A Little Bit of Luck

“Kurt, can you hear me?” Mackenzie asked, backing away from the microphone that Sebastian had just finished setting up.

“Loud and clear!” Kurt’s voice rang out through the speakers.

“Helena, did you hear that?” Sebastian asked, ready to adjust the settings again if needed.

“Yes I did. Lets just keep the chit chat to a minimum okay? Just incase Kurt and I have to split up. And please don’t start saying copy, roger, over, or ten-four this time, Sebastian, its annoying.” Helena’s voice was a little quieter than Kurt’s had been, telling Mackenzie and Sebastian that she wasn’t talking as loud.

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t,” Mackenzie said, holding down the small red button on the
base of the microphone. “Alright step one. Observe any employees that go through any employee only doors. Give us any details you can gather about them. Uniforms, how many go through which door, and if there seems to be any time pattern. Just remember, don’t stare too long and don’t sit too close to the doors. Your best shot will be at a slot machine that has a good line of visibility.”

Letting up on the button, Mackenzie stood up from her chair and walked towards the window. Pulling the curtain aside she looked down towards the pool. A sudden surge of anger began to sink in.

Before Sebastian could ask Mackenzie any questions the door opened and Scott walked in. He was carrying a fast food bag in his right hand, a key card gripped between his index and middle fingers, and a drink tray in his left. “I managed to find the one place that was serving burgers at 10:30 in the morning. Looks like we are having a nice early lunch. Did I miss anything?”

“Not really. We got them wired up, sent over, and tested the audio,” Sebastian said, taking one of the sodas from the tray, waiting to grab food from the bag the moment it was sat down.

“Kenz, you alright?” Scott asked, setting the paper bag down on the table.

“Yeah I guess so. Its just infuriating to think that my family built that hotel and made it what it was before he got his hands on it and now I can’t even register as a guess for fear of blowing my cover. Its pathetic. He doesn’t deserve to have it.”

“Well how about you come eat and the three of us will start the brainstorming process. It could be a while before we get any news from Kurt and Helena, and we’ll have to wait until tonight to talk to Donny.”

Once everyone had pulled up a chair and gotten their food in front of them, it was time to begin talking. Two days had passed since Donovan gotten he job at the Diamonti and today was his first day. It was also the first day of serious research work for the rest of the team.

“Well I hacked the bank accounts that Mackenzie got from the safe with the blueprints last night. They were a bitch to get into but I did it. Both were pretty interesting though, in their own ways. The first was the account for the resort, a lot of money moving in and out of it on a weekly basis, nothing surprising, but the deposit amounts seem off to me. Which is where I refer to Mackenzie’s expertise,” Sebastian reached for a folder that was resting on the desk. “I printed out a summary of the account so you can look at the deposit amounts.”

After wiping her fingers with a napkin, Mackenzie opened the folder and began scanning through the records. Several minutes later she looked up and said, “Its not that surprising if you’ve seen it before. The amounts aren’t what you’d typically expect, but I think I know why. That is a story for another day though. So what is the deal with the other account?”

“Its an offshore account that has a few hundred thousand dollars deposited into it every two weeks. At first I thought it was his salary but when I looked closer I realized that the amounts vary from deposit to deposit.”

Looking at the second set of records, Mackenzie didn’t look all that surprised. Closing the folder, she said, “And that boys is part of our leverage against him. This isn’t his salary. Even if he is giving himself this many bonuses it wouldn’t add up. Besides he would never keep his salary in an offshore account, it would look too suspicious.”

“Are you saying he is embezzling from the resort?” Scott asked.

“Yeah. I didn’t want to say anything until we had the proof but I’ve always suspected. When you spend as much time around the inner workings of a business as I did you pick up on things. All the totals never added up the first time around. Things always had to be revised a second time and they always chalked it up to a mistake in the original totals. Every once in a while it would be believable, it happens, but on a schedule it would be impossible. That only left one logical answer. I just didn’t have the proof until now.”

“And you didn’t think that was worth sharing?” Sebastian asked.

“I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure about it.”

“Well is there anything else you suspect he might be doing that’s illegal?”

“I’d rather not say this early. We can’t afford to count on speculation at this stage. Any leverage we get we’ll need some sort of proof. We can not afford to count on something that may or may not be true. Its just too dangerous.”

Meanwhile, in the casino, Kurt was looking towards the pit area as Helena monitored a near-by doorway. Kurt was staring contently at the pit area, watching Donovan accomplish the demands of his new job without batting an eyelash. Helena wasn’t quite as relaxed about being noticed and was absent mindedly playing the slot machine she was sitting at.

“Its kinda creepy when you think about it. After all these years Donny just jumps right back into it, like he’s been gone a week at the most. Just imagine what Mackenzie would be like,” Kurt said, covering the small microphone that was on his shirt collar.

“And just image how things will be if you get caught. Look less conspicuous, Kurt. Passively play the slot machine or get up, walk around, and pretend you are amazed by the casino. Right now you are sticking out like a sore thumb.”

Kurt inserted the players card that he had gotten that morning and began to press the button. As much as he hated doing more than one thing at a time like this he knew Helena was right. In the years he’d spent with the semi-odd group that he thought of as family he’d learned one very important lesson, if they knew a place well they knew how to blend in.

Although he knew little of their pasts he did know where they’d all grown up. Over the years he’d learned that Helena had grown up in Las Vegas just as Mackenzie and Donovan had. He’d never asked about any of their pasts in great detail. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, or that he wasn’t curious, it was just because he wasn’t sure how they’d react. After all the story of how he got into the trade was a painful one, so what was to say their stories weren’t too?

Sometimes he wondered if not knowing meant they didn’t really know each other. But he always shrugged that thought off as quickly as it entered his mind. He knew each of them as well as he knew himself. Did it really matter if he didn’t know who they used to be if he knew who they were now?

Helena’s voice broke Kurt’s concentration when she said, “There is a keypad and scanner next to the door. They swipe a card and then enter what I think is a four-digit code.”

In the room at the hotel next door, Mackenzie was standing over the microphone asking, “How many entered?”

“Just one.”

“Did he have anything with him? A cart with locked boxes or anything like that?”

“No, just a piece of paper. But he was wearing the same uniform as Donovan so I’m assuming he was a pit boss. It was the employee door that sits directly across from the cage.”

Mackenzie was looking at the blue prints, expertly locating the door. With a smile she said, “That is the door to the hallway where the security system is wired. Stay there until he comes back out. After he comes out time how long it is until the next person enters and comes out, then repeat it again. We need to see if there is any sort of pattern dealing with that door.”

“Got it.”

In her head, Mackenzie began running through the scenarios. If there was no pattern related to that door then they’d need to watch it again tomorrow just to be safe, meaning Sebastian could get in and out in the next two to three days. If there was a pattern they’d need to monitor it for at least three days to make sure it didn’t change, then Sebastian could go in.

“To be safe I’m going to say a week at the latest. We should have control of the security system in a week,” Mackenzie said, folding the blue prints again.

“Well keep your fingers crossed, anything can go wrong,” Sebastian said.

Later that night Mackenzie and Scott were standing on the porch talking when Donovan returned home. He waved at them and headed inside the house without a word, exhausted from his long day at the Daimonti.

Leaning against the railing, Mackenzie began thinking about the dinner she’d had with her mother the night before. It had been great for Mackenzie to see Cora again but as always the visit came with an aftermath. After every visit with her mother, Mackenzie’s emotions were twisted around for days. It was always days of hell for Mackenzie, always burdened with guilt for lying and the impending departure and seperation looming on the horizon.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” Scott asked, kissing at her neck gently.

“Just about dinner last night.”

“What about it? Did something happen that you didn’t tell me about?”

“For the most part it was the usual. But she did ask about you. Well about you and if we were planning any type of wedding yet.”

“Is that bothering you because we haven’t? Or is there something more serious going on?”

With a sigh, Mackenzie ran her hand down her face. She had spent three hours lying awake in bed the night before trying to figure out exactly what was bothering her and why. She knew what the issue was now but she still wasn’t sure how to articulate it.

“For a minute it seemed like she thought that maybe we already had. My own mother thought that maybe I had gotten married without telling her, let alone inviting her. I’ve let myself drift away from her that much and the worst part is I didn’t even realize it.”

“Kenz, you haven’t had a choice. Its not exactly like you can tell her what we really do,” Scott said, also struggling to find the words. “its just better this way. It doesn’t mean that you don’t love her or want her to be a part of your life. It just means it is the way things need to be.”

“Don’t you ever miss your parents?”

“All the time. But this is the life I chose, and I knew what it meant when I made my decision.”

“But is there ever a time when its harder than you thought it would be? That moment when you question what life would have been like if you didn’t pick a life that means having to lie to the majority of your family?”

“Yeah, sometimes. But I think it’s a little easier when you were raised by a nanny. I understand where you are coming from, you were close with your mom, but you’ve got to stop doing this to yourself. Every time you see her you lapse into this phase where you have to have something to do twenty-four seven or you’ll spend hours on end wondering what if. Its just not healthy.”

“I know it isn’t. But what else am I supposed to do? These thoughts just invade and I can’t stop them.”

“Well we’ll figure it out later on. But right now we need to go inside and check in with Donny.”