Chapter 10

Day Three

The alarm went off at eight thirty am. I am not sure what time we had all fallen asleep. But Xena had called down to the Vault as some point and told them to meet me in my room at nine instead of the usual time. I was still a little tired but figured I could catch a nap in the sun this afternoon.

I meet the my girls plus Xena at noon for lunch. Afterwards we all changed in our room and headed for the pool. I had time to oil up all three before I saw Frederick and Gretchen. I walked over to them and introduced myself.

"Herr Frankenstein, I am Eugene Jones and this is Tammy, Terry and Xena. Tammy and Terry attend college with me and Xena works for the hotel. I am honored that you could join us this afternoon."

"No, it is my great pleasure to meet you. And such lovely ladies as well. This is my finace Gretchen Newman."

As the ladies gathered together in a flock, Frederick drew me to the side and spoke softly, "Are you sure about this my friend? We don't want to cause you any trouble."

"Frederick, we have already had this conversation. You are our friends. This is a done deal."

Frederick gripped my arm with unshed tears in his eyes. He quickly walked behind a screen to change clothes. Gretchen walked up and kissed my cheek. "You know you have made a friend for life. That man honors friendship and loyalty above all else."

I hugged her and told her that I felt the same way. Both of my girls and Xena kissed me and told me that I was a good man, it didn't matter what the rest of the world thought.

The rest of the afternoon, we just had fun. The ladies were talking fashion or something. Frederick and I teased each other about what country made the best beer. I was losing that augment so I switched to bourbon whiskeys. He admitted that Germany had nothing to compare there so he switched it to wines. I lost that one too as I liked German wines better than French or American. He was up two to one so I gave up. So we played grabass in the pool with all four ladies for a while. I have to say that Gretchen is a cuddly hand full. Frederick and I were at a bit of a disadvantage as all four ladies were stronger than we were. But it was still fun.

The high point of the afternoon was Tammy throwing some overdressed snob in the pool. The woman had came up to Gretchen and was trying to give her a business card for her husband the plastic surgeon. Now Clan Newman are proud of their scars. But Gretchen was still a young woman and no young woman likes to think they are unattractive. Tammy saw that Gretchen was either going to punch the woman or start crying. So she picked up the obnoxious woman and chucked her and several thousands of dollars in clothes about ten foot out into the pool. When the woman got back to the side of the pool, Tammy demanded she apologize to her friend. The woman started screaming obscenities so Tammy threw her back into the pool. This time the older woman started yelling for security so Xena asked her what she wanted. The woman ignored her and continued to scream for security. Xena shrugged and motioned to a nearby waiter. A few minutes later two uniformed security officers showed up. The conversation went something like this.

Officer, "Can we help you, ma'am?"

Woman, "I want these people thrown out of the hotel and arrested!!"

Officer looking dubius, "Why would I throw the Vice President of Physical Security and her guests out of the hotel? I mean she's my boss. And Mr. Jones is considered one of our best high rollers."

Other officer, "Can I see some ID and your room card, please?"

It ended up that the woman wasn't even a guest. Xena had her husband who had been gambling in the casino brought over to them and said that they were both banned from the hotel and casino. She added that the hotel would pay any reasonable amount for dry cleaning but any efforts to gouge the hotel would resort in them both being banned from ALL the hotels and casinos on the strip. As the dripping woman and her husband were walking away, I heard him ask in a nasty tone what she done to get them thrown out of yet another hotel. I just cracked up.

Day Four

This morning I only had two blond heads on my shoulders. Xena had said that she had to work the next day and she couldn't spend the night with us. So I left my two lovely bed mates and started my day. After dressing and the morning money exchange, I was down in the casino losing at roulette. I was just playing money on random numbers and considering how to make a computer generate true random numbers without being connected to some sort of mechanic device. I had given up on doing it and was considering what type of device to use when my phone beeped me. I had a new message on my gmail account. It was The Accountant and he was asking to see me that afternoon. He stated that he had some info that would change my current accounting practices for the better. I emailed him back asking if one o'clock was alright. I received a quick reply that was fine but to show as the person he had meet at the party and gave me a code number to give his receptionist. Hum, that was odd. I really hadn't considered going any other way but why would he make a point of it. I looked around and asked one of the security people if I could speak to Ms. Wong. After a bit of chatter on his radio, he directed me down to her office.

Knocking on the door, I stepped inside. "Good morning Ms. Wong, could I ask you a few questions?"

Xena looked at me quizzically, "Of course Mr. Jones, I always have time to help our guests. What can I do for you?"

"How secure is your office? I have some "private" questions to ask."

She came out from around her desk and kissed me. "This space is as secure as I can make it. Which is very! But nothing is one hundred percent."

I shrugged, "If you think it is good, I am sure that it is fine. After all you are the professional at this."

I told her about The Accounant's email and odd request. She thought about it for a minute.

"Eugene, I trust him about as much as I trust anyone in the business. Which unfortunately is not very much. However in this case I think he is on the up and up. He is meeting you at his office. If he betrays you, he will lose all credibility in the Society. That would cost him a lot of money. From what you have told me, I don't think that there is anyone that wants you bad enough to pay him for the loss of business. So I think that you are safe, well safe enough. I will loan you my limo and driver and a couple of gadgets that might help."