Friday night during spring break is either the best or the worst time to be in a casino. If you are looking for some relaxation while you indulge your vices, you will be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of inebriated college students. On the other hand, the chaos makes it a great time to execute a heist.
That is why on a fine spring Friday evening, Maguire and I found ourselves in a thriving casino owned by none other than the Lord of Fortune himself, with thoughts of a heist dancing through our heads.
“Are you sure about this, Claudia?” Maguire whispered with a smile plastered on his face. He cut a mighty fine figure with his newly tailored blazer and crisp black slacks. His bow tie was an emerald green to match my dress, and the cufflinks were the same shade of gold as my shoes.
Neither of us had much experience dressing so finely, so we did have to spend a few days moving around in our clothes before we started figuring out the next stage in our plan.
“Yes, I am sure, Maguire,” I replied. “Now stay focused, please. We need to find the others before they make their move.”
He held out his arm and I looped mine through it, placing a hand on his elbow to better guide him through the crowd. It only took a matter of minutes to get eyes on another member of the crew, and from there I spotted two others. The third would be elsewhere, not wishing to draw attention to himself.
We kept our distance, of course, making no attempt to interact with them. The last thing I wanted to do was tip my hand and alert the security to the fact that something was going on. That would make things much more complicated in a way that I honestly would rather not deal with. So, we played it cool and enjoyed our time in the crowded casino.
A signal passed through the crew and they started drifting not so subtlety through the crowd. Maguire and I followed them, exchanging vague pleasantries with the people we passed who were far too invested in their games of chance to bother giving us a glance. In fact, the only attention we seemed to be getting was of the jealous variety, though which of us they were jealous of was anyone’s guess.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
While two of the crew members distracted the guards with idle chit chat, I slipped away to follow the person who stepped out to interfere with the security feed, leaving Maguire to fend for himself. With all of the eyes watching him, I could only imagine what challenges he might face, but there was work to be done and he had to learn to stand on his own eventually. Most of my focus needed to stay fixed on not crashing into anyone as I worked my way through the crowd.
I slipped into one of the halls lined with the decompression areas, a space set aside for anyone who was feeling overwhelmed to disconnect for a bit before returning to their gambling. As the figure ducked into one of the rooms at the end of the hall, I leaned against the wall and acted like a lookout. I pulled a compact out of my clutch and used it to touch up my non-existent makeup, while also keeping a closer eye on the member of the crew who had been sent in to compromise the casino security system. I watched and waited until I was sure the job was done, then I left, returning to the main casino floor to find Maguire.
He stood observing a game of craps, feigning interest in the game itself while doing his best to ignore the woman flirting with him. I sidled up to him and slid my arm around his waist. “Hello darling. I believe it's time we sought something a bit more entertaining. Don’t you agree?”
“I find watching games of chance to be perfectly entertaining,” he protested. This close to him, I could feel him relaxing now that he had backup to help him fend off his potential paramours. He still had a part to play, though, and he was playing it well.
“Yes, but these games will be here later. We have a show to catch and I would rather not miss it.” I added a little pout for emphasis.
“You are right as always, dear. Let us go, then.” This time he slid his arm around my waist and we sauntered away in a motion that was far more practiced that I would care to admit. Turns out, neither of us had much experience in the acting-like-a-couple department, but we were both quick enough studies to make it work.
Maguire led the way while I kept an eye out for the return of the person who had hacked security. They would be posing as a lookout from the casino floor, in case something went wrong and the team needed a distraction.
She entered through a different door just before we left and I relaxed.
So far, so good. Now we just needed to find the vault.