We come to a bend in the road, and as I straighten the wheel back out, the horizon in front of us opens up. A mammoth sized building appears, and Karson lets out a low whistle.
“Hooolyyy shit.” He blurts.
I lean forward into the steering wheel to take in the massive structure that lays ahead of me. The casino is all black–with what appears to be black tinted glass–and stretches across the horizon as far as I can see. The main structure in front of us is surrounded by four towers that each stand about twenty-six stories tall. Each of the towers appear to be about one mile long.
Absolutely fucking massive.
“Holy shit is right.” Leaning back in my seat, I let out a breath.
“How fucking big is this place?” Karson asks, still gaping at the casino.
“Eight and a half million square feet in total.” Rolling my neck, I feel a sense of calmness wash over me. I’ve always thrived in chaos, and I have a feeling this place is going to be just that.
Following the signs that direct me to the valet entrance, I look up. The closer we get, the more intimidating Perdition appears. We reach the circle valet drive and the building appears to swallow us whole as we pull under the awning. Slater comes into view as I park the truck in front of the valet podium with a smirk on his face. Putting the truck in park, Karson and I exit the vehicle in silence. Rounding the back of the truck, I’m met by a young kid, maybe twenty. He extends his hand with a valet ticket in it.
“Good morning, Sir. Welcome to Perdition.” He greets and I take the ticket. I turn to glance back at my truck, then back at the valet.
“If you scratch it, I’ll break your fucking arms.” I deadpan and drop my keys into his hands. His Adam's apple bobs as he swallows and he givesme a nod. He walks a wide path around me and I watch as he drives my truck deeper into the valet garage. Walking over to where Karson and Slater stand, I adjust the rolled up sleeves on my white button up, then push them up to my elbows.
“You ready for this, Mav?” Slater asks and I nod.
“Let’s just hope the owner is smart and sees bringing us in to run security is his best move.”
Karson pulls the front door open, and we walk past the threshold into a dimly lit hallway. We move in silence for a few minutes before the hallway opens up into a spacious area, surrounded by stores. Despite the area being expansive, the lighting is still dim–giving the effect that it’s much later in the day than it really is. Shop employees bustle inside, setting up their displays and filling their shelves with products in preparation for the upcoming grand opening. Directly ahead of us is a gaming floor jam packed with slot machines. An obsidian glass chandelier hangs from the center of the ceiling directly over a large black “P” in the middle of the gray marble floors, written in a gothic style text with dark orange flakes inside of it that glint under the dim lighting; looking like embers from a fire.
“Maverick Cain, I’m guessing.” A voice calls and I turn my head to the left to see a man approaching us. He gets closer and extends his hand to me. “Michael Rovina. Thank you for coming.” Extending my arm, I take his outstretched hand and give it a firm shake.
“Michael, it’s nice to meet you. This is Karson Tate and Slater Blackburn.” I nod at both men and Michael shakes hands with both of them.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you gentlemen. This is Nico Bernardi, and my son Jeremy.” He gestures to the man standing behind him, who gives us a curt nod. His son stands to his right and he offers me his hand, and I shake it. “Nico is my right hand, and the one who gave me yourcontact information. We heard your team is among the best in the security business. Highly trained in hand to hand combat, weapons experts, and hired by some of the most prominent members of society for private security. I’ve even heard that some of your men are highly trained in tracking people as well. Very impressive.” I return Nico’s nod and slide my eyes to Michael and smirk.He has no idea.
“Why don’t I give you all a tour. We can discuss business as we go.” Michael states and turns on his heel. Karson gives me an excited glance as the three of us follow behind them. Walking past more gaming floors and shops, Karson speaks to Michael.
“Michael, what is it you are wanting Cain Defenses to provide for you?”
“Well, Mr. Tate. The grand opening is in two weeks, and I have a security team full of a bunch of young, stupid kids who don’t seem to have a firm bone in their bodies. Most of them are in their early twenties with no experience. Though, I do have a small group that have worked in casinos in Vegas and in the north east previously. However, given the size of this place, I need these boys trained to be able to handle anything before we open our doors. I don’t know what you boys know about casinos, but they’re a revolving door as far as employees go, especially security. They never close, not even for holidays, and large scale events are put on regularly. Guards burn out fast and end up either pointing out, or quitting altogether. I need my men to be able to handle what Perdition will throw at them.”
We approach a door that saysSurveillanceon it, and Michael opens it. Monitors cover every inch of two of the four walls of the room. Looking over at Slater, I see him analyzing the feed of each of the screens, his eyes lit up like it’s Christmas morning.
“How much of the casino is covered?” He asks, eyes never leaving the monitors.
“Every inch of the casino is monitored by cameras. There isn’t a single spot out of view at all times. The gaming floors house the most, and there are two that point directly over each card table.”.
“How big is the gaming area?”
“Three hundred and forty thousand square feet. There are slots here in the main area, and each of the towers has slots, and table games.” Michael replies.
“You guys go ahead with the rest of the tour; I’m going to check this out–if that’s alright with you, Mr. Rovina.” Slater states, and Michael gives him a nod.
“Absolutely, Jeremy can show you around in here.” Michael, Karson and I exit the surveillance room and continue our walk with Michael and Nico. We enter another long hallway before Michael speaks again.
“This is the south tower, Tophet; the other three are Abbadon, Hades and Pandemonium. Here in Tophet, there’s an event hall where we will host poker tournaments, and a theater that seats four thousand guests. Pandemonium has most of the family friendly attractions; go kart tracks and arcades. Things of that nature. Abbadon has a night club, and Hades houses an arena for boxing matches. On top of that, each tower also has a hotel; each one with five hundred and fifty rooms. There are a number of attractions in each tower, but those are the main ones.”
“This place is impressive, Michael. Although, I’m not sure we can train your team in the short amount of time we have, to the standards needed before opening day.” I say in a firm tone, getting right to my point.
“I understand there’s a limited amount of time. What resources would you require to train my team in that time frame?” Michael inquires.
“We wouldn’t need anything from you, Michael. The size of Perdition, along with the different venues on site, would require more than the two weeks we have to get them fully trained and ready to go withoutour oversight.” Karson offers me a sly grin and I roll my shoulders back. Standing straight, I meet Michael’s contemplative eyes.
