Chapter 179: Leaving the Scene, Twice

Tuesday, May 3, 2005 (Continued)

I started forcing my way through the crowd around the table. People were happy to let me out, because that meant they could slip closer to see how incredible a roulette ball sitting in pocket number 25 looked.

Once I was through the worst of the crowd, I looked at my watch, playacting for my terribly late mythical girlfriend. I noticed that it was still early enough that Prof might be able to get our winnings wired into our bank before they closed for the day. Pretending to be a boy who was late to meet his girlfriend, I rushed toward the first table we'd played on.

#2: <How much did we win? 1.75 plus 9.35, wasn't it?>

#1: <Prof bet $100,000 more than we planned. At 11-to-1 we won an extra $1.1 million, so $10 million becomes $11.1 million. That's also what 1.75 and 9.35 total.>

#3: <$11.1 million. Prof worked out that our share was 56%, didn't he? That's what I remember.>

#1: <Yeah, me too. 56% of $11.1 is slightly more than 11% more than $5.6 million, so $6.16 million. Call it 6.2. After tax, just over $4 million. A million of that goes into the Anderson's emergency fund, leaving $3 million for the mansion and whatever else. I'm sure there'll be quite a lot of "whatever else". Mom and Dad also get a gift of a million pre-tax out of the 44% that's not our share, as do Prof and Vanessa. All in all, an easy day's work, haha. Except for Prof. He REALLY earned his share!>

#2: <It must've been DAMNED nerve-racking for him.>

#3: <It might still be. The casino probably isn't going to be too happy at having to hand over $11.1 million.>

#2: <But hand it over they have to. They obviously accepted Prof's first win, or they wouldn't have let him bet $850,000, as most of that came out of the profit from the first bet. The second game was the same as the first. Even more secure really, because they checked the table before the game to make sure it was honest.>

#3: <Let's hope so.>

We got to the original table, made a quick production out of looking around for a mythical girlfriend, looked at my watch, said, "Damn girl!" to myself, then rushed toward the front door of the casino.

It's amazing how scary front doors can be. As I got closer and closer to them, I kept expecting sirens to go off, steel shutters to slam down over the doors, and six uniform-wearing gorillas to appear out of nowhere to tackle me.

Looking at my watch as I rushed out the doors must have convinced the six gorillas that I was innocent, because no one tackled me. It only took a few moments to grab a taxi, jump in, and say, "Airport please. Quickly if you can, I'm running late."

We got all the way to the airport without being surrounded by siren-blaring security cars or Apache gunship helicopters (I watch too many movies).

At the airport, I had the choice of using my open return ticket, or the emergency cash for another airline if it'd get me away much quicker. I could get a flight to LA boarding in fifteen minutes using my ticket, then a 90-minute delay before catching the first of the next two legs to Corvallis. It required a little more cash and wasn't the most direct route to Corvallis, as LA is south-west of Vegas, but it was the quickest reasonably convenient way out of Vegas, so I took it. I was momentarily tempted to ask if they took Binion's Casino $100 chips, but figured I shouldn't draw attention to myself as a Binion's player, just in case any gorillas come looking for me shortly.

For the quarter hour I had to wait, I was on tenterhooks, constantly looking out for any gorilla-ish looking, suit-wearing guys, but none turned up. Even sitting in the plane waiting for takeoff was nerve-racking. Takeoff was a MIGHTY good feeling! I start to relax naturally for the first time.

In LA, the first thing I did was check to see if I could get on a quicker flight to Corvallis ("No."), then I found a corner away from everyone else. I sent Vanessa a text message, "Very good trip. I'll be landing in Corvallis in about 4 hours. You can call me if you wish."

There was no response for about five minutes, so I went to the bookshop to find something to occupy myself with. I found a small, interesting looking sci-fi book and purchased that. Figuring Vanessa wasn't going to call, I went to my departure gate, sat there, and started reading my book.

I had only read a couple of pages when, #4: <I was wondering what the daily interest on $11.1 million is. Does anyone know what interest rate the banks pay?>

#2: <I think something like 5%. That's half a million a year in interest - wow! That's a decent chunk of change. $10,000 per week, nearly $2,000 per day. I could DEFINITELY live quite comfortably on $2,000 per day!>

#4: <Yeah, that's $500 per mind, haha. Only 56% of it goes to us, so $1,000 per day in total. Buying the mansion will soak up most of our cash though, so after that it'll only be about a thousand a week. Very nice indeed. I like this being rich thing.>

#3: <Julia is going to LOVE telling everybody how rich we are! We're going to have girls coming from all directions, according to Julia.>

#2: <For the sake of our daydreaming for the next couple of hours, let's assume Julia knows what she's talking about when it comes to girls.>

#4: <Sounds good to me.>

#3: <Sounds VERY good to me.>

Another page into the book, my phone started ringing. It was Vanessa.

"Hi Vanessa. Did you get my message?"

"Yes. I was giving a lecture but it just finished. How good is a 'very good trip'?"

"Hang on. I'll just walk to somewhere quieter." Pause. "That's better. We won $11.1 million."

#2: <I hope Vanessa hasn't got a weak heart!>

"WHAT! Already? You don't have to go back another day?"

"All done. First go was fifty thou' as we planned. That won 1.75. Second was supposed to be 750 thou' but Prof bet 850. I don't know why, because I couldn't talk with him, of course. But it won so we got the ten mil' we expected plus an extra 1.1 mil', making 11.1 in total."

"So how's Prof?"

"Last I saw he was fine. He was yelling at some casino guy to make himself heard over the pandemonium. I shot off as fast as possible as we planned, so he was still with them. I can't tell you anything more than that."

#2: <You going to mention that it was a stressful day?>

#4: <Nah. Why worry her. Prof did look good at the end, apart from the wet pants, which we can put down to age, haha.>

"Congratulations, Mark, you pulled it off. Well done. I'm most impressed."

"It was a LOT more nerve-racking and complex than I thought it'd be. I could NEVER have done it without you and Prof, especially Prof today. I SERIOUSLY underestimated how tough his job was. His job was a HELL of a lot harder than mine, and I only saw a fraction of what he had to do. I'm going to have a talk with him about your profit share percentage when he gets back. He earned a lot more today than I was thinking of before."

"Haha. Thanks for your sentiment, but I don't think so. You're already giving us a very large amount for a few days' part-time work. Prof's a tough old rooster; he doesn't mind it when the going gets tough. Do you have any idea when I'll hear from him?"

"No, none at all. Sorry. You could call him, couldn't you?"

"Perhaps, but I'd rather wait. He'll call me when he can. Where are you now?"

"At the airport in LA. Coming here increased my distance from home, but it was the quickest way out of Vegas. I've got a flight to Portland and then Corvallis, but it doesn't leave for a while."

"Are you coming to my place, or back to yours?"

"I'll definitely go to yours. I want to meet up with Prof as soon as possible, and I can't even use the phone at my place because I don't want Mom and Dad to know anything."

"Okay. I'll cook some extra dinner for you. I think you've probably earned it today, haha. I'll tell Julia the good news when I get home, and get her to invite Carol over tonight too, but I'll ask them not to phone you, okay?"

"Yeah. That's fine. I'm REALLY looking forward to getting there, and not just for the dinner this time, haha."

"Okay. Well done again, Mark. I look forward to hearing all about it."

"Right after I finish eating, haha. Okay, see you then, bye."

I went back to my book.

I finished it five minutes before we were due to board. It was an enjoyable book, but not worth keeping as my memory is too good these days to bother re-reading books. Inexplicably, neither Julia nor Carol is into sci-fi, so there was no reason to carry it home. I found a likely looking traveler, and asked him whether he wanted it.

"Gee, thanks very much. I haven't read that one yet."

"No problem. Enjoy."

The flight was about as bad as all the others, but at least it was taking me toward home. Well, to the next best thing, toward the Williams'. In the future, I should be able to travel first class.

The next leg through Portland was uneventful, but when I turned my cellphone back on after landing in Corvallis, there was a recent text message from a number my phone didn't have a name for. The message read, "Call this number as soon as you are in your car. URGENT." I did so.

The call connected, and before I could get even say "Hello," Vanessa's voice said, "Listen carefully and do not talk. Drive quickly to the place you go to on Monday nights. Do not call anyone. Someone will meet you there. Bye." Vanessa hung up.

#4: <What the fuck was that about?>

#1: <I'll take a wild guess, and say it has something to do with $11.1 million. But beyond that I haven't got a clue. It's an unanswerable question at the moment. I presume we do what she asked?>

#3: <I don't see why not. I did have a flash that it was a setup to murder us for the money, but Prof controls the money already, and the Williamses could murder us in so many other much easier ways. I think we put the pedal to the metal, and get to the dojo as fast as possible.>

#1, #4: <Agreed.>

I saw Vanessa's car in the dojo's parking lot, and drove up to it. She jumped out of it, rushing over toward me. I braked and she went to get in the passenger door. It was locked, so I had to undo my seatbelt and lean across to unlock it as this old thing doesn't have power locks.

Vanessa looked visibly impatient. As soon as the door was unlocked she jumped in, commanding "Drive!" A second later, "Forget the seatbelt! MOVE IT!"

I forgot the seatbelt and planted my foot.

"Get out of town then onto Peoria Road."

Vanessa was spinning in the seat, with her head swiveling in every possible direction.

#1: <This is fun.>

Once we were well under way, Vanessa settled down, put on her seatbelt, and told me to do the same. Adding, "Keep a careful eye open for anyone following us."

"Okay." I check my rear vision. It was after ten o'clock on a Tuesday night, so the road was nearly empty. There were only a couple of cars ahead of us, and a couple behind.

Before I could ask, Vanessa said, "Prof called a couple of times, and I've got some news for you."

"Yes, I figured you had."

"Yeah. Binion's are claiming that Prof cheated, and they're refusing to pay out..."

"OH NO! That's terrible. What are..."

"It's what Prof and I half-expected, so don't get too worried. Remember that Prof's on a week's vacation from OSU, which we did in case they let you do your second bet a day or two later, or in case they refused to pay and we had to sic a lawyer on them. It's not as bad as you might think. Just because Binion's don't want to pay doesn't mean they won't have to. Many businesses would prefer to refuse to pay their bills, but it doesn't work that way.

^-- "Prof and I already had a Las Vegas lawyer chosen for this possibility; a guy called Patrick Christensen. He's taken on the big casinos many times and has a good reputation. Prof had Patrick's name and number in his cellphone, but Prof's phone went missing in the mayhem after his big win. Binion's were reluctant to let Prof use a phone, but he borrowed a customer's. Prof called me for Patrick's number, then got through to him. After which he called me back and told me what we need to do.

^-- "Prof said Patrick's response was that it's a simple case. Binion's don't have a chance, and they'll know they don't have a chance. What they're doing is stalling the payout for as long as they can while they throw investigators at this hoping to uncover something they can use to justify their refusal to pay. Patrick says they'll know they've only got a few days, so they'll be all over us as fast as they can.

^-- "Prof didn't mention you to anyone, of course, so this is Prof's rather than Patrick's advice, but Prof thinks it would be an extremely bad idea if any of the investigators saw you. They'll be looking for accomplices because Prof couldn't have done anything from where he was sitting, so the investigators will definitely have pictures of everyone who was near the wheels. You pretended not to know Prof in the casino, so if they see you in our house or even anywhere in Corvallis, then they're going to be instantly suspicious and they're going to want to question you. They'll be in a hurry, so we expect they'd be very rough with you. There's $11 million at stake, and people will commit murder for far less than that, so we're very afraid of what they might do to you to get you to explain how Prof managed to win, and where they can get their hands on proof that Prof cheated.

^-- " So you can't have anything to do with our family for a few days. Don't come to our house, don't call, don't talk with Julia at school, don't go to her classes. It might even be best to skip school entirely for the next few days, in case they send someone into school to look at all the students. I can't imagine why they'd do that, but it's possible.

^-- "Prof thinks they stole his phone. Either deliberately, or maybe it got knocked out of its pouch and they've found it but are refusing to give it back. Either way, they have a list of names and phone numbers from him. We've got no idea whether they can get phone taps done, but to play safe we're assuming all our phones are tapped. In case you're wondering, when I talked to you after you landed, I was using one of the disposable phones Prof and I had for our casino research. Neither of their numbers were programmed into Prof's normal cellphone, so Binion's can't know about them.

^-- "Patrick intends to spend tomorrow writing up the court papers and press releases. He'll show them to Binion's on Thursday morning, as a warning, threatening to go public on Friday if they don't pay up. He thinks they will, because this incident will cause Binion's a great deal of damage. It's a large enough sum that it's credible that Binion's refusal to pay might be because they can't afford to pay it. The court documents and press releases will both mention that possibility.

^-- "Once that word gets out, Binion's will be in trouble no matter what they do. If they do pay you, people will assume the company is now out of cash. If they don't pay, people will assume they're already out of cash. Large gamblers will avoid Binion's like the plague if word of their reneging gets out. That'll start a vicious circle, which could gut Binion's business in just a few weeks. Ted Binion chose the numbers and placed the big bet himself, not Prof. Refusing to pay a bet he placed himself would make Ted Binion a laughing stock, and that's one thing he will definitely NOT want to happen. According to Patrick and the research Prof and I did before, Ted Binion takes his reputation very seriously. Do you understand the situation?"

"Life is not easy."

"Haha. That's true. To be more explicit, for the next few days we're going to be assuming that Binion's investigators are lurking behind very bush. If they never see you, they won't realize that you're the guy in their videos. You didn't broadcast your name, did you?"

"No. The only person who could've learned my name is the security guard who checked my ID on entry. That guy must look at thousands of IDs a day, so he's extremely unlikely to remember my name, even if he read it. And he's not likely to be looking through the list of Prof's phones contacts either, so I can't see him putting the two items together."

"Good. If they don't find out about you, then they won't find any credible justification to refuse payment. Patrick will be pushing it forward as fast as possible, so you have to stay totally out of sight for just a few days."

"That worries me a bit. I can't do that at home. If I behaved naturally, anyone watching our place because the Andersons are in Prof's phone would probably get looks or photographs of me. Mom and Dad are going to get seriously freaked and suspicious if I hide in my room for several days, and I can't imagine how I could explain that to them. I agree I have to hide, but not at home. How about I hide in your place, so I can study all day and get company in the evenings. Julia's room is soundproof, my study could have the window locked and blocked off, and the upstairs bathroom has frosted glass, so I could safely live up there for a few days."

"The idea is to separate you and us. Putting you in our house is not my idea of separation."

"No, I must admit that's unusual, but if I never show my face, why wouldn't it work? I won't go downstairs until we've got the money, and I could get a huge amount of my college studies done."

"No. I don't like it. I agree it'd be nicer for you and more productive, but it's simply not worth the risk. What would you do if some of Binion's investigators broke into the house during the day in order to search for clues about how Prof cheated?"

"They wouldn't do that, would they?"

"Eleven million dollars, Mark. Now that I think about that, it's probably more likely than not, so I'd better contact a security company about getting some guards arranged. I'd better go through Prof's and my computers and delete all our casino work too, just in case. Do you have any casino work on your computer?"

"Umm, yes I do. Prof sent me a couple of emails with pictures of roulette wheels, and there's a Word document with some old comments and questions for Prof in it. They can all be deleted. You should be able to find them easily, because I've hardly got any documents. They're on the right hand computer. The left hand one has got nothing on it. You'd better ask Robert about how to properly delete files too. I've heard plenty of stories about people recovering files that the owner thought had been deleted."

"Will do. Do you have plenty of cash still?"

"Yes. I've hardly spent anything. $100 for a casino chip, a small airfare difference and a taxi ride were the only expenses."

"You have a Binion's casino chip with you?"

"Yeah. Prof wanted me to leave the casino without delay, so I didn't get a chance to cash it."

"Throw it out the window please."

"Huh? A hundred dollars out the window?"

"Absolutely. It ties you to the casino, which is bad. I don't want it either, because Prof's still in Vegas, so how did I get it? It's potentially far more trouble than it's worth. Are there any cars following us?"