The Disciple of Las Vegas (18 page)

He twisted his neck and rolled his shoulders as if trying to gather strength. “We have a bank account in Vegas that we use for day-to-day operations. Either of us can sign for it. To get money from Cyprus, Ashton and I sign a wire or transfer request here and then he flies over to London and gets her to sign.”

“Not very efficient.”

“It's the way they wanted it, and it was their money. Besides, we don't do it very often, maybe once a quarter.”

“How much did they invest?”

“Forty million.”

“That's a lot of money. You said earlier you were in the hole. For exactly how much?”

“Up until about six months ago the losses came to more than thirty million.”

“That's hard to believe.”

“Believe it.”

“So the money you stole, it all went to Cyprus?”

“I said that already.”

“And it covered the losses and then some?”

“Yeah.”

“How much is in the account today?”

“Just over seventy million.”

“The rest of what they put in, plus what you stole?”

“Yeah, more or less.”

“And no one thought to take money out? Your investors didn't want to claw back their funds?”

“We were waiting until the fiscal year-end.”

“Lucky for me,” Ava said. “Tell me, does Lily Simmons know how you came by your recent windfall?”

Douglas shrugged. “I have no idea. I don't know what Ashton said to her.”

Ava stood. “Andy, get Mr. Douglas a glass of water and then bring in an extra chair from the kitchen.” She turned to Carlo. “Bring in the little one. I need to talk to him.”

Ava heard Jeremy Ashton before she saw him, a stream of “fucking Chinese” preceding his return to the house. Carlo was walking behind him, the gun pressed into his back. It was true that Carlo didn't speak English and understood very little of it, but “fucking Chinese” was something he did comprehend. Ava could tell that he was barely controlling himself.

When Ashton emerged from the kitchen, his eyes locked on Ava and he yelled, “You fucking bitch,” and spat in her direction. The spit had hardly left his mouth before Carlo's arm shot out, smashing Ashton across the forehead with the barrel of the gun. He reeled back, his hand reaching for his head as blood trickled between his eyebrows and down both sides of his nose. He started to say something and then looked at Douglas for the first time.

Ashton gasped. “What have you done to him?” he cried. Whatever bravado he had left was ebbing away at the sight of his partner's pain and humiliation.

Ava also turned to look at Douglas. He had sipped half a glass of water and some colour was returning to his face. The stump of his thumb was wrapped in cloth but blood had seeped through; he was still naked from the waist down.

“It's worse than it looks,” Ava said, following Ashton's gaze to the dried feces on Douglas's thighs.

Carlo pushed Ashton towards her and motioned for him to sit in the chair next to Douglas. As he passed her, Ava smelled urine. “What happened? Did he pee himself?” she asked Carlo.

“No, it was the dog. It splashed him, I guess.”

She turned to Andy. “Tape him.”

Carlo held the gun trained on both men while Andy taped Ashton's hands together and his legs to the chair. “Now, Mr. Ashton, just so we're clear, I'm not going to waste my time trying to persuade you to tell me things I already know. Your partner has already confirmed that you manipulated the software and cheated various high-stakes players out of more than sixty million dollars. Some statistical analysis has already been done. The Mohneida are now cross-referencing and confirming the information they've been given, but they obviously believe us already. Why else do you think they were prepared to work with us? So you cheated. And you got caught. The only thing up for discussion now is how quickly you'll return the money to the people you stole it from — my clients.”

“If they and you are so sure we cheated anyone — and I'm not admitting we did — then sue us,” Ashton said. Ava noted his accent. It wasn't exactly working class but it was rough around the edges.

“Lawyers are very expensive and very slow. We prefer a more direct approach. Mr. Douglas has already experienced it. Maybe you would like to try it yourself?”

“You wouldn't dare.”

“Mr. Douglas, would you care to talk to your partner?” Ava said.

“Don't be an idiot,” Douglas said to Ashton.

“They can't just do this,” Ashton said.

“I promise you, we can and we will,” Ava said. “We want our money back, and we want it back now.”

Ashton went silent. Ava noticed that sweat was mingling with the blood on his face, and his eyelids were flickering. She turned to Douglas. “Do you have a home office, a computer, a printer?” she asked.

“Yeah, it's through the door on the left.”

“And when you make a transfer from the Cyprus account, do you use a specific form?”

“No, most times we just write a letter on company letterhead addressed to the bank, asking them to do the transaction. I sign it here, and Jeremy and Lily sign it in London and then send it off to Cyprus.”

At the mention of his fiancée's name, Ashton's head spun towards Douglas. “Why did you bring her into it?” he shouted.

“They knew about her already, and if they hadn't, they would have soon enough.”

“Where is she, by the way?” Ava asked. “I'm assuming she's in London.”

Ashton was silent.

“That was a question, and I'd like an answer,” Ava said.

“She's there,” he said.

She turned back to Douglas. “Did you keep copies of previous transfer requests?”

“In the bottom right drawer of my desk there's a file.”

“Thank you.”

Ava looked at Ashton. He was sweating more profusely now. “Do you need your meds?” she asked.

“Fuck off, you Chinese cunt,” he said.

Ava drew a deep breath. “You really are beginning to irritate me, Mr. Ashton, and I'm not going to waste much more time being nice to you. So let me tell you what's going to happen now. I'm going to go along to the office and I'm going to prepare a confession that both of you will sign, and a request to transfer $65 million from the account in Cyprus to a bank account in Hong Kong, which the two of you will also sign.”

“That —” Ashton began.

“Hit him,” Ava said to Carlo, and averted her head as the gun raked across Ashton's face.

She waited until his scream became a moan. “I won't ask him to be that gentle again,” she said. “The next time you choose not to cooperate, you're going to lose a body part.” Ava leaned in closer. “Look at me,” she said.

Ashton tried to avoid her eyes, but Ava kept staring until he gave in. “You are going to do exactly what I want,” she said. “You aren't going to argue, you aren't going to negotiate, and you are going to stop telling me to fuck off. There's no other option. I've lost my patience with you, and on top of that, I don't like you. Whatever hurt you decide to bring upon yourself by being less than totally obedient is of absolutely no worry to me, because in the end you will do what I want anyway.”

His eyelids were flickering wildly, but Ava held his attention. “Say ‘Yes, Ms. Lee, I understand.'”

“Yes, I understand,” he said.

Ava turned away from him. “Where do you bank in Las Vegas?” she asked Douglas.

“Tri-State.”

“Can you bank online?”

“Yeah.”

“Is there a file in your office with an account number?”

“Yeah.”

“What password do you use?”

“Disciple.”

“Do you need any special codes? Do both of you have to sign on?”

“No.”

“Great. Now how about your personal bank and investment accounts?”

“Do you really have to —”

“Yes, I do.”

Douglas looked nervously at Carlo and Andy, who were edging towards him. “The information is in the bottom left desk drawer. The password is the same for everything.”

Ava looked at Ashton, whose eyes were closed. “Carlo, take his wallet out of his jeans,” she said.

Ashton jumped at Carlo's touch and looked at Douglas in alarm. Carlo went through Ashton's pockets and passed the wallet to Ava, who took out three bank cards. One was for Tri-State. She held the other two in front of his face. “Can you bank online with these cards?”

He closed his eyes and lowered his chin to his chest.

“Is that a yes?” Ava demanded.

He was silent, and Ava wondered if his meds had indeed worn off. “Yes,” he finally said.

“Password?”

“Sheffield.”

Ava stood. “I'm going to be gone for a while. Before I leave I'll ask the boys to see if they can do something about your thumb, Mr. Douglas. Maybe they can find ointment and some bandages. They can get both of you some water as well.”

Douglas nodded. Ashton didn't acknowledge that she had spoken.

Ava explained to Carlo and Andy what she wanted them to do. She had started walking towards the door to the office when she remembered Martin.

He was still in the car, his eyes closed and his head resting against the back of the seat. When she knocked on the glass, he jumped, then lowered the window.

“Things have gone very well,” Ava said, “but I still have at least an hour's worth of work, maybe more.”

“I'm sorry if I was a bit difficult earlier,” he said.

“No reason to be; it was more my fault than yours. I should have explained things more clearly so you knew what to expect.”

“Ava, I've been thinking,” he said carefully. “When we leave here, what's going to happen? I mean, what if they call in the police? They know who we are.”

“They won't,” Ava said.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Trust me.”

Ava was sitting at Douglas's computer, looking through his bank and investment accounts, and for once she was pleasantly surprised. There was almost five million dollars in The River's Las Vegas bank account. She transferred four and a half million to Hong Kong.

In Douglas's drawer she found records from three banks and a brokerage firm. The bank accounts held collectively more than two million dollars. She left a thousand in each account. His stock portfolio's most recent valuation pegged it at a million and a half. She put in sell orders for everything. When the stock was turned into cash, she'd move it to Hong Kong as well. Ashton wasn't as flush as his partner, but she still found just under a million dollars in his two accounts. Again she left a thousand in each.

Of all the things that had made her job easier, nothing came close to the advent of electronic banking.
It's too bad Cyprus wasn't set up that way
, she thought.
It's too bad I probably have to go to London.

She listed all the account numbers and transaction records in her notebook, then searched for flights to London. There was a Virgin Airlines direct flight from McCarran to Gatwick leaving at nine that evening. It would land in London at three thirty. Ava booked a business-class seat.

When she returned to the living room, Carlo was watching Douglas and Ashton. Andy was at the window, looking out at the two men in the dog cages.

Douglas was slumped in his chair. The stub of his thumb had been taped, but Ava knew the pain wouldn't have eased and that it would keep draining him of energy. Ashton was alert, and he flinched when she came towards them. His eyelids were still twitching, and Ava hoped it was from nervousness and not from lack of medication. She needed him to act as normal as possible when talking to Lily Simmons.

“We're just about finished,” she said to Carlo. “Once we get this group sorted we can get out of here. I'm going to leave them tied up. Hopefully no one will discover they're missing or come looking for them until we're out of town.”

“What do you want to do with the guys in the dog cages?”

“We should bring them in,” Ava said. “Noise carries at night, and we don't want either them or the dogs attracting attention.”

“Then we need to feed the dogs.”

“Bring the two guys in first. Put them in separate rooms and leave them on the floor. Tape their wrists and ankles again — make sure they can't get out of it — and I'd tape their mouths too.”

“Okay, boss.”

“When I'm finished talking to these two,” she said, motioning to Douglas and Ashton, “we'll take them off the chairs, tape them again, and leave them on the floor as well. Put one in the kitchen and the other one can stay here.”

She heard a groan. Douglas was awake, watching their conversation. She smiled at him. “Mr. Douglas, I just told Carlo to bring your men inside in a little while. There's no point in scaring the dogs anymore.”

He grimaced. “Did you get what you wanted? Did you do what you said you had to do?”

“Yes. I emptied your personal bank accounts and moved most of the money from The River's account overseas.”

“Shit,” Ashton said.

“So now you'll leave?” Douglas asked.

“Soon enough. First I need to get your signatures on this transfer request and this admission of guilt,” she said, placing three copies of each of the documents she'd prepared on the table. “The transfer is for $65 million. That's what I've been told you stole from the three players I mentioned earlier.”

She placed the paperwork on the coffee table and slid the table close to their chairs. “Are you right- or left-handed?” she asked Ashton.

“Right.”

“Carlo, untape both their right hands.”

As he did, she held out the pen to Douglas. “Sign these,” she said.

He hesitated, and she saw that he was trying to read the confession. “These are for signing, not reading,” she said.

He took the pen, his hand trembling slightly. Suddenly he looked at her. “That's why you asked me if I was right- or left-handed, wasn't it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn't want to cut off the thumb on my signature hand.”

“Obviously not.”

“That was smart.”

“Just sign,” Ava said.

The signatures were shaky but passable. “Now you,” she said to Ashton.

Carlo hovered, and Ava knew he was looking for any excuse to have another go at the Englishman. Ashton sensed it too, and signed all six documents without a pause.

“Great. Now the next thing that needs to happen is for Mr. Ashton to call Lily Simmons.”

“I'm not sure —” he began to say, and then stopped when Ava put a finger to her lips.

“You said she was in London.”

“Yes.”

“It's around midnight there now. Will she be at home?”

“Probably.”

“Good. So now you're going to call her and you're going to tell her that a Ms. Ava Lee, who represents some substantial Asian business interests, is going to be in London tomorrow and wants to meet with her. You're going to tell her that this could be very good for Smyth's and very good for you, because the people she represents have expressed an interest in buying into The River, at a very healthy premium. She would be interested, I assume, in selling some shares at a premium?”

“Keep talking,” Ashton said.

“I land in London in the late afternoon, so I won't be able to meet with her until around five at the earliest.”

“She works late.”

“Good. Now, you need to emphasize that I have to meet with her tomorrow. Tell her I'll call her at the office or on her cellphone as soon as I arrive. Tell her you've given me those numbers. If she has a problem with tomorrow, tell her it's all the time I have available. How does that sound?”

Ashton's eyelids were twitching so quickly she could barely see his eyes. “Why does it matter what I think?” he yelled.

Ava didn't like his reaction. She turned to Carlo. “Pull down his pants. Hold the gun against his balls,” she said.

When Carlo reached for his pants, Ashton threw himself back against the chair so forcefully it almost tipped over.

“Listen to me,” Ava said. “Carlo is going to hold the gun against your genitals while you're talking to Ms. Simmons. He will fire if I say the word
fire
in Cantonese. And believe me, he won't hesitate to do it. So if I were you, I would follow our script exactly. I want to meet with Lily Simmons tomorrow. Your only priority is to make that happen.”

As Carlo pulled down Ashton's pants, Ava went into the kitchen and brought back a portable phone. She sat across from Ashton, who was now as naked as Douglas. Carlo kneeled to one side, the gun pressed against Ashton's testicles. “What's her number?” she asked.

The shock of cold steel against his skin made Ashton jump. He rattled off the phone number. Ava dialled, and when the phone rang, she put it on speaker and held it under Ashton's mouth.

Simmons answered on the third ring, her voice throaty, full of sleep. “Hello?”

“Lily, this is Jeremy.”

“Hello?”

“Stop saying that, for Christ's sake. This is Jeremy.”

“Jeremy?”

She takes pills to help her sleep
, he mouthed to Ava.

“There isn't any rush. Take your time,” Ava whispered.

“Yes, it's me,” Ashton said.

“It's so late. Is everything all right?” Simmons asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, it's fine, just fine,” he said, his voice trembling just a touch. Ava hoped Simmons was too sleepy to notice.

“Then why are you calling so late?”

“I met this woman today, Ava Lee, who's arriving in London tomorrow,” he said. “I want you to meet with her.”

Ava encouraged him with a nod. Ashton plunged ahead, sticking to the story she had laid out. His confidence seemed to grow and he began to get a little too excited. Carlo pressed the gun harder against Ashton's testicles as Ava motioned for him to wrap up the conversation.

“I've given her your phone numbers. She'll call you when she lands,” Ashton said.

“Okay, baby.”

Ava covered the mouthpiece. “How out of it is she?” she asked.

“No more than usual,” Ashton said.

“Will she remember what you said tomorrow morning?”

“She normally does.”

“That's not reassuring.”

“Let me talk to her,” he said. Ava took her hand off the phone.

“Lily, what's the name of the woman coming to see you tomorrow?”

“Ava Lee.”

“And when will that be?”

“Late in the afternoon.”

“And how will she contact you?”

“By phone.”

Ashton looked at Ava and shrugged.

Say goodbye
, Ava mouthed.

“I have to go now. You sleep tight.”

“Thanks, baby, you too.”

Ava shut off the phone. “Well done.” She took a business card and a pen from her bag. “Give me her office, home, and mobile numbers.” Then she said, “Tell me, does she know how you got that money?”

“No,” Ashton said, handing her back the card.

“What does she think?”

“I told her that we finally became profitable.”

“To that degree?”

“The money we've made over the past six months isn't much more than what we forecast when we started the business.”

“And she bought that?”

“Is that a problem?” Douglas asked.

Ava shook her head. “No, not really. She'll know the truth soon enough.” She turned to Carlo. “Okay, bring in the guys and get them bundled away. Then feed the dogs. I want to get out of here in the next half-hour.”

“Now what?” Douglas asked as he watched Carlo and Andy leave the room.

“We're going to be getting out of here soon. We're bringing in your thugs. We'll put them in separate rooms.”

“You're going to leave us taped like this?”

“We need to have a serious discussion. Are both of you up for it?” she asked.

Douglas nodded. Ashton said, “I'm listening.”

“This part of your ordeal is over. How the rest of it plays out is entirely up to you,” she said slowly. “I'm going to give you two clear choices, and I know ahead of time which one you're going to choose. The thing is, you need to understand that by choosing it, you're making a commitment to me and my people that you cannot go back on. You may think you can, you may even be convinced that you can, but I'm telling you it would be the worst thing you could ever do. Understand?”

Douglas said, “Two choices.”

“Fine, choice one is that you decide not to cooperate. The consequence: you both die and the two guys with the dogs die,” she said. “So I know you're going to take choice two, and that is to tell me you will cooperate. In that case, the boys and I will leave the way we came and I will go and see Lily Simmons and retrieve the rest of the money you stole. Now, the key to all this is, what do I mean by cooperation?”

“I think you're going to tell us,” Douglas said.

“Of course I am,” Ava said. “Your thugs will be bound and left in the bedrooms. You'll be taped and left in other rooms. It's best if you don't struggle to get free. And if by some fluke you do, you don't contact security. Later this evening, someone will call them and arrange for you to be released. When you are released, you will tell security that this was a home invasion by three men in masks with eastern European accents. You will tell your buddies to stick to that story and you will make sure they do. If security calls in the local police, you'll tell them the same story.

“Neither of you will make any effort to contact Lily Simmons. None. If she phones, don't take the call. No emails, no texts. Nothing.” She shot a glance at Ashton.

“I get it,” he said.

“Okay, now let me make it clear that my leaving doesn't make your position any easier. If by some chance you decided to gamble and did speak to Lily Simmons, or — just as bad — told the authorities what actually happened here and maybe even managed somehow to get me and the boys arrested, it would not make any difference to your position. In fact, as I said before, it would probably worsen it. For certain my people would go public with the news that The River is nothing but a front for fraud and that you are the primary perpetrators. Your reputations would be destroyed. They'd come after all the money and then, of course, they'd kill you. And it wouldn't be any quick bullet to the head. They'd send guys like Carlo and Andy, who are experts in prolonged agony. Understand?”

“Yeah.”

“And neither of you would be able to hide. These people would find you. They always find who they're after, and they would take it out on you for making them hunt you down.”

“I understand,” Douglas said, sweat coating his face.

“Now, if you do cooperate, what's the upside? You stay alive. You keep the rest of your appendages. Your reputations remain intact. The River can keep rolling as long as it operates above board. And — if I can get Lily Simmons to sign over the $65 million I want from the holding company's accounts, I will return all the money that I just removed from your personal accounts and from The River's operating account.”

“You would really do that?” Douglas asked.

“I would.”

“And what if you can't get her to sign? Does our cooperation still have some value?”

She admired his nerve. “Do you have any reason to think I won't be able to get her to sign?”

Douglas looked at Ashton, who said, “It's not her that might be a problem. It's her father.”

Ava stared at him. “Explain that to me.”

“I hardly know where to begin.”

“That's not a good start.”

Ashton shook his head. “He's a self-made man, or, as he prefers to say, ‘a fucking self-made man.' He has a working-class background. His father was a coal miner and he was the first of his family to go to university. He took engineering, and when he left school, he joined a small company that made generators. Within five years he was running it, and five years later he owned it. Ten years after that it was one of the largest generator manufacturers in the world. It's a success story he never tires of telling, and he's always at the centre of it. In his own mind there aren't many people smarter or tougher than Roger Simmons.”