Page 93 of Russian Roulette
Seven looks away from him and doesn’t answer. He’s not ready to hear the truth and I can’t blame him because I’m not either. Some things are better left unsaid.
“Are we going to clear the air and discuss the elephant in the room?” I ask, once again stepping in to mediate. “Or are we going to keep ignoring what’s happening here?”
“Nah, we’re good,” Vulcan says after taking a long swig of whiskey from a bottle. “No need to keep dragging up old shit.”
“The shit happened today, so it’s not old, and where the hell did you find a bottle of whiskey?” I ask, knowing there’s none in my house.
“From the limo bar,” he replies. “Leroy’s parked out front with Jade’s things. He’s bringing them in now. After everything Jade unloaded on us, I figured we could all use a drink or two. Even you.” He reaches over to hand me the bottle.
“Damn straight,” I say, tipping it up and taking a swig. “What are we going to do with her now?”
Seven shakes his head. “The only thing we can do is to keep her safe, which might be impossible. The level of insanity and complexity in this crazy scheme of hers is beyond my imagination.”
“Is there a chance she’s just bullshitting us?” Vulcan asks. “Would she really be able to pull something this big off? There’s no fucking way. Then again, her explanation was way over my head, so who am I to judge?”
“Jade’s smart as hell,” Seven says. “She’s researched the slot machines and the scams other groups have done with them. If she says she can reverse engineer the source code, then I believe her. The biggest issue is that she doesn’t know Giovanni like we do. He equips his casinos with the highest levels of security, even facial recognition software. Being able to pull something off in a casino in South America might be one thing. Doing it here in Vegas right underneath Giovanni’s nose is impossible.”
“We can’t let her do this,” I say. “And she won’t be able to try if she can’t find the Natasha chick. With any luck, the girl has gone deep underground where no one can find her, including Jade.”
“Are you talking about that Ukrainian girl Jade wanted me to find?” Leroy asks. He steps into the room and places Jade’s suitcase and laptop bag on the floor. “I’ve got a couple of hours available tonight to check around the strip clubs. If Seven will give me the night off.”
“I already told you to take tonight off,” Seven reminds him. “And I gave you a pile of money too for lap dances, if I remember correctly.”
“That was before you all started stabbing each other and I had to make an emergency hospital run,” Leroy replies. “Okay, then I won’t waste time standing around arguing with you. I’m heading out on the town now. Do you have any other information I can use?”
“Her name’s Natasha,” Seven says. “I’m not sure if Jade told you that. Don’t ask for her by name. We don’t want to spook her. Be discreet. Call me if you find out anything.”
“Will do,” Leroy says. “How are you going to get home if I’ve got the limo?”
“I’m bunking here tonight at Kit’s,” Seven replies. “Jade might need me during the night. If she wakes up in pain, I want to be here for her.”
I frown at him. “There’s no reason for you to stay over. If Jade needs anything, I’ll be here if you need to go back with Leroy. I told her to call out for me if she needs me.”
Vulcan stretches out his long legs in front of him and crosses his boots. “I might as well stay, too. Three’s a party, right? Or is it, three’s a crowd? I forget. Should we take shifts keeping eyes and ears on her? I hope you all realize she’s going to run again as soon as she’s physically up to it.”
“I’ve already told you she won’t run,” Seven argues.
“You’re an idiot if you truly believe that,” Vulcan says. “We can expect the unexpected from her. Otherwise, we’ll be chasing her gorgeous ass all over the place every single time. She’ll outsmart and outplay us. Just watch if you don’t believe me. Don’t let her fool you bastards again.”
“When did she fool us the first time?” Seven asks.
“When she pretended to be drowning in your pool,” Vulcan replies.
“She wasn’t pretending,” I argue. “You almost drowned her with your rough play. I dragged her out of the pool because I could clearly tell she wasn’t breathing.”
Vulcan grins at me and leans forward to take the liquor bottle back. “She was holding her breath on purpose to freak everyone out. She played us and it worked.” He takes a deep swig. “I’m not mad at her. Hell! I was fucking impressed with her skills and begged her to teach me how. Being able to hold your breath that long might come in handy one day.”
“Are you sure?” Seven asks, unconvinced. “She was believable if it was all an act. How long did she stop breathing? Three to four minutes? It felt like an hour. I could use the skill myself too. I wonder if we could talk her into doing a breath-holding workshop for us. Does she have any other unusual skills we’re not aware of?”
Vulcan chokes and almost spews out a mouthful of whiskey, his mind in the gutter as always. “It depends on what skills we’re discussing here,” he says, trying not to laugh.
“You’re both playing with fire,” I warn, scowling at him. “Don’t come pissing and moaning to me when you get scorched.”
“But it will hurt so fucking good,” Vulcan jokes.
“Yeah, it hurt Jade good,” I snap at him. “The little competition the two of you have going isn’t funny, and Jade is in pain now because of it.”
“We were only screwing around,” Vulcan says. “I never dreamed she’d jump into the middle. And besides, Seven swung at me first. Blame him, not me. He pulled out the knife.”