuddled with Clark for a bit, and then she started to dig into the pocket of the seat in front of her. Clark watched with amusement as she pulled out the card telling how to vacate the plane in case of an emergency and the barf bags. When she did not seem to find what she was looking for, she leaned over and started rummaging through the pocket in front of his seat. He was quiet and did not question her, but his face clearly asked what she was doing.
“I want to see the magazine with all the duty-free purchases,” was the answer to the unspoken question. She dug down in the pocket and all of a sudden seemed to not be able to pull her hand back out. Clark sat there watching Lois, but he did not do anything until she suddenly asked, “Honey, can you help me? My ring got caught in the loose weave of this material, and now I can’t seem to get it back out of there. Gently, see if you can find what it is stuck on, and help me pull it back out, please.” With an amused look on his face Clark reached down into the pocket. He gently disengaged the ring from the material, and helped her pull her hand back out. She looked at her engagement ring and was startled to discover that two of the six prongs holding her diamond in place were pulled away from the stone.
“Oh, my! I’m going to lose my diamond if I don’t watch it,” she said. She took off her engagement ring and put it in her billfold. “Remind me to go to the jewelry shop in the hotel and see if they can repair it. Okay?”
The rest of the time in the air and the trip to the Monticeto went quickly. Lois spotted the jewelry store just off the lobby and stopped in there while Clark checked them into their room. His chore was done long before Lois caught up with him, so he went to the jewelry store to meet up with his wife. A man with a jeweler’s loupe on was studying Lois’ ring. He gave her an estimate of how much it would take to fix the damage and told her she could have it back on Monday morning. The clerk then asked if she would like to leave her wedding band, and Clark’s also, to be steam cleaned. He explained that after the repairs he would be polishing her ring and it would make her wedding band look dull in comparison. She looked over at Clark as she pulled off her wedding ring. He took his off, too, and the jeweler put all three of them in a tray to be worked on.
As they exited the store, Clark leaned over and whispered in Lois’ ear, “well, well, we go away for a work-related convention and take off our wedding rings before the beginning of the convention? Naughty, naughty girl! Shacking up with your work partner in Las Vegas? Wonder what your husband or my wife would say about this?”
Clark grinned, grabbed her around the shoulders, and then steered her to the elevators that would take them up to their room on the 19th floor. When they arrived, the bell captain was ready to leave and had their suitcases laid on the bed, opened, and the hanging bag was in the closet. As soon as he had tipped the bell captain, Clark made short work of putting all their clothes away in the dresser or closet. Since he had super-sped through the tedious work of getting their suitcases unpacked, he thought he should be rewarded. Suddenly Lois found herself on the bed, minus a few clothes.
