DEE was distracted.  Dumas couldn’t point to any concrete evidence proving this suspicion, since the security system still performed all its duties without glitches or mistakes.  But sometimes there were slight lags -- small enough that only Dumas noticed them.  And DEE had stopped nagging him about the morphazine, or the state of his love life, or anything else.  It almost seemed as if the system’s mind was somewhere else.  And maybe it was.<br/><br/>In order to compensate for his partner’s apparent loss of focus, Dumas was watching the screens with special care.  But even he didn’t spot Steven Radcliff until Chester’s avatar called attention to the phone tycoon. For once, Dumas lacked any witty comment as he spit out a mouthful of the soda that Alice had recently brought him.  “God Dammit!”  No one had told him that they’d be having a high profile guest at the club tonight.  And as far as Dumas could tell, Radcliff hadn’t even brought any of his own security.  What the hell was wrong with people like that?  They pranced around anywhere they wanted to go, without taking the proper precautions.  But if they got kidnapped or assassinated, it was always security’s fault.<br/><br/>A sharp mental command was all it took to open the communication link between Dumas and the earbuds worn by all his underlings.  “We’ve got a King of Diamonds in the house.  Bill, Duchess -- I want double security on the door.  No one gets in without a full scan and pat down.  Gryphon, get up to the balcony and keep an eye on him.  Be subtle.  But for fuck’s sake, don’t let someone knock him down the rabbit hole while he’s in my club.”<br/><br/>After he finished snapping out his instructions, Dumas severed the communications link.  Then he turned to Chester’s avatar and glared at it.  “Alright...what the hell are you playing at?”