The Voting Machine

End of the Tunnel

"I didn't take this seriously enough," Luke said, after we reached his car and drove back through the Strip.

"Your sister really said that in her dreams? She was worried that she knew too much about Shiro's games?"

"My sister has a lot of pressure. But I thought getting rid of her meant they might fire her. I didn't know it meant something more than that."

"Did Zeke Junior tell you how he knew about these games?"

"Zeke was part of a team that ran special missions during the Iraqi elections. Everyone else died except Zeke and some Air Force gal from North Vegas. Zeke told me Shiro was some kind of code word, a secret leader who they had to obey. He said Shiro was everywhere. He was in the Middle East. He was in this country. I don't know how it relates to the games. I never really paid attention when he talked about it. I figured it was just some PTSD rant."

Luke slammed a fist on his thigh, holding the steering wheel with his left hand.

"This seems really bad. I don't know about Shiro, but I know about Los Empresarios. You don't want to be on their radar screen. You ever think about getting out of this town?"

"Damn it, Temo, I've spent my whole goddamn life like some desperado. I don't want to do that no more. Neither does Pam. She's spent her whole life trying to get a decent job in the casinos so she could buy a house and send her son to a nice school."

"What do you wanna do?"

"I want to find the truth, Temo. I'm tired of feeling ashamed. I'm tired of living in the shadows. That must be why Pam went to David for advice, because he's smart and he's a straight shooter. Maybe David can figure this thing out and shed some sunlight on it."

It was morning and the sun was creeping over the mountains into the valley. As we drove through the streets west of the Strip, I checked my cell's voicemail. Fatima left a message overnight with an update. Our candidate, Temo Salinger, would lead a rally this morning in response to the arson attacks. He would hold it at the North Vegas clinic, the only one in the city that hadn't been burned to the ground.

"I'll be there," Luke promised, as he let me off at my motel. "I am going to out to the streets and tunnels right now and pull in as many souls as I can for this rally. I want this to be a show of force. Show those goddamn Midnight Riders we're not afraid."

It was 6:00 a.m. by the time I got back to my motel. I checked the parking lot for Annabelle's car but there was no sign. I took a quick shower and changed into clean, dry clothes.

After my shower, I went to the front office to get coffee. I saw Annabelle's car back in the driveway and passed by her room to check on her. The lights were on and I could hear the TV, so I knocked on the door.

Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was sweaty. She stood in the doorway, not inviting me in. It'd been a rough night for all of us.

"When did you get back?" I asked her.

"Just now," she said, her eyes darting to the upper right-hand corner as she spoke. "The police had to ask me a lot of questions."

This was an obvious lie. The police wouldn't have needed that much time. There was a strange scent floating in the air. It smelled like vinegar.

"You went out to get drugs, didn't you?" I said, pushing past her into the room. She chased after me but I was too fast. I found a brown packet of heroin by the sink in the kitchenette. She bowed her head in shame.