The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,61

it to, right? There was enough room for an extra battery, so it should work for about six hours. Hopefully the game’ll be done by then.’

‘That’d be a long game,’ Bianca agreed. ‘What about Adam, though? Won’t the metal detector pick up his earwig and the power pack and everything?’

Billy shook his head. ‘They’re mostly conductive polymers rather than metal. A lot harder to pick up. And speaking of earwigs, I’ve got one for you.’ He put down the earring and tapped one of the plastic cases.

Bianca looked more closely. Inside was a silver sliver the size of a grain of rice. ‘You’re going to drop that in my ear?’ she said with dismay.

‘Oh, don’t worry – I’ll glue it in.’

That actually sounded worse, but she still sat – with considerable trepidation – so he could do the deed. ‘What’s in the other box?’ she asked, as he delicately picked up the earwig with a pair of angled tweezers and dipped each end into a small drop of clear adhesive.

‘It’s a microtransmitter,’ Billy said. ‘Okay, stay very still . . .’ She held her breath as he lowered the earwig into her right ear.

‘So you can tell us if you think Zykov or any of the other players are bluffing without having to speak,’ Tony elaborated. ‘We’ll glue it under your fingernail – a fake one, not your real one,’ he quickly added. ‘It doesn’t do much, just sends a bleep if you apply pressure to it. But that’ll be enough for you to give us a code. One bleep if they’ve got a genuine hand, two bleeps if they’re bluffing. If you’re not sure, don’t send anything. Holly Jo will pass your signal on to Adam via his earwig.’

To Bianca’s relief, Billy withdrew the tweezers. ‘Okay, it’s secure. Holly Jo, can you check that it’s working?’

Holly Jo had already donned a headset and crossed the room to her laptop. ‘Okay, Bianca, I’m sending . . . now. Testing, testing, can you hear me?’

The last was said in a whisper, but Bianca heard it – tinny, but perfectly clear – as if it were coming from inside her skull. She flinched. ‘Oh! That was really, really weird.’

Another telepathic whisper. ‘But you can hear me okay?’

‘Yes. It’s as if you’re right next to me. Well, closer. You’re literally a voice in my head.’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Adam. ‘You’ll get used to it.’ Tony nodded in agreement.

Billy took her left hand and placed the transmitter under the false nail of her little finger. ‘Holly Jo? The bleeper’s in place. Bianca, if you can just very lightly press your nail against the table . . .’

She did so. ‘It’s working,’ Holly Jo called.

‘Great,’ said Tony. ‘Okay, Bianca, we’ve got some extra jewellery so you look the full part, and then you and Adam need to get moving.’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Adam as she stood. ‘These guys’ll be watching out for you the whole time. Just be cool, have a good time . . . and lose all your money.’

Enough of the real agent came through the sleepy, smarmy Vanwall persona to make her feel that she genuinely was in safe hands. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘And you just make sure that you win it all back.’

Vanwall returned. ‘Oh, I will. Be sure of it.’

16

When the Chips Are Down

By the time she reached the casino, Bianca’s unease had returned. Merely knowing that she was carrying a valise containing a quarter of a million dollars in cash had been stressful enough – had a random bag-snatcher picked her as a target, he would have found the risk more than worth it – but now she was being escorted by an obsequious casino employee to one of the Imperial’s VIP rooms, carrying that amount in high-value poker chips. Her mission: lose it all, while helping another player cheat. She had seen enough Martin Scorsese films to assume that the casino would not take it lightly if they were discovered . . . to say nothing of how the other players would react.

They reached the metal detector, another casino worker standing beside it. He gestured for her to go through. As she had expected, an alarm went off, though it was more a quiet trill than a clamour of bells. The attendant ran a wand over her. The jewellery inevitably provoked another electronic warble, but he was unconcerned, seeming more suspicious that she might have some device concealed in her hair. When his check revealed nothing, he gave her body