Chapter 2
Sawyer Ash
“Hey, Chris, pull camera nine and rewind it back an hour,” I ordered as I walked into the security operations room.
I plopped down in an empty chair as one of the monitors switched from one of the blackjack tables to the parking garage. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs as I watched the footage roll in reverse.
“Right there,” I said, pointing to the screen.
Chris pressed play, and we watched the scene unfold.
The grainy footage paused on a slender man in a black suit as he slipped an envelope to one of the valet attendants.
The attendant quickly scanned his surroundings before stuffing it inside his jacket.
I didn’t recognize the man. There were a lot of frequent flyers at Cashville, but Slender Man wasn’t one of them.
I kept a close watch on the comings and goings of the casino, but it was a busy place. Some things happened to slip through the cracks here and there. Most of them were resolved quickly. The fact that someone could bribe one of our employees pissed me off.
“Y’all sitting around here all day doing nothing but watching these fucking screens, and you still letting all kinds of shit get past you. Do I need to send everybody in this bitch home and hire a whole new team? I’m about tired of giving the same damn speech.”
“Saw, you know there’s a lot of shit moving around here.”
“That’s why I have so many of you down here watching every movement that’s made in here. We have to be proactive, not reactive. Catch shit before it gets out of hand.”
“We got it.” Chris spoke up.
“I’ll be in my office. Have someone bring him to me.”
One of the men nodded and headed for the door. The rest of the security team went back to work monitoring their screens as I stood and headed out. I had a good team. I just hated when things got past us. It was a bad look.
I lived in my suite at Cashville more than I was at my own home, because I knew I needed to make sure things were running like they should.
I hated that I had to micromanage my staff.
Every time I took my eyes off the ball, something went down.
I moved down the hall, heading toward the executive elevator bank.
After I scanned my index finger, the door dinged and slid open for me to step on.
I adjusted the collar of my shirt to let some of the steam out.
There probably wasn’t really steam, but I was so heated that I thought I would burst into flames.
I prided myself on the privacy, discretion, and security we provided guests and customers of the hotel and casino.
If I couldn’t provide my guests with security, then what the hell was I even doing?
I marched down the hall to my office. Before my hand landed on the doorknob, my phone rang.
Of course it was my brother. I answered and put the phone to my ear.
“Yeah?”
“Is that how you answer the damn phone?”
“I’m working, Seth. What’s up?”
“You always working.”
“Is that what you called to tell me, because I already knew that?”
“I called because Ma wants to know if you can make it out to visit for Sunday dinner for a change.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“That’s what you been saying for the past few weeks.”
“And that’s what I’ll continue to say. I can’t make any promises. I never know what might come up at the casino.”
“You’re part owner of that place. You mean to tell me you don’t have a flunky that can take care of shit while you have dinner with your family?”
“If it was a flunky, I wouldn’t trust them to do that job.”
“You know what I mean, man. Bring your mean ass home so your mama will stop aggravating the hell out of me.”
“I’ll try, but you know I have to work. I’m dealing with a crisis as we speak.”
“What happened?”
“You know I can’t go into all that.”
“Can’t or won’t?” he asked.
“Both.”
“So are you coming Sunday?”
“No,” I said, finally coming out and saying it.
“Ugh, I wish your old grumpy ass would come out here so you have to listen to all that when you gon’ sit down and get married shit right along with me. Take up some of that slack.”
“I thought you and that chick that worked at that restaurant were getting serious.”
“She alright, but that don’t mean I’m ready to wife her. Tell me why you ain’t seeing nobody. Let me guess, you work too much,” he said.
“Why did you ask if you already knew the answer to the question?”
“When you gon’ tell mama you don’t like women?” he asked.
“Bitch, don’t play with me.”
“Big bro, I accept you just the way you are. I’ll help you break the news to the family,” he teased.
“Man, shut up. You know I like women.”
“When was the last time you had one?”
“I could have a woman every night if I wanted to,” I stated.
“I’m not talking about fucking. I’m talking about really connecting with someone.”
“Boy, you been watching the daytime talk shows again?”
“Don’t sleep on them. That one baldheaded dude got a pretty good show.”
I chuckled. “I’ll let you have that.”
“Bro, one more thing before I let you go. You need to learn to make time for what’s important. Time is one of those things we can’t get back.”
“I hear you.”
“Alright. Let me let you go since you’re such a busy man. You know you need to call Dad when you get a chance.”
I scoffed, ending the call just as my security supervisor ushered the valet from the video footage into my office. The kid actually looked terrified. That was good. His fear meant he understood the severity of the situation.
“I’m sorry, man. I needed the money,” he blurted before I had a chance to speak.
“Sit,” I instructed, motioning to the chair across from my desk.
He nearly ran to plant himself in the chair. I decided to stay on my feet. I needed to keep moving so I could think clearly.
“How much did they pay you?”
“Five thousand dollars. I’m trying to get a new place. I’ve been saving, but it’s hard to accumulate that kind of money in this economy.”
“What exactly did he pay you for?” I asked just to see if he would tell the truth.
“Information about some of the women staying here. I didn’t tell him much because I didn’t know much to tell him.”
I didn’t respond to his comment immediately. Sometimes, silence was better than rushing to speak. Silence gave people time to process.
“He wanted to know about a few guests in particular. Most of the questions were about one person. He asked if I would call him when she was ready for her car.”
“Who was it?”
“Senator Carlisle. She’s here for the weekend.”
“That’s it?”
His chest rose and fell as he considered my question.
“Don’t waste precious time thinking. Answer the question.”
“He told me there was more where that came from if I came through for him.”
“Make sure you clean out your locker before you leave. You’re not allowed to step foot on Cashville’s premises again.”
“Wait, you’re firing me?” he asked.
“You were about to set one of my guests up to be kidnapped or worse. You’re lucky that you’re leaving with your life. Get out of my sight before I change my mind.”
“I promise it won’t happen again.”
“I know it won’t. You won’t be here. Chris, get this man out of my building.”
He looked up from tapping the keys on his phone before grabbing the valet up by his collar. Chris shoved him, stopping once he reached the door. When he opened the door, a couple of uniformed security officers were standing on the other side.
“Take him to his locker, and don’t let him out of your sight until you can’t see the taillights of his car anymore.”
“Got it.” One of them nodded.
Once they escorted him away, Chris closed the door behind him and walked over to me as I finally sat behind my desk.
“You think this is serious?”
“I’m pretty sure someone paying five thousand dollars to know where a senator parked her car isn’t just planning to ask for more streetlights.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Increase outdoor patrol, have someone scan her car just in case something already got past us, and notify the front desk that there are going to be extra security measures in place until we know exactly what they were up to.”
“Got it.”
“And find that man,” I ordered.
“Already on it. He’s not a guest.”
“That doesn’t mean he can’t be found.”
“You’re right about that. They’re running a facial recognition scan. I should have something shortly.”
“Let me be the first to know.”
“Got you, boss.”
After he let himself out of my office, I looked over at the floor-to-ceiling, two-way mirror that showed the casino entrance.
Although I worked in a high stress environment, I loved what I did.
I would probably be up all night making sure Senator Carlisle and everyone else in the building were safe.
People came to Cashville for luxury as well as safety.
As long as I was here, it was on me to make sure the latter of those things was intact. It was my duty.