Page 51 of Double or Nothing
I reach up to cup his face in my hands. “Have I told you lately how happy I am that you didn’t leave us? You’re my righthand guy and I need you for this. I wouldn’t dream of going forward without you.”
Reaching over, I draw the other two men closer into a football huddle around me.
I whisper in case there are hidden cameras in the room, “When I finish this, Eva and Natasha won’t be the only ones with the valuable source code. We’ll have our hands on it, too. The sky’s the limit, gentlemen. This is the beginning of something big.”
22
JADE
Thirty-six hours later in the basement of Platinum…
“It’s time to take a break,” Natasha says firmly. She places a steaming hot mug of black coffee on the table beside the Peggy Penguin slot machine. “I insist. You need sleep and real food. You must stop working.”
“Only a few minutes longer,” I reply. I reach over and take a sip of the coffee. “Thank you. The coffee will work wonders to perk me right up again. It’s a miracle drug.”
“Living on coffee and donuts is no good,” she says, frowning down at me. “Tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll get it for you. But only if it is healthy food.”
“I’m not hungry,” I say truthfully. “Or tired.”
She glances around the empty basement. “Where are your bodyguards? I thought one was supposed to be with you at all times?”
“That was their ridiculous rule, not mine,” I reply. “They’re making me nervous, sitting there watching me every second. I sent Kit upstairs in search of orange juice, hoping you would sneak down while he was gone and bring me coffee instead. And here you are, being a lifesaver.”
She gives me a worried look. “We’ve waited this long to learn the secrets of Peggy Penguin,” she says. “A day or two more won’t make a difference. Please eat. It makes me worry when you don’t eat. You’re too thin.” She touches my forearm. “Your arms are too skinny. Why won’t you come upstairs to sleep on the sofa in Eva’s office? It’s more comfortable than a cot. I will stand guard outside the door to make certain you are not disturbed by dancing men wearing thongs.”
I laugh and take another sip of coffee. Natasha is a mystery that I can’t figure out. Who could ever imagine the beautiful, blonde to be the motherly type?
Yet, here she is.
Hovering over me constantly, like a worried Momma Hen. Every few hours she comes downstairs into the basement carrying trays of assorted snacks, muffins, candy bars and coffee to tempt me.
Last night, she hauled down a deep-dish pizza in a cardboard box. She scolded me when I reached over to grab a slice of pizza with my left hand while still typing nonstop with my right. I didn’t want to stop long enough to eat.
I’ve been working on reverse engineering the code for thirty-six hours straight. I’m so close now, I can taste it. The finish line is in sight, and I won’t stop until it’s done.
“I’m fine, really,” I say, trying to reassure her. “I’m used to working without sleep for long stretches of time. In college, we would do three all-nighters in a row while cramming for exams. We also did weekend team coding contests. Those were the worst. Sometimes we’d fall dead asleep right onto our laptops in the middle of the competition.”
“You did those contests for fun and not money?” she asks, lifting her eyebrows in question. “Why would you do that?”
“For the challenge and also to prove something,” I explain. “Most of my classmates were male, so it was always a double victory when our all-girls team won. We needed to prove to ourselves and to the men we were as capable as they were.”
She nods her head in understanding. “Ah…so the girls stick together in American schools. That is smart. We need to show the men we have brains too. They think we’re all tits and pussy. That we cannot think for ourselves.” She taps the side of her head. “They do not realize what we have in here,” she continues. “Until it’s too late. Then they’re sorry for thinking we are stupid with no brain.”
I stop typing the code on my laptop and stare up at her in curiosity. “It sounds as if you’re talking about one man, not men in general. Am I right?”
“No, not one man,” she says with a shake of her head. “All men. They’re all the same. They give women no respect. The men believe we are there to cook for them, clean their house, suck their cock. Tell them how strong and smart they are. Make them feel good about themselves while they treat us like dog shit. All the time we know deep down in here,” she pats her heart, “that we are the smart ones. You and me. We know. Do we not, Jade?”
I smile and nod in agreement. “No argument from me on that point.”
“Now we will show them.”
I stand up to stretch my sore back and shoulders. I’m getting stiff from sitting in the same position for too long. I rub the back of my sore neck, then bend over to touch my toes.
“I hope so,” I say, reaching up high toward the ceiling with my arms to work out the kinks.
“You can do this,” she says in a confident voice. “We all have faith in you.”
“When you go back upstairs, tell Eva that I’m almost done. It shouldn’t take much longer for the program to finish running.”
