Page 50 of Double or Nothing
“A cot will work,” I say.
“Then tell me what else you need to get started, and I’ll make sure you get it,” Eva says.
I blow out a long breath and sit down in the chair to scrutinize the machine. “I brought my laptop with me,” I say. “It’s out in the limo. The laptop is strong enough to work. I’ll also need a large external disk drive for storage space. I’ll give you a list of exactly what to purchase.”
Eva pulls out her cellphone and starts typing in the list that I quickly ramble off. “That’s it?” she confirms when I finish.
“Along with a tool set to open the back of the machine and a big pot of coffee,” I say. “Black, no cream or sugar. A basket of snacks would be nice and lamps to give me better lighting. If I’m spending days down here, you need to brighten this basement up. Otherwise, I’ll go stir crazy. You could grow mushrooms in this place. A dehumidifier is a necessity too.”
“I apologize for the less than optimal conditions,” Eva says. “Secrecy is crucial. The risk was too great to keep the machine upstairs where someone could stumble upon it.”
“I will buy the lamps,” Natasha offers, giving me a genuine smile. The first one I’ve seen from her. “And food. Don’t worry, we will take good care of you. I will make this a happy place for you to work.”
“I have a few remaining questions before I begin,” I say. “How much money are we talking about here if we can pull this off?”
“The Russians pulled down nearly half a million per week with just a small crew in European casinos,” Eva says. “The key is to move around quickly, hitting as many machines and casinos as possible. In and out before the casinos realize they’ve been hit.”
I blink in surprise. “Wow, that’s quite a haul. Are we limited to one win per machine?”
“No,” she replies. “That’s the key. You can win more than once on each machine as long as you don’t draw attention.”
“If the manufacturer knows there’s a bug in the code, why don’t they fix it?” I ask.
“The manufacturer has sold thousands of these machines to casinos across the world,” Eva replies. “It would be too expensive to repair them all. It’s cheaper to take the occasional hit from hackers.”
“This is mind-blowing,” I say. “What is the possible payout on the upside?”
“In Vegas on a busy night such as Christmas Eve?” Eva says. “Over a million easy with a large team. If all goes well, we can do a repeat run soon. There would be costs, of course. We would need to pay a small cut to people willing to redeem the winning tickets for cash. I have many loyal friends who would gladly do this for me.”
“Do you trust them?” I ask.
“With my life,” Eva says. “I’ve helped many people over the years.”
“I’ve heard that you save people,” I say.
“Yes, and sometimes they save me,” she replies.
“Okay,” I say, rubbing my temples. “We need to break down the math on this so it will make sense to everyone. How many casinos can we safely hit in one night?”
“We could hit five to ten big casinos, while blending into the Christmas Eve crowds,” Eva replies. “This will be easy once we put our system in place. We’ll do several small trial runs until everyone is confident in their roles.”
She turns to Natasha. “Why don’t we get started on Jade’s shopping list and give her breathing space for a few minutes? We’ll be back as soon as we have the items you requested. If you need anything while we’re gone, here is my assistant, King’s, number.” She hands me a slip of paper. “He’s upstairs, working on his routine for tonight.”
When they go back upstairs and leave us alone, I walk around to check the back. The thought of breaking open the slot machine and diving headfirst into the source code gives me a huge shot of adrenaline.
“Well, what do you think?” I turn to ask the guys who are standing there watching me closely with concerned expressions.
“I don’t like the idea of you working here,” Vulcan says. “I would go batshit crazy in this basement, not being able to be out in the fresh air or see the sun. I hate it down here.”
I reach over to squeeze his shoulder. “I don’t think it would be healthy for you to spend much time down here with me for that reason. Why don’t you allow Seven and Kit to babysit me while I’m here?”
“And go days without seeing you?” he asks. “Not going to happen, baby. I might not like it, but I’ll deal with it. You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Besides, who else would bring you junk food and soft drinks? I’m not giving up my spot due to lack of lighting.”
“Do you really think you can reverse engineer the code?” Seven asks.
“There’s no doubt I can do it.” I smile and give the machine a pat. “I think Peggy Penguin and I will become good friends. I can’t wait to break her code and discover how she works.”
“We’re all in with you now,” Seven says. “Tell us what you need, and we’ll be here for you.”
