Sorry for the delay since the last chapter; I wasn't planning on taking a hiatus. It was due to a little thing I like to call not planning ahead. Anyway, back to the show!

4 – Authority Resumes Its Sway

January, three years later.

Everyone these days seemed to be headed to Vegas, ready to get lucky or meet their match. People had been coming in droves since the new casino opened.

His new casino. But it's not like Nathan was counting.

Walking the floor of the Landing Strip (retro, nostalgic, with just a hint of Vegas class), Nathan went unnoticed by most of the zealous gamblers. His face wasn't widely recognized these days, thankfully because news from (or to) New York didn't travel fast.

However, on the rare occasions someone might recognize him, one of his two fellow co-owners, Simon Chester or Noel Blake, would cover for Nathan. They were exceedingly loyal, proving Nathan's judgment of character had matured. Both men were equally dedicated to helping him keep up his charade of being Johnathan Grey, a loner businessman from anywhere but Nevada.

Within the city, everybody knew his face and alias. In under a month bouncers were allowing him into clubs and casinos without ID, to Nathan's great relief. Although he had all of "Mr. Grey's" necessary objects of identification, using the fraudulent papers still made him feel a little guilty.

Speaking of fraudulent, at the moment, there was someone security had asked Nathan to check out on the floor.

That's right, security had asked him to check out one of the players. There was no way it could be that bad, Nathan thought, grimacing.

Lost in his thoughts, Nathan crashed into and almost managed to knock over a tall, blonde waitress, judging by her uniform. Or he thought he had. Looking back up at her, she had barely seemed to flinch. And his side was starting to hurt a little already…

"Are you okay?"

She knelt down on the ground beside him. Nathan laughed, embarrassed – he hadn't even realized he had fallen down.

"Clearly, I made an impact on you…" the waitress started to joke, before she quickly acquired a look of recognition. "Oh my God, you're- "

"Johnathan Grey, yeah, I get that a lot." Stumbling for a moment, Nathan quickly recovered and helped the waitress pick up the drinks and empty glasses he had caused her to spill. "So," he began, glancing surreptitiously at her nametag, "Jessica-"

"Actually, it's Niki. I didn't feel comfortable using my real name." Nathan noticed how she avoided making eye contact at this confession.

"I take it you're new here, Niki?"

"You could say that," she conceded, subtly dodging the question. Already, the woman was an enigma.

"That doesn't answer my question," Nathan replied bluntly.

Niki looked up at him, her taut expression immediately softening. "Sorry, I guess I'm just nervous. It's not every day you run into one of the most influential men of Vegas, who just happens to be your boss, roaming around the floor where you work."

"Not to mention knocking him over with your tray," Nathan added under his breath. Niki laughed.

"Okay, so don't think of me that way," Nathan responded, standing up along with Niki.

She seemed to consider it seriously for a moment. "It's kind of hard not to, especially considering the latest rumors."

"Concerning…?" Nathan queried, hoping no one had been doing any last-minute background checks.

"That you're one of the mayor's most respected financial backers. I hear you're quite the politician yourself?"

He shrugged. "I give advice where advice is needed."

"That doesn't answer my question," Niki teased. Nathan smiled slightly, but otherwise pretended he hadn't heard her. Seeing she wasn't going to get a response, Niki decided to cut to the chase.

"You should come see me later tonight."

"Uh, sure," Nathan replied, looking anywhere but at her. "What time do you get off work?"

"Oh, don't wait for me to get off work. I don't waitress that late, but I have a second job here."

"Are you, like, a show girl?"

"Hey, that's close enough," she laughed, disappearing back into the crowd.

tlmtlmtlmtlmtlmtlmtlmtlm

"He's cheating at what?" asked Nathan. Shortly after his encounter with Niki, he had found Noel Blake along with a growing crowd nearby.

"Blackjack," Noel replied calmly, contrasting his normally feisty demeanor and equally fiery red hair. "And there's a problem."

"No really," Nathan muttered sarcastically.

Noel pretended not to notice. "We can't actually prove he's cheating. He's just really, really good… it's uncanny."

"How good does he seem to be?" Nathan asked, hoping to probe deeper into the matter.

Noel glanced up at Nathan with a spark his pale blue eyes. "It's like he can tell what hand everyone else at the table has. Just by using his mind."

tlmtlmtlmtlmtlmtlmtlm

Matt Parkman had always been taught that the mind was a dangerous thing. It deceives and can be deceived… a skill Matt was now using to his great advantage.

Of course he would never use his power so blatantly as to draw attention under normal circumstances. But his plan needed a certain hook… one to get the real bigwigs of this casino involved.

Matt recalled the first time he saw Nathan Petrelli, fully knowing that this brilliant political icon was responsible for a crime. Matt hadn't actually handled the stock market crap, which was much to his relief, but he had taken statements for a few of the aggravated assault claims that had been responsible for most of the business boys' time in prison.

Filing your paperwork could result in a whole new ball game when you were on the NYPD.

But it seems that there were a few inconsistencies in one of the reports filed back then…

He had barely registered that Nathan had been released from prison a few months back, and Matt could really care less about the guy opening a casino. He had as much of a right to start over as anyone else in the country.

So when one of Matt's friends had tipped him off to a business man in Vegas that resembled the former Petrelli, he had taken off some vacation days he had been saving up and traveled out west, just to make sure Nathan wasn't up to anything shady.

Besides, it was a good idea to check up on some of these convicts, Matt convinced himself again, still feeling a tug of doubt.

He knows who I am.

The thought cut across the room like glass. At that moment, Matt looked up, locking eyes with Nathan, hoping to catch something more. A stray thought, possibly a mental confession…

"It's freaky, isn't it?"

Nathan closed his eyes, coming back to the man standing beside him. "Come again?"

"That guy. I forget his name: Marvin, Mark…"

Nathan sighed. "Matt. Matt Parkman."

"Yeah, yeah," Noel agreed, distracted. "But when he watches you watching him, it feels like he's staring right through you."

Nathan's mouth twitched in a worried smile. "I noticed."

Turning to leave, he threw one last glance at the cop he thought he had ditched in New York. He was still looking at Nathan, looking through Nathan, as if he knew what he was thinking at that precise moment.

Nathan scoffed at his own thought. No one could read minds. Or so he hoped.