Unlucky (21 page)

Mallory sighed. "According to you, I already have. Do me a favor and don't tell Harry about this. He'll only worry, and he's got enough to worry over without me adding to it." She flipped the phone shut and stared at Jake.

"Silas Hebert received an envelope of information on me today."

Jake stared at her for a moment. "How do you know?"

Mallory waved one hand in dismissal. "We have a local postmaster who doesn't exactly have an appreciation for federal law. Don't even ask."

Jake gave her a pained look. "I won't."

"So we know for sure that Silas is checking on me. But why the personal history file? What possible difference could it make?"

"I don't know, but I think it's time we found out."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm tired of standing around and waiting for Silas to make the next move. If tomorrow's play goes along the same lines as today, I could be out of the tournament long before Friday. Which means neither of us gets what we need. At this point, I don't have anything to lose by taking chances."

Jake rose from his chair. "I'm going to try to break into his hotel room. Maybe get an idea of what angle he's taking. Maybe figure out how he's managed to turn you off. He's got to be cheating somehow, but damned if I can pick it."

"Cheating," Mallory repeated. "You're right--that has to be the answer." She looked up at Jake and nodded. "Do you think he'll have anything in his room that will indicate how he's doing it?"

"That's what I'm hoping."

Mallory jumped up from her chair. "Then what are we waiting for?"

"Whoa," Jake said, and raised his hands up to stop her. "I said I was going to break into Silas's room. You're not going anywhere near the man. It's too risky."

"Really? And how do you propose to break in? According to the local buzz, most of the players, Silas included, are staying at the St. Claire Hotel just outside of New Orleans. I happen to know for certain that there are no ground-level rooms and the hotel has one of those fancy digital door entry systems. You're not going to be able to pick a lock there."

"But you can?"

"Not exactly. But you said you had nothing left to lose, right?"

"At this point, not really."

Mallory grinned. "Then I know just the right people for the job."

Jake wasn't sure how she'd convinced him to go along with her plan. It was crazy--suicide--professionally and perhaps personally. If his boss ever found out he'd used a civilian to break the law, much less three of them, he'd never work in law enforcement again.

But desperation did strange things to people, and Jake had pretty much crossed that line by the end of the day. Which is why an hour later, he found himself wedged into the back cab of Scooter's Dodge pickup, bouncing along a "shortcut" to the hotel while Mallory alternated between discussing the plan with Scooter and checking in with someone named Amy, who had been stationed at the hotel and was feeding them information on Silas's location.

"Silas just came downstairs for dinner," Mallory said, and flipped her phone shut. "He's eating at the nicer of the two restaurants, so we'll probably have an hour and a half or so to get in and out."

Mallory began discussing the night's event with Scooter, making plans for a quiet entrance, which mostly consisted of Mallory explaining to Scooter what a quiet entrance was. Jake hoped he'd been off the beer long enough to decipher it because his driving hadn't exactly been an indication of sobriety. He was just about to suggest that maybe talking
and
driving wasn't a good idea for Scooter when they pulled into the back parking lot of the ten-story hotel.

Jake scanned the parking lot as they pulled to a stop near the rear entrance of the hotel and was relieved to see there were no other people or cars around. They'd no sooner exited the truck when the pretty little blonde who had been dealing at the tournament hurried over to them.

"He's ordered the works--salad, appetizer, wine, everything," the blonde said. "You've got plenty of time."

Jake stared at the girl in surprise. "You're Amy?" He looked over at Mallory, trying to control his aggravation. "It's one thing if your uncle wants to hire children to deal, although I have a huge problem with it, but I'm not going to involve them in this mess. It's bad enough I'm involving you."

Mallory laughed.

Amy glared at him. "I happen to be twenty-three, and I'm not showing you my ID, so don't even ask." She turned to face Mallory and grumbled something he couldn't quite make out and probably didn't want to.

"Don't sweat it, Amy," Mallory said. "You can take care of him with your long-term plan."

Amy glanced back at him, giving him a quick up and down. "I guess so," she said. "But it's a shame you were right in your assessment."

Another woman calling him an asshole. He was really collecting notches in his belt, and not in a good way. "Can someone please tell me the plan for this three-ring circus?"

Scooter looked up from the bed of his truck and pulled out a drill. "This baby is ready to go," he said.

Mallory nodded and started walking toward the back door of the hotel, Scooter and Amy trailing along. Jake sighed, then fell in step behind them. This was going to turn out bad. He just knew it.

When they reached the door, Scooter crouched down and studied the lock for a moment, then changed the tip on the drill to something thinner. He poked the drill bit inside the lock and started to drill.

Jake stared at Mallory, certain she'd lost her mind. "This is your plan? It's one thing to break into Silas's room, but the hotel? He's ruining the lock. Someone will know there was a break-in."

Amy rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, pretending an intense interest in Scooter's destruction of the lock. Mallory looked over at him and smiled. "You have to trust me. Scooter is the absolute best at these things. By the time he's done, we'll be in the building and the only thing management will ever know about this door is that the locking mechanism stopped rotating and their keys won't work. There will be no sign of tampering--at least not from the outside."

"And when they remove the lock and see the inside?"

"They won't remove the lock. They'll call Scooter to fix or replace it. Scooter built a good portion of this hotel and installed all the hardware. They call him about most everything except changing lightbulbs."

Jake stared at Mallory in surprise. He took another glance at the hotel, a beautiful structure with complicated angles and balconies jutting out all over the face. Scooter had built this? He hadn't seen the man without a beer since he'd met him. Hell, he'd drunk two before they left Mallory's cabin. How in the world had he put down his brewski long enough to build a hotel?

He heard a loud click and Scooter looked up with a grin. "That's it." He rose and twisted the knob. It turned easily and he opened the door a crack, peering inside. "The manager's office is the first one on the left, but remember, as soon as I close this door behind you, it's locked permanently. You'll have to come out a different way."

Mallory nodded. "That's not a problem. Scooter, I want you to take your truck and head around front. Once Amy gets me the room key, you two grab some seats at the bar and keep an eye on Silas. Do
not
let him see you. If you haven't heard from me by the time they bring Silas the check, call me on my cell so we can clear out. Then make sure Silas takes the elevator, and we'll head down the stairs."

"Sounds good to me," Scooter said. "All this work has made me thirsty."

Mallory peeked into the hotel and gave the others a nod. "Let's do it," she said, and eased through the doorway, Amy trailing behind her. Jake took one final look around the parking lot, said a silent prayer, and stepped after them.

The master key Scooter had provided for the interior locks worked like a charm on the manager's office, and the three of them slipped inside. Amy hurried behind the desk, booted up the computer, and started hacking into the hotel network. Jake stood anxiously near the door, watching through a tiny crack to make sure no one was coming. He tried not to think about exactly how many laws they were breaking.

He heard Amy give a small cry of triumph and looked over to find her grinning at Mallory. "I told you," Amy said. "Piece of cake."

Mallory just nodded. "Well, you can eat cake later. Get the card so we can get the hell out of here."

Amy pulled open the drawers on the manager's desk and scanned through them. "There aren't any room cards here."

Mallory gave her a look of mild panic. "There has to be room cards. Don't tell me every card in this hotel is at the front desk."

Amy shrugged. "It's no big deal." She reached into her pocket, pulled out a tiny pink wallet and removed a Visa card from it. Then she typed some more into the computer and slid the Visa through the magnetic card reader. The light at the end of the reader turned green, and Amy handed the card to Jake. "I'd better give this to you--just in case Mallory's in a demagnetizing mode."

Jake slipped the card into his jeans pocket.

"Okay," Mallory said to Amy, "You get to the bar with Scooter and keep an eye on Silas."

Amy nodded. "Silas is in Room 514. Be careful. And good luck." She stepped past Mallory, completely ignoring Jake, before slipping out the door.

"You ready?" Mallory asked.

Jake nodded. "Let's get this over with."

They left the manager's office, ensuring the door was locked behind them, and headed toward the back stairwell. Jake unlocked the door, and they slipped inside, hurrying up the stairwell as quietly as possible. It seemed to Jake that it should have taken longer to climb five flights of stairs, but before he knew it, they were staring at an entry door for the fifth floor.

"This is it," Jake said. "Are you sure you want to do this? I really appreciate you and your friends getting me this far, but I don't need your help searching the room. There's no sense in both of us taking the risk."

Mallory shook her head. "Silas had all that information on me, and that makes it personal. Besides, both of us looking will get it done faster so we can get the hell out of here."

He still didn't like it but couldn't exactly argue. Having her involved saved him the time of sorting through things he might not immediately understand. "All right," he said as he pushed the door open and stepped into the hallway.

They tried to appear nonchalant as they walked down the hall, just in case anyone stepped out of a room or off the elevator. The easiest way to be overlooked was to give the appearance of a young couple staying at the hotel, minus the hand-holding part, of course. Hand-holding with Mallory would most likely come with repercussions they didn't need at the moment.

They were almost to the end of the hallway when a door to one of the rooms opened and Brad, the dealer at the table next to Jake, stepped into the hall. Jake inwardly cursed his bad luck and prepared to play the role of the cad who'd decided to hook up with the attendant, but he didn't even get the chance to move into action.

Brad's usual simple, jovial expression was hard, his eyes narrowed at the two of them and flashing with anger. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a badge with the initials ATF on it, then motioned for the two of them to enter his room. Surprised, Jake stepped into the room, Mallory close behind.

Brad shut the door and turned to face them. "What the hell do you think you're doing? And don't even try and pass off some stupid story about a rendezvous." He pointed toward the door. "There's only one room left past mine and it belongs to Silas Hebert."

Brad pointed a finger at Jake. "You have stuck out like a sore thumb since you arrived at the casino. It only took me two minutes to peg you as a Fed and another five minutes to find out exactly why you were here. Why in God's name didn't they get someone Southern for this job? Someone who could blend?" He waved one hand in dismissal. "Never mind. I don't even care. I just want you out of here and lying low."

"I've got my own business to take care of," Jake said. "And it doesn't involve the ATF."

"The hell it doesn't! This tournament is all about the ATF. We've been building a case for over three years, and I'm not about to let a money-laundering bust by the FBI interfere with taking down one of the largest arms deals of the decade."

Mallory gasped and stared at Brad in horror. "Oh, my God! Is that what my uncle's involved in? Arms dealing?"

Brad gave her a derisive look. "Please. Reginald St. Claire isn't a big enough player to do this kind of business. He doesn't have the smarts--or the balls if all his protesting is any indication of his backbone."

Mallory's face cleared in understanding and she narrowed her eyes at Brad. "But he has the connections, right? You were the one who put together this tournament. You made up the list of players hoping to get enough evidence to bust them when they were all together. Exactly what do you have on my uncle?"

"Enough to make him play. Insurance fraud and some creative accounting that the IRS might be interested in, among other things."

Mallory stared at him, disgusted. "And what about all the people you've put in the middle of your crap--the attendants, the dealers, the kitchen staff? You're risking their safety, and you don't even care."

Brad shrugged. "We took the necessary precautions. That was the purpose of the metal detectors. Besides, all the employees had a choice when they took this job. If they didn't know about the players' list beforehand, anyone had an opportunity to step off the boat that first day."

"Without pay," Mallory argued. "They could step off the boat and have no pay coming by Friday."

"Not my problem. And neither is some piddly crap the FBI wants to hang on Silas Hebert. The two of you are not going to fuck up my takedown. If Silas catches either of you spying on him, he'll leave immediately and tell the others that the Feds are here. It won't take five minutes to make this entire tournament a ghost town."

"So Silas Hebert isn't part of your ATF bust?" Mallory asked. "Then why was he invited?"

"We were watching him," Brad admitted, "but so far there is no indication that he's involved with any of the people we're looking to take down." He pointed at them. "The two of you are going to leave here and forget any thoughts you may have had about breaking into Silas's room."