Greed is Good Part 4: Enter the Dragon (1st Draft)
This is post #4 of 4 in the series “Greed is Good”
My jog turned into a frantic dash as I raced to pull Jim off the aged guest he was currently assaulting. Jim was a big man, in all meanings of the word, and how he hadn't crushed the skinny old woman already was a happy mystery. I grabbed hold of him and tried to pull him away from the woman who was snarling and hissing as she fought back.
To my surprise he stepped back quite willingly, but the old woman did not, instead grabbing onto him so hard I saw her nails draw blood. My half day of training when I joined Blue Ridge Casino had not covered this scenario! I tried to prise the woman loose with very little success and short of breaking her wrist, which I didn't think the manager would appreciate, I really wasn't sure what to do.
Fortunately for me backup arrived in the form of several more members of security, presumably alerted by the woman's screamed profanities and the ever growing crowd around us. We finally managed to separate Jim and the old woman by sheer body mass, hustling them apart until someone could figure out what the hell was going on.
The old woman continued to screech and curse, trying to push her way past the human wall that had now formed at which point the manager arrived.
Now I actually like Wayne, he's a fair boss, but, faced with this, anger won out.
"What the hell is going on?" He bellowed in a voice that really shouldn't come out of such a thin frame. I seriously considered just fading into the background but someone was bound to notice my absence eventually, so I manned up and attempted to explain.
I wouldn't have believed it myself, I mean Jim must have outweighed that old woman two hundred pounds, but her continued screaming, not to mention impressive vocabulary were fairly convincing. Jim, meanwhile, had calmed down enough to be scared, also, he was bleeding.
"You, and you, with me." Wayne said stabbing his finger in the direction of Jim and myself. Why do I always get caught up in this stuff?
"Um… what about… her." I gestured with my head towards the grandmother from hell. Wayne gave me a sour look.
"She will be escorted from the building." He said, sounding like he'd rather be eating ashes right now.
Leaving the rest of security to take care of crowd control, we followed Wayne through to the back rooms and away from the curious onlookers. Rather than going to his office, Wayne headed for the security room.
Once we had all trooped inside, Wayne shut the door with a solid and rather ominous sounding, clunk then turned to face us both.
"What in the hell just happened out there?" He demanded.
Jim shuffled his feet and looked down, strangely reluctant to defend himself. I opened my mouth to answer, then hastily shut it again realizing anything I said might mean throwing Jim under the bus.
"Well?" Wayne shouted. His face was taking on an alarmingly red shade. I don't think I'd ever seem him quite that angry before.
"I wasn't doing anything." Jim finally spoke up. "She just attacked me." Wayne stared at him, an incredulous expression on his face.
"She just attacked me." Jim's voice must have gone up half an octave. "I was minding my own business, she calls me a thief and attacks me!"
Wayne shook his head, the story was just about the most ridiculous thing I had heard in a month or more. So ridiculous I wanted to believe it.
"Why don't we check the video?" I suggested. Jim nodded eagerly, apparently convinced that the tapes would support his crazy tale.
Wayne scowled, but that alarming red coloring was receding from his face.
"Do it." He said, looking at me.
I wasn't sure what to expect. It took me a few minutes to find the right camera and time code, during which time Jim fidgeted silently and Wayne paced up and down the small room. I noted absently that he seemed much more uptight than usual, but this wasn't the time to ask about it.
Finally I found the footage and sure enough things happened just as Jim had described. He was walking from one side of the room to the other, when all of a sudden the old woman stood up from the slot machine and launched herself at him. Obviously we couldn't tell what was being said, her actions were clear.
"Fine. Get back out there the pair of you. And keep your heads down!" Wayne snapped. "Mr. Drago is arriving today, I can't afford any more mess ups."
"Who is Drago?" Jim murmured to me as we walked out of the security room. I glanced at him in surprise, but then Jim wasn't one to worry about anything beyond the immediate problem.
"Sante Drago owns Blue Ridge Casino and a dozen other Casinos around the country." I said, keeping my voice low enough that Wayne wouldn't hear. "If you believe the rumors he's got quite the temper. Get on the wrong side of him and you lose your job. Online they call him the 'silver dragon'."
"Well I don't plan on attracting his attention." Jim muttered. "I need this job."
"Don't we all." I agreed as we returned to the noise of the slots and the crowds of people.
Keeping a low profile seemed like an excellent plan after all the excitement so I worked my way back over to my section of the hall and then wandered over to Lee Anne for a chat.
She was in her usual spot sitting in front of one of the cheaper slot machines. Lee Anne was a traditionalist and had a big cup full of change to feed into the machines.
"Hey there darlin'!" She greeted me warmly as usual. "Lots of odd stuff going on this evening."
"Tell me about it." I muttered, thinking about Jim and his attacker. Pausing only to take a puff of her ever present cigarette, Lee Anne did exactly that.
"Well me and the ladies was having a chat earlier, just a little gossip you know." Lee Anne paused and brushed a lock of greying hair away from her eyes. "But I swear I saw Barbara. You remember Barbara right? All tits and ass and blonde hair. I swear I saw Barbara taking something from Marie's purse when she stepped away to the ladies room."
"I thought Barbara was the one who's husband died and left her a small fortune."
"He did, and she's never short of gentleman friends either." The disapproval was clear in Lee Anne's voice.
"Was this here? Did you say anything?" The casino had cameras everywhere, if someone was stealing from purses it would be on the video.
But I didn't hear Lee Anne's answer. My attention was suddenly diverted elsewhere. A small platoon of immaculately besuited men and women were walking by, flanking a grey haired older man.
I knew without being told or having to ask that Sante Drago had arrived. More unnerving however was the discovery that Sante Drago actually was a Silver Dragon.
Next: Part 5 — Coffee Break
Zombiemart is weekly serial sequel to The Wolves of West Virginia, which is available on Kindle.
by Eoghann Irving [-]
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