CHAPTER 21

    “Jack!” she said into the phone. “How did you…?”

“Never mind that right now,” came the rather rushed response on the phone. Cassie glanced around the room and remembered the tiny cameras. Surely these people were not expecting her to get a phone call? Little Jack went on, “Only got a few seconds. Can you handle things on your end?”

Cassie looked to the door as she pushed a strand of hair out of her face. She took a deep breath, “yeah I think so but… Jack be careful.”

“No sweat.” Just after that, all Cassie could hear on the phone was back ground noise. Then she heard Little Jack again, “and this time stay down.” As an after thought he added, “wiener.”  Then Little Jack got back on the phone proper, “got to go. See you in a minute.”

 As the phone went dead the door opened. Cassie dropped the receiver and then quickly hopped in front of the phone so the security people, that were walking in, could not see it. It did no good. The first man in the suit crossed his arms, “who was on the phone and how did they know to call here?”

“Phone? What phone?” Cassie shot back. As if on cue the beeping sound of a phone off the hook came from behind her.  

She spun, “oh wow, there’s a phone here!” She then cocked her head and shrugged, “room service?”

The Security guys were not impressed.

                                                       _______________________________


 The elevator doors closed. Janet nearly collapsed from holding her breath. Teal’c looked to her and asked, “Doctor Frazier? Have you taken ill?”

Sam and Daniel were busy going through their bags and passing out Zat guns. They had wasted no time and started their business as soon as the doors closed. Sam had to slide the gun into Janet’s hand, “you know he’s right Janet? You do look kind of… flushed?”

“I’ll be all right,” Janet replied recovering as best she could. After a few more deep breaths she had to ask Daniel, “don’t you think you over did it with the German accent a little bit? I really don’t think the guy at the desk bought it.”

Sam was turning on her radio. Daniel was stowing the Zat in his coat. Janet was still dazed from all this intrigue. Teal’c was standing at the elevator door, passively, as usual. Then the doors opened and caught them all off guard. Daniel sped up his actions. Sam released the transmit button on her radio. Janet stood there stunned, weapon in hand. Teal’c smiled and nodded at the man getting on the elevator.

The buttons on the man’s shirt were opened almost down to his belly button.  His jeans were skin tight. When he spoke it was with a strange accent. He went to push the floor button but then saw his floor was already lit. The door closed and only then did he really notice his fellow passengers, “are you guys like house security or something?”

Teal’c, “no.”

Daniel, “yes.”

Sam, “maybe.”

Janet, “holy sh…. You… you’re Tom Jones.”

   _______________________


 The only way to stay on top of things was to do them yourself. Terry Benedict lived by this rule for no other reason than he trusted absolutely no one. He kept tabs on everything going on in his hotel. That was a lot of things which meant he had to prioritize. There was always someone chasing him down to inform him of something. This time he found himself cornered at the poker tables by no less than three of his various managers. One of these was the registrations manager which had been specifically instructed to keep Terry apprised of anyone that checked in and happened to be famous. Before the reservations manager could speak, however, the general house manager, Mister Walsh, approached. Benedict knew the various things he handled and, considering the current situation, anything that Walsh had to say took priority. He nodded to the man and Walsh informed him, “sir we have two Federal Agents asking to see you.”

Benedict’s eyes opened wider, “what do they want?”

  Everyone spoke to Benedict with the utmost respect. Even Walsh did this and he knew Terry better than any man alive. That was probably the only reason that Walsh was even still employed after the fiasco from last year. Now the man had an air of haste about him, “they said they would only tell you personally, sir.”

“Tell them to call my lawyer.” 

Benedict was about to walk off and Walsh, still jumpy, added, “sir, they have a certain individual with them. You know, from the State?”

That could only mean one man. Naturally, Benedict made enemies as did anyone in this business. The difference was that most of Terry’s enemies were too afraid of him to try anything stupid.  There were still a few though. There were always a few.  

 In this case one of those who had Terry on his hit list, and Terry had to pay attention too, was Commissioner Carl Hoffman. The man sat on the Gaming Commission Board and would love nothing better than to shut down any one of Benedict’s four casinos. “All right, let’s go see them. Take them to conference room.” As they walked down the back halls of the Casino Terry made one more command decision, “tell them to move our guest.” Walsh looked almost confused by the order and that was just fine with his boss who never chose to have anyone around as smart as he was.  

Finally the General Manager’s eyes lit up, “yes sir.” He rushed off. Terry entered the conference room.