Session Twenty One

Jet clanged into the door with his metal shoulder. He bounced off with a jarring clatter, without even leaving a dent.

"It's made to stop bullets, Jet!" Ed yelped.

He turned around. "I know that," he said.

Ed looked pale under her shock of bright red hair, amber eyes wide as her fingers flew like lightning over her keyboard.

Jet realized she was scared. He stopped. He never seen Ed scared of anything. Even when danger stared her in the face. Ed always treated everything like some sort of grand adventure, but this time, she was terrified. And that was because she'd failed to be ready, Jet realized. Ed was always ready for everything, so she was never caught off guard. But Villanova got the drop on her - on all of them - by showing up early and breaking the rules.

Ed jumped as the sound of gunshots echoed from below but she didn't stop typing. Jet ran back over to the window and looked down to see Faye and Leon crouched behind the bar.

"They're ok, Ed," he said. "They've got cover."

"But they're supposed to have guns!" she wailed.

"Take your time. Better we get this right on the first go round than make a mistake."

Ed nodded.

The gunfire fell silent as Jet watched Villanova jump up on a gaming table. From behind him, he heard loud, disdainful buzzing sounds, like when Ed tried to hack into something but didn't have the password right. He turned around. Ed was typing passwords into Tomato faster than Jet could blink, each one returning an angrier buzzing sound and no unlocked door. Jet scanned the room. If they couldn't get out of the door, maybe they could...there! A ceiling vent leading to an air duct. Jet walked over to the vent and looked up. There was no way he was going to fit in the vent, but Ed would be able to clear it with ease.

"Ed," he said.

She didn't look up.

"Ed," he called louder.

She still didn't move.

"Ed!" he shouted.

"Nyah!" she yelped and looked up from Tomato.

"I've got a plan. But first, douse the lights in the game room, will you?"

For a moment, all that could be seen in the suddenly dark room was the flaming tail of Leon's molotov cocktail. Leon watched it for a second or two, transfixed, and then it hit something and burst into flame and Villanova shouted in pain and Leon snapped into action, running to the door behind the bar. Now that the lights were out, a faint glow outlined the door where light seeped from behind it. He barrelled into Faye just as she pulled the door open and they tumbled through, landing in a tangled heap of arms and legs. He heard shards of glass skitter across the floor as they fell, falling out of their clothes and hair.

"Watch where you're going, lunkhead!" Faye yelled, twisting and squirming beneath him.

"Sorry," Leon scrambled to his feet and gave Faye a hand up.

They heard loud shouts and yells from the gaming floor as the Dragons dealt with the effects of the molotov. Leon pulled the door shut and looked around. They were in a service corridor between the walls, lit with bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The door on this side was visible. There was no way to lock it and it opened outward, so they couldn't block it. He knew it would only be a matter of seconds before the Dragon gathered themselves and came through the door.

"Damn, we gotta keep moving," he grabbed Faye's arm again.

She pulled away. "I can move myself, thanks."

Leon gave her a level look, then shrugged and took off down the hall. Faye followed. Despite her stilettos, she kept up with Leon's longer stride. They skidded to a stop at the end of the hall, taking a sharp left turn into the kitchens. The two bartenders were there, surrounded by other wait staff and cooks, all talking in a confused jumble about what was going on in the casino. One of the bartenders looked up and pointed at Leon and Faye.

"That's them! They're the ones who started it!"

Leon held up his hands placatingly. "Apologies, ladies and gentleman. Now, if you don't mind, we'll just get out of your hair, ok?" He stepped out into the kitchen and began to edge his way around the huddled group of cooks and waiters.

"Wait just a minute!" one of the cooks yelled. "You think you're gonna just get away with this after the mess you made? You've gotta pay for damages, you know!"

Faye smiled sweetly at the man. "You know, you really ought to ask the Red Dragon for the cost of damages on this one. They're the ones with the guns," she said.

"Red Dragon?" someone yelped.

"The very same," Faye nodded.

She and Leon continued walking past the group. Some of the waiters and cooks cowered at the mention of the Dragon. But the cook who demanded they pay for the damage wasn't having it.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he took a step forward, brandishing a ladle threateningly. The faint sound of shouting drifted down the service corridor.

"Oh, you'll know just about...now," Leon said. The cook turned to look at the corridor just as three men barrelled into the kitchen, guns drawn.

The one in the lead locked eyes with Leon. "Get 'em, boys!" he yelled. The other two men spread out to the left and right. Leon and Faye burst into a run. They sprinted through the kitchen, forgotten by the staff. The kitchen staff burst into confusion, some running, some cowering, and generally getting in the way of the Dragon. One of the Dragon men fired his gun into the ceiling, shattering a light bulb and the kitchen descended further into chaos. Leon ran through the room, bent almost double, dodging behind tables and counters as bullets ricocheted off pots and pans. He saw a kitchen knife laying on a cutting board with some onions and scooped it up as he ran past. Although it was unwieldy, it was sharp, and he felt somewhat better having a weapon in his hand.

"Where are we going?" Faye asked behind him.

"I don't know," Leon called over his shoulder. He wished he'd looked more closely at the casino maps last night, but his plan hadn't involved needing to know where the back halls went. He burst out of the kitchen on the other side to find himself in a room full of tables and lockers. The staff break room, he guessed. He and Faye ran through without stopping. So far, it looked like the three Dragon men had been delayed by the staff, but Leon knew that wouldn't last much longer. He and Faye made it to the swinging double doors of the break room just as a bullet slammed into the wall beside Leon's head. Faye yelped and Leon ducked, shoving open the break room door. The three Dragon men began to weave their way through the tables and chairs.

"Stop where you are, Spiegel. We have you surrounded!"

Faye and Leon ducked through the door into yet another hallway. A spray of bullets slammed into the opposite wall. Faye yelped and tripped. Leon turned back to see her on the ground, blood dripping down her left leg. He ran back and put an arm under hers, levering her to her feet.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Faye panted. "It just grazed me. Let's go!"

Leon turned around and shoved the kitchen knife between the handles of the two doors, so it acted like a cross bar. It wouldn't hold for long, especially not against three men, but perhaps it would buy them some time. Faye pulled away from him, limping only a little and they ran down the hallway. Just before they turned the next corner, Leon heard footsteps running towards them. He stopped and put out an arm to stop Faye. She paused as Leon pressed himself to the wall and put a finger to his lips. The footsteps belonged to only one person and a small person at that. Leon made a motion to indicate that he would tackle them once they rounded the corner. Faye nodded and took up a ready stance, fists balled. The footsteps drew closer and just before they reached the end of the hall, Leon launched himself around the corner.

Jet balanced himself as Ed sat on his shoulders, reaching up to the vent overhead with a screwdriver in her hands. She hummed as she worked the vent loose, dropping screws onto the floor.

"Have you got it?" Jet asked, watching his feet to make sure he didn't tangle himself in any of Ed's wires.

"Almost," Ed said. She gave an excited squeal and the vent came crashing down, missing Jet's nose by inches. Jet kept his balance by sheer willpower.

"You might want to warn me next time!" he growled.

"Sorry!" Ed shifted so that she crouched on Jet's shoulders, then she grabbed the edge of the vent and pulled herself up into the ceiling. She slid into the air ducts, Faye's Glock and Leon's Jericho banging loudly against the metal tube as her pockets scuffed the edge.

"Careful!" Jet admonished.

Ed turned around to look back down at him and nodded vigorously. "Careful is Ed's middle name!" she chirped. Now that she had a plan again, she was back to her usual perky self. "Now remember, Jet has a job too!"

"I know, I'll be fine, Ed."

"Yup, yup!"

"Now hurry up!" Jet motioned at Ed to get going. Ed gave him a thumbs up, then put her goggles over her eyes and crawled deeper into the vent. Jet sat down in front of Tomato and searched the security monitors for any sign of Faye and Leon.

"They're in the kitchen, Ed," Jet's voice crackled over the walkie-talkie clipped to the belt-loop of Ed's jumpsuit. She and Jet had snitched a pair of the security radios before she went into the vents. Ed pressed the button on her walkie-talkie. "A-OK, sir!" she said.

She heard Jet sigh on the other end. If she remembered the layout of the casino correctly, the kitchen was on the first floor, behind the bar. She could reach it easy-peasy if she was on the floor, but she'd need to find a good spot to leave the vent without getting noticed. She crawled carefully through the casino duct system, stopping to look through each vent as she passed. She was well out of the security room now, but casino guards kept running through the halls below her. And since they knew Almance wasn't on their side, Ed figured she shouldn't let any security guards see her. She'd given Jet instructions on how to control the systems in the casino she had managed to hack, but even she wasn't sure what he could do with the intercom, the TVs, and the lights.

Finally, Ed found a vent that exited into a storage closet. She pushed on the vent cover. It jiggled a little, but didn't come loose. Ed turned herself around in the vent so that her feet faced the cover and lay down on her back. She gave the cover a few good kicks and it popped right off. It fell to the floor with a clang and Ed lay still in the duct for a count of 100. Nobody came to investigate the sound. Hopefully, that meant no one was close enough to hear it.

"Ed found a way out, Jet," she said into the walkie talkie as she slid out into the closet.

"Good. Leon and Faye just left the kitchen. If you hurry, it looks like you might catch them before the Dragon."

"Ed will be like lightning," she promised, crossing her heart with her finger even though Jet couldn't see it. "Edward will call again when she finds Leo and Faye Faye!" Ed saluted the air.

"Good luck, kid," Jet said. Ed left the walkie-talkie in the vent, so it couldn't make any noise and give her away.

Then she walked over to the door. She cracked it open and peered outside cautiously. The hallway on the other side was empty. She slipped out and closed the door softly behind her. Then she broke into a run. As she ran, she compared the layout of the building to the map in her head. She should be right over the kitchen now. If she remembered right, there was a staircase down the hall on the right that would dump her out near the employee break room, which was where Faye and Leon would exit the kitchen. Ed found the stairs and took them two at a time, her boots barely touching the floor. She turned left at the end of the stairs and ran down the hall.

Just before she rounded the corner, a shadow moved against the wall and she skidded to a stop. Someone threw themselves at her from the corner.

Ed yelped and tumbled to the floor, her arms and legs pinned to her sides. But the arms wrapped around her were familiar arms and she knew that shaggy mop of dark hair.

"Leo!"

"Ed?" Leon asked incredulously. He let her go, looking sheepish. "What are you doing here?"

"Ed!" Faye exclaimed, stepping out from the wall. "Good thing we ran into you instead of the Dragon. But I thought you were stuck in the security booth."

"Jet is," Ed nodded seriously. "But Ed is small and she wiggled like a little fishy all the way here." She slid her goggles onto her head and gave them a huge grin.

"Great," Leon said, picking himself up and offering his hand to the second girl he'd inadvertently tackled today. Ed took it and stood up.

"Did you bring our guns?" Leon asked.

Ed looked up at Leon and nodded. A gun went off at the other end of the hall.