Accompanied by LVMPD Lieutenant Frank Marshall and Sergeant Morris Jaworski, Steve Forrester stepped up onto a raised speaker’s platform in one of the Galaxy’s meeting rooms.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention, please?” Forrester called out to the seventy-odd men and women who made up the evening security shift. Some were in uniform, others plainclothes. “Can everybody hear me? Good. I’ll make this short.
“You’ve all probably heard rumors about threats against the Galaxy. Well, I’m here to tell you that there is some basis to those rumors. That’s why we’ve asked the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to investigate. I must point out that these threats are directed against all members of … a certain association—not just the Galaxy, but every Strip casino and most of the downtown ones. We don’t know where, if anywhere, these people are going to strike, but in case the Galaxy is targeted, we want you to be prepared. Now because these gentlemen”—Steve gestured toward Marshall and Jaworski—“are conducting an ongoing investigation, there are certain details I can’t give you at this time. The main thing is, we need you to be extra-alert for suspicious activity. You see or hear anything at all out of the ordinary, please report it to your supervisor immediately.
“One activity I want you to specifically watch for is any unauthorized attempt to modify or interfere with the hotel’s electrical system. Please pay particular attention to access panels, breaker boxes, cable trays, and the like. If you see any wires or extension cords where they shouldn’t be, again, inform your supervisor right away.
“Now Lieutenant Frank Marshall would like to say a few words.” Forrester stepped back as his ex-partner cleared his throat.
“Thank you, Mister Forrester. Ladies and gentlemen, I just wanted to
add that there will be undercover police officers posted throughout the hotel, the casino, and the amusement complex. They will identify themselves to you upon request. We would appreciate your cooperation and assistance if they should ask for it.” A buzz of conversation emanated from the assembly. Steve Forrester raised his arms for silence.
“Just a few more things,” Marshall said as the noise died down. “There will be unmarked cars patrolling the grounds until this … situation is resolved. I just wanted to warn you all that the people who have issued these threats should be considered armed and dangerous. Unfortunately, we can’t provide you with any physical descriptions. Please don’t get yourselves into any situations where you feel threatened—just call for help on your radios and a Metro officer will be there in seconds.”
One uniformed guard muttered to his associate, “What do they expect for twelve bucks an hour? Human sacrifices?”
Steve Forrester raised his voice as the room again broke into a cacophony: “Okay, that’s it. Thank you, everybody. And good luck.”
While the security people filed out of the room, Steve Forrester motioned to the two law enforcement officers to join him for a quick conference. “Thanks, guys,” he said as they drew up folding chairs and arranged them in a semicircle. “I appreciate your taking the time to speak to the troops. I know how busy you are. But I do need to ask you both for one more quick favor. Droopy is wondering what’s going to happen now that the deadline’s passed. As you know, he didn’t wire the money, and he’s getting a little antsy. If you could brief me on your progress, I could pass the word along to him.”
Frank Marshall answered first. “When Druperman speaks, we listen,” he said cynically. “Okay, here’s the story. Getting a handle on these videos is not as easy as I thought. None of the stores can correlate more than one title with specific renters. Our guys have been walking into the station with armloads of printouts, but all they tell us is who rented each movie, not who rented both. And they can’t organize the rentals by date. I’m sure our suspect’s name is somewhere on these lists, but unless we get real lucky, it’s going to take days to manually cross-check them. Do you have any idea how many times these two movies went out?”
“You’re saying that you basically have two lists—one for each movie?”
“You got it, pal. I’d estimate that if we combined all the printouts from all the stores, we’d have at least a hundred thousand names per movie. No wonder those Hollywood studios make so much money.”
“What if …?” Forrester’s voice trailed off, and he closed his eyes to concentrate. After a moment he said to Marshall: “What if you went back and asked the stores to put the names on diskette rather than on paper? And then we got Moe’s data people to write a small subroutine and correlate the lists? I don’t know much about programming, but I’m pretty sure that’s doable … .”
Marshall unconsciously fingered his comb-over while considering Steve’s suggestion. “I hate to admit it,” he said slowly. “But that might just work. What do you think, Moe?”
“It’s worth a try. We’ve got a couple of computer whiz kids in the lab. If your boys can get the data files, I’ll put them right on it.”
The resentment in Marshall’s voice was difficult to disguise. “Hey, Moe, remember what I was telling you? Now you can see why Steve got picked for the job here at the Galaxy!”
“I’m beginning to see a lot of things,” Jaworski replied thoughtfully, shifting his gaze between the ex-partners.
“Well, let’s not get too excited in case it doesn’t pan out,” Forrester said quietly. “And let’s keep this thing on a professional level, okay, Frank?”
“Yes, sir. We’ll just do our jobs.”
Steve decided to ignore the sarcasm. “How’s it going at your end, Moe?”
“Interesting developments on our analysis of the Druperman tape, Steve. We’ve got this bright young audio technician, Christie Newman, and she thinks she’s identified that background noise we hear near the end of the tape. Are you ready for this? She believes it’s the sound of a train! There was a definite Doppler shift in the frequency, just like you get when a train passes a fixed location—plus a couple of sharp spikes in the signature, which she’s ninety-nine percent sure were caused by a train whistle. So now we’re checking with Union Pacific, trying to ascertain what rolling stock was where at the exact time that Thanatos called.
“Also, I asked my captain to contact the CIA in Washington to see if we could get a line on this Banco Internacional de Panamá. Apparently, it’s out of their jurisdiction, but they’ll find out what they can unofficially.”
“All right, fellas, thanks for the input,” said Forrester. “At least I’ll have something tangible to tell Druperman. Everybody here at the Galaxy really appreciates the effort you guys are putting in to this case. I know I’m not your favorite customer, Frank.”