Gambler Read Online Free Page A

before twisting her wrist
and yanking it out of his hold. Before he could recover she whipped
a thin knife out of her belt and pressed it against his throat.
"Hands off, sweetie. I'm just here to see the boss." She held out
her bounty hunter ID.
    "Take it easy, you crazy bitch," he said,
shoving her away. "This way."
    He led the way through the crowds and slot
machines, past the many tables and up the marble steps which
separated the main floor of the casino from the high-roller rooms.
Nova moved as fast as she could to keep up with the large steps of
the bouncer.
    At the top of the stairs they stopped in
front of a broad wooden door and the bouncer knocked three times.
It swung slowly open to reveal the lavish room beyond. Gilded
chairs with plump cushions sat about the room. Ancient paper books,
the likes of which Nova had seen on only one other occasion, lined
the walls along with ornaments and paintings. Commanding it all was
a sturdy wooden desk and the man standing behind it.
    The man turned from the huge glass windows
which looked down on the casino floor. He pulled a thick cigar from
his mouth and stamped it out in a glass ashtray on the corner of
his desk. A plume of smoke floated out of his mouth as he nodded to
Nova and sat on the large chair behind his desk.
    Nova took a seat opposite but stayed on
guard. She took note of the two big men who stood with their arms
crossed at each side of the room and casually placed her left hand
near her waist, where her gun was within easy reach.
    "No need for that, Hunter," said the man
with the cigar.
    Nova tried not to inhale as his smoky breath
blew across the table to her. All of his features seemed
proportionally large to his body; from his thick lips, to the big
nose, to the beefy hands. He wore a white shirt and black pants but
on top of these he wore a purple velvet coat that reflected the
neon lights from the casino floor. Nova didn't respond, keeping her
hand near her gun.
    The man shrugged as he leant back in his
chair. "I'm Cracos, owner of The Lucky Coin. If you take the job,
you'll be working for me."
    Nova nodded, but said nothing. Her violet
eyes stared straight at Cracos as she waited for him to
continue.
    "Here's our problem, bounty hunter. There's
money disappearing from our casino, but we don't know where it's
going. The books match at the end of the night but somehow we're
leaking cash."
    Nova nodded, behind her expressionless mask
her mind raced. Casinos were known for having the best security
systems money could buy. For them to be bleeding money like this
meant a professional was involved, probably an inside job.
    "How long's this been happening?" she
asked.
    "Month or so."
    "Two thousand credits when I catch the
thief?"
    "That's the deal, but I should warn you,
we've got others working the case. Whoever catches the thief gets
the money. There are no free rides on Tabryn." Cracos smiled as he
pulled a new cigar from the top draw of his desk.
    "Ain't that the truth," said Nova, standing
and heading for the door. She stopped with her hand against the
wooden panel and turned back to Cracos. "I'll need full access to
the casino and your staff."
    "Of course. I'll have Brick get you an ID,"
Cracos said with a greasy smile and waved his hand at the large
security officer who had brought her to the office.
    Nova nodded and pushed open the large door.
Brick led her to a small room further down the hallway. He went to
work updating her ID chip to include access to the casino. She
placed her arm under the scanner and the computer added the extra
files to the microchip hidden just below her skin's surface.
    The chips had been introduced almost a
century before. Initially it was a means of ID but now they housed
almost every piece of information about a person, and could be
updated at will. They were embedded directly after birth and began
collecting information from there. They were designed to
continually measure chemical levels to detect disease, to act as
keys, and