The Giza Death Star Revisited: A New Steemit Novel Chapter 18
The Giza Death Star Revisited: A Novel Based on the Work of Joseph P. Farrell
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Chapter 18
Lunch was at the Peppermill, a Las Vegas institution that had changed little over the years while hotels and casinos had come and gone. At the time of our story, it was celebrating its 30th anniversary. It was famous for its pop culture kitsch and giant portions of food. The crew was famished, having not eaten since dinner the night before, and the Peppermill was the perfect place to cure a famished crew.
Dr. Faro had the club sandwich which was an old favorite of his for its simplicity. Frank dove into the famous steak and eggs to make up for missing breakfast, while Melissa tried the eggs Benedict. Georgeann just had to try “The Sinatra,” a sandwich comprised of grilled tomato-basil chicken sausage, double-smoked bacon, mozzarella, lettuce and tomato on grilled Parmesan sourdough bread. Rico, who was an old pro on the strip, had the chicken parmesan.
Enthusiastic “ooohs,” “aaaahs,” and “mmmmmms” accompanied the meal. In between they found a little time for chit chat. Rico, an honest businessman, was famous on the strip for his fairness and integrity. Nevertheless, he knew all the dirt on the strip and entertained his guests with some of the juiciest gossip he knew. He’d become the General Manager at the Luxor since the professor had left and was well-connected. The name Provenzano was a hefty one in a mob town like Vegas, though Rico was only distantly related to the infamous mobster and had never met him. That didn’t matter to anyone else. He could be family. Rico just let people think what they wanted.
Then it was time to get down to business. Faro told the Shorleys’ tale of the last few days being careful to reveal only enough to get the help they needed.
“So the first order of business I guess is to get this check cashed. Once we do that, Georgeann has a guy who will help secure that.”
“Do you have the check with you?”
Frank produced the check for Rico to examine.
“Well it’s drawn on an HSBC account, and you know what that means.”
“Oh God!” Faro laughed, his hands resting on his stuffed belly. He raised one of his palms to Rico, “I do not wanna know where that money came from.”
“Well whatever else HSBC does, there are two things they esteem in business: privacy and completing transactions.”
“Well, that’s good news. I guess.”
“It shouldn’t be a problem to cash this at the casino. That’ll give you an extra layer of privacy and another day before it’s deposited.”
“We can’t thank you enough,” Melissa said earnestly.
“Don’t mention it.”
The professor continued, “Then we’re expecting a man named Farkell to arrive at some point today, a genius lawyer and one of the few honest ones. We have some affairs to settle with him with a bit of that cash so the Shorleys can be spared a move to Australia. If you could let him up to our rooms we’d very much appreciate it.”
“Of course.”
Frank broke in. “Look, I really don’t know what to say to the two of you. Our lives were just about crapped out yesterday and you two mugs have really come through. My faith in humanity has been restored about as suddenly as it died last night.”
“Yin and yang, my good man," explained Rico. "The Universe is never out of balance. Whatever evil there is, there is good to balance it.”
