Heaven Painted as a Poker Chip Page 9

  The woman wore what was clearly an MGM manager outfit, with a trim brown skirt, a tan blouse, and a nametag. She had her hair pulled back up and tight on her head and had glasses around her neck on a chain.

  As Tommy got close to her, he reached up and touched her shoulder. Then he nodded and disappeared inside her.

  Then, less than five seconds later, he came back out and stood, his hand touching her shoulder.

  Jewel was going to have to ask him later what it was like being in control of a woman like that. Jewel had a hunch that anything Tommy might say might get him in trouble.

  A moment later the woman, with Tommy still touching her shoulder, moved over to a terminal and started typing. It took about five minutes, including the woman printing out two keys and putting them in an envelope and placing them on the back counter in a special file there.

  Finally Tommy nodded and then walked the woman back to where she was and took his hand away. The woman stood there as if nothing had happened, watching her clerks help customers.

  Tommy stood beside her for a full minute, then nodded and smiled at Jewel and headed her way.

  “Got us a suite,” he said as she handed him his bag back.

  “How did you do that?”

  He laughed. “Just had her believe that a large whale, meaning a big spender, was coming in later or tomorrow or maybe the next day and they had to reserve a room for him just in case.”

  “So we have a suite for three days?” Jewel asked. “In this place?”

  “Only a two thousand dollar a night suite,” Tommy said. “But we’re dead, so I think we can afford it.”

  “I don’t want to take that kind of money from the hotel,” Jewel said, shocked. She didn’t feel right doing that. She didn’t need a suite, just a nice hotel room would be fine.

  Tommy laughed. “They never charge for these rooms,” Tommy said. “That’s just the rack rate to make the whales feel like they are getting something when they are given the room for free. The rooms are not designed to actually rent out. They are always comp rooms.”

  “Oh,” she said. “How did you know that?”

  “Always thought it would be interesting to be a professional poker player,” he said. “So I studied all this stuff while I was in a boring semester in college. Back in the big poker craze days.”

  “Did it lead to one of the drunken trips down here you mentioned?”

  He laughed. “Nope. You can’t drink and play cards. This is my first time back after doing all that study.”

  “I’m afraid you can’t use the card part this time either,” she said. “But if this suite is as good as I think it’s going to be, I’ll reward you in other ways.”

  He leaned over and kissed her, then said, “I’ll take you up on that.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TOMMY HAD TO be honest, the suite was so big and spectacular, it even surprised him. Four huge rooms, two of them bedrooms, each with large bathrooms. A giant sunken living room with large leather furniture that looked almost too expensive to sit on, a large dining area that could seat twenty easily around what looked like a pure oak dining table, and a kitchen area. Plus there was a stocked wet bar to one side of the living room.

  Back in his college days, this would have been a kid’s dream come true. It wasn’t bad now.

  Everything in every room was done in brown tones, with gold trim that made the place feel comfortable, yet ornate. Huge windows, with the drapes pulled open, looked out over Las Vegas toward the center of town.

  “Now this is amazing,” Jewel had said when she saw the big tub in one bathroom. “I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

  “Died, yes,” Tommy said, laughing. “Not sure if a suite at the MGM Grand is heaven. But I have to admit, it’s darned close.”

  So after taking the grand tour and hanging their clothes up in one of the closets, she sat down on the bed and asked what they should do next.

  Tommy had all sorts of ideas that included that big bathtub and the huge bed. But he was getting hungry and he knew Jewel was as well.

  “I have some ideas about that big bed, but I think we need to do a few other things first to get settled.”

  “Food?” she asked.

  He nodded. “How about we call K.J. and see if he’ll come and give us some pointers on how to get around in a crowded city. And get decent food.”

  Jewel nodded. “A plan.”

  He took her hand and they went out into the living room. She sat on one of the big couches, he sat in a big overstuffed chair that felt even too big for his frame.

  “K.J. we’re here!” Tommy shouted up to the ceiling. He had no idea why he shouted at the ceiling, but he did.

  Nothing.

  So he shouted again.

  Nothing.

  “Maybe he can’t hear us,” Jewel said.

  “I can hear your bellowing just fine,” a voice said from out of nowhere that was clearly K.J. “Give a guy a second to put on some pants and I’ll be right there.”

  Jewel laughed and Tommy just shook his head.

  A half-minute later K.J. appeared, his hair wet and his face flushed. He had on a tight pair of jeans that left little to the imagination, a frilly pink shirt, and his nails were painted pink now.

  “Sorry, bad timing?” Tommy said.

  “Nah,” K.J. said, waving his hand limply, “the orgy was just winding down and if I didn’t get out of the hot tub soon, I was going to prune up like bad fruit in a hot sun.” Then he looked around. “You two learned some quick ropes I see. Nice place.”

  “The casino likes us,” Tommy said, which made K.J. look at him puzzled and Jewel smile.

  “So we could really use some pointers,” Jewel said. “Especially on how to get around through crowds without having to hear a dozen people’s thoughts.”

  “You can’t,” K.J. said, moving over and sitting down in another of the big overstuffed chairs. He sat on the edge of it, his back straight, his posture perfect. “You touch someone you get what they are thinking and all their memories and everything icky about them. That is one of your powers and no way to block it. But the thoughts fade quickly when you are not touching them.”

  “We noticed that,” Tommy said. “But besides teleporting as you do, which we haven’t learned yet, how would you suggest we walk from one side of a crowded room to the other.”

  “With style,” K.J. said, waving his arm in the air like a dancer. “And flare.” He waved the other arm.

  Tommy just shook his head as K.J. laughed at his own joke. Then, when he saw Jewel was only smiling and Tommy wasn’t even smiling, K.J. said, “You two need to lighten up and have some fun. What’s the point of being dead if you can’t enjoy life a little?”

  “We haven’t been dead two days yet,” Tommy said. “We will have fun if we can learn some of this stuff.”

  K.J. sighed and said, “Hitchhike. Both of you pile into the same person and just ride with that person across a busy room.”

  Tommy nodded. Not sure why he hadn’t thought of that, since they had basically done that on the plane. And got a guy on the elevator to push their floor button for them.

  “Food?” Jewel asked. “We discovered that all foods have a ghost component. Any suggestions on how to get a great meal in a restaurant?”

  “Sure,” K.J. said. “Wait near the kitchen door for a meal to come out that looks good and then take the ghost component off the waiter’s tray. But it’s often easier cooking your own. That works just like in the life side of things.”

  “Tommy discovered that,” Jewel said.

  “Food tastes better, doesn’t it?” K.J. asked. “I just love that.”

  “When we take a ghost plate,” Tommy asked, “what happens to the plate when we are finished.”

  K.J. shrugged in an exaggerated way. “After a few hours of you not touching it, it vanishes. No clue where they go. Dish heaven, maybe. A little white dish tunnel to the great dishwasher in the sky.”

  Again K.J. laughed at his
own joke and Tommy actually found himself smiling.

  Jewel was just shaking her head and smiling.

  “Tough crowd tonight,” K.J. said. “I might need a drummer to give me an occasional rim shot, which actually sounds dirty.”

  Tommy ignored him and asked his next question. “So can we die in this ghost state, get hurt, whatever?”

  “You can’t die unless you ask to move on,” K.J. said. “But trust me, pain is very real and you could wish you were dead. I mean this one time I got shot by one of the Brigade right in the leg, right here.”

  K.J. pointed to a spot covered by his pants and then waved his hands in exasperation. “Painful, let me tell you. I couldn’t dance for almost a month. But at least it didn’t leave a scar.”

  “Shot?” Jewel asked, clearly alarmed. “I thought real stuff just went through us.”

  “Oh, sure, real bullets do. But ghost bullets can certainly slow you down some until you recover, as I discovered. No dancing, let me tell you, it was pure torture. I love to dance the night away.”

  Tommy wasn’t sure he was liking what he was hearing at all.

  “So who is firing these ghost bullets and why?”

  K.J. signed heavily. “As in the real world, in this ghost realm, there are two sides to everything. We are in a battle for the future.”

  “And which side are we on?” Jewel asked.

  “You are agents who work for the agency, as I told you in Montana, called “Ghost of a Chance.”

  “And the other side is called what?”

  “The Brigade,” K.J. said. “You know those two brothers you took care of in the diner after I left? That was really nifty by the way, how you got them to feel the pain and pee their pants like that. Had me rolling in laughter and if I hadn’t been in a compromising situation, I would have given you both a standing ovation. Well, I sort of did, but with a different part standing, if you get my drift.”

  Jewel just held up a hand. “More information than we need on that topic.”

  K.J. just stuck his tongue out at her and then smiled.

  “So what about those two,” Tommy asked.

  “Those are the type recruited by the Brigade when they die.”

  “Why?” Tommy asked, feeling completely puzzled. “What’s the fight?”

  “K.J. looked a little flustered. “As I said, we are in a battle for the future. Both our bosses and the Brigade bosses can see possible futures. And both try to direct the present to get to the future they want. Our bosses want peace and democracy and Brigade bosses feed on the energy of anger and destruction and would rather have anarchy than stability for who knows what silly reason.”

  “How and where has this played out?” Jewel asked.

  “Everywhere for centuries and centuries,” K.J. said. “Small things and huge things. For example, there were major battles ahead of the Bush/Gore presidential fight that went on for years ahead of the actual election. I was involved in a couple of those fights. We lost a few battles big time, so Bush ended up winning and there ended up being two wars and everyone completely ignoring how the climate is changing. Chaos, death, and anarchy. The Brigade bosses thrive on it.”

  Tommy just sat there silent. He had no idea what to think. Jewel seemed to be looking at her hands in her lap, clearly thinking as well.

  Finally, Tommy had another question. “So how do we know a Brigade agent when we see one?”

  “Honestly,” K.J. said, “if they weren’t as stupid and slow as a high school dropout smoking too much of the funny weed, you wouldn’t. Kind of like those two brothers. But when they join the Brigade, they are issued weapons. I’ve never seen a Brigade member walking around armed without machine guns full of ghost bullets. They love those guns more than I love a good blow job.”

  “They have guns?” Jewel asked. “Seriously? Dead people walking around with guns?”

  Tommy felt the same way. Just flat stunned.

  K.J. nodded. “They are horrid shots and dumb as hell, but you still don’t want to find yourself in front of one of those bullets, as I said.”

  “So how do we fight them?” Tommy asked. “Do we have weapons with ghost bullets or something?”

  “Can you see me carrying a gun?” K.J. asked, laughing. “That would do really bad things to my nails and I’m sure I’d scream and drop the gun and run in the other direction the moment I fired the first shot.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Tommy said.

  K.J. pointed to the side of his head. “We outthink them. Ghost of a Chance recruits brains like you two.”

  “So let me get this straight,” Tommy said. “We can’t really die again, but we can get hurt.”

  “Yes, but you recover faster than in real life.”

  Tommy nodded to that. Didn’t like it, but he nodded to it and then asked his next question. “We have to go against people with machine guns unarmed. And we do assignments that might change the future, but we don’t know how. Do I have all that?”

  K.J. smiled. “But don’t forget the great-tasting food, free time, and wonderful sex. Plus you get to help others along the way.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Tommy said, “How could I forget that?”

  “You had better not forget that sex part,” Jewel said, smiling at him.

  K.J. covered his mouth in fake shock and surprise.

  And that made Tommy laugh.

  TWENTY-SIX

  “SO WHAT’S THIS assignment we are supposed to do?” Jewel asked, feeling a little stunned that she and Tommy had actually been recruited to fight in a war she didn’t really understand yet.

  K.J. looked serious.

  He stood and went over to one of the big windows and indicated they should come with him.

  As Tommy got near one window, he noticed a square thing floating high in the air, clearly not flying, just floating in one spot. “What’s that?”

  Jewel was stunned. She had never seen anything like it before. She had no idea how it stayed up there. It looked to be the size of a large room.

  K.J. looked up. “Oh, that’s one of the gambling god’s or hotel god’s offices. Not sure which one. I don’t pay any attention to that side of things. I stay on the ghost side.”

  “Gambling gods?” Jewel asked a moment before Tommy could.

  K.J. waved away the question. “Trust me, don’t worry about it at the moment. They only deal with the present, not the future, and work with Ghost of a Chance at times against the Brigade. But first you have a great deal of things to learn and a job to do. You can learn all the organizations and structures later. What I need you both to focus on is that tall building in the downtown area.”

  Jewel looked at where K.J. was pointing. Tommy had said earlier that was the downtown Las Vegas area. Right now they were out on what was called “The Strip.”

  “That’s the Golden Nugget, right?” Tommy asked.

  “You got it,” K.J. said. “My bosses tell me that a powerful senator, which one doesn’t matter, will be there in two days, doing who knows what to whom. My gut sense is that he likes little boys, but that’s just me guessing.”

  “What’s going to happen,” Jewel asked.

  “The Brigade is going to try to cause the senator to have a stroke, more than likely while in a compromising position or two, and thus swing the balance of the Senate. Your job is to not let them cause the senator to have a stroke in a bad position.”

  “How could they cause the senator to have a stroke?” Tommy asked.

  Jewel knew and didn’t want to think about it, but K.J. turned to her. “You want to answer that for your boyfriend, Doc?”

  “You know how we unblocked the pain dampening agents in those two in the diner?”

  “Ahh, that was just wonderful,” K.J. said.

  Tommy nodded, suddenly clearly starting to understand where she was headed.

  “If the senator has a weak blood vessel in his head, a fast increase in blood pressure could cause it to blow out. We could cause it to happen easily.
”

  She never wanted to think about ever doing that to anyone, and if she was asked to, she would decline. Killing was not why she became a doctor.

  “Oh,” Tommy said. Then he turned to K.J. “What’s to stop these same people from following the Senator back to Washington and doing the same thing.”

  “Nothing,” K.J. said, “and if they did, it wouldn’t matter to the future, from what I was told when I asked the same question. What’s important is they do it here, in two days, in his room at the Golden Nugget around six in the afternoon. More than likely to discredit the senator because of something he’s doing at the time. I honestly don’t question why. Gives me a headache.”

  “So we save the senator’s life in two days and that’s the mission?” Jewel asked.

  “That’s the mission from what I understand it at the moment,” K.J. said, smiling. “Now, go get some food and do all the other things later that you heterosexuals do to each other and then test out some of your ghost skills tomorrow. The senator doesn’t arrive in town for two days, so you got some time.”

  “Any hints,” Tommy asked.

  “About sex?” K.J. asked. “Trust me big guy, you wouldn’t like what I would suggest.”

  Jewel laughed.

  Tommy blushed slightly and then said, “No, I mean about how to fight.”

  “Remember when you are inside a live human, you can’t be seen,” K.J. said. “The Brigade carry machine guns, so when they are inside a live person, you can still see their guns. They are not rocket scientists, thankfully, and they do love their guns. I’m betting a lot of them sleep with the things and more than likely use them for sex toys.”

  Tommy nodded and Jewel couldn’t think of another question. She was sure she had them, just couldn’t think of a one at the moment.

  K.J. said, “Well, better get back and see if there is any water left in my hot tub. And see if anyone is up for a rematch. All these questions have me all fired up again.”

  He smiled at Tommy, then winked at Jewel and vanished.

  “I’m really starting to like him,” Jewel said, moving over and putting her arm through Tommy’s arm as they stood staring out the window at the downtown area. It felt wonderful to be with him. In all her life she had never felt this comfortable with anyone.