New Arizona – August 15, 2497
“I’ll raise you twenty,” the young man with short blonde hair said as he casually clicked a button to toss a virtual chip into the middle of the table.
The man sitting on the opposite side of the table stared coldly back at his opponent. They were about the same age, but this other man had a baldhead with a gang tattoo painted on the back of his head. The top of the table buzzed as the virtual poker table display sparked and shimmied. He glanced down at the cards displayed in the centre of the table. Four cards were face up waiting for a fifth to be added. It was a classic game of Texas Hold ‘em poker played out on a virtual platform. The pile of chips beside the cards was substantial already. The blonde was quite cool and calm. The other man was starting to sweat. His mind was racing through the odds of the situation. The little display window in the side of the table in front of him advised him of the two hold cards that he was sitting with. He could make a good hand. Three kings with a ten kicker and that was still with one card left to be dealt. But the four cards sitting in the middle did allow for a lot of variations and winning hands to be achieved. There were a lot of hands that could beat his and there was still another card that could be added. He could not read the other man’s expression at all. It had been a heads up situation between them since the flop. The blonde arched back in his chair to relax. He placed his hands interlaced at the back of his head, almost smug in the knowledge that he was winning. His opponent could not tell if he was bluffing or had a serious hand. The blonde did not flinch for even a split second. The bald man’s finger hovered over the call button on the panel displayed on the tabletop. It wavered back and forth from call to fold. He was certainly not confident enough to go to his dwindling pile of chips to raise the bet. The blonde watched closely, but did not give anything away when the finger strayed from one button to the next. He tried to keep his composure and his temper as the time continued to tick by. The blonde doubted that the other man was going to be able to make a choice. Another man, dressed in a rich looking black suit that was the standard issue for the security and guest relations people inside the casino, came to stand beside the blonde man slowly. The blonde man felt the presence of the man before he was actually spoken too. The blonde glanced up to the security man standing beside him nervously. The man handed him a small flat card that was like a business card.
“Excuse me for disturbing you sir, but I have been requested to give you this,” the security man commented in a deep-throated growling voice that would have been intimidating in it’s own right before the stature of the man was added to the mix.
The blonde took the slim business card slowly with his right hand. It was almost as if he was expecting the card to melt in his hand or worse. He glanced at the first side. It was solid black. Suddenly in the centre of the blackness two eyes appeared. One was bright amber and the other a crystal-like solid white. The eyes blinked away. Text then appeared across the centre of the card — The I’s are watching you. The blonde glanced up to the security guard. The guard was not even looking at what was happening. He was stood with his head up and his eyes looking around the inside of the building. The casino that they were inside was just one of the many establishments in the Las Vegas sector of New Arizona. New Arizona was the main living quarters in what was once the United States. The living quarter had been built and designed to replicate old American cities and the sectors within the city were laid out in a similar design to the old map of the USA. The sectors also held a similarity to the perception of the cities as they once were. Washington was the governing sector. Los Angeles was where the money was. Chicago was the theatre and entertainment district. New York and Detroit were where the majority of the crime gangs were situated. Las Vegas was the gambling centre. The powerful crime syndicates ran it from New York and Detroit, so the security man was not just protecting his club, but he would have been gang affiliated too. The blonde flipped the card over to read the other side. There were just two words on the white side of the card — Join us. He looked up from the words and scanned what he could see of the casino. Someone was watching him. Was he in trouble? He had not been cheating. The guys around this table were just stupid and weak players. The blonde glanced up at the security man.
“If you would follow me, sir,” he offered waving his arm motioning towards the back of the casino.
The bald opponent hit the call button instantly. A smile came to his face when he figured that his opponent would have to fold. The fifth card was dealt out into the centre of the table instantly. The blonde held his arm out in a — can you wait a minute — expression. The security man bent forward slowly.
“I don’t think you want to waste this invitation sir by making them wait,” the large man pointed out flatly.
The blonde looked at the stack of chips in the centre of the table. He had this hand won he was sure.
“I am sure that they will compensate you for your loss,” the security man persuaded in the same strong flat voice he had always used. There was no emotional variation in his voice.
The blonde looked around at the large man. He glanced towards the back of the room. His wonder about the deal and invitation was starting to grow larger than his desire to clean this man out. He hit the fold button on the panel in front of him. He nodded his head the other men at the table as he rose to his feet. The security man led him away from the table towards the back of the building.
The blonde glanced at all of the players as he went by the tables. Some were playing Poker, others Black Jack or Roulette. Most of the traditional casino activities were laid out inside the room. A few were playing more futuristic games, but they were not as popular as the ‘classics’. The blonde man looked in the direction they were going. It just looked like a solid wall. There did not appear to be a door or anything to go through. He started to look confused. The security man moved to a silver panel on the wall. He pressed his hand to the plate. A green light scanned down his hand. A moment later the wall buzzed and shimmied. The hologram wall dropped to reveal a private room. It was quite dark inside. The mood lighting was deep and sensuous. The room was filled with large velvet covered lounging seats. A table, similar to the one he had just been at, was sitting in the middle of the room. A small bar was in the far right corner as he looked. There were soft relaxing sounds of the ocean coming through the sound system in the room.
“Thank you Thomas, you can leave us,” a female voice stated from the darkness at the far end of the room.
The young man found it hard to see what he was stepping into. The dazzling neon from the casino behind him made the darkness starker. He stepped forward slowly. The security man quickly removed his hand from the plate. The hologram wall reappeared right behind him. It was quite strange. All of the light from the casino was blocked out. The young man snapped his head around sharply. He could still see out into the casino floor, but having been on the other side of that barricade, he knew that no one was going to be able to see him inside this room. He turned his head back to look into the darkness. His eyes slowly became accustomed to the new light level. Two women rose from sitting in the darkness at the far end of the room. Both of them advanced down the room side-by-side. The young man tried to stop his mouth from dropping open, but he was struggling. The contrast between the two women was like black and white. One woman had long flowing flame red hair. She was dressed in a long red leather dress that just hugged the sexy curves of her body as if like a second skin. She was wearing vicious looking red high heels that made the man wonder how she managed to stay on her feet and keep her balance. Her eyes were surrounded by red make-up and her lips were pouting with red wet-look lip-gloss. The other woman also had long flowing hair, but this was pure white. Her eyes were solid white, her lips white and her whole face glistened as if covered with frost. She wore a white silk gown that flowed around her body like a river. A high neckline fed into a corseted waist that billowed out into a wide skirt. Both women were the same height and looked the perfect pair. They held themselves with an air of arrogance and confidence. The red head dropped back slightly when they got closer to the young man. He could not take his eyes off the stunning woman still coming towards him.
“Thank you for accepting our invitation,” the young woman said in a voice that was quite flat. It lacked any kind of emotion to go with the statement. “My name is Ice,” she continued in her slightly Scandinavian accent. “That is my sister Inferno,” she commented motioning back to the other woman. “Perhaps I could offer you something to drink?” Ice finished in a cold calculating tone.
The young man suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine. He had heard rumours of a pair of sisters called Ice and Inferno, but always thought that those stories were just made up. The last thing he had expected was to find himself standing face-to-face with them.
“What is this place?” he asked glancing back to the wall he had just come through and the luxurious surroundings he was now in. His attention was then drawn to two more young woman lounging on the seats. He had not seen them there before.
“This is a special room, reserved for the private use of the owners of the establishment,” Ice replied as she backed up into the room to rejoin her sister.
“You own this place?” the young man asked stepping forward as if drugged and intoxicated by the presence of the young women.
“The organisation we work for owns it,” Ice answered in the same flat tone she had always used.
“Would you like to play a game?” Inferno pressed, speaking for the first time since the man had entered the room.
The young man turned his head slowly to Inferno. His expression looked glazed. Inferno flashed a sexy smile in his direction. She was by far the more emotive, expressive and sensual of the pair. Her slightly Spanish accent just added to the Latino sex appeal she could turn on.
“Come now sister, let’s get the young man a drink first,” Ice broke in casually without hesitation.
“What type of game?” the young man asked curiously.
Ice moved back further into the room to let Inferno take the lead. Inferno swayed out to stand in front of the young man. She was a little taller than him in her heels. It did give him the perfect view of her bosom.
“Poker,” Inferno responded simply. “My sister and I were about to play a game with our friends over there. Want to play?” she suggested seductively as her eyes wandered briefly across to the two other women in the room.
“Hell, it beats playing with the bums out there,” the young man waved his hand back to motion towards the wall. “The name’s Jett,” he stated with delight.
“Oh, I can guarantee this game will be better than any other you have ever played,” Inferno said coyly.
Inferno led Jett to a chair at the table. Ice placed a glass of clear liquid in front of him before taking up a seat opposite him. The other two women moved into clearer view. Jett was really struggling to understand his luck. First there was Ice and Inferno. Now there were two more stunning young woman to keep him company.
“This is Starlight and Moonbeam,” Inferno introduced as the two young women slipped on to the stools at the table.
“They’re—” Jett started to stammer unable to hide the attraction he felt towards every one of the sexy women inside the room.
“Pleasure Nymphs. Yes,” Inferno finished for him before he had the chance. “Does that bother you?” she asked playfully as she casually trailed her hand over the top of Moonbeam’s breasts.
“No,” Jett coughed as he started to slightly feel uncomfortable at the height of sexual attraction playing out in the room. “No, that’s fine,” he stammered finally.
Inferno slipped on to her stool in such a fashion that just exaggerated the sexual play she was performing. Ice just watched her sister closely. There was nothing other than a cold stare behind her eyes, but she knew perfectly well what her sister was playing at. The whole thing was staged. Ice activated the top of the table to bring it to life.
“So what are the stakes?” Jett asked clicking into his professional Poker player mode without thinking.
“Something more exciting than credits and something that will definitely leave you in no doubt you made the right choice accepting our invitation,” Inferno replied cryptically.
“The winner of the hand gets to choose which one of us removes an item of their clothing,” Ice stated in her flat emotionless voice that just made what she was suggesting even more convincing. “You are out of the game when you have no more clothes to remove,” she finished as she entered a few commands into the control panel of the table.
Jett looked briefly at each woman sitting around the table with him. None of them looked in the slightest concerned at the stakes of the game they were about to start. Part of him wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Part of him questioned if he was being set up. Mostly he could not believe how lucky he was to have been selected. He could not see anything bad about this situation. He was playing Strip Poker with four beautiful women. Jett just hoped that he did not wake up any time soon.
Starlight and Moonbeam were not exactly the strongest of players. Jett could not remember either of them winning a hand. He was not going to argue about the outcome. He was struggling to keep his concentration though with them being stripped down with not even their modesty to cover them. Starlight was the first to leave the table. Moonbeam quickly joined her naked comrade on the lounge chairs in the next hand. The tactics had been obvious from the start. While he had not won every hand they had played, he had only had to remove his shirt. The other main winner, Ice, also focused her attention on to the Pleasure Nymphs. There was an undercurrent and a vibe coming from Ice that she was just as happy to see the ladies stripped as she was him. Inferno had been the one to take his shirt.
“I prefer heads-up play, don’t you?” Ice said as Moonbeam swayed away from the table displaying her naked backside for anyone who cared to pay attention.
“What?” Jett said in an extremely distracted and distant sounding voice.
Inferno rose to her feet without another word being said. Jett snapped his head back to the table. He had totally lost his concentration when Moonbeam had walked away. Inferno looked at the two ladies starting to get comfortable on the lounge chairs.
“I am not much of a Poker player,” Inferno admitted with a deep sigh. “I’m going to enjoy the company of the ladies while you and my sister finish the game,” she said innocently before walking away to join the other women on the chairs.
Jett got to his feet briefly as a show of good manners to his host. Inferno swayed away as slowly as she could to remain in Jett’s focus for as long as she possible. Jett slowly returned to his seat. Ice reset the table while she was waiting.
“My sister never had the patience for this game,” Ice said to bring Jett’s focus back to the table. “What say we change the stakes a little?” she then pushed in her usual tone that gave nothing away.
“What did you have in mind?” Jett enquired cautiously.
“Well, Inferno is having her fun with the ladies, that leaves us out a little, don’t you think?” Ice started flatly. “How about the loser of the next hand has to become the winners slave for the rest of the night?” she continued as she fixed her solid white eyes firmly on to Jett’s. “The loser has to do whatever the winner wants and requests without hesitation until morning,” she finished coldly.
Jett looked up and down Ice slowly. There was no emotion on her face. He could not tell if she was being serious or just playing him. He had won the majority of the hands, but she was a good opponent. He could not tell if there was any sort of attraction from her to him. He was in no doubt that he would love to have control of her for just a few minutes let alone a whole night.
“OK,” Jett said while nodding his head slowly in agreement. “One hand, heads-up play, winner gets the loser,” he agreed positively before taking a long drink from the glass sitting next to him.
Ice watched him drink as she activated the table. As usual there was nothing on the outside that gave away what she was thinking or feeling. When Jett put the glass back, Ice quickly turned her eyes back on to the table. Two hold cards were dealt to each other them. Then came the flop. As there was nothing to bet with, the flow of the game worked slightly differently. There was no betting before the flop on the hold cards. They were dealt and straight away the flop cards were shown. Ice glanced down at the two hold cards in her hand. Jett’s eyes were fixed on to the cards displayed on the top of the table. The Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts and Nine of Clubs were shown. Ice clicked a command on the table and the hold cards were displayed, so both of them could see each other’s. Jett was holding two Aces, the Ace of Clubs and Ace of Spades. Ice had the Three and Four of Hearts. Jett glanced over at Ice’s cards. He just caught the smile that was starting to creep on to his face. She was struggling to make a hand. He was well in command of this hand. Ice stared right at him. Jett got the sense that she knew well enough the trouble that she was in, but there was still no emotion on her face. She was as cold as always. Jett had to admit she made the perfect Poker player, because she gave nothing away. It was hard to know what she was thinking or feeling.
“How about we change the stakes?” Ice suggested out of the blue.
Jett understood instantly why she had not just gone ahead and dealt the fourth or Turn card. He looked down at the table between the cards shown after the flop, the hold cards each had and then looked up at Ice sitting quite calm and still. He found it hard to comprehend. She had shown a lot of poise and attention to detail. This move did not seem to fit with the situation laid out on the table.
“What too?” Jett enquired curious to see how far she would go.
“How about we change the length of time from one night to one week?” Ice suggested sharply.
Jett nodded his head in brief agreement. He did not say a word. Ice instantly hit the command on the table to deal the next card. The Five of Hearts came out to slip down beside the other three cards. The situation for Ice had just got a little better, but not much. Jett shuffled in his seat. He was starting to sweat. That was something he had never done before. He had never had any stakes as tempting as the ones he was playing for at that moment. He was within touching distance of having a stunning young woman at his beck and call for a whole week. Just thinking about that was making him lose concentration. The moans coming from the lounge chairs were not helping. Jett glanced over to see Inferno smothered beneath a tangle of naked limbs and bodies. He quickly turned his attention back to Ice. He was not embarrassed by what was happening on the lounge chairs, but knew he needed to focus on the game in front of him.
Ice watched Jett closely. She could tell he was distracted by what her sister was doing. She got the sense that he actually wanted to join them in the fun. Ice glanced down at the table. Thoughts were running through her mind as she calculated the options, but she showed nothing on the outside. The barman placed another drink beside Jett while he was not looking.
“How about we change the stakes again?” Ice offered to break the silence. “Let’s say instead of one week, how about for life?” she finished coldly.
“I don’t think that is a very good idea,” Jett said as he motioned down towards the table. “Listen, from what I have heard about the pair of you, I was led to believe that you were the logical one. You did not let your emotions get the better of you. You were calculating and clinical,” he expressed with a tone of admiration running through his words. “You know that you have only one out left to win this hand and the chances of getting that are small. Why would you want to raise the stakes knowing that?” Jett argued openly.
“Why would it matter to you?” Ice questioned sharply. “You stand a chance of getting me as your willing slave for the rest of my life. Are you really going to turn that down?” she pushed firmly. “If you are such a gentleman that you do not want that, then I suggest you fold now,” Ice finished in a cold and abrupt manner.
“Very clever,” Jett said nodding his head when he realised what she was doing. “That’s what you want me to do. If I fold now, you get me for a week. Nice try,” he snapped back firmly. “Raise the stakes and deal that damn River card,” he commanded bluntly then took another long drink from the glass beside him.
Jett could not believe his eyes when the last card slipped down into place. Ice had one chance to win. A single card out of the whole deck. The odds on getting it were long. Yet there it was. The Two of Hearts. Ice had a straight flush, which beat his four of a kind. Jett started to go white. Ice showed nothing.
“Has that stupid bastard lost yet?” Inferno yelled out from her place on the lounge chairs.
Jett glanced over to her with a shocked expression on his face. Ice rose elegantly from her seat. She strolled around the side of the table as if she was floating on air.
“He just has. I also think he is starting to realise just what that defeat means,” Ice commented as she stopped to stand in front of Jett.
“You rigged it,” Jett started to protest, but quickly found that his thoughts were as jumbled as his speech had just sounded.
His eyes flashed to the drink sitting on the table. He dropped down from the seat. The room was starting to spin. He tried to focus his attention on Ice. Trying to focus the rage he felt for her, might help to keep him awake. He started to see three of her. She then started to spin. His focus went. His vision blurred. His body then flopped to the floor like a rag doll. Ice glanced to her sister. Inferno immediately rose to her feet. She sent the Pleasure Nymphs flying off the top of her in both directions. The Nymphs quickly grabbed their things and rushed to the back entrance to the room. Inferno moved to stand beside her sister as they both looked down at the prone man on the floor.
They are watching you, they know everything you are doing, and they play on your weaknesses. Good job Larna does not have any.