Agent of Influence: A Thriller Read Online Free PDF

that same event brought Michael and Cindy together. Michael was a doctor in NYC at the time and Cindy was a nurse. They met during the frantic hours after the collapse of the towers as they worked together to handle the massive influx of patients flooding into the hospital. They had been inseparable ever since. Alex guessed an engagement ring could be coming at any time. 
                  The cab turned right onto Las Vegas Boulevard., heading in the direction of their hotel. The Imperial Palace sits almost in the center of the strip, making it perfect for travelers looking to sample all the different hot spots on foot. As an added bonus, Caesars, perhaps the most well known Vegas landmark stands directly across the street from the Imperial Palace. Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out the small cell phone. In a way, he was disappointed with the monotony of the item.
    He decided to stick with his first instinct, and wait for the strange woman to make the first move. 
    He slid the cell phone back into his pocket and looked up as the taxi made a right turn into the covered portico in front of their hotel. The incident was forgotten for the moment as they pushed through the main doors of the hotel and became engulfed by the expanse of green tables, people yelling, and the constant rattle of coins cascading into tins.
    “Michael, how about we show your girl how to roll the dice before calling it a night?” Alex said. The familiar sights and sounds of the casino immediately entranced him.
                  It took thirty-five minutes to check in, take their luggage up to their rooms, and make their way back to the casino. A feat like this could only be accomplished late at night when the weary travelers who came in on the red-eye flights checked in. This was another one of these tricks of the trade Alex learned on his previous visits; never fly in at a normal hour, or you risked standing in line for an hour for everything.
    The main casino of the Imperial Palace sits at the very front of the hotel’s ground floor. To get there, they had to follow the unusual course of riding the elevator to the second floor, then heading down an escalator, past a small strip of stores, and into the gaming area. At a few minutes past midnight, the casino was humming with a palpable energy, and it took two circles around the crowded gaming area before they found some space around one of the craps tables.
    Cindy watched from behind as Alex and Michael both plopped two hundred dollars down on the table. The dealer silently took the money, and the croupier slid a large stack of chips back over for them to play with. They had lucked into a decent spot at one of the ends of the table. Alex glanced around him, amused by the cornucopia of different people that encircled the table. Gambling certainly did not discriminate. A heavy-set man with greasy, unkempt hair stood to their right, a Harley Davidson tattoo encircling most of his flabby forearm. To their left, a tall black man with a sculpted chest rattled the dice in his hands. Alex thought he looked like the prototypical linebacker, big but fast. The rest of the table consisted of a few couples in formal evening attire, and at the opposite end of the table, a lone obese man in a caramel colored suit. The tall black man rattled the dice one more time for good luck. Judging by the amount of chips sitting on the pass line, and the thick stack of chips in front of him he looked like he was taking the table on a winning ride.  The round placeholder on the table indicated his current point to be nine, and Alex did not hesitate to try to catch the wave of luck. He dropped thirty dollars worth of chips onto the pass line.
    ***
                  Shakir adjusted the crotch of his caramel colored suit, and use his left arm to pull in another batch of his winnings. He did not care about the money he was winning. He just wanted to be relieved of this job so he could go back