Take Down Read Free Page B

for an hour’s work. It got him excited just thinking about it.
    But what if he played longer? If he stayed on the tables for several hours, he could cheat Galaxy out of four or five million easy. Normally, casinos cut off a player when he won too much, but the rules were different for whales. The casinos expected whales to occasionally get lucky and take them for a major score, knowing they’d win the money back later on. As a result, whales rarely got cut off.
    Whales also got special privileges and were often allowed to play in private rooms, away from the other players, and with employees whom they liked. If a whale was fond of a particular dealer, the whale could request for that dealer to deal his game, and the request would be honored.
    Crunchie wasn’t kidding when he said it was the best score on the Strip. It was the best score of the last ten years. And all Billy needed to do was pretend he was some superrich asshole, and the money would be his.

FOUR
    Billy’s head was spinning as he climbed into the backseat of the limo. Every hustler’s dream was to scam a Vegas casino for a monster score, and he was about to realize that dream.
    He wedged himself between Pepper and Misty. Leon pulled out of the space and drove the limo down the garage’s spiral exit with the speed of a carnival ride.
    Travis was looking at him funny. Billy chose to ignore it.
    “Let’s chop up the money before we eat,” he suggested.
    His crew pulled out their winnings and dropped the money in his lap. He sorted through the bills and separated the denominations into neat piles, then counted the money aloud, starting with the smaller denominations and working his way up, just the way Lou Profaci had taught him during his apprenticeship in Providence. The take came to thirty grand on the nose. He paid his crew a straight percentage off the top. Misty and Pepper got two grand apiece, the same for Cory and Morris, while Gabe and Travis got three grand because they did more of the heavy lifting, while the rest went into his pocket.
    The hot dice scam was the sweetest operation he’d ever run. On average, they were taking down three casinos a week. Because the casinos ran three shifts—day, swing, and midnight—they’d robbed several casinos multiple times and had never gotten caught.
    Travis cleared his throat. He was drinking two-fisted, a Bud Light in one hand, a Johnnie Walker on the rocks in the other. The funny look on his face that Billy had thought was the booze he now recognized as something troubling.
    “You got something you want to tell us, Billy?” the big man asked.
    “Not particularly,” Billy said.
    “You were late.”
    “So?”
    “You’re never late. It just bothered us.”
    “Think I ran out with the money?”
    “Did I say that?”
    Billy started to steam.
    “We were just worried that something happened to you,” Travis said. “When you didn’t show up, we got nervous. We care about you, man.”
    Billy didn’t hear a word of what Travis had just said. They worked for him—he didn’t work for them—and he had half a mind to tell Leon to pull over so he could throw Travis out of the limo and let him go find another crew to work with.
    But he didn’t do it. He had a temper and he knew that it sometimes got the better of him. Instead, he pulled a Heineken out of the minibar and took a long swig. It calmed him down, and he looked across the seat at Travis and saw the big man cringe. Later in the restaurant he’d corner Travis and straighten him out. If Travis challenged him again, he was history.
    No one was smiling anymore, just a bunch of sour faces wondering what to say next. Leon pulled into the Golden Steer parking lot and circled the building. The place was packed, and parking spaces were at a minimum. Misty’s hot breath tickled Billy’s face.
    “Don’t be pissed,” she said.
    “Who said I was pissed?” he said, hearing the anger in his voice.
    “We care about you, Billy.”
    “You’re the