I sat in a sparsely padded foldable chair, staring at the black and white CRT monitors lining the far wall of the security room. Around me was the rest of the casino staff; the dealers, attendants, and bouncers, all in their own more comfortable seats.
“Sorry Mike,” apologized my boss as he stood facing us by the door. “I haven’t had a chance to get a new chair for you since you just joined us earlier this week.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied with a shrug. “I haven’t had much of a chance to sit down during the tournament, so I didn’t notice.”
“And that’s why I’ve called you all here,” he said with a sigh. “In all of the other tournaments I’ve hosted or sponsored, there’s never been this much cheating. Maybe several minor attempts spread across an entire week, but there’ve been more cheaters in these past three days than I’ve seen during entire season-long events!”
Just then, the door was thrown open by a man with a twisted fashion sense. His angry grin perfectly matched his red suit and the clunky jewelry that hung from his fingers and neck.
“What the hell are you doing here, Zane?” asked Kamila with a sneer. The attendant wasn’t alone with the look on her face, everyone else in the room glared at the newcomer with similar disdain.
“I already told you love, I’m a sponsor!” he shot back with a predatory grin. “And that makes me privy to whatever’s going on in the tournament. So are you going to invite me in, Goldshanks?”
“Zane,” said my boss. “Get out.”
“What? You can’t do that to me! I have a right to know whatever you’re planning here!”
“This meeting concerns affairs regarding my casino, not yours,” continued Goldshanks. “So Daniels, would you please escort Zane here to the door?”
“Door? I’m already standing here!”
“The front door. Nobody likes a smartass, Zane.”
A burly man rose from his seat and walked over to the intruder, forcing him out with a hand delicately placed on his shoulder.
“God, I need to sit down,” sighed my boss as he closed the door and locked it behind him. He let out a frustrated groan when he realized there weren’t any open chairs available.
“Here, you can have my seat Mr. Goldshanks, sir!” exclaimed Todd as he jumped out of his own plush operator chair.
The boss took his seat without a word before continuing. “First things first, I wanted to congratulate Mike here for catching so many cheaters today. I probably should’ve started with that.”
I blushed slightly as my coworkers clapped. Sure, it was the kind of unenthusiastic clap you’d get from a peer passed over for a promotion, but it was still a show of appreciation. But I noticed that Todd, Kamila, and another two female attendants she sat close to weren’t clapping as excitedly as the others. I couldn’t really blame them.
“You did a great job, but honestly, you shouldn’t have to.”
That got him several confused looks, including one from me.
“The cheaters today were incredibly innovative, and were working with much better resources than anyone in their position would.”
“Isn’t there supposed to be a record-sized prize pool for the tournament, sir?” asked Todd. “Maybe it’s drawing all of the cheaters out of the woodwork, and they think it’s worth spending the extra cash to win?”
“No, there’s more to it,” replied Goldshanks. “There shouldn’t be this many among the pros, who are players first and cheaters second. If anything, I believe that this is an act of sabotage. Someone on the inside is organizing these cheaters together to ruin this tournament.”
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the boss, a mix of confusion and concern on their faces. Kamila and several others, of course, looked at me.
“Hold on,” I replied. “The invisible ink duo said that they were following someone else’s orders. Any idea who it could be?”
“I don’t know, but I have a suspicion. With how many cheaters that have gotten through the front door with their equipment, it has to be someone on the inside.”
This time, even more of my coworkers turned to face me. It was doing wonders for my self-confidence.
“No, not Mike!” exclaimed Goldshanks. “I’m talking about one of the sponsors! The dealer with the ink was vetted by somebody, and the fake videographer somehow got his hands on a press pass. The only people who have the ability to make that happen and the motivation to ruin me are the other casino managers!”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Everyone nodded at the revelation, drawing their baleful gazes away from me. I nodded along with them, more intrigued by my boss’ own analytical abilities than his declaration. My focus had entirely been on catching whoever popped up in front of me, not trying to search for a bigger picture, so I wasn’t beating myself up for that. Honestly, I was just impressed by my boss being able to figure something like this out, where all of my Skills failed.
But even though I didn’t feel too bad, I still felt… weak. My Skills really weren’t enough in the grand scheme of things. Just like how money couldn’t buy class, Skills couldn’t buy actual skills, and I wasn’t going to shy away from the chance to cultivate those either. I’d need to if I wanted to fight the Fatewatcher.
“So of course, we have a short list of suspects,” continued my boss. “Starting with-”
“Zane,” Kamila and I said at the same time. We looked at each other in surprise, before she turned away in a huff.
“Yes… he’s probably the most likely out of them, but there are two others whose involvement we can’t entirely discount.” He let out a drawn out sigh. “Victoria Palmer of Victoria’s Garden and Kozakov Petrovich of The Bear’s Den. Probably not as outwardly bad as Zane, but that’s only because they understand the meaning of subtle.”
“So what are we going to do about them, boss?” asked Todd. “Should I fish around the security community to see if any of them are up to something? I could try to pull some strings with my connections to-”
“No, you keep working to stop them at the entrance. Mike! You’re in charge of this investigation.”
I flinched when the boss shouted my name. What did he want me for? It wasn’t like I had any ‘connections’ or anything as impressive as what the security manager was laying down.
“This will be something you’re going to have to do after-hours, since you’ll still need to stop any cheaters who get past Todd.”
Another nod from me, and another glare from Todd.
“I’ll be doubling your current pay for the rest of the tournament contingent on results, since I expect another 4 hours a day from you. No overtime, mind you, but that’s only because you’ll be working a total of 8 hours a day at this rate.”
“Sounds good to me!” I replied, offering no resistance to the lack of additional overtime pay. I was already making a ton and now having my salary doubled, probably making me the luckiest guy in the room, judging by all of the jealous looks I was getting. Couldn’t say I could blame them.
“Of course, the challenge will be to find proof of their involvement if we want to hit them back hard. We won’t be able to hold it over them without some kind of leverage.”
“To give to the police?” I asked.
“With the kind of money and power they have, the proof would be better used as blackmail. The risk of embarrassment from it coming out would do more harm in the court of public opinion than a criminal one. Besides, they’d have someone seduce the prosecution or the jury to their cause. But they can’t seduce all of America!”
The rest of the room let out a series of polite short chuckles.
“Wait, really? Is that a thing?” I asked. “Can you really seduce your way out of trouble?”
Once more, I received a round of stares, but at this point I was starting to get used to it.
“I mean, if you have the looks, money, or power,” helpfully replied Todd. “Either seduce them yourself, or hire a lawyer to do it for you.”
“So does anyone actually go to prison then?” I asked. “Except poor and ugly people, of course.”
“Do you live under a rock or something?” retorted Kamila. “Only the worst kinds of people get sent there like child predators and murderers! Zane would just get a big fine and his name plastered over the news, in the best case.”
“That is if Zane’s the one behind this,” replied Goldshanks. “But finding out is all up to you, Mike. Can I count on you?”
“Sure thing, boss. I’ll start investigating and let you know as soon as I have something.”
“Good,” he said, fishing out a cigar and a lighter. “In that case, meeting adjourned. See you all tomorrow.”
Everyone nodded and filtered out of the cramped security room, including Todd. I was the second to last to leave, and the man standing before me placed a massive yet gentle hand on my shoulder before I could make my exit.
“Hey Mike,” said Mr. Goldshanks in between a puff.
“What’s up?” I turned around and asked.
“The reason I’m asking you is because you’ve been pulling a lot of, well, what I can only describe as miracles, this week. So you might have the best bet of figuring it out.”
“Oh, well thanks!” I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment for the second time today. “But why not pick someone like Todd? He’s got way more experience, connections, and-”
“He doesn’t have connections,” Mr. Goldshanks interrupted. “He’s just trying to suck up to me by sounding like some kind of hotshot. I can’t say I don’t appreciate his enthusiasm, but I’d rather he focus that energy on his job. I judge my employees by their character and results.”
“Alright then,” I nodded. “I’ll get to it now.”
“And one more thing.” My boss looked me in the eyes with a hint of concern. “Don’t stress yourself too hard. I’m asking you to find a needle in a haystack in half a week when a specialized investigative team would take a year to do the same. I don’t actually expect results, and any kind of evidence is more than enough to make me happy and earn you your extra pay. You’re best utilized here, keeping the cheaters who show up from actually winning the tournament.”
“Alright, I’ll take things easy then.”
“Excellent, have a nice afternoon, Mike.” Mr. Goldshanks patted me on the shoulder and left the office.
As I made my way back to my car, I knew exactly where to begin. Time to head to the police station and meet with the invisible ink idiots who probably hated my guts.