Chapter 17

Over the next several weeks, CIS picked up several new clients via word of mouth. Alex was busy installing security systems, so his work on the casino project had slowed.

He did figure out the chips, though. Once Alex learned how to get the dollar inlay out, his next task was to paint the chip to match the hundred-dollar ones. He’d bought a bunch of paints at an art supply store and mixed them to try to find the right color. This involved looking at the dried paint under different lighting. He tried to simulate what it would be like on the casino floor, took the paint samples outside, and used various scenarios until he matched the chip he wanted to duplicate.

Once he had the colors, he painted the whole chip the shade of the accent stripes, known as pips. He used an airbrush because he couldn’t get the paint too thick, or it would make the chip look wrong.

He showed his best effort to Grace, and she agreed that he could move on to painting the darker color. He blocked out the pips with painter’s tape and then painted everything else the color of the hundred-dollar chip. The finished product wasn’t perfect, but it was very close.

Grace gave him the go-ahead to apply the inlay. Alex had scanned the design and then printed the inlays on transparent plastic. He then glued them to bumper-sticker paper. He made two chips to begin with and had Grace go to the casino and try to cash them at the cage. When she walked into dinner that night, Grace tossed two one-hundred-dollar bills on the table.

“No way! It worked?” Alex asked.

“They didn’t even take a second look at them. What I want you to do next is see if you can make enough in a day to make all that effort worthwhile,” Grace said as she handed him a baggie with two hundred one-dollar chips.

Alex went to work perfecting the process. He’d used an ink pen to draw the hog’s head. It wasn’t flawless, but Alex figured it just had to glow when the black light hit it. Once the process was in place, Alex proved he could make twenty new chip in a day.

He documented the process and put it into his cloud account.

He didn’t create a complete plan, since he wasn’t planning a heist, only a proof of concept. Alex didn’t point out that simply taking a handful of chips to the cage to cash out was a recipe for disaster. It wouldn’t take the casino long to pick out the players who never actually sat down at a table.

If he were running this scam, he would work out a deal with the nursing home bunch. Alex had noticed that buses brought the seniors to the casinos most weekdays. So if he were doing this, he’d give them cash to buy chips at the cage and a handful of counterfeit chips. When they got to the table, they would hand the dealer the fake chips in exchange for lower denominations.

Then, he’d let them gamble for a couple of hours, feed them the buffet, and then take them back to the home. Because some would lose, it wouldn’t amount to as much profit, but it would all be clean since they would turn in real chips to the cage at the end of the day.

As far as the slot machines went, Grace stopped Alex from working on the eye-in-the-sky problem. She had been investigating the theft as an inside job and had solid leads. Alex put his incomplete report into his cloud folder and forgot about it.

Alex chuckled as he read the dossier Lyric had created on him. It looked like his fake persona had withstood her hacking abilities. He did flag one item that needed fixing: Lyric had requested a copy of his birth certificate.

He’d forwarded the information to the weird guy who gave him his new identity and received a note saying it would be handled. Alex found the electronic records easy to create on the fly ... paper, not so much. He gave Lyric credit for going old-school for paper records.

Now that his casino work was done, and he was sure Lyric wouldn’t find any dirt on the ‘real’ Alex, it was time to confront the former sheriff.

North of town, there was a small rail-car switching hub for an old rail line that saw maybe two or three trains a week. Mr. Calhoun’s phone said that was where he was.

Alex had Google Earthed the area and found a building that looked to house a small office for the yard. He planned to ride his bike out and scout out the structure. His dad had taught him to plan his escape first, which was his goal for the day.

He’d been dreaming for the last few weeks. Someone was standing over him, watching Alex while he slept. It wasn’t a reassuring, angel-watching-you kind of dream. It was a scary, some-lunatic-wants-to-kill-you kind of dream. When his eyes opened, he looked into Mr. Calhoun’s eyes, waking Alex with a start.

It was his subconscious reminding him he had a job to do. It would have been much easier if he had a crew. Someone like Big Lou would have been handy for something like this. He decided to ask Maddie to be his getaway driver because riding his bike wouldn’t cut it if he were to be chased.

He’d sworn to never use Maddie again because, let’s face it, she was a terrible lookout. But something she could do was use a phone. If Alex did get himself in trouble, she had Sheriff Conly’s number on speed dial.

Honestly, he’d thought about using Dawn, but the thought of him dying in her clown car gave him pause. At least Maddie had a pickup truck.

He invited Maddie to his house for breakfast to lay out his plan for that morning. Maddie got up at oh-dark-thirty, so he was sure Janice and Lyric would be sound asleep when she arrived. The one member of the household he had to worry about was Boomer because the stupid poodle tended to bark when someone came to visit at odd hours.

That was why Maddie found him in the front yard, tossing Boomer a ball. Alex was displeased when he spotted Dawn in the truck’s front passenger seat as they pulled up.

Maddie saw his look and launched into spin-control mode.

“Before you get your panties in a wad, I’d promised Dawn she got to come along the next time we did something sketchy.”

“I brought pepper spray,” Dawn said.

Alex predicted that the odds were good that Dawn would unleash the spray within the confines of the truck’s cab and gas everyone by accident.

“Maybe we leave that here,” Alex suggested.

The girls ignored him and walked into his house like they owned it. Boomer figured out it was breakfast time, so he abandoned Alex, who shook his head and followed them inside.

Alex found Maddie with her head in the fridge, pulling out stuff to make breakfast.

“I’ll cook while you explain what we’re doing,” Maddie said.

“So you got the girl and automatically forgot how to pick up a phone?” Dawn asked to sidetrack the conversation.

Since the potluck, Kate had been driving over a couple of times a week when he had free time. That had eaten into the time he spent with his friends.

“What was that all about, anyway? Suddenly, you were out-Ethaning Ethan,” Maddie said.

“Can’t I come out of my shell and have a bit of fun? Besides, you must admit that the potluck needed a bit of life injected into it,” Alex said to defend himself.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t entertaining. But you’re not the type to become the center of attention. Tanya’s social life has exploded since you flirted with her and her friends,” Maddie said.

“Are you mad I didn’t flirt with you so you could have friends?” Alex teased.

“That’s what I’m talking about. Sullen, brooding Alex has somehow turned into this,” Dawn said.

“I think he finally got laid,” Maddie said.

Alex rolled his eyes at that. While he and Kate were becoming closer, they’d decided to take it slow. He didn’t push it because he sensed something inside her was broken. Their time together was good for them both, if for no other reason than to remind them they deserved some happiness in their lives.

Dawn came to his defense. “I don’t think so. But I do see signs of life that weren’t there before. I like the new Alex.”