The Petticoat Gang

Chapter 4

4

Amber Martin looked different. The long shoulder-length auburn wig had been replaced by her natural hair: an attractive, light brown bob trimmed neatly at the nape of her neck and falling to a point halfway down her ears. To the casual observer, this was not the same woman who, a few hours earlier, casually and deliberately shot and killed a young bank teller while in the process of robbing the bank of a million dollars in cash.

In a booth tucked away in a secluded corner of Tempo, a newly-opened wine and cocktail bar in Lasseters Casino Resort, Amber sipped at her mango martini and surreptitiously studied the other patrons in the bar. She had been in the wine bar for only thirty minutes and had already been hit on twice. The first time had been by a grossly intoxicated, overweight slob with a heavy Greek accent, who had quite obviously been munching on garlic for God knows how long.

He introduced himself as Stavros, or at least it sounded like ‘Stavros;’ it was hard to tell, given his state of inebriation. He was also persistent. Amber, however, was used to the persistence of male suitors hell-bent on sleazing their way into her pants. She had long ago come to accept that she was an unwilling target for every would-be lothario who came within fifty feet of her. Eventually her impatience with the drunken, slobbering i***t reached its limit and she smiled up at the grinning, incoherent pig. “I see you are married,” she indicated a wedding band on a chubby, hairy finger on the man’s left hand.

“Doesh’nt madda,” the drooling drunk slurred.

“Why don’t you take your fat, drunken arse home to your wife and tell her it doesn’t matter?”

The lecherous smile disappeared, the man turned away, almost falling over in the process, and staggered away towards the bar, mumbling obscenities as he went.

The second time was much more pleasant but just as keenly unsolicited by Amber as had been the rejected Greek God of Amour.

Tony, as he gave his name, was a nice looking, sober, clean-cut, well-dressed Aussie male, somewhat of an anomaly these days, Amber thought. He was tanned, probably worked outside, she figured, and he had the body of a man who obviously spent a lot of time in the gym, or at the very least working at hard physical labour.

He was polite, respectful, had a lovely smile and, on any other occasion, Amber felt she might even be interested, but not today. Today was not about meeting someone new and getting laid, regardless of how appealing the prospect might be. Today was about meeting up with her friends and sharing a drink while they discussed the day’s events.

With a polite apology for disturbing her and a slight, respectful nod of his head, Tony left her on her own and returned to the bar on the far side of the room. As Amber watched him walk away, a tiny hint of regret fluttered through her mind.

Ebony Aitken and Anna Blaine entered the wine bar together. They paused inside the door and peered around the dimly lit room. Several male heads at the bar turned, almost as one, and eyed the two newcomers appreciatively. It was coincidental, of course, but it was almost as though a hush fell over the room when they walked in.

They were quite beautiful; both were impeccably dressed in light summer dresses that fell to a point just above their respective knees, displaying long, shapely tanned legs. Both ladies had long flowing blond hair, neatly coiffured and styled in such a way as to frame and showcase their respective very pretty faces. To the unknowing, Ebony and Anna might have been sisters.

It was not unusual to see attractive women enjoying the ambience offered by Tempo. Although a relatively new addition to Lasseters Casino’s bar options, Tempo had already earned a reputation as being considerably more up-market than many of the pubs and bars around Alice Springs.

Good looking women and men had become as much a part of the ambience in the wine bar as the dim romantic lighting and the Tony Bennett-Frank Sinatra style music playing softly, unimposingly, through the in-house sound system. For the moment, and that could change at any time given the competition in the hospitality trade, Tempo was the “in” place to be and to be seen.

Then, of course, the quality of the clientele was also enhanced by the strict dress regulations imposed by the casino management that prohibited the wearing of anything other than neat casual attire, at the very least. You either left the quintessential, Northern Territory preferred attire of singlet and flip-flops at home or you patronised one of a handful of establishments in town with less-stringent dress codes.

Ebony and Anna were never going to be disallowed entry to Tempo for being inappropriately attired. Both women carried an indefinable quality about them suggesting they would both look good should they be clad in the dusty, soiled work wear more commonly associated with the tough, rugged Aussie road worker.

Anna spotted Amber across the room. “There she is,” she announced to Ebony. Both girls hurried across the room and slid into the booth, one of them on each side of Amber.

“Hi,” Ebony and Anna said in unison.

“Have you been waiting long?” Anna asked.

“No,” Amber said. She lifted her glass. “This is my first drink.”

A waitress approached the booth and smiled at the three women. “Can I get you a drink?” she asked.

“Chardonnay, please,” Anna said.

“I’ll have the same,” announced Ebony. She dropped a fifty dollar note on the waitress’s tray.

The waitress looked at Amber. “Can I get you another?”

“No, thank you; this will be fine.” Amber returned the smile.

Two men, like predators poised to swoop on unsuspecting prey, appeared at the table immediately after the waitress left. Although not yet drunk, they both appeared as though they were rapidly heading in that direction. While they conformed to Tempo’s dress code, both were in need of a haircut. One of them, the shorter of the two, definitely needed to run an iron over his shirt, since it looked like he had just pulled it from the bottom of a duffle bag.

The man in the wrinkled shirt leaned down close to Anna. “Can we buy you lovely ladies a drink?”

With a well-manicured finger, Anna beckoned wrinkled shirt closer. He smiled widely, perhaps thinking he was about to strike it lucky, and leaned down, his face just centimetres from Anna’s.

Anna moved her head, so her lips almost touched his ear. “Thank you,” she whispered seductively. “But we’ve already ordered a drink. So, here’s a suggestion. Why don’t you take your limp-d**k friend and f**k off?”

Wrinkled shirt started and pulled back quickly, spilling his beer down the front of his un-ironed shirt. He nudged his mate. “Let’s get out of here,” he mumbled.

“Why, what’s wrong?” his mate asked.

“Nothin’, come on,” he grabbed his friend by the arm and steered him away from the booth. “Fuckin’ lesbians!” he murmured, just loud enough to ensure the three women heard him.

“Where are all the nice guys?” Anna asked as she watched the two men retreating to the bar.

“This is the Northern Territory,” Amber explained. “Supposedly, the men up here work hard, play hard and drink way too much.”

“Good job we’re not here looking for love,” Ebony suggested.

When the waitress returned with the drinks, she handed Ebony her change and left to attend to the needs of other guests. Amber raised her glass. “A toast, girls,” she announced. “Well done today. Everything went like clockwork, just as we planned. Here’s to a successful beginning to a whole new career for us.”

All three girls touched the rims of their glasses together and sipped their drinks. “Any questions?” Amber continued.

“How are you?” Anna asked. She reached out and lightly grasped Amber’s hand.

“I’m fine,” Amber nodded. “Someone was always going to die; we knew that going in. Fortunately, your people out the back decided to co-operate. If they hadn’t, one or both of you, would have had to do the same. I’m satisfied that, had it come to that, both of you would have been able to do what had to be done.”

Anna and Ebony nodded.

“Let’s finish our drinks, order another and then have a nice dinner together,” Amber suggested. “Today’s work is done. We need to go over our plans… there’s more to do before we leave Alice Springs.”

They clinked glasses again. “This is exciting, isn’t it?” Ebony said.

“And going to get even more so,” Amber acknowledged with a smile.