Jackpot

20

Dale and Teddy escaped the Golden Desert Casino through a series of tunnels and passages that hotel security used to get VIPs in and out of the casino without being spotted by fans or anyone else who might make their lives difficult. Once again, Teddy noticed Dale navigated the situation better than any assistant should be expected to. He wondered how many times she’d been in these tunnels herself and under what circumstances.

They exited the casino in the back near the power plant and trash maintenance area. The air was thick with an acrid smell and Teddy choked a bit when he emerged into the air. Small clusters of workers were about, but no one seemed to take notice of them. They walked around toward the front of the casino where Teddy followed Dale onto a bus. She paid the fare for them both and guided Teddy toward the back.

It clearly wasn’t Dale Gai’s first time in those clandestine tunnels, and he had to wonder if their use was part of her regular job duties, or if she’d practiced a contingency plan for this kind of escape. In either case, it didn’t do anything to calm his misgivings about her. He still didn’t fully trust Dale Gai.

They were quiet as the bus made its way down the length of the Cotai Strip toward Coloane Village. Eventually, Dale said, “This was always the end of my plan. Where should we go next?”

Before Teddy could answer, his phone rang, and the screen told him it was Millie Martindale on the other end. They went back and forth about what they knew and how they could help each other. While Teddy was talking, the bus came to a stop and Teddy saw a sign that triggered an idea. He told Millie he would call her back, then he motioned for Dale to follow him off the bus.

Teddy pointed to a sign when they were off the bus to explain his thinking.

“I don’t read Chinese as well as I used to, but my Portuguese is still good, and I believe that sign is for the film festival. Right?”

“Very good,” Dale said.

“I’ve been so caught up thinking about this video that I haven’t looked more into the shakedown and protection aspect of this thing.”

“Okay,” Dale said, with a mix of confusion and condescension.

“Peter said his film set was attacked before they got the letter with the video.”

Dale nodded, but this time her face lit up as she realized where Teddy was going with all of this.

“You want to go to the film set?”

It was Teddy’s turn to nod this time.

“I should have thought of that,” Dale said.

“Neither of us is at the top of our game, it seems, but we’re still better than everyone else who can help, so let’s not get down on ourselves too much.”

“They were shooting all over town, but the production offices are just down the road here as a matter of fact,” Dale said.

“Can we walk it?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes.”

“Okay,” Teddy said.

The walk was nice as the area was slightly less crowded and noisy than the main strip. This area was mostly upscale spa resorts without any gambling, as well as other businesses native to residential areas such as grocery stores and home goods stores. The production offices for Peter and Ben’s Macau joint venture were in a two-story building detached from a small shopping mall designed more like something from the French Quarter in New Orleans than the more gleaming and modern buildings closer to the casinos.

As they made their way inside, Teddy was pleased to notice a small plaque with the Centurion Studios name and logo on it. It made him feel at home. It also gave him an idea of what to do next and how to investigate without appearing too suspicious. He sat down behind one of the desks in the office, put his feet up, and leaned back casually.

“I’m an employee of Centurion Studios,” he said.

“Right. Billy Barnett.”

Looking around the office, Teddy’s unease with the situation dissipated. Peter and Ben had worked in that office to help make the film industry of Macau better. They could easily have piggybacked onto the more successful Chinese or Hong Kong film markets if they’d wanted to break into the continent, but they’d gone with Macau because Macau needed more help. At their hearts, Peter and Ben were good guys. Teddy would find a way to make sure their good deed didn’t end up punishing them.

“Sometimes it’s good to stay in the background and watch and wait. But there are other times when I’ve had great success drawing attention to myself and seeing what I can shake loose.”

Teddy took his feet off the desk and looked through the drawers for anything that might help direct his next move. Since Billy Barnett was a Centurion Studios employee, his idea was to tour the areas where Peter and Ben had been filming, with the excuse that he had just arrived from America and was getting caught up on the details. But he wasn’t sure where they had been filming or what sets had been attacked. Dale Gai was no help, either.

“I helped them at the resort with their film festival business and security. My responsibilities did not extend outside the casino,” Dale said.

There wasn’t much left in the office, none of the filming logs that should have been kept, so Teddy was left to improvise. Luckily Teddy was an expert at improvisation.

The only thing of consequence Teddy found in the production office was a dirty business card written in Chinese characters that looked like it had been printed in the back of a moving truck. He handed it over to Dale to read.

Dale looked down at the card, smiled, and handed it back to Teddy.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” he asked.

“It’s for a man named Kwok Lin. He’s the head of security for Moonlit Sonata Films.”

“That sounds good,” Teddy said.

“It would be good if Kwok Lin wasn’t so stupid.”