Neanderthal Seeks Human(92)

We were then dispatched with instructions to meet back in the hotel lobby in one hour. I went to my room then did not much of anything other than frown, use the facilities, brush my teeth, look at the list of in-room TV channels, and then head back downstairs armed with my portfolio and iPad. Carlos and Olivia were sitting across from each other on large, golden, jewel encrusted settees. They weren’t talking; rather they were independently together, engrossed in the contents of their own cell phones.

I glanced around with not a little trepidation. Neither Quinn nor Steven were present in the lobby. Carlos noticed me first and they both stood in lagged unison as I approached. That was when I saw a third person, also standing in lagged unison but he also was still engrossed with his phone. He was normal height, a little taller than me, and had normal blondish-reddish hair and normal bluish eyes and a normal smattering of freckles- though light- over his cheeks but, strangely, not his nose.

Introductions were made swiftly; the unknown person was the nephew of the casino owner and the manager of the new club; his name was Alex or Adrien or Adien or Allen something like that. I was introduced rather formally as Ms. Morris, Senior Fiscal Project Coordinator and manager of the account. We shook hands. He may have smiled and held my hand a little too long; he might also have winked. I wasn’t in the mood to really notice anything about him.

Allen- or Adien or whatever his name was- was going to escort us to and give us a tour of the new club, the club for which we were to provide security, for which we’d prepared the presentation. I tried to push myself to feel at least some professional interest in the tour if not some normal inquisitiveness.

I was informed, by Olivia on the elevator ride up, that Quinn and Steven had a separate meeting with the client to go over the private account. A meeting I wasn’t invited to attend. I spared her a waxy, unconcerned smile.

The tour was fine. The club was fine, although it looked peculiar as it was empty of partygoers and was rather brightly lit by several west-facing windows. It didn’t look anything like Outrageous; it just appeared to be a typical nightclub; although, in its defense, they hadn’t yet finished decorating. There were several men, I assumed construction workers, coming in and out of the main space but I expended no mental energy noticing them.

We ate lunch at a black table near one of the windows. I didn’t notice the view of the Las Vegas Strip nor the landscape of rust-capped ridges and canyons beyond.

I drifted through these happenings, not tasting my food, speaking when spoken to, answering questions but not really asking any of my own. I was wholly uncurious which should have concerned me. But it didn’t.

There were a few more tours- the casino floor, the lock room, a few sections of the basement. Finally, after an indeterminable amount of time and banal chit chat, we were taken to a conference room and prodded with coffee, tea, and cucumber water. The club manager left briefly while Carlos and Olivia set up for the presentation; he pulled out a thumb drive and she placed hardcopy packets in front of each of the conference table’s large leather seats.

Then, in walked Steven and Quinn and, suddenly, my brain engaged. I started noticing.

In fact, I couldn’t stop noticing.

I noticed that he didn’t look at me or speak to me and seemed to sit in the seat furthest from mine.

I noticed that Carlos made all the introductions as the client entered- Mr. Northumberland- a tall, tanned, trim man in his fifties with black eyes and pepper hair. He owned the casino. His nephew, the one who was either called Aiden or Allen or Alex or something starting with ‘A’, entered the room behind him and an entourage of four more men and three women followed. I suspected their names didn’t matter. They weren’t making decisions; they may as well have been curtains.

There were some initial niceties- comments about college football, someone pointed out that it was hot outside, I was asked if I’d had a chance to spend any time gambling since we’d arrived. I wanted to respond that life was a gamble and we were all losers. Instead, suppressing my emo-moroseness, I replied in the negative and settled into my seat.

Then the presentation began. Though my color was normal throughout, I knew it was only a matter of time before he would say something or do something to set my Rudolf light blinking. The man had my button in his possession and he pressed it, repeatedly.

I couldn’t help but notice that Mr. Northumberland seemed very impatient- impatient to get the presentation started then, during the presentation, impatient to ensure that our security implementation would be completed by next month. He interrupted Quinn with some frequency asking questions like: