The Disciple of Las Vegas (19 page)

“So he obviously made some serious money as well.” Ava said.

“That's his second favourite subject — how much he's made and how hard it was to make it. It's how he puts a value on himself. It separates him from the riff-raff he grew up with. It brings him at least close to a level playing field with the blueblood crowd he loves to hang around with now, the crowd he married into.” Ashton looked up at Ava. “He loves his money. He was mouthing off to Lily about how much money we had lost, and she thought he was close to shutting us down until we turned things around. Now that he has the money back, he isn't the kind of man to give it up that easily.”

“I read that he's in politics now.”

“Yeah, that's his latest ego trip. It's a toss-up which he feels the most puffed up about, his business success and his money or his fucking political status.”

“I read that he's a cabinet minister in the U.K.”

“He is, and when he gets a few drinks in him and he's with friends or family, he doesn't mind telling you he's only one step away from becoming prime minister and saving the country from ruin.”

“His assets must be in a blind trust or something like that, no?”

“That's true.”

“So his daughter is obviously empowered to manage the money.”

“In theory.”

“What do you mean?”

“It's still his money. He keeps his eye on every pound. Lily may officially administer the trust and sign all the documents, but nothing happens until she clears it with him. He jokes about it. He says just because his money is in a blind trust, it doesn't mean he's also deaf. They're careful, I give them that. Nothing is ever in writing, not even an email. It's strictly verbal.”

“But she has the authority. She doesn't actually need his approval.”

“She won't do anything that might upset Daddy, and not many things in life upset Roger Simmons more than losing money.”

“He doesn't have to know.”

“You aren't listening to me. She won't do it without him, and I'm trying to tell you he'll be a hard man to convince.”

Lily Simmons seems to have issues with men
, Ava thought. “I appreciate your candour. I assume this is your way of making sure that if she won't sign, it won't come back to bite you.”

“She's an only child and she's her father's daughter. The bonds are incredibly tight,” Ashton said.

“I didn't want you to have unrealistic expectations,” Douglas added.

“I see that, and I appreciate it,” she said.

“So how about the deal you mentioned? Is it still on?” Douglas asked. Then, for the first time since she had entered the house, he stared directly into her eyes. It was a hard, questioning look, the kind she imagined he had perfected at the poker table when trying to decide if his opponent was bluffing. She stared back, unwavering, until he turned away.

“If Lily Simmons refuses to sign and I believe you haven't interfered in the process, then I will return half of your personal money, but none of The River's.”

Now Ashton looked at her with something other than hatred. “If Lily signs, you'll return our personal money and all of The River's. If she doesn't, we get half of our own money.”

“That's what I just said.” The offer to return the money both bought her time and acted as a sweetener. It was a lesson she had learned from her father, and one that had been reinforced time and again by Uncle. If you push people into a corner and give them no way out, they attack. It's human nature. She wanted them to cooperate — for her sake, not theirs — and offering them some of their own money back gave them a positive and compelling reason to do so. She had figured out that both cared more about their money than their reputations, and the interest her offer had sparked was proving her right. She knew she had an agreement.

“This isn't so hard, gentlemen,” Ava said, holding out her hands, palms up. “Choice one: don't cooperate or pretend to cooperate, and lose your reputation, your business, your money, and your lives. Choice two: do as I say and keep them all.”

“You have a deal,” Douglas said.

“How about you?” she asked Ashton.

“I'm in,” he said quickly.

“I thought you might be,” Ava said. “Now, I do need to stress one thing — there's no time limit on our agreement. It doesn't expire in a month, a year, or ten years.”

“That's clear,” Douglas said.

A noise erupted from the kitchen. Carlo and Andy were hauling in the man who had been shot in the leg. They stood on either side of him, holding his arms, as he hopped in. Douglas looked at him with disgust.

It took fifteen minutes to get everyone double-taped and lying in separate rooms. When they were settled, she said to Carlo and Andy, “Take their wallets and go through the drawers. Make it look like a robbery. You can keep whatever you find; just don't use their credit cards. When you're done, come outside to the car.”

As Carlo and Andy started going through Douglas's things, Ava went outside to join Martin. “We're just finishing up,” she told him as she slid into the passenger seat.

“And?”

“Here is a confession signed by both of them,” she said, passing him a copy. “It could be useful if the Chief ever has an issue with them.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Martin asked.

“It's a bargaining chip.”

“Why do you need one?”

“I only got back a little of the money they stole. The bulk is sitting in an account in Cyprus and it takes three signatures to release it. I have only two.”

“Who is the third?”

“Ashton's fiancée, and she's in London. I'm going there tonight.”

“What about them?” he asked, pointing to the house.

“They're tied up and will stay that way until I can get Carlo and Andy and you out of Las Vegas.”

“And they'll stay quiet?”

“Yes, I think they will. Neither of them is stupid.”

The front door opened and Carlo and Andy emerged, each of them carrying his paper bag.

“You can open the trunk,” Ava said. “We should leave the same way we came in.”

They climbed back into the trunk in the same order. The smell of baby powder was gone, replaced by a faint odour of sweat.

They drove out of the complex without any complications, and two minutes later Martin pulled the car over to the side of the road. He popped the trunk, held out his hand to Ava, and pulled her out. She felt stiff, and the right side of her torso was throbbing. The boys climbed out after her.

“Wipe your prints off the cleaver and the gun and then toss them,” she said.

As she watched them walk out into the desert to get rid of the weapons, she muttered, “Ninety-five.”

“What?” Martin said.

“I'm ninety-five percent of the way to getting that money back.”

“That's amazing.”

“No, unfortunately, it isn't. Unless I can close, it doesn't mean a thing,” Ava said. Half of her brain was making a list of all the things she had to do before she left Las Vegas; the other half was already in London.

Ava stripped as soon as she got to her hotel room. She could smell sweat, car trunk, and dog urine. She packed the clothes she had been wearing in a plastic laundry bag and tied it tight. Then she went into the bathroom and showered.

When she came out a half-hour later, she put on a clean black Giordano T-shirt and track pants, then packed the rest of her clothes for the trip. She buried the laundry bag in the bottom of her Louis Vuitton suitcase and put a powder-blue Brooks Brothers shirt and a clean pair of slacks in her “Double Happiness” bag. If she went directly from Gatwick to Lily Simmons's office, she would need to change on the plane.

She sat down near the window with her Moleskine notebook in her lap and began to organize her thoughts. With the money she'd moved that day, her worst-case scenario was that they would recoup a bit more than six million dollars, and that factored in what she had promised to give back to Douglas and Ashton even if she failed with Simmons. It was lot of money — more than what they went after on many jobs. But compared to the sixty-five million that was sitting in Cyprus, it was insignificant. All she had to do to get that jackpot was convince Lily Simmons to sign a piece of paper.

Ava checked the time. It was almost five o'clock — eight o'clock in the morning in Hong Kong. She needed to call Uncle.

“
Wei
.”

“We're back and it went well.”

He listened without interruption as she described how the afternoon had gone. When she finished, his first question was, “How soon can you see this Simmons woman?”

“Late tomorrow. I'm flying to London tonight.”

“And the woman doesn't know that Ashton and Douglas stole the money?”

“No.”

“Could that be a problem?”

“The opposite, I would think. It has a certain shock value that I can embellish. Although, you know, that doesn't mean she'll react the way we want.”

“If anyone can manage that, you can,” Uncle said. “Now I need to call Chang. It is as I thought. Now that Ordonez knows for sure his brother was swindled, he is becoming fanatical about getting the money back. Chang says he can barely get him to focus on anything else. This news might calm him, but I will tell him only about your success in Las Vegas. I will leave the rest of it as vaguely promising. We do not want to raise expectations that we cannot guarantee will be met.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, how about Carlo and Andy?”

“I'm sending them to Los Angeles tonight. They'll be on a plane back to Hong Kong tomorrow.”

“Ava, do you want to keep them closer?”

“Jackie Leung?”

“Yes. He has not been cornered yet. We have found out that he was talking to Sammy Wing, and I have sent Sonny to see Sammy.”

“Wing is a friend.”

“Wing was a friend. He is in the process of becoming one again.”

“Uncle, I can't take Carlo and Andy to England with me. I have enough on my mind as it is.”

“I am just being cautious.”

“I know, and I appreciate the offer, but they would just slow me down. Now, when will you call Manila?”

“Not for a while. Chang is as old as me but he still likes to sleep.”

“Good luck with him.”

“He is not the problem.”

“I know. Ordonez left a message on my phone last night. I didn't call him back.”

“That is his nature: he feels compelled to manage everything. You would think that with an empire as big as his, he would have learned to let go. And this situation with his brother has probably only made things worse.”

“I'm not going to call him and I'm not going to take his calls.”

“I will handle it. Call me as soon as you have met that woman.”

Ava put down the phone.
Let Uncle work his magic
, she thought.
I'll look after London. Let him handle Hong Kong and Manila.

She turned on her computer and logged into her email account. She had received a new batch of messages, and almost without thinking she opened the most recent one from Mimi.

Hey sister,

Just wanted you to know that Derek's moved out of your place and into mine for a while. God, girl, why did you keep him from me? He can't stop playing with my tits, and I can't stop playing with his cock. I thought you said Chinese guys had small dicks. Liar.Love, Mimi

Ava almost threw her computer against the wall. It took her five minutes to collect herself.
I love them both
, she thought.
Maybe,
just maybe, it will work
. But why did Mimi have to share so freely about their sex life?

Dear Mimi
, Ava wrote.
I'm happy for you if it works out, but I'm nervous that it won't. Either way, I don't want to read or hear any more about your tits or his cock. Love, Ava.

She closed the computer and opened her Moleskine notebook. Across the top of a blank page she wrote
Lily Simmons
and started piecing together a strategy for dealing with her. All she had to do, she reminded herself, was get the woman to sign a single piece of paper. The fact that it was worth $65 million was only a detail.

Carlo and Andy were in the lobby when Ava came down with her bags at six thirty. Through the glass front door she saw Martin sitting outside in the Lincoln. “Let's go,” she said to the boys. “I spoke with Uncle and he knows you're heading back.”

They grinned, and she knew they'd had more than one beer in the hotel bar.

Martin opened the trunk of the car and helped Ava with her bags. “Thanks for doing this,” Ava said.

“No problem.”

The boys got into the back seat and Ava sat in the front beside Martin.

“I spoke to Chief Francis,” Martin said as they headed south on Tropicana. “He called to find out how things went. I gave him a general description.”

“Did you mention the gun, the shooting?”

“No, I thought it was best to leave that bit out.”

“I think that's wise. There's no sense in alarming him.”

“The fact that you have to go to London alarmed him enough.”

“Why?”

“I think he was hoping that Las Vegas would be the end of this affair. The longer it goes on, the more concerned he is that it will go public.”

“Douglas and Ashton won't say anything.”

“He's more worried about your side.”

“Martin, I gave him and you my word. I won't go back on it.”

“How about the people you're working for?”

“I speak for them,” she said, but his question touched a sore spot. Just how much control did she have over Tommy Ordonez?
Only as much influence as Uncle and Chang can exert
, she thought. The only way to make sure that never happened was to get the money — all of the money.

“That's what I told him.”

“Thank you.”

“One more thing about this afternoon, Ava. The Chief wanted to know what made you so sure Douglas and Ashton wouldn't go to the authorities and file some kind of complaint against you, against me.”

Ava thought about her last conversation with the gambler and his partner, and then she put it aside. “I told them I would have them killed. And they believed me.”

“The Chief thought it might be something like that.”

They turned south and the airport came immediately into view. Hooters couldn't have been more than five minutes away. “I need you to do something for me before you leave tonight,” Ava said.

“What's that?”

“You're the last one out. Just before you board, use a pay phone and call the security office at The Oasis. Tell them there was a home invasion and they need to go to Douglas's house.”

“Okay.”

Ava turned to Carlo and Andy. “Here you are, you two. I've written out your flight information for tonight and tomorrow, including confirmation numbers. I've also written down your hotel name, address, phone number, and reservation number, in Chinese and English.”

“Thanks,” Carlo said.

“But do me a favour — stay in your hotel tonight. Don't go wandering. Not many people in Los Angeles speak Cantonese, and I don't want to worry about the two of you getting lost. Uncle would never forgive me.”

“
Momentai
,” Andy said.

They were flying out of Terminal One, Ava out of Terminal Two. The airport road took Martin past her terminal first. He pulled up at the curb and got out of the car.

“See you soon,” she said to the boys as she opened the door.

They each placed their right hand over their left fist, lowered their heads, and moved their hands up and down, the same sign of respect they had shown her when they landed.

Martin took Ava's bags out of the trunk and brought them to her. “I was going to say this was fun, but it was too stressful to qualify as fun. Anyway, I'm glad I met you.”

She stepped forward and leaned towards him. He looked down shyly as she kissed him gently on both cheeks. “I'd like to keep in touch, maybe visit the Mohneida Nation one day. You're only a few hours down the road from Toronto.”

“Anytime.”

“Tell the Chief I'll call him when I've concluded my business in London — however it turns out.”

“Actually, Ava, he'd rather you call me. He says every time he talks to you, he ends up doing something he doesn't want to.”

She smiled, then turned and walked into the airport. She was halfway through a glass of wine in the first-class lounge when her cellphone rang. She checked the screen, which simply read
private number
. “Ava Lee,” she said.

“You didn't call me back.”

She looked at her phone. It was one thing not to answer; it was another to hang up. “I was busy,” she said.

She heard the now familiar wheeze as Ordonez drew in air. “I know. Uncle just called Chang with the news.”

“Yes.”

“It is a start.”

“Yes, it is.”

“But just a start. I want the rest of it back.”

“That's something we all want to happen. Me, Uncle, Chang Wang, and, I'm sure — perhaps more than anyone — your brother.”

“My brother has nothing to do with this anymore. They didn't steal from him; they stole from me. It was my money, the company's money, not his money.”

A boarding announcement for another flight was being broadcast in the lounge. “They're boarding my plane, Mr. Ordonez,” she lied. “I have to go.”

“Where are you going?”

“I don't want to discuss that.”

He hesitated. “Get the money,” he said. “Get it all.”