[ Session III ]

The reflection on the elevator's polished doors startled Caine. They showed a tall man dressed in a black suit. For once his hair was brushed back without any stubborn strands falling over his grey eyes. He had even shaved, revealing his strong jaw and cheekbones. But he tie was crooked. Again. Caine adjusted it.

Fuckin' thing.

The elevator stopped and opened its doors. He stepped out to the 52nd floor of House Lady Luck, Blue Saturn's biggest hotel casino resort. He walked on the black and red diamond patterned carpet until he came to room 1334 and knocked. The door open, and he was greeted by a burly man that towered over Caine himself.

A bodyguard.

The behemoth held a hand out and Caine dug into his inside coat pocket and produced a small cube. It projected a small screen with digital, calligraphy words scrolling across it.

"Justin Warren." The bodyguard nodded. "Just a formality, sir."

Caine nodded, put away his invitation, and pocketed his hands while he waited. The behemoth pulled out a silver sphere from his own pocket and squeezed it. An orange ray sprouted from it and scanned Caine horizontally and then vertically.

Again the bodyguard nodded this time with a smile. He stepped to one side and extended his arm in welcome. Caine caught the dull glint of his gun kept in his chest holster.

"Enjoy, Mr. Warren," the bodyguard said.

Caine stepped into Mr. Erro Talos' private party. The room was the size of a house and held a smaller version of the downstairs casino minus the cheap slot machines. Those were for gaudy women and broke men. Here, "chocolate chips" were the minimum bid.

The guests were about a dozen in count: men in suits and women in glamorous dresses. Smooth crossed legs by the side of a card table caught Caine's attention as did the frivolous outfit that exposed them. The silky cloth framed the woman's back, thin sleeves clinging delicately to her shoulders. He rubbed his chin, thinking how good Ena would look in a dress like that.

As if summoned, her voice filled his ears. "Okay, Caine. I can see you. There are sixteen people in the room, including yourself. Two are bodyguards from what I can see and from what I learned through my searches."

He smiled. She was amazing to have tweaked his hidden earpiece to become undetectable to sphere scanners. Ena could talk to him, but, of course, he couldn't talk to her or else he would've told her of the new dress he found for her.  

"I have the aerial view and side views," she said as she continued to brief him, "and I also have access to Mr. Talos' scanner. Just say the code word we agreed on and I'll incapacitate him, and yes, I know and remember you said this was going to take a while and that I should be patient, but I'm warning you now to expect some crazy talk from me."

Another smile slipped from him. He could envision her sitting on her bed in her white shorts and purple top, integrated tablet surrounding her with a half circle of screens. Hell if Caine knew how she got all that information of codes, encryptions, and all that other technological shit.

Ena had hacked into not only his bounty target's scanner but also a high class casino surveillance system and even Talos' personal security surveillance that currently rigged the room he was in. Caine hadn't even known Talos had wired the room with his system. Ena was putting him to shame.

The evening hours flew with the shuffling of cards, clinking of chips, and smoky laughter. It was sprinkled with bouts of Ena's bored humming and self–talking. Or enraged shouts when she saw he was betting too much. Whichever it was, Caine found them all adorable.

When the last patron stumbled out of the room, Caine was left alone with Talos and his two body guards. Just how he and Talos had discussed yesterday. It was always easy getting the greedy ones alone. They were more prone to believe forged information and implanted rumors if it meant they could get their hands on more riches.  

"Mr. Warren," Talos' voice wafted toward him.

Caine turned to see the small man walk up to him. He gave him his hand—a ring on each finger—in greeting. Caine stood from his seat by one of the tables and accepted it, encasing Talos' palm and rings almost entirely in his own. The man seemed unfazed by neither Caine's handshake nor his height. Probably because he was flanked by his two enormous bodyguards: behemoth #1 and behemoth #2.

"I apologize for neglecting you most of tonight. I didn't want the others to know about our deal," Talos said and mentioned for Caine to retake his seat as he sat on one himself.

Damn.

Sitting back down meant another move he had to do.

"Do you have the Dragon's Tear?" Talos asked.

Caine reached into his coat and brought out a small box. An empty box but Talos didn't know that yet.

"As promised," Caine said and handed it to him, "mamón."

The code word.

Talos' head smashed onto the table and he slid off his seat to thud on the ground. His tiny blue eyes were wide and drool escaped his open mouth.

"Mr. Talos!" behemoth #2 said and crouched to examine his boss.

Caine sprung to his feet and smashed behemoth #1's nose with his palm. Caine heard the crunch of broken cartilage. With his other hand he reached into the bodyguard's coat and stole his gun, shooting behemoth #1's ribs as he drew out the weapon. He dropped to the ground. Caine, gun in hand, turned to the remaining bodyguard only to see a gun pointed at him as well.

Shit. I knew that sitting was gonna slow me.

"Put the gun down," he told Caine.

He grinned. "Not gonna shoot me?"

He looked at him and Caine saw the cranks working behind his eyes.

Damn.

"Aren't you that—" Behemoth #2 didn't finish his sentence. He collapsed to the floor in the same fashion as Talos, squishing his boss with his huge frame.

"Is it okay that I did that?" Ena's voice filled Caine's head.

He gawked down at the three bodies on the ground. "I thought you only had access to Talos' scanner," he said to Ena.

"Weeeell." Her voice sounded strained. "Talos' scanner information also had his bodyguard's encryptions, so I was able to hack them too. I guess working under Talos meant that more than your time was being shared with him."

Caine chuckled and took a cigarette out. "You're beautiful, corazón."

Ena answered with a flustered muffle of words.

"I will meet you soon. I just need to turn Talos in and pick up my bounty. It'll just be a few hours."

"Okay."

He turned off his earpiece, ending all transmissions with Ena. Or at least he hoped.

When Caine returned to Achilles and stepped into the hallway from the hanger, the smell of food greeted him. He followed it to the kitchen where he saw Ena by the table. Her back was to him but he said nothing, enjoying the view as she reached over the other side of the table to set a plate on it. She turned around and jumped when she saw him.

"What are you doing, corazón?" he asked with a smirk.

Ena hit him on the chest. "Tell me when you're in the room next time."

Her eyes rolled over his frame. He had forgotten she hadn't seen him in his suit; he had changed in the hotel. Caine regretted loosening his tie and untucking his shirt.

"You look good," she said, face flushing.

He pushed his hair back. "Yeah?"

She gave him another shove. "I made you food."

"I see."

"Yeah."

Ena went quiet, but it wasn't her usual nervous silences. Instead of fidgeting in place, she stood still and the look in her drawn away eyes was sad.

"Ena?" he asked.

She looked up at him. "Did you...did you kill them?"

Something streaked through his chest. "Talos? No. Bounties can only be collected if I turn them in alive. His bodyguards also had bounties on their heads."

"Oh."

He didn't understand why her eyes still held that forlorn.

"Guys like Talos don't deserve to live," she said.

Caine wasn't sure what to make from her words. He undid his tie just to have something to do.

"Oh!" she exclaimed as if realizing where she was for the first time. Her gaze lost its distress and brought relief to Caine.

"Don't think you're always getting this," Ena told him pointing at the diner. "This was only 'cause you said it was a big bounty for you, but it was our first big bounty, so I thought we could celebrate its success together like this."

Caine grinned and kissed the top of her head. She was way too adorable for her own good.