Las Vegas Savior

“Hey, do you think I can call Shelly and tell her to send my money here? She will be getting off of work soon and said she could go by the bank on her way home.” Emily asked John.

“Sure. Tell her we are at the Hilton in Las Vegas. The street address should be on the pad of paper by the phone.” John said. “I’m going to call my office too. I need to check in with my boss. Open your adjoining door when you are done.”

“Ok. You do the same.” Emily said. She pulled out her cell phone and found Shelly’s number in her contacts list and hit the call button. “Hello? Emily is that you?”

“Hey, yeah, it’s me. Why did you ask like that?” Emily asked.

“A shooting in front of the FBI office in Vegas has been on the news all day. Was that you?” Shelly asked.

“Yeah. But I’m fine. They didn’t hit anything or anyone, thankfully. The entire Vegas police department and a whole bunch of FBI agents are scouring the city looking for them now.

Oh, Shelly, it may finally be coming to an end! We are hoping that they are going to go after my car, which is being driven by an FBI agent to lure them out. But what I was calling about was my paycheck. I’m almost broke. Can you please send it to the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in the name of John Travers? He’s the agent that has been helping me the past couple of days.”

It did not escape Shelly’s notice that her voice changed when she said his name and who he was. “So tell me all about him! I know his name now, what does he look like? How tall is he? Dark hair or light? What color are his eyes?” Shelly bombarded her with questions in an excited voice.

“Hahahahaha! Well, he’s tall at 6’3” and has jet black hair and big brown bedroom eyes.” Emily said as she clearly pictured John in her mind.

It was her voice that told Shelly more than her words and she finished for her, “And you are falling, if you haven’t already fallen, head over heels for him. Oh, I’m so happy for you Emily. I’ve never known anyone who deserved it more than you!”

“Oh Shelly, I don’t have a clue as to how he feels so I’m not counting on anything! With my luck? No, I just have to wait and see what happens in the next few days. So in the meantime, I’d appreciate it if you could send the money today? I’m almost broke. And how’s my little boyfriend, Bobby?” Emily asked about Shelly’s son. She had gotten very close to the little boy in the short time she had known him. She really hoped she would get to see them both again someday.

“Oh, he’s fine. He was upset at first when I had to tell him that you had gone but you know kids, they bounce back pretty fast.” Shelly did not want to tell Emily about how her son had cried when she had told him that Emily had had to leave town very suddenly or that he had named his bike after her.

Emily had more important things to worry about, like a hit man trying to kill her. Shelly had been worried about her when she had seen the newscast on the mid-morning news about there being a shooting in front of the FBI building in Las Vegas.

Even though Emily had not told her where she was going, Shelly knew that Emily was wanting to get away from the cold weather and figured she would head south. Las Vegas being one of the most reasonable places she would head for if she were looking to escape the cold. While the nights in the desert might get cold, the days for the most part were warm and sunny.

“Well, give him a hug and tell him I said Hi. Hopefully it won’t be long before all of this is over and I’ll come see you guys.” Emily told her. She debated about telling Shelly about her father but that would lead to telling her about what a jackass her father had been and of how she had felt nothing inside when John had told her that her father was dead and that Derrick had killed him.

She wasn’t sure that Shelly would understand because even though Shelly’s father had been dead for a long time, she’d had a very good, loving relationship with her father when he had been alive so she wouldn’t understand how Emily could possibly hate hers.

“Oh, we will look forward to it. Hey, look. I’d better get to the bank or they are going to close on me before I can get there.”

“Okay. Text me when you get finished. John said it only takes about an hour or so.” Emily said before she hung up.

She looked through her backpack and decided to hang up her dress. It was of a naturally wrinkled gauzy material but she hung it up anyway. She wondered if they would be going downstairs for dinner or if they would be calling room service.

She went to use the bathroom and the zipper on her jeans seemed to stick when she tried to unzip her pants and she hoped it was not going to break on her. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror when she went to wash her hands and cringed when she saw that her hair looked a mess and her eyes were puffy from where she had been crying earlier.

She splashed cold water over her face and pressed on her eyes with her fingers before drying her hands and grabbing her hair brush. It took a little doing but she finally managed to get all the tangles out of her hair. She had been tempted many times over the past three years to cut her hair.

Short hair would be easier to take care of but she had always had long hair and had never been able to decide on a short style that she didn’t think she would get tired of and would have to wait for it to grow back out again so she had just kept it long and tied it up when she didn’t want to have to deal with the length, like when she was working.

She decided to ask John if he was getting hungry and whether or not he wanted to call room service or go down stairs to eat. She knocked on the adjoining door and listened for him to say it was okay to enter as she twisted the door knob on her side. She opened the door a crack and didn’t hear him talking but she could hear the TV playing.

“John?” She called out.

“I’ll be right out. Come on in and have a seat.” John called out.

Emily walked into his room and found that it was a lot like hers except it only had one wall of windows but it had the same furniture except his was a darker brown than hers. His bed had deep blue comforter whereas hers was a dark burgundy red but patterns were the same with the Hilton “H” impression in the brocade, which matched the curtains on the windows.

“Are you getting hungry?” John asked as he came out of the bathroom.

“Yes. Do you want to go downstairs and eat or just call room service? Shelly said she was going to the bank right now and I told her to send it in your name.”

“Well, we can go downstairs, if you would like. It’s easier to spot any danger in the daytime. I doubt if he would dare show his face in such a place. Besides, he can’t know where we are staying. He would have to be a magician.” John said.

“Then let’s go downstairs.” Emily smiled at him. She knew this might be one of the last chances she might get to leave the room for the next week.

As they both made sure they had their room keys and got ready to leave, Emily asked. “Do you think there might be a place around here where I could buy a pair of jeans cheap? I’ve only got two pairs and the zipper on this pair has been acting up. I’m afraid it’s going to give up on me soon and I don’t have a way to replace the zipper without a sewing machine. Besides these jeans are barely holding together so replacing the zipper would be a waste of time. Those t-shirts and that dress you bought for me were the first new clothes I’ve had in over 3 years that didn’t come from the second hand store.” Emily said.

“Goodness. I didn’t think women like you existed. My sisters had to have new clothes or shoes every other paycheck, or so my father used to say.” John said remembering when they had all been young, growing up in the Travers household.

“When my father lived with us he claimed his income was for household bills only. My mom was a great seamstress and had a part time job so she made sure we got new clothes at Christmas and for our birthdays and new shoes for the new school year.

Being the youngest, I got a lot of hand me downs. Lucky for me, Connie has good taste in clothes. If I wanted something new, I had to babysit the neighbors’ kids to earn money for it. Then my mom got sick and it was all Jake could do to keep up with her medications.

Connie had a part time job after school and I babysat as much as I could to help out but it was more for groceries and utilities. There wasn’t much left over for stuff like new store bought clothes.

When I was finally on my own, earning my own money and working full time, I spent good money on good quality stuff but it was more towards a wardrobe for work. I think I paid $180 for these sneakers but they’ve lasted me for over 3 years of almost constant use with the help of a little shoe goo.

The jeans were bought in a thrift store for $5 but they are a good brand and have lasted for over 2 years. I usually alternate between them so they’ve both been well worn.” She told John who felt so sorry for her.

She had grown up hard for sure but he also knew that she would be too proud to let him buy her some new clothes. John’s parents were not rich but he and his siblings had always had more than they really needed and as much of what they wanted as was possible for their parents to provide.

His parents had insisted that he and his siblings had all learned to work from an early age but didn’t have to work to earn their keep or so that there was food on the table. His parents had insisted that they deposit half of any money they earned in the bank and to save it for their future. The other half of their earnings was there to do what they wanted with it.

Both he and his brother had used their money either for dates or to work on some old car they had bought. John and his brother, Michael had both been into cars and John was a decent mechanic. He enjoyed tinkering with mechanical stuff as much as he loved his job! He had figured that if things didn’t work out for him with the FBI, he could always fix cars for a living. Thinking of that made him realize how much he missed his brother!

“I’m sure we can find some somewhere. What would you like to eat?”

“Can we have Italian? I understand there are some good restaurants in Vegas. I’m sure one of them can make a decent spaghetti and meatballs.” Emily smiled at him and John knew he would take her anywhere she wanted to go and get her anything she wanted to eat.

“We can ask at the front desk for the best Italian place in town. And for a place to buy jeans and new running shoes. Commander Standish gave me a voucher for clothes, which I need to get a few things too or we are going to have to do laundry soon.” John smiled at her.

“Oh, shopping spree. Finally, my tax dollars will be put to better use than padding some rich congressman’s pocketbook. Always pisses me off to see their wives dressed in designer labels that I couldn’t afford if I worked my whole life.” Emily teased.

“Well, we’ll get some new shoes too. These are my work shoes and they are getting thin in the padding department.” John said and saw her eyes light up.

Emily grabbed up her purse and followed John out the door. They walked down the hall and took the elevator down to the lobby again. They walked over to the front desk and asked the clerk where there was a good place to get Italian food and he offered several suggestions and produced a map, circling the places he had mentioned.

Next John asked for a place that would offer both men’s and women’s casual wear that would be reasonably priced and the clerk also circled a couple of places where they could go shopping without breaking the bank.

“Oh and Mr. Travers, a money wire came in for you just a few minutes ago. I was just about to call up to your room.” The clerk said and passed John a form to sign. John glanced at the amount and he realized that while it may seem like a lot to Emily, it was a pitiful amount for a full week’s work.

No wonder she was always concerned about every penny she spent. The amount shown was less than the amount he made in one day’s pay! The clerk counted out the money and John scooped it up then thanked the clerk then signed the form and handed the money to Emily. She took it, folded it in half and stuck it in her pocket with an embarrassed look on her face when she saw his look of pity.

“Come on, I’m hungry!” John said. They walked back to the elevator and rode it down to the level of the garage where they had left their vehicle. John helped her into the passenger side before going around to get in the drivers’ seat. They chose a restaurant that was close to the store they wanted to go to for clothes.