Simon Green - Casino Infernale

“One of us always has to be here,” he said. “To keep an eye on things.”

“You’re really the only one here?” said Molly, glaring suspiciously about her. “Because I swear if I see anyone moving around in the shadows, I will turn them inside out and leave them that way.”

“Just me,” said the generic man. “But what one of us sees, we all see. You know the rest. There’s always one of us here to see the machines run smoothly.”

“So, you’re the generic caretaker,” I said. “Are you going to give us any trouble?”

“I can’t stop you, whatever you decide to do here. I know that. But please, you must understand. Destroy the computers, and you destroy my people. We serve the Shadow Bank through these machines. We were made to serve. We will die without a purpose. We almost died out before the Shadow Bank’s original owners found us. I don’t believe we could survive another loss of purpose. Are you ready to commit genocide?”

“Hell yes,” said Molly. “After all the evil the Shadow Bank’s made possible? All the suffering and horror you people have been responsible for? And, you just tried to kill us!”

“After everything you’re responsible for,” I said to the generic caretaker. “Now there’s a thought. . . . No, I won’t be responsible for wiping you out. That’s the difference, right there, between you and me. I’ve got a much better idea. What if I was to give your people another purpose?”

Molly leaned in close to me. “Are you sure about this?” she said quietly. “I mean, you know I love your ideas, but . . . can you rely on this lot to do whatever it is you’re about to ask them to do?”

“Oh, I think so,” I said quietly. “As long as my family is there, looking over their shoulders.”

“Oh, hell,” said Molly. “Go for it. Genocide always makes me feel queasy.”

“Take what these machines know,” I said to the generic caretaker, “and use it to set people free. Destroy the financial records of all the evil organisations and individuals, make them bankrupt . . . and then use that money to put right all the wrongs you people have made possible. And set free all the souls you own, so they can move on to wherever they belong. Then, use the knowledge the Shadow Bank has acquired down the years to expose the hidden deals and corrupt conspiracies, and help make the world a better place. I know, Molly, I’m being idealistic again. But we have to try. Because it’s either that, or killing an entire people. And I’m just not in the mood. I’m an agent, not an assassin, remember? You, generic caretaker . . . do you accept the new purpose I give you?”

“Yes,” he said. “We live to serve.”

“Good,” I said. “And by the time you’ve finished with everything I’ve just said, my family will have thought of something else that needs doing, to keep you occupied.”

“Good,” said the generic man. “It will help us to have masters again.”

“Then tell your people,” I said.

“They already know. The fighting has stopped. The killing is over. It is no longer necessary. We have a new purpose.”

“Damn,” said Molly. “You people are seriously creepy.”

“And you people,” said the generic man, “are seriously scary. Because you’re always so certain.”

We took the elevator back down to the lobby. Molly was almost completely out of magic. We walked out of the lobby, and found our friends and allies standing together outside the hotel. Looking around them in a confused sort of way. The generic army had moved back, and were standing still, awaiting new instructions from their new masters. The moment Molly and I appeared, the whole generic army bowed their heads to us. The Armourer armoured down.

“Eddie? Molly? What have you done?”

“We won,” I said cheerfully. “The war is over, the Shadow Bank is no more, and the generic people work for the Droods now.”

“Bloody typical,” said J.C. He was breathing hard, and there was blood on his white suit. “We do all the hard work, and the Droods reap all the rewards. Don’t the rest of us get anything out of this?”

“The satisfaction of a job well done,” said Sir Parsifal.

Dead Boy looked at the London Knight. “You’re weird. And I have to ask, why are some of those empty-faced people gathered around Bruin Bear, and worshipping him?”

“Because he’s that sort of Bear,” I said. I moved over to the nearest generic person. “Are you sure there won’t be any bad feelings over all of your kind who died here?”

“We are one,” said the generic man calmly. “What’s a few bodies?”

“That,” said Molly. “That, right there, is what’s wrong.”

“No wonder you ran the Shadow Bank the way you did,” I said.

I stood at the end of a terribly long corridor deep within the hotel, with Molly at my side. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of faces lined both walls, staring out of simple wooden frames. Souls, lost souls; lost in games of chance at Casino Infernale. So many suffering faces, held in place behind polished glass, staring endlessly out with haunted eyes. Mouths moving silently, in pleas for help that the world never heard. Like insects trapped under glass, pinned in place, caught between Life and Death, for as long as Casino Infernale, or the Shadow Bank, had a use for them. I looked down the endless length of the corridor, at all the lost souls; and I don’t think I’d ever felt so angry. Molly moved in close beside me, to comfort me with her presence.

“Some things just aren’t right,” I said. “Some crimes really are inhuman.”

“I know,” said Molly.

“I did ask my uncle Jack if he wanted to be here with me when I did this,” I said. “He said thank you, but no. He wanted to make sure the others got home safely.”

“He probably felt responsible for them,” said Molly. “He was the one who called them to the Summit Meeting in the first place.”

“No,” I said. “That wasn’t the reason. I think he’s not here because he knew about this and never did anything about it. He just followed the family’s orders. Because they were afraid to do anything that might upset the apple cart. Because they were always ready to deal with the devil they knew . . . rather than risk something worse. And to hell with the cost. My uncle is a good man. A brave man. But he always was too ready to let other people make the big decisions for him.”

“Good thing the family’s got you, then,” said Molly.

I looked up and down the corridor, taking my time, refusing to let myself avert my gaze, whenever trapped and suffering eyes met mine.

“Stop it,” said Molly. “Stop punishing yourself.”

“I have to wonder,” I said. “Just how many souls aren’t here to be saved because the Shadow Bank already traded them, to Heaven or to Hell.”

“Never feel guilty about the ones you can’t save,” said Molly. “Be happy for the ones you can. And Eddie, never forget that everyone here . . . is here because they gambled, and lost. They knew the risks they were taking; they knew what they were getting into. They would have been quite happy to take other people’s souls as their property, if they’d won.”

“They didn’t really understand,” I said. “How could they? They were tempted; taken advantage of. I say that’s wrong and I say the hell with it.”

Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat came forward to join us. They stood very close together, staring about them with wide, shocked eyes. They held each other’s furry paw, comfortingly. The Goat looked angry; the Bear looked sad. He looked accusingly at me.

“How could you let this go on for so long?”

“I didn’t know,” I said.