Chapter 25 - Best Laid Plans

Lee dropped Amanda off at the house and had Stephen remove his Edward disguise; then he headed out to find Ted. He needed to make sure he knew of the change in plans. As luck would have it, Lee found Howard at Augie's Palace of Pleasure and he was able to tell Lee where to find Ted. Lee drove to a phone booth and called him and explained to him the new plan. Ted agreed that it was a good idea. Lee then returned to the Greenwich house and found Amanda busy showing Beth how to make her meatloaf.

He spent the afternoon trying to keep occupied by looking at magazines but had a hard time focusing since he was worried about how things would go at the casino. He knew that Amanda would be safe with all the agency people around but he couldn't help but still feel anxious about her part in all of this. Larisa was a murderer and she didn't care who she had to kill. He could only hope that Amanda could be convincing enough.

Soon it was time for him to redo his disguise and for them to get ready. Stephen had his disguise redone in no time and Lee sat down in a chair with a cup of coffee to await Amanda. Amanda came down the stairs wearing a tan pantsuit. Lee couldn't help but muse that she even looked great in this outfit. She had swept her hair back in a bun and was wearing the long dangling diamond earrings. He couldn't help but stare at her as she walked down the stairs but as soon as she picked her head up and looked his way, he immediately pretended that he was looking at his cup of coffee.

As Amanda walked down the stairs, she had to concentrate on avoiding falling while walking in her heels so her head was down. When she finally neared the bottom, she picked her head up and saw that Lee was sitting in a chair near the stairs. He sure did look handsome in his blue suit and white tie. Her ex-husband rarely dressed up so much and he never filled out a suit the way Lee did. She slowed her progress for a moment just so she could enjoy looking at him before he noticed she was there. As she stepped off the last step, she cleared her throat and Lee looked up. Once again she found her eyes locked with his and couldn't deny the jolt of electricity that seemed to pass through them as they looked at each other. She shook her head to clear the connection.

"Are we ready to go?" Lee asked. She noticed that he had shown no affect from this and she once again reminded herself that they came from two different worlds and she was likely just intrigued by the exciting world that Lee had lived in.

"Sure, let's go." She agreed.

Lee got up and guided Amanda out to the limo. What just happened? Why did he feel a connection to this woman by just looking into her eyes? He decided that it was likely because she was off limits so it was making him feel things he shouldn't be. He was glad that he knew how to fake his reaction so that Amanda wasn't aware that she had gotten to him. He shrugged it off and soon they were on the way to the casino.

When they arrived at the casino, Agent Carson got out and held the door for them both to exit the limo. Lee noticed that he seemed to be staring at Amanda's butt as she got out. He decided he should keep an eye on the man in the future.

Lee had decided against putting a wire on Amanda while she was in the casino. However, it had been decided to put a bug in the paddy wagon that would transport Amanda and Larisa to the jail and another bug in the actual jail cell so agents could hear what was being said and to make sure Amanda stayed safe. Lee cautioned Amanda to stay close while in the casino since she would be vulnerable without a wire.

As they entered the casino, Lee looked around. It didn't take long to spot Larisa mingling near the blackjack table so Lee guided Amanda over to it and they sat down. Soon Lee found himself knee deep into the game. At first he found himself winning almost every game but then slowly his luck waned and he was only winning every other game. Then he found himself winning sporadically.

"Sweetie, do you think you should take a break? It looks like you are running low on the money you brought." Victoria said loudly.

"Are you telling me how to gamble? You know you don't know the first thing about gambling. You have to spend money to make money." Edward said as he downed another glass of what appeared to be scotch.

Right on cue a gentleman came over and sat down beside of Lee. As Edward threw down another losing hand of cards, the man said "Hi, my name is Ralph. It looks like your winning streak went south for a little bit. I'm sure it will come back soon though. Do you want to borrow a little extra money to get you by until it does?"

"Ralph, nice to meet you. I was winning big earlier. I know that I just need to give it a few more hands and then everything will turn back around for me. If you could spot me $10,000, I will win it back in no time."

"Well my fees are 25% of the original loan. I've got the money right here." Ralph handed Edward a handful of money. Edward quickly pushed it into his wallet which he had in a pocket inside his suit jacket. Ralph disappeared into the crowd like nothing happened.

Victoria reacted to the exchange and said "Dear, do you think you should be borrowing any more money. Jimmy is still expecting his loan back this week and did you ever pay back Jerry?"

"Darling, you just don't understand how this game works. Now stop fussing at me and sit there and look pretty. That's your job and one I know you do well at. Your Eddy has some serious playing to do."

Edward won a few small games and then without having to do anything, began losing again. Ted joined them and suddenly Edward began winning a few games. He promptly made a comment about Ted bringing him good luck as always and bought them all another round of drinks. It wasn't long before he found that the cards were no longer in his favor. Ted said "Well Edward, I think that our luck is just not holding tonight and maybe we should make it an early night."

"Nonsense, it will turn around at any minute." Edward stated as he gave the dealer another $3000 for chips.

"Edward, I'm not feeling well. I really think we should leave." Victoria said.

"Dear, you can't expect me to leave right when my luck is about to change." In no time, the dealer had cleaned out all of Edward's chips again. Lee knew that Francine was sitting at a table nearby and saw several other agents spread out throughout the casino. The important thing was that Larisa had come up to a table next to theirs and seemed to be enjoying Edward's losing streak. Francine gave a slight nod to Lee so he would be ready.

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity as the doors were shoved open and a number of police officers swarmed the place with guns drawn.

"Okay, everyone; you are under arrest." Officer Frank said.

The owner of the casino rushed over and said "What is going on here? I run a legit business here. There is no reason for it to be treated this way."

"I'm sorry sir, but you will need to come with us and answer some questions." Officer Sam said as the rest of the officers began rounding up every single person inside the casino.

Officer Frank started pushing people toward the door so that his men could direct them out to the waiting Paddy wagons. Meanwhile he strode over to Edward and Victoria and purposely grabbed Edward's arm. "Sir, you need to come with me. I believe we have a warrant for your arrest."

"What are you talking about? I don't have any warrants against me?" Edward exclaimed loudly.

"Edward! Where are they taking you? I need to stay with my boyfriend!" Victoria said.

"I'm sorry m'am. You will have to go with that group there. He's a wanted man."

"Edward what is going on? Wanted for what?"

"I don't know but it will be okay. Do as they say. We'll get our lawyers involved. They can't hold us." Edward assured her.

Soon Amanda found herself being pushed with Larisa out the door and into a Paddy wagon. As soon as they were both inside, the door was closed and they found themselves being transported somewhere. Amanda immediately started acting distraught and upset and began pacing inside the vehicle.

"Oh for God sakes, sit down." Larisa said sharply.

Amanda stopped and looked at her with a shocked expression on her face but then sat down. She placed her head in her hands and sat like that the rest of the trip to the police department. When they reached their destination, the officers led Larisa and Amanda into separate areas where Larisa was searched and both were fingerprinted and then found themselves together again in a cell that was all by itself. By this time, Amanda had used water to make it look like she had been crying and made her makeup run around her eyes. She took a seat on one of the cots and sat looking subdued and distraught.

It was Larisa's turn to pace and she yelled several times that she hadn't gotten her phone call yet and she knew her rights.

Finally she sat down across from Amanda and said "So this must be your first time in jail? You aren't very tough are you?"

"Victoria picked up her head and said "Tough? What do you mean? I'm tough. I'm just worried. Edward has been having such a bad streak at his gambling lately that he has wiped out my yearly trust fund allowance so I don't even have the money to bail us out right now. He keeps saying he is going to get on to another winning streak but so far he hasn't. I just love him so much but I don't know how much more our relationship can take. What am I going to do? I don't know why we were arrested but I don't know how I'm going to even get us out of here."

"Oh honey, that is a problem. Don't you both have jobs? Can you get an advance payment from there?"

"Jobs? I don't think Edward has worked a day in his life. He has a magic ability to win big in the casinos and I never needed to work. Daddy took good care of me before he died by setting up my trust fund. Since I met Edward though, it doesn't seem to carry me through the whole year anymore. I am still 2 months away from my next installment."

Larisa laughed and said "Your boyfriend doesn't seem to have much magic lately. You are in a pile of trouble sugar. That's too bad."

Victoria started to cry again.

"Oh stop your stupid bawling. Crying never helped anyone. Now wipe your face. You look like a mess." Larisa took some toilet paper off the holder and handed it to Victoria. "You know, I might have a way out of this for you if you are interested."

"Really? You have a way out? How?"

"Well I make no promises until I can see what you can do but you might be able to help me with a project I'm in the middle of."

"Oh, Edward and I will gladly help if that gets us out of these jail cells."

"Edward? No, I don't need losers with that kind of bad luck hanging around. In fact, maybe we'll just leave him right in that cell so he can't spend any more money he doesn't have. No, this project just needs you. You can bail him out after we are done if you so desire. If everything works out, you will have plenty of money to do that. What do you say? Will you help me?"

Victoria gulped because she knew that this wasn't the way it was supposed to go. Lee was supposed to be part of the deal. But she also knew that she couldn't throw this opportunity away. After all, this was what they had hoped for. If she didn't agree to do it alone, they might not have another chance to stop Larisa. She gulped again and said "What do I have to do?"

"That's the spirit. I will tell you after we are out. You never know if they have these places bugged or not."

Meanwhile Larisa got back up and started yelling for an officer again. Magically one suddenly appeared and agreed to give her a phone call. He led her away so he could bring her to a phone.

Lee appeared right afterward and Amanda looked up and said "YOU shouldn't be here. What if she comes back?"

"They are going to keep her busy for 10 minutes. Amanda, I don't like you working with her alone. This could really get dangerous. I think you should tell her that you had second thoughts."

"Lee, I can't do that. This might be our only chance. Can't Leatherneck come up with some sort of wire for me to wear or something?"

"I doubt he has anything that she wouldn't spot" Lee said.

Amanda sighed heavily and Lee said "I'll check with him though. Amanda, this plan isn't turning out the way it was supposed to."

"I know but sometimes you just have to wing these things." Amanda said with a twinkle in her eye.

It was Lee's turn to sigh heavily. He told her to be careful and then told her to meet him back at the house as soon as she could. He was going to contact Billy in the meantime and let him know this change of plans.

Sometimes the best laid plans were the ones that failed the fastest. This one couldn't fail though. It meant putting a lot of trust in Amanda's abilities and right now, Lee wasn't comforted by that fact.

TBC