Th3K1ng0fK1ng5

54. The Good News Morning Goes Bad

Ethan opened his eyes and yawned. He looked over and saw Tommy passed out on the cot. He looked at the alarm clock. Eight o'clock. The preliminaries start at ten. The top scores get a buy into the final round on Sunday - Tommy's plan. Best to let them sleep while I get breakfast, he thought. 

He slipped out the door and went down to the girl's room. He wanted to see what they wanted for breakfast and to check on the situation, particularly Bianca.

Kaitlin was asleep in the chair when Ethan's knuckles contacted the door. Kaitlin peered through the peep hole in the door. "Give me a couple minutes." She said it as she glimpsed herself in the mirror.

"Open up. I don't care how you look. I'm going down to grab some breakfast. You want anything?"

The door opened. He saw Bianca still sleeping.

"Whoa, you do look awful, Kaitlin," whispered Ethan.

"Thanks, Ethan." Kaitlin shook her head, "I'll bet you were up all night working on that one."

Ethan didn't get it. He shrugged as he looked over at Bianca, "Do you know her story?"

"She's from a small town in Colombia. She was promised a real job here and it turned out to be a nasty lie. She was flown into town yesterday. This guy called 'Berto The Beast' claims he owns her. He told her she would have to work the streets to pay off her debt to him. You found her in the nick of time, Ethan. It must have been fate that took you into that alley last night," said Kaitlin.

It was her first 'working' night. Her first 'client' was the drunk you fell over. She couldn't go through with it and tried to fight him off. Berto slapped her and told the drunk to take her in the alley and do what he wanted."

Ethan noticed the tears in Kaitlin's eyes. "Human trafficking. That's what my dad's been fighting."

"He had her on the ground and was tearing at her clothes when she hit him with a bottle, and you arrived."

Their voices awakened Bianca. Her delicate beauty left him speechless, "Uh, I mean, uh, nice to meet you, finally."

Bianca responded with a shy nod.

"Se trata de Ethan," Kaitlin said, "Lo llamamos el te rescató, Bianca."

"Gracias, Ethan." Tears came to her eyes, "Muchas gracias."

"It was nothing," Ethan got tongue tied with his 'love at first sight' Spanish. "No problemo."

Kaitlin chuckled at the attempt.

"De nada." Kaitlin said to him, "You say 'de nada' in Spanish. De nada and no hay problema." She smiled, "I'll bet you wish you'd taken Spanish, eh Jock?"

"I understand." Said Bianca in a voice so soft it floated right into Ethan's heart.

"You, speak English, American?" He was hoping beyond hope.

"Un poco."

Ethan got 'un poco' with no help from Kaitlin.

Kaitlin noticed the two of them looking at each other a little too long and stepped in, "Okay, I want waffles with strawberries and whipped cream."

"What?"

"You asked." Kaitlin grabbed a pen off the counter and jotted it on hotel stationary, "And Earl Grey tea." She looked over at Bianca, "Waffles con fresas y helado y té earl grey?"

Bianca's eyebrows raised as she smiled agreement.

"Make that two." Kaitlin handed him the note, "Now she thinks you've got class. See what I do for you, jocko boy."

Ethan smiled as he exited the room. His heart worked a completely different cadence now.

Five minutes and he stood in the lobby restaurant takeout line. People milled about everywhere. Parents rounding up children, employees scurrying about, but most noticeable, the entourage of gamers, all shapes and sizes, chatting, and laughing nervously -with dreams of the championship in their heads. It was a world of anxious anticipation.

Ethan's turn came. He spoke slowly to get the girls' orders right. For the guys - well it would be cream cheese bagels and chocolate milk. Nobody turns down chocolate milk.

"Thank you sir. We'll call you when the waffles are ready."

"No problem, thanks."

He found a seat and drifted into thinking about Bianca. He came back abruptly at the sound of too familiar a voice behind him.

"Well we have to do something about those two for sure, especially Th3K1ng0fK1ng5. If he's in it, we lose."

Ethan didn't turn around. The voices came from the booth directly behind him. He didn't have to look to recognize the distorted sound of Terrence's wired up jaw.

"Yeah, we have to do something," Terrence said. "And since you two are here to make sure we have a good time it's up to you to figure out what."

"How about we go hustle them for sex and get them to miss the tournament?" Ginger said. Ethan recognized that voice too. It belonged to one of the women from the motorcycle fiasco the night before.

"They won't want you." Austin said it before he thought about the reception it'd get.

"And what's wrong with us?"

"Nothing," Terrence answered as he covered Austin's gaffe, "You girls are hot, really hot. But these guys are too young. They wouldn't know what to do with killer babes."

"Yeah," Ginger chuckled, "you're probably right." 

Cinnamon nodded agreement as she flexed her implants. "But I know what we can do." Cinnamon pulled out Rocco's wallet. "How about we plant this little baby in their room. "

"What's that?"

"Rocco Moretti's wallet. He gave it to me last night to use to get him out of jail."

"Did you get him out?"

"No. They got out on their own recognition, " she stuttered it, "or something

like that."

"Where are they now?"

"They were getting cleaned up at the hospital. Probably upstairs right now doped up on painkillers." She looked at Ginger, "They got themselves in some kind of mess last night. You should have seen it."

Terrence wanted to make some 'birds of a feather comment but decided against it, "So what do you plan to do with the wallet?"

"Simple." Cinnamon replied. "Plant it in the boys' room. I tell Rocco they stole it from my purse. He calls hotel security. Bingo they call the cops. Bango the boys get arrested and they're out of the tournament.

"But the tournament starts in two hours," said Austin. "It's too late."

"No." Terrence looked with irritation at his friend, "I'm not worried about this round. It's tomorrow's finals, Survivor Showdown."

"Okay," chirped Ginger. "We can set it up for tonight."

"Perfect," said Terrence.

"Your order is ready sir."

"Uh, yes." Ethan's attention snapped back as he handed over the cash and accepted the takeout, Thank you."