Simon Green - Casino Infernale

“Deus ex Martiania,” I said. “Get out of Hell free card. I think I may faint. Or puke.”

“Puke first, then faint,” Molly said wisely. She hugged me tightly. “You wouldn’t leave without me. You could have saved yourself, but you wouldn’t leave me. How did I ever find someone like you?”

“Just lucky, I guess,” I said.

Molly pushed me away from her, and glared at me.

“What?” I said.

“Tell me the truth,” said Molly. “How could you be so sure you would win every game, and every cut of the cards?”

“Easy,” I said. “I cheated. Remember the pack of cards the Armourer gave me back at Drood Hall? With a built-in chameleon function, so it could look exactly like the pack it replaced? That would give me the winning hand or card, every time? I swapped it for the hotel’s pack, during Hyde’s first outburst. And no one noticed. Not even you. Parris trusted the pack, because he thought it was his.”

“I think I like Shaman better than Eddie,” said Molly. “He’s so much . . . sneakier.”

“And because neither of us could live without you,” I said.

“I could have told you that,” said Molly.

“All right,” said Molly. “What do we do now?”

“I gave my word I’d do a great many things before I left this place,” I said. “Free all the trapped souls in the hotel corridor; do something to help the generic people on the Medium Games world; and bring down the whole damned Shadow Bank to put a stop to the rotten way they do things.”

“I’ve always admired your sense of ambition,” said Molly. “Caution and common sense just get in the way of having a good time. But first, I have to ask . . . where exactly are we? Since we passed through that dimensional door we could be anywhere at all . . . and I can’t help thinking there must be some really good reason why they covered these windows so we can’t see out. . . .”

She looked thoughtfully at the heavy steel shutters covering the three great windows, and the metal shutters shook and shuddered under the impact of her gaze. She glared at them, and the heavy steel groaned out loud as it fought the locks holding it in place. And then, one after the other, the locks shattered and blew apart, and each steel shutter rolled upwards. I walked forward, with Molly smiling smugly at my side, to look out the nearest window. And there, outside, were the star-filled night skies of the Medium Games world, its wide grassy plains lit by the harsh moonlight of too many moons.

“What the hell are we doing back here?” said Molly.

“You heard Parris,” I said. “This is the home world of the Shadow Bank. No wonder no one could ever find them. And no wonder they used this place to stage the more dangerous games of Casino Infernale. I think . . . there are a great many answers to be found in this other world. Think you can break this glass, Molly?”

“Of course,” she said airily. She glared at the window before us. The glass vibrated, and then shuddered violently, but it wouldn’t break. Molly jabbed an angry finger at the window, but although the glass bowed in and out, and shook desperately in its frame, it still wouldn’t give. Molly spoke a Word of Power; and the wall around the window split and cracked and fell apart . . . while the window remained entirely intact.

“Ah . . .” said Molly. “I don’t think this is glass, Shaman.”

“Maybe we should ask Parris how to get out there,” I said.

“Well,” said Molly. “You can try . . .”

Parris was still sitting in his chair, but it took only one look at his face to convince me there was no one home. His eyes stared unseeingly, his mouth drooled, and nothing at all moved in his face.

“Stay away from the Evil Eye,” said Molly, from a safe distance.

“I had already thought of that, thank you,” I said, not looking round. “I do have enough sense to avoid something called an Evil Eye. . . .”

“News to me,” sniffed Molly. “You know, we could take the Eye back with us. Your uncle Jack always complains you never bring him back a present. . . .”

“I am not dragging a mindless body around with me, just so the Armourer can have a new toy to play with,” I said firmly.

“We don’t need all of Parris,” said Molly. “Just his hand . . .”

“Oh, ick,” I said. “Very definitely ick. I don’t want the thing that badly.”

“We could put it in a box. . . .”

“No!”

“Well, at least search Parris,” said Molly. “See if he’s got all the things he confiscated from us. I want my anklet back.”

“Eiko took them, not Parris,” I said. “But I suppose they might have ended up with him, as boss. . . . Worth a look.”

Parris didn’t react at all as I searched through his pockets, carefully and very gingerly. No sign of my Colt Repeater, or Molly’s silver charm bracelet. I didn’t really think there would be, but it’s best to go along with Molly when she’s in one of her moods. Unless you like being a frog.

“Look behind the bar,” said Molly, remorselessly. “Eiko spent enough time there.” I gave Molly a look, and she glared back. “I want my anklet!”

So I went and looked behind the bar. Nothing there of any interest, apart from a great deal of shattered high tech from where Molly blew up the null generator. Small things crunched noisily under my shoes as I investigated. I came back out from behind the bar, and gave Molly my best meaningful shrug.

“Not a thing,” I said. “Chalk up more lost toys to the forces of experience. Uncle Jack will give me hell for losing yet another gun . . .”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Molly. “I can always make myself another charm bracelet.”

I thought a great many things in response to that, but had enough sense to keep them to myself.

“I was hoping to use the Colt Repeater on the windows,” I said. “How in hell are we going to get out there?”

“Forget the windows,” said Molly. “We’ll use the door.”

I looked at the door, and then at Molly. “What?”

“It’s a dimensional door, remember?” said Molly. She strolled over to consider the door in a don’t mess with me kind of way. “Where you end up depends on setting the right coordinates. Like I do when I teleport.”

“Then why don’t you . . .”

“Because personal teleporting is very complicated, all right? And it takes a lot out of me. So we will use this door, once I’ve cracked the combination lock with my magic, and sorted out the right coordinates for the world outside those windows.”

“Are you sure about this?” I said carefully. “Only, I can see a whole bunch of ways in which this could all go horribly wrong. . . .”

“Never met a dimensional door lock I couldn’t have eating out of my hand, in no time at all,” said Molly.

“What about booby traps?” I said.

“Do I tell you how to do your job?”

“Yes,” I said. “All the time.”

“I’m allowed,” said Molly. “I’m a girl.”

“I had noticed,” I said.

We shared a quick smile.

Molly gave the door her entire concentration, and I could hear the built-in combination lock whirring through its variations as Molly sorted out the correct destination. It took her only a few moments and then the door opened, just a crack. Molly punched the air triumphantly, while I stayed where I was.

“Is there some way of checking first, before we go through?” I said. “All it takes is one digit out and we could end up . . . well, anywhere.”

“This should be it,” said Molly.

“Should?” I said, loudly. “I do not find that a reassuring word, in this context!”

“Don’t be such a wimp,” said Molly, kindly. “Think positive.”