Rising Like A Phoenix

Chapter 11

Maya’s P. O. V.

‘****Welcome to the help centre of the system number PHOE91X. How can I help you?****

As soon as I touched the anonymous symbol on my wrist, the giant screen at last appeared right before my eyes along with the animated voice of the same woman, all of a sudden.

I could not help but panic realising that I was still in the middle of the crowd where so many people were passing by. So, of course, I freaked out thinking what if they could see exactly what I am seeing right now. What if they hear what I just heard.

I halted on my track and carefully looked around to find out if I just did something suspicious or not, but as time passed and the crowd kept moving, I started to realise that it was just me seeing something which is indeed beyond anyone’s explanation. I did not fail to see how people cared the least to give some stranger on the street like me one single glimpse which was enough for me to get assured that no one except for me could see this giant glass-like three-dimensional interface which was gleaming with the fluorescent light in the night right in front of my eyes.

Seeing that it would be odd to keep standing in the middle of the moving crowd blocking the road for no reason, I started walking once again.

To make sure no one notices me anyhow, I pulled up the hood of my jacket and chained it up from the front up to my neck. I tried not to come under the light as the shadow on the streets is what I preferred to stay in while on my way.

And as I kept walking, the screen moved along as well, in just a little bit of distance ahead of me, so that I could see everything written on it properly.

“Show me the direction to The Nightingale Bar and Casino.” I said in a low voice as I did not need to be loud for the system to hear my command.

And as soon as I uttered my words, the screen changed to a satellite map which soon expanded only to show my current location on the street of Las Vegas along with the route which I need to take to go to my destination.

According to the interface, it seems that I need to walk for near about twenty minutes to reach the casino but it will be better if I just take a cab, cause I do not have much time to lose.

The cab is going to take approximately ten minutes through the traffic to reach the destination.

So, cab it is then.

Just before I touched the symbol on my wrist once again to make the screen disappear, I took a quick look at the route on the map, so that it stays engraved in my mind.

It did not take much time for me to get a cab and soon I was on my way to meet the guy. What was his name again?

Ah! Yes. Massimo.

“We have arrived.” The driver informed as soon as the car stopped right in front of the main entrance of The Nightingale Bar and Casino. I did not fail to see how he kept looking at me through the rear-view mirror every now and then since I mentioned the name of the casino. He might be curious to find a girl like me asking him to drop me at such a place. No wonder he was surprised. And I can not do anything about it.

So I got out of the car fast and handed him over the money saying, “Keep the change.”

The car drove away within a blink of an eye and I found myself standing right in front of the grande casino from where my journey was going to start.

The striking Native American sculptures, the sound of falling water from the fountain, the bright light at the lobby and every other thing could not excite me enough as it usually does for the others who are in their early twenties and was coming to a casino for the first time, which was definitely not the case with me.

I looked around quickly only to calculate how many men I need to take down all on my own if anyone ever tries to stop me. It did not take much time for me to figure out that except for the vigilant guards in the doorway, there were over a hundred surveillance camera domes around me which might have been hiding all sorts of cameras to look at people, sometimes through them and may be even inside. They must run sophisticated facial recognition software as well to watch out for those who are blacklisted while other software looks for suspicious movements and shapes. I have to admit that this place is indeed highly guarded, but for what when people like Massimo can still do business inside.

Anyway,

Taking in a deep breath, I walked inside the casino without many hurdles, even when I was ready to deal with anything which was going to stop me tonight.