"Sylvie?"

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"So what's your strategy for tomorrow's game?"

"Know your enemy. Who are they? What are they like? That's how the game starts."

"Got that, thanks." I leave my room and try to talk with some of the players. I see the other fifteen players gathered together in the empty hall. Everyone was doing their own thing. There were a few groups of people having conversation, probably about the game. But there was one person who stood out to me. The woman who had eaten dinner with Sylvie, she just minded her own business and didn't talk to anyone. All she did was lean against a wall like nothing mattered to her. When I tried to talk to the others, some wouldn't listen to me, others just wouldn't stop talking.

David Kenneth (#8), Former Amateur Skateboarder, age 34

"I had my identity stolen and lost just about everything. At the end of last year, I owed $750,000. Then, I heard about the Confidence Trick. I had a new lease on life. I managed to win $500,000 in the first part. But that only cleared two thirds of my debt. I had no choice but to go to part two."

"Thanks for telling me about this."

Kelley Meriwether (#7), no occupation, age 26

"I only got $100,000 in the first part."

"So why didn't you leave?"

"Wasn't thinking about that. But damn, this is fucked up. A million dollar debt if you lose? Fuck, they played me like shit. Thought it would be like part one. ...What if they're involved in human trafficking? What if they're involved in some organized crime or something like that? We'd be slaves for the rest of our lives."

I return to my room,

"How'd it go?"

"Almost everyone had some sort of financial crisis or came here without knowing. But they all won different amounts of money in part one."

"I see." She acknowledges.

I continue. "The skateboarder won half a million, but nobody else got more than three hundred thousand. There were even three people plus myself who played to a draw and had to play in part two. But what stood out is that the winners all said the same thing. They would have all left after part one if they knew that part two would immedieately follow part one. Nobody expected it basically."

"Good work. Well the game starts up tomorrow so let's get some rest. Don't wanna lose tomorrow. Hell, I can't lose even if I tried."

"What?"

She repeated. "I said, I can't lose even if I tried."

"Why not?"

"I have a strategy that can't lose. Not in a million years." She pauses. "What do you define as winning?"

"If I win, I'll get $16 million."

"True, but if there are two people left and you can only get $7.5 million, did you lose?"

"Not at all, $7.5 million is still a shitload of money."

"So what would you say to nothing gained? Nothing lost?"

"I just want out of here. I don't care about money. As long as I don't owe a million dollars and have to break rocks for the rest of my life, fuck the money."

"Good, because the bad news is that this plan won't get us a cent. The good news is that it'll get us out of here."

"You can do that?" I look at her surprised.

"Yep. We just need seven other people. That makes nine. The first round starts with seventeen people. This puts the cap at five. If we split up and take three seats on each boat, we'd have three people out of five left. No matter what happens, we'll have more than half of the remaining players on our side. Then we do it again. Split up and take one seat on each boat. Since the cap on each boat is only one and there are only two players not with us, we'll have it locked up. One us is left, he gets $16 million, pays $8 million to leave, pays the team $1 million to each of eight teammates and the nine of us get off scot free. Two people left and we actually get a profit. $7.5 million times two divided by two is $7.5 million. $7.5 million minus $1 million times seven teammates comes to half a million. About $55,000 to each person. This assumes the closest possible division. But if the votes are spread more widely, we'll win that much faster. Trust me, this strategy can't lose."

"A surefire plan. We've got this game in the bag! Haha. You're amazing, Sylvie!" I was relieved to know that all chance of defeat was erased. We could only win.