Chapter Seven
Ideas are commodity;
Execution of them is not.
Saul watched on the monitors in the security centre as Linus made his way towards the elevator. The security watchers had spotted him too and were about to report him to the security guards when Saul suddenly felt very weak. Grabbing onto the banister in front of him, Saul tried to stable himself. Hearing the bang, the security members looked at him in surprise before watching him fall to the ground, grabbing his chest.
"Mr. Zerga."
Linus punched in the security code to an elevator and watched in nervous silence as the doors slowly opened. Livingston quickly switched the video feeds in the elevator and everywhere else not wanting anyone to get caught, while the security detail dealt with an unconscious Saul.
Linus placed his briefcase down on the floor and reached over to the hatch, ready to escape the elevator, so that Natalie and he could make their way towards the vault. He was just hoping that Natalie's conversation with her mother hadn't gone longer than she suspected or this thirty minute timeline was going to get really tight.
Flipping over the hatch, Linus reached down to grab the briefcase when he saw Danny with Natalie. Linus shouted in shock.
"Now you really didn't think that I was going to sit this one did you," Danny asked Linus, as both he and Natalie smiled. Linus looked up at them both of them in shock.
"What you didn't trust me?"
"We do now," Natalie answered, snapping her fingers and reaching for the briefcase. Linus handed her the briefcase. Moving aside she allowed her father to help Linus up into the elevator shaft that now hid all three of them.
Opening the briefcase, Natalie pulled out the fake bottom and pulled out each of the tools that were needed. Handing both Linus and her father their set, as she grabbed her own, she looked at them with a small smile.
"How did you get here," Linus asked Danny, as he clipped his own tools onto his black suit, taking off his costume.
"If you give a friend a couple million," Danny answered.
"Wait," Linus said confused, "What about you, Rusty the whole argument, the tears? What was that about?" Both Natalie and Danny looked at the rookie with matching smirks. Linus looked exasperated.
"Oh come on," he complained, "Why'd you make me go through all this? Why not just tell me?" Both Danny and Natalie looked at one another before Natalie looked back at the rookie with a little bit of pity.
"Your father," she explained, "When my father first entered this life, your dad threw mine into the pool without so much as a life vest. Rusty tried to do the same to me…it was your turn." Danny looked at his daughter for a moment intrigued.
"I want to hear about that later."
"Come on, let's get goin'," Natalie stated, ignoring her father as she looked at the watch she had swiped from one of Benedict's rich friends, "Yen has about three minutes of breathing time left."
Saul was still passed out on the floor as Rusty dressed as a doctor tried to give him CPR, while both Virgil and Turk once again dressed as his security detail rushed inside. Walking towards Rusty they leaned down to him, inquiring about what they should tell his granddaughter.
"I'm sorry," Rusty stated, "We've lost him."
As they attached their rappelling lines to the bottom of the elevator, Linus looked at Natalie nervously. She had already attached the line to her belt clip and was looking down the elevator shaft. It was a long way down and Linus wasn't sure if these lines would hold them; Natalie maybe, him and Danny not so much.
"These things are gonna hold us right?"
"They should," Natalie answered, now looking at her father as he tested his out. Counting mentally to three in her head, Natalie let go of the elevator and dangled safely from the repelling line. Letting out a deep breath she looked at her father. Danny smiled; she sure as hell wasn't his little girl anymore.
"Livingston, we're set."
"Livingston, we're set."
"Basher, we're set."
"Hang on a minute, chief," Basher answered, as he fiddled with the pinch that they were going to use to cut all of the power in Las Vegas.
"We don't have a minute," Livingston stated, "Yen's going to suffocate."
"Then you better leave off bothering me, don't you think?" Basher placed the pinch back in the truck and walked away, wanting to stand a few yards away from the blast. Looking at the pinch carefully, Basher placed his hand in front of his pelvic region and looked at the pinch once more. Turning his body, Basher hit the switch and several things happened at once. The roof to the van blows and every single light in Sin City was suddenly dark.
The lights in the elevator go dark and all of the inferred lasers that had been monitoring the shaft are gone. Natalie reached into her pocket at the same time her father did.
"Alright crack them," he ordered. Linus reached into his pocket and pulls out the same glow sticks that Natalie and Danny had already pulled out. Dropping them down the elevator shaft, the sticks illuminate the entire shaft allowing Danny, Natalie and Linus to see the bottom. Natalie and Danny shared a look.
"Go." Natalie, Danny and Linus repel down the shaft and stop a few feet from the bottom.
"Shit," Danny swore, pulling on his repel line.
"Cut it," Natalie said, pulling out an army knife that she had learned to keep in her boot at almost all times. Cutting the line, Natalie dropped onto her hands, feet at the same time that Danny and Linus cut their lines. All of them hit the floor just in time for the inferred lasers to come back on.
Danny and Linus pull the elevator door open and all three of them peak out onto the hallway where the two guards were standing idly by near the vault entrance. Sliding a small device towards the two guards, Natalie signaled for her father and Linus to shut the doors once more and mentally began to count down, while looking at her watch. After hearing a couple of bangs, Linus went to open the door, but Danny stoppedhim.
"Not yet." The three of them hear a couple more drops and then Natalie smiled and nodded at Linus. Linus and Danny opened the door once more and Natalie pulled herself out of the elevator shaft as the two men held the doors open for her. Linus jumped out after her.
"We got it," both Natalie and Linus said, allowing Danny to join them.
"Do you think Yen got out okay," Linus asked, as the three of them run towards the vault door.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." While Natalie and Danny secure the guards' limbs with zip ties, Linus punched in the final code needed to get one step closer to the vault. The three of them watched in silence as the doors moved, revealing the most elaborate vault door ever made.
"Alright," Danny breathed, "There is a ninety-five pound Chinese man with one hundred and sixty million dollars behind this door."
"Let's get him out," Linus stated, while Natalie stepped closer to the door. Slapping her hand against the vault door, they wait for Yen's answer in complete silence. Inside the vault, Yen was putting the devices needed to blow the door into his pocket, before he maked his leap towards the other cages. Squatting Yen got ready to make his leap, as Natalie slapped the door once more. Yen took a deep breath before back flipping onto the cages, only to slip off the top and almost hit the floor.
Yen finally made his way towards the vault door and began to attach the small devices to it, slapping the vault door as he went to let Natalie, Danny and Linus know where he had placed them in relation to them. Danny took a deep breath placing the final device on the door, while Yen tried desperately to get his injured hand out from being trapped by the vault door in the twenty seconds before they blew it.
"Linus, don't blow the vault door," Livingston warned, but the warning fell on deaf ears as Danny counted down the final seconds, Yen was still desperately trying to free his injured hand.
"Natalie, can you read me," Livingston tried, "Do not blow the door!" But once again the plea fell on deaf ears.
"Two, one," Danny said and Linus tried to detonate the devices, but nothing happened. Natalie, Danny and Linus all look at the remote confused. Everything had worked just fine when they had done the run through, what was happening now. Danny presseed the button the remote a couple more times. Natalie grabbed the remote from her father's hand and began smacking it with her own.
"What's wrong," Danny said, while Yen who had been preparing himself to be blown to smithereens along with the vault door took a deep breath and once more resumed trying to free his hand and finally be able to get some cover.
"Did you check the batteries," Linus asked, looking in between both Natalie and Danny. Natalie and Danny looked at the rookie, while Linus returned the look with exasperation. Digging into his back pocket, he pulled out a package of batteries.
"You know," Linus stated, "You lose this focus in this game for one second…"
"I know," Natalie drawled, "And someone gets hurt. I don't hear Yen complaing." Danny placed the new batteries into the remote and then hit the button once more. All three of them ducked as they heard the blast through the vault door. Looking at the door shocked, they made their way towards.
Inside the vault was a mess. The bomb had blown the cash carts into the wall along with Yen. The small Chinese man pushed a destroyed cash cart out of his way and stood looking at them in exasperation.
"Where the fuck you been?"
"Sorry."
"Rusty, you're up."
Tess and Benedict began to make their way from the arena. As soon as the power had gone off and then came back on pandemonium had broken out between the two fighters. As they made their way out of the arena, a hidden cell phone in Tess' jacket pocket had begun to ring.
"Are you gunna answer that?"
"I don't have a cell phone," Tess stated, causing Benedict to look at her confused. Tess hearing the cell phone once more reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the cell phone.
"This isn't mine," she said.
"See who it is."
"Hello?"
"May I have a word with Mr. Benedict?"
"It's for you," Tess said, handing Terry the phone as the pair continued to walk away from the arena. Terry stopped for a moment looking at Tess and then at phone that she was offering to him.
"Who the hell is this?"
"The man who's robbing you."
Terry and Tess made their way into the security centre still on the phone with whoever was claiming to be robbing his casino.
"What's happening in the vault," he ordered his security. The two men looked at the tapes and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"Nothing, sir. It's all normal."
"Show me," he ordered, wanting to see for himself that this man was lying.
"I'm afraid, you're mistaken," he told the man on the phone.
"Are you watching your monitors? Okay, keep watchin'." Terry continued to watch his monitors as they went from a scene where everything was absolutely fine to two scenes where his underground guards were tied up and four men in black were packing the money in his vault.
"In this town, your luck can change just that quickly."
"Find out how much money we have in the vault," Benedcit ordered as Tess thought back to how that cell phone could have found its way into her pocket. She remembers her daughter sitting in the restaurant looking extremely pale, not even the rosy cheeks she had been so fond of when Natalie had been little. Sending her up to her hotel room, Natalie had given her a hug assuring her that Rusty would be in touch. Natalie must have slipped the phone into her coat pocket. Oh, that girl was going to be in so much trouble.
"Tess, perhaps you should," Benedict stated, looking towards the glass doors.
"Perhaps I should what?"
"It would be better if you weren't around here for this," Benedict stated, watching as his wife left the room looking dejected, "Alright you've proved your point. You broke into my vault, congratulations, you're a dead man."
"Maybe."
"Maybe," Benedict repeated, "May I ask how you expect to leave…"
"…do you believe I'm going to allow you to parade bags full of my money, out my casino doors?"
"No," Rusty answered, as he continued to walk through the casino, "You're going to carry it out for us."
"And why would I do that?"
"Take a closer look at your monitor," Rusty instructed, "As your manager is probably reporting to you now, you have a little over a hundred and sixty million in your vault tonight. You may notice, we're only packing up about half that. The other half we're leaving in your vault booby trapped as a hostage. You let our eighty million go and you get to keeps yours, that's the deal. You try and stop us, we'll blow both cash loads. Mr. Benedict, you can lose eighty million dollars tonight secretly or you can lose one hundred and sixty million publicly. It's your decision." He turns looking around the casino only to come face to face with his future mother-in-law and by the look of it, she knows exactly what's happening.
"Hi," he greeted, covered the phone with his hand.
Benedict covered his phone as well, the anger evident on his face. Turning to his casino manager he nods.
"Make the call." Walsh pulled a phone out of his pocket and punched in a set of numbers.
"911. Emergency response…"
"Hello," Walsh greeted quickly, "This is Mr. Walsh at the Bellagio, and we have four men with explosives who have taken control of our vault…"
Uncovering his phone, he stated quite clearly, "Okay, you have a deal."
"Where's Danny and Natalie," Tess asked, angered by the entire situation.
"They're fine," Rusty assured her, "They want you to go upstairs and watch some TV."
"Oh, they do?"
"Okay, you have a deal."
"It's alright, Tess, I promise," Rusty told her, before he continued his phone conversation with Benedict, "Good. Here's what you do. Five minutes from now, the men in the vault are going to deposit six bags in the vault elevator. If they meet anyone, we'll blow the money in the bags and the money in the vault. The elevator will rise to your cages, three of your guards will pick up the bags and carry them out into the casino. Now, if they take more than twenty seconds to reach the casino floor or there is any indication a switch has been made we'll blow the money in the bags and the money in the vault.
"He's in the casino, by the slots."
"Of course, I'm in the casino," Rusty stated, hearing him speak to his security, "In fact I'm staying in your hotel. I have two words for you: mini bar."
"As soon as your guards hit the casino floor," Rusty continued, "A white unmarked van is going to pull up in your valet station. Your guards will load the bags into the van's rear, if anyone so much as approaches the driver's door, we'll blow everything. When I get word that the van is away and the money is secure my men will exit the building and once their safety is confirmed, you'll get your vault back."
"Alright, now, I have complied with your every request would you agree?"
"I would."
"Good," Benedict stated, "'Cause now I have one of my own. Run and hide, asshole, run and hide. If you should be picked up next week buying an one hundred thousand dollar sports car in New Port Beach, I will be supremely disappointed because I want my people to find and when they do, rest assured, we're not going to hand you over to the police. So, my advice again to you is this run and hide. That is all that I ask…" Benedict held up the phone to his ear for a little while longer, but got no answer.
The white van that had pulled up in front of the Bellagio was now driving down the highway headed straight for the airport, as several beige sedans followed behind it.
"Mr. Benedict, our guys say that the van is headed for McCarran Airport," Walsh informed his boss, while Benedict continued to look at the monitors. Thinking for a moment, Benedict continued to watch the monitors before making his decision.
"Get everybody in position," Benedict ordered, "I want my vault back before that van hits the tarmac."
The SWAT team that Walsh had called in earlier repels their way down the elevator shaft towards the doors that Natalie, Linus and Danny had gone through earlier. Their guns at the ready, they tell Benedict to turn the cameras off and to cut the power.
"Cutting power now."
The SWAT team gave Benedict a play by play of what they're doing, while Benedicts waits with baited breath. The SWAT team breaches the elevator doors and checks on the guards that had bound by Natalie and Danny.
"Guys, guys someones here, someones here," Benedict heard Natalie scream to her fellow thieves.
"Take her down now," The SWAT leader orders. There is more indistinct chatter and the sound of gun shots and a bomb going off as Benedict listens in on the radio.
"Lights, lights," the SWAT leader orders, "We need power now." Benedict nods at his security team to turn the power in the vault back on. As the cameras come back online, Benedict watches as the SWAT team wakes the guards that had been incapacitated and smoke in his vault indicating that the thieves had kept to their word and had blown the money up just like promised. It was then that Benedict noticed something.
"Where's Mr. Zerga?" Walsh swallowed and looked at his boss sheepishly.
"He…he died, sir," Walsh explained, "His guards gave me this, assuring me that his granddaughter would be in touch with their lawyers and we can expect a lawsuit for letting him die while on our watch." Walsh handed Benedict a small slip of paper with a red rose on it. Benedict gave Walsh a sideways glance before ripping up the card.
"What's going on? Talk to me."
"It appears high explosives have been detonated. I repeat has been detonated."
"Tell them to take the van," Benedict ordered Walsh, "I'm going down there and find out how they hooked into my system."
"Yes sir."
