Read Online Vegas Vengeance by Randy Wayne White - Free Book Online Page B

said they did. And they seemed awfully eager to help.”
    The woman placed her hands on her slim hips, a world-weary look on her face. Hawker sensed that she was tired of questions.
    â€œHungry?”
    â€œSure. But you asked how we could monitor the girls, Hawk. Let me show you; then we’ll eat.”
    Hawker nodded and followed the woman to a room protected by a steel fire door. It took three keys to unlock it.
    The room was a small fortress. The fluorescent lighting was built into the ceiling, and there were three banks of computer boards on metal desks. On the inboard side of the room was a walk-in safe built into the wall. Above the computer was a bank of lights and toggle switches, and three small television sets.
    Barbara Blaine flipped some switches, and the TV screens came on. They showed the interiors of three different rooms. Each of the rooms had one large water bed. All the rooms were empty.
    She touched another bank of switches, and three more rooms came into view.
    One of these rooms was in use.
    On the television screen, a silver-haired man in amazingly good shape sat beneath a young woman with startling mammary development. She hunched over his hips, ingurgitating him with all the precision of a German clock.
    The man was smiling.
    Barbara Blaine cleared her throat uncomfortably and blanked the screens.
    â€œYou could get sponsors. Start your own cable network.”
    â€œThat joke’s original only because I allow no one else in here. I check the beds visually only when I have reason to. I respect the girls’ privacy and they know that, so they don’t mind if I use discretion. Besides, the cameras only monitor the work rooms, not their private rooms. In each of the work rooms is a button hidden behind the head of each bed. If they press the button once, an internal alarm system is set off, and we immediately go to their aid. If they press it three times, the computer simultaneously dials the police and the emergency squad, and a prerecorded voice gives our address and requests immediate assistance.”
    â€œA real red alert, huh?”
    â€œThank God we haven’t had occasion to use it yet. But if we need it, it’s there. The girls know it, and it makes them feel a lot safer. I remember one time, about three months ago—” The woman stopped suddenly in mid-sentence, a look of concern clouding her face. She was staring at the bank of lights and toggle switches.
    One of the marble-size lights was flashing.
    A red light.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Barbara?”
    She shook her head and hit one of the toggles. “Something triggered one of the sensors out back. It alerts the computer, and the computer sets off chimes in my suite.” She held her finger to her lips as she adjusted a volume knob. “Listen!”
    At first, Hawker could hear nothing but the hollow buzz of the outdoor microphone. But then his ears focused on a familiar sound: the whispered grind of footsteps on gravel. Slow footsteps. Careful footsteps.
    The woman left the volume on and reached for the telephone. “I’m calling the police, Hawk. Those bastards need to be stopped, and stopped now.”
    Hawker placed his hand over hers so she couldn’t take the phone from the cradle. “No. Not yet. I’m going out there.”
    She grabbed his sleeve as she stepped toward the door. “Please don’t, Hawk! You don’t know how many of them there are. And they might have guns, for Christ’s sake!”
    The rush of adrenaline caused him to sweep her hand away harder than he had planned. “Have I criticized your business, told you how to run it, Barbara?”
    â€œNo … no, you haven’t, Hawk.”
    â€œThen don’t tell me how to run mine.”
    Hawker moved quickly down the hall into the main suite. He peered through the glass wall, let his eyes adjust to the shadows of tropical garden, the onyx mirror of swimming pool.
    No one there.
    Hawker