"Aw c'mon, Ace," T-Bone said. "Pucci's gonna be impressed with what this girl's gonna have to show him, guaranteed. That ain't no lie, man."
Ace wasn't impressed. At all. "I said forget it. You and your buddy here can take in what Pucci's waiting for, but she stays outside. You know the rules. If the boss doesn't clear you in advance or if you're not a V.I.P., then you don't go in. Period."
With her face still cast upward, Yuki closed her eyes. She found the digital signal being sent from the camera and her senses flowed with it. She followed the line of transmission to an array of hard drives in the club's basement, which also received data from the rest of the cameras. The drives not only served as an operating system, but recorded the data of both the exterior and interior cameras. The drives then sent the data through a sequencer to the monitors that would no doubt be watched by living eyes.
Ace looked hard at Yuki...she appeared to be in a trance or something. Mad Dawg said, "Ace, my man, how's the lady gonna meet Pucci and show him what she can do havin' to wait for a fuckin' appointment?"
"It's not my job to give a shit about her having to wait or not," Ace said, and started to lose his patience. "He only sees new talent during the day, and you should know that, too."
T-Bone wouldn't take no for an answer. "Hey, man, be good to the brothers and let this lady in, a'aight?"
"Fuck that," Ace said. "She stays out. End of discussion. But maybe we can start a new one by you telling me what your buddy in the car is doing without any damn clothes on."
Both Mad Dawg and T-Bone were at a loss how to respond to that.
But the next one who spoke was Yuki, who was looking at Ace...and into him. Her voice spoke with pure, total certainty. "You will allow me entrance. And you will serve me in other matters, as well."
Another man in the room, an accountant who worked for Pucci, whirled around in response from his checks and balances. He was a jovial-looking, chunky man of middle age who wished he could be out in the showroom watching the girls dancing. He said, "What's up, Donnie?"
Donnie shot him a look. "Look at the damn monitors, Lee! That's what's up!"
The accountant shrugged. "Maybe there's some kind of glitch in the drives again. That happened last month, right?"
"When that B.S. happened most of the cameras were still working. This isn't just a fuckin' glitch, we lost every camera inside and outside of the club! I think the cameras are still working, power's still goin' through the system, but..."
"Circuit breaker, maybe?"
"How the hell should I know? I just watch this shit!" Donnie thought of the irony of the situation. Yeah, the wonders of fucking progress. Most shit these days will go kaput if you frigging sneeze on it! Hopefully it was just some dumb glitch in the system, and even if it wasn't...well, that ain't my problem. Somebody'll have to call a fuckin' repairman. "I'll find out, but first I gotta get ahold of Ace. I can't see shit outside, and that means he's the only eyes we've got." Donnie got his cell phone from a belt clip and speed-dialed Ace's phone. He hoped he'd get a ringing tone...but instead he got a computer voice saying the line was busy. He tried again, and he got the same thing. He gave it a third try...no luck. Donnie started to get nervous.
So did Lee. "Isn't he answering?"
"He should be," Donnie said, and he hung up. "I'm going to get some of the guys and take a look outside, just in case. I dunno what -- !" Then his cell began ringing, surprising them both. He hit the answer key and almost shouted, "Hello?"
On the other end was Ace's familiar voice. "Donnie?"
"Ace, what the fuck!" Donnie was surprised and angry. "I was trying to get through to you just now! Why was your phone busy?!"
He heard Ace respond, "I was on the phone with Pucci. Letting him know he had visitors, all right?"
The two black guys and the chick, Donnie reasoned, but he wanted to be sure. "You're talkin' about those people I saw you with just now?"
"That's right. They got something for him."
Gotta be the heroin the boss was expecting, Donnie figured. "Ace, I wanna make sure things are okay right now. We just lost our cameras."
"Everything's fine, Donnie. They'll be coming in now."