A Magician always has an Ace up his sleeve, cont'd
Chapter Four
Ace didn’t feel like doing anything. He knew he had to get over it, but that didn’t make him feel any
better. He felt that he, and he alone, was to blame for the loss of Cosmo. He kept replaying the accident
over and over in his mind. ‘What could I have done differently?’ he kept asking himself. Planned it more
carefully? Not have had Cosmo ride along? But that got him no where.
That night he suddenly came awake. Cosmo had been screaming at him just before the crash, had
kept calling for help, calling his name.
Ace sat there for a moment, breathing hard, sweat running down his forehead, when suddenly he
realized something.
“Angel,” he said, “lights.” His room lit up as he climbed out of bed. “Angel, do you have a copy of
the transmissions made during my last trick?”
“Of course I do, Ace,” the computer said. “I always record your events.”
“Good,” he said, “I want you to play it back from the time when Cosmo came out from around the
rock until the explosion.” He listened to it several times before he was certain.
“Gottcha,” he said.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Good morning, Mona,” said Diamond as he walked by Blackjack’s daughter with a tray of food and
headed for the elevator.
“What’s so good about it?” she snapped back. Diamond only chuckled to himself as he got into the
lift and the doors closed behind him.
Mona had been very upset since yesterday, when Ace had given his speech. She was worried
mostly because Ace hadn’t talked to her at all since the accident, and she didn’t like how he had locked
himself up all this time.
She was just on her way to the kitchen to find something to snack on when one of the many casino
employees called her attention.
“Excuse me, Miss Mona, but there is a vidcall for you,” he said as he came up to her.
“For me?” she asked. “Who is it?”
“He won’t tell, but he said that it’s urgent that you speak with him.”
He led her to one of the back offices with a vidphone, and shut the door as he left. Mona sat down
and turned on the screen.
“Hello?” she said to the dark monitor. The camera on the other end was not turned on.
“Hi. I need your help.” The screen then came to life, filled with Ace’s face.
“Ace!” she exclaimed, “I’ve been so worried! You haven’t phoned, and I...”
“I’m all right now Mona, but I need your help.”
“All right,” she said slowly, unsure.
“Have you seen any suspicious behavior around the casino lately?” he asked.
“I don’t thinks so, I...wait a minute,” she said, “Now that I think about it, Diamond and Spade have
been acting unusual the last couple of days. Even more so than normal.”
“How so?”
“Well,” she thought about it, “they are hardly around like they normally are, and I’ve only seen
them getting food from the kitchen. Then they disappear again. Why Ace, what’s going on?” she asked.
“I’m not exactly sure, but I think I have an idea.” He looked at his watch. “Can you meet me at the
back of the casino in half an hour? No attention?” he asked.
“Sure. Are you sure you’re okay?” she said.
“I’m sure,” he replied and turned off his screen. She did the same, then got up and left.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Half an hour later, Mona stood in the shadows at the back of the casino. She made sure that she
was not followed or watched, and waited. She was beginning to think that Ace was not going to show up,
when she heard a voice behind her.
“I wasn’t sure if you were going to come.” She turned around to see Ace.
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
“We can’t take too long here. We need to get inside and do this quickly,” he said.
“Do what, exactly?” Mona asked.
“Rescue Cosmo.”
Chapter Five
“Are you sure about this?” Mona asked, looking a little distressed.
“I need a diversion,” he replied.
“Okay, I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said as she walked away from the large plant in a
corner by the elevator, and took her position.
“So do I,” said Ace quietly.
It was only a few minutes before the lift door opened and Spade stepped out with an empty tray.
“Spade?” she said, “Thank goodness you showed up!” She almost fell on him.
“I think I took a bad step. My ankle may be twisted.”
“Oh no!” the big oaf said. “Do you want me to call Blackjack?”
“No, no, don’t call Daddy. I just need to sit down. Help me into the kitchen, will you?”
“Of course!” Spade practically picked her up and carried her through the swinging kitchen doors.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Where is that idiot?” said Diamond impatiently. He was getting hungry and Spade wasn’t back
with their food yet. He stood there, grumpily staring at Cosmo who had just finished eating. He remembered
the boss’ orders very clearly; ‘I want you to feed him first. We want him alive, for now.’
“That’s enough,” said Diamond. “I’m going to check on him.” He walked around Cosmo and tied
his hands back together. He left without another word, the lock for the door clicking into place as he shut it
behind him.
Ace waited behind the broad leafed plant in a corner across from the elevator. Mona said that if
Spade didn’t show up soon, Diamond should come looking for him. His attention became sharp when saw
the floor numbers begin to light up, starting with the basement.
‘So they have him on the lowest level,’ Ace thought to himself. ‘This might be trickier then I
thought.’
The elevator finally opened and, as expected, out stomped an angry Diamond who headed for the
kitchen, pushing his way through the swinging doors.
Ace dashed toward the lift and made it in just before the doors closed behind him.
“Going down,” he said to himself as he pushed the button for the lowest floor.
When the elevator stopped and the doors slid open, Ace cautiously stepped out, looking before he
did so. No one there. Slowly he made his way down the hall, stopping when he got the only door at the end.
“Cosmo?” asked Ace as he put an ear to the door.
“Ace? Dude, is that you?” replied a stunned, but relieved Cosmo.
“Hold on, I’m going to get you out of there.” Ace examined the door carefully and discovered that
it was locked. It could only be opened with a passcard and code.
He considered the fasted way to get Cosmo out, and stepped back from the door.
“Magic force, reveal the power within!” He pulled his cape up around him, spinning. When he came
to a stop, he was the Magician.
Raising his hands in a charismatic gesture, he made the door disappear. As he rushed in and
noticed Cosmo tied to the chair, he gave a simply wave of a hand and the ropes holding Cosmo dropped to
the floor.
“Man, I thought you’d never come,” Cosmo said.
“Sorry I took so long, but better late than never. I’ll explain later. Come on,” he continued, “let’s
get out of here.”
In a matter of moments, they were back on the main floor, looking out the elevator door to make
sure the coast was clear.
“Let’s go,” said Ace as he waved Cosmo forward. They were almost at the back door when they
were stopped.
“Just a minute, Cooper.”
Ace and Cosmo swung around and came face to face with the muzzle of a gun. Diamond’s gun to
be exact.
“I knew something fishy was going on. Mona doesn’t just ask Spade for help everyday.”
Ace just smile, “Maybe that’s a good thing.” He waved his hand in front of the gun and it froze
immediately.
“Ahhh!” yelled Diamond, dropping the painfully cold weapon, and clutching his hand.
“And this is for all your hospitality,” said Cosmo as he knocked him out cold.
Chapter Six
By the time Ace and Cosmo were back at the Express, Ace had explained most of what had
happened during the last few days.
“So you figured out that it hadn’t been me when you went over the recording,” said Cosmo.
“Right,” replied Ace. “I knew that you never just call me Cooper, so when you had called for help
on the recording, I knew that it couldn’t have been you. Then I thought who would be willing to pull such a
stunt...”
“And naturally you came up with Blackjack,” finished Cosmo. “It’s a good thing you caught that, or
else I would have been down there a very long time.”
“And I’d have been out of a job,” said Ace with a smile.
Just then the phone rang, so Ace went to answer it. It was Mona.
“Hi Mona,” said Ace. “Thanks for the help.”
“Anytime,” she replied. “Cosmo okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, he’s fine. What did your father do when he found out?” Ace asked.
“Oh, the usual. Let’s just say that Spade and Diamond won’t be trusted with anything important for
a while. Well, gotta go. Glad you’re all right.” She smiled and hung up.
Cosmo came up behind him. “Do you think Blackjack will get in trouble for this?” he asked.
“Not with Clockwise as his shadow,” replied Ace. He paused for a moment, then turned around,
only to find himself alone.
“Right on! Woohoo! Now this is what I call a game!” shouted Cosmo, already back to playing his
virtual racer.
Ace just smiled and went to lie down. After all, if he was going to plan his next big trick, he had
better be rested.
