Page 54 of Double or Nothing
“Whoa! Wait a minute. Are you suggesting that we memorize every spin?” Eva asks in amazement. “And then jot it down on a piece of paper or memorize that, too?”
I nod at her. “That’s right,” I say. “You’ll probably need to write it down.” Sometimes I forget that not everyone has a memory like mine.
“That’s too complex,” Eva argues. “It takes at least twenty spins to get enough data, and no one can remember that many characters in a split second. I can’t even remember my grocery list. How about you, Natasha? Could you do it since you’re Jade’s backup?”
Natasha rolls her big eyes and shakes her head in an emphatic ‘no.’
“There’s a much easier and faster way to do it,” Eva says, smiling at me. “Use your cellphone. Try recording a video of twenty spins and then feed it into the program on your laptop to find the precise location of the code. That’s how the Russians did it.”
“But you can’t videotape in casinos,” I argue. “It’s against the rules. You’ll get caught and thrown out, or maybe even legally prosecuted.”
“Everything we’re doing is technically against the casino’s rules,” she reminds me. “What’s one more thing?”
“Videotaping the machine would place an electronic device into play,” I say. “This would make it riskier legally. As long as everything is in your head, there’s nothing the casinos can do except ask you to leave.”
Eva raises her eyebrows at me. “I see you’ve done your homework. Jade, being prosecuted legally won’t happen if we get caught. I’ve lived in Vegas long enough to know that’s not how things work here. The owners of the casinos are who we’re going up against, not the legal system. Do you understand? They handle this kind of thing in-house without involving the police. It is bad publicity and embarrassing for the casinos if news gets out that someone was able to scam them.”
I slowly nod back at her.
“Good,” she says. “For everything to work correctly, we need several people on the team. Two people working the slot machines, with others serving as lookouts in the casino. At least one to two people in a remote location with the laptops, and an inside person to keep track of casino security movements.”
“That’s the same plan I came up with as well,” I say. “How soon can we implement the plan and start the test runs to practice?”
“As soon as you’re rested up and ready,” Eva replies. “It isn’t as complicated as it sounds. The Russians trained people straight off the street to do it in two hours. Reverse engineering the code was the hardest part. The rest will be easy.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I say.
“Don’t worry,” Eva says. “Here’s what we’ve come up with so far. We’ve worked on the details for a very long time. Your bodyguards are a wrinkle we didn’t anticipate, but we can always use extra eyes on the ground as lookouts.”
Eva explains every detail, from the time we leave the basement until we split the money among us. It doesn’t surprise me to learn my involvement or someone of my skills was an integral part of their plan from the very beginning.
The plan is simple and will happen on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest nights of the year in Vegas. I’m shocked the scheme hasn’t been pulled off here before. Then again, how many people have access to a Peggy Penguin slot machine from Russia to break open and reverse engineer?
“Give me twenty-four hours before the first test run,” I tell her when she’s finished detailing the scheme. “Once I catch up on my sleep and eat a couple of decent meals, I’ll be ready and able to go.”
“Fantastic,” Eva replies. “We’ve been waiting for this moment forever. We’re happy you’re here. Now go! Get some sleep and get ready.”
I walk over to nudge Kit gently, who has slept through the conversation. “Wake up, Sleepy Head,” I say to him when he opens his eyes. “It’s time to take me home.”
“Thank God.” He springs up from the sofa. “Let’s get out of here.”
23
KIT
Iglance over at Jade, who is leaning against the car window, already sound asleep. She’s exhausted from coding nonstop for thirty-six hours. No matter how hard any of us begged, she wouldn’t rest until it was finished.
I’m immensely proud of her for accomplishing what she set out to do. She has a fierce intensity about her when she works, hunched over her computer, her brow furrowed, her fingers flying over the keyboard, and we didn’t dare interfere.
We all agreed beforehand to be quiet and not slow down the process. We wanted it over quickly so we could bring our girl back to where she belongs.
I can’t wait to see her face when I pull up to the front of the house. We have a little party planned for her if she can stay awake long enough to enjoy it. Leroy offered to pick up the food, which means the kitchen table is probably loaded with unhealthy goodies. Plus, plenty of alcohol to wash it down.
Given how deeply she’s sleeping, I’m not sure she’ll be up for much of a party today. Which is perfectly fine because her second surprise is that Seven and Vulcan have both moved into the ranch house.
At least temporarily.
Their belongings are scattered everywhere in an unorganized mess, but already the house feels more like a home. I’m surprised they both went along with the idea as readily as they did since I expected pushback from them both. Seven’s penthouse is much more convenient to his work. And Vulcan has always spent most of his time alone at the RV, so he surprised me the most of all.
