Part 4 - Thursday Morning after Gettleman Pitch

The next morning when the guys showed up, the mood was a little different. First Paige set some guidelines. Certain things were off limits in her house. And they all agreed to put yesterday behind them and to focus on the future. If this was going to work, they couldn't be arguing about every bid they lost. Even Scorpion lost bids from time to time she reminded them.

She brought up the two jobs she investigated, and before the words were out of her mouth, Toby said the casino job in New Orleans was what they should pursue.

"Toby, if we move forward with this job, you are staying back here and can be the go between as we set up and test the systems." Happy told him right away.

"The hell I am. That's a job for Sly. He's scared to fly anyway."

"No, Sly would be point man on the software updates and would need to be on site so any issues that arise could be handled immediately." Paige told him.

"All right then Happy."

"And let you roam free through a casino? Hell no. Besides, I'll have to build and rewire everything. I've never seen you be able to do either." Happy said.

"Then it's settled, Paige stays, and I go. Fine, we just all go. There's no way I'm not going."

The casino job was going to pay several times more than any other job they had been given. It was the best choice to make, it just meant plenty of baby sitting with Toby who refused to be left behind. Paige called them and set it all up. Sly looked over the contract and signed off on it. They were to fly down there in a week and do an entire overhaul of the security system and theft detection software they had. Sly got right to work getting himself familiarized with everything. Happy made sure she had all the different tools and supplies she would need as well.

What no one else knew was that Toby was looking at the upcoming horse racing sheets and preparing to have himself a fun time in the Big Easy. He had tried to quit gambling and for a long time he was successful. But after they walked out on Walter and Scorpion, he found himself placing a few smaller bets at a couple of the bars he went to. He was pretty certain Happy had no idea and he knew when she found out there was going to be hell to pay. Toby told himself it was just temporary, something to make some extra cash for them until times got better with Centipede. He thought this job was his big chance to make it all happen.

Paige was relieved to have gotten this job for them and take some of the pressure she was placing on herself after yesterday. She knew it wasn't her fault they didn't win the Gettleman bid. But she felt like she still had to prove herself to her partners, or maybe just to herself. Walter never made her feel that way. He always encouraged her and stuck up for her.

Thnx for the info yesterday. Got a job lined up.

Proud of you! Don't doubt yourself.

Talk later

Walter took it all in when they talked that night, he warned her about Toby and gambling again. She knew the risks. But if they were going to try and make this business work, they had to take the job. Risks and all.

"The next couple of days were busy. Both businesses had jobs to do and schedules to keep. Walter worked on the Gettleman account and had it all lined up and ready to go for next week when he was to rebuild their main infrastructure. It was probably a three-man job, but Walter was always able to handle jobs like this before, and he knew his ability was unmatched.

CP finished the two small jobs they had left and the Beaumont job as well. They were now all caught up before heading to New Orleans. They had the weekend off and were meeting at LAX Monday morning.

That left a couple of days for Walter and Paige to spend some time together with Ralph and finally let him know about the two of them.

Saturday Morning

"Hey sweetie, I need to talk to you about something."

"Be right there mom." Right there to Ralph could mean 30 seconds or 30 minutes depending on what he was doing or talking to. This time it was the 30 second kind.

"Yeah?"

"So, you know I have to go to New Orleans for a job and I'll be gone for a few days."

"Mom, I'm old enough to stay by myself, I don't need a sitter."

"If it were a couple of hours, I'd say yes, but this is three or four days. You are not ready for that, and neither am I."

"Do I get any say in who watches me at least?"

"Yes, I actually lined some people up to meet us over lunch and I will let you have a say in who we go with. But just so you know I'm leaning towards the first one so at least take that into consideration. OK?"

"Fine, but I want an equal say, since I have to spend four days with her."

Paige was excited, and she knew Ralph would be too. It was about 30 minutes to drive to the restaurant they were meeting at, so they left to account for any traffic on the way.

"Mom, why are we meeting here? Kind of far from our condo. Was it a centrally located place for people to come to? How many people did you line up?"

Before she had to answer any questions, they arrived and were seated right away.

"Give this first one a chance. I had a good feeling." Paige said with a smile.

Before Ralph's head could fully turn from looking at his mom, he spotted Walter. He ran into his arms so happy to see him. Ralph had missed Walter as much as Walter was missing him.

"What are you doing here?" Ralph was stumped.

"Well, I am replying to a job posting to watch a, what did it say, brilliant, hard-working, kind, troublemaker!"

"Huh? Mom, did you know about this? Wait, are you guys…"

They told Ralph the news. They explained why they wanted to wait and why they were keeping it from everyone else. Ralph didn't care. He was far too excited. He told his mom she could go ahead and leave right then, and he would just go back with Walter now. He had missed being able to spend time with him and it was obvious.

"The other reason we decided to eat here was because Walter told me that they have a new high-powered telescope at the LA Planetarium and since he helped to get it set up, he had a few tickets to the opening this afternoon and wanted to see if we could join him."

"You mean like a dinner and a date?" Ralph was being curious.

"Yeah, a family dinner and date. Sounds good to me." Paige said with a smile. "Don't push it, Ralph."

"Just making sure we were all on the same page." He smiled back at the two of them.

Monday Morning

Of course, Ralph wanted to stay at the garage. He hadn't been there in over three weeks. It felt like three years. Walter came by to pick him up from Paige's condo early Monday before she left for her trip to New Orleans. Ralph got in Walter's car and went right back to sleep.

"You get everything packed? Here's a coffee, with cinnamon; of course."

"I did. And thank you, I needed this. I know you won't need to, but you can call any time or text and I'll try my best to answer. I'm nervous of something slipping and them finding out."

"Hey, if they do, we will figure it out. I'm not losing you ever again. I promise everything will be fine here. I'd be more worried about Toby."

"Arrg, don't remind me. OK. Thank you again for watching Ralph. I'm gonna miss both of you."

"Anytime. We will miss you too. I will take good care of him."

Walter wasn't sure if he should just hug her or kiss her as well. His indecision didn't last long, he went with option two. She was glad he decided to kiss her, and she was hoping for the same. All the sparks were still there, and it made leaving a little harder to do.

The non-stop flight took a little over three hours to arrive. They got their luggage and found a shuttle to the casino. That took another couple of hours and by the time they arrived with the time zone change it was late afternoon. They settled into their three rooms and after thirty minutes met in one of the restaurants down in the hotel lobby.

Arrived at casino. Thanks again. I owe you!

Glad you made it. I owe you though! Ralph says hi! Good luck!

They went over the plan for tomorrow morning and made sure everyone knew what was going to happen. They didn't want a repeat of the last time they had a casino job.

The first morning at the casino went well. They met the owners and management team. They were shown all the areas of concern and the antiquated surveillance system. Toby was showing off trying to point out all the tells of the poker players. The owners may have been impressed, but the team wasn't. There was something a little different about Toby when he was around a casino. Happy was in for a long week she figured.

"Don't think about it Toby. We're here for a job, nothing else. And don't think I don't know about the few bets you placed after we left Scorpion." Happy hoped this would scare him enough to not do anything stupid. She knew what was happening back home with Toby gambling. As much as it upset her, she needed family more. "I let it go once, but I will kick you where it hurts if it happens again." It didn't mean she wasn't going to try to scare him though. "Got it?"

"Huh? Oo Oh look, he's bluffing see, he twirled the ring on his left hand, he's nervous. Did you say something Happy?"

"Not good."

They had made it to the last night of the job. They were a little behind schedule. Some of the patches Sly was writing were taking more time than he thought and a few of the wiring jobs were tougher because of the age of some of the equipment still being used. But their tight deadline was one of the biggest reasons they got the job for the price they did. There was a big event happening this coming weekend and the casino needed everything operational.

Paige helped where she could. Neither area was anything she knew much about, but she tried, nonetheless. She also went to the owners and asked for an extra day to finish things up, but they refused to budge. They explained payment would only be made in full if the job was done on time. Otherwise, they would only receive a portion of the agreed upon amount.

Toby kept barking orders at people to work faster, but never offered to help himself. And at some point, he decided to just take a walk.

He placed a few bets and won almost $4500 in under twenty minutes. He was on a hot streak. And by the end of the hour, he had almost $25000 in winnings. Half of what the whole job they came down here to do was going to pay them.

When he got back all hell broke loose. Happy was pissed at Toby and Paige. He gambled big, he told her he wouldn't do much at all, if any. He lied. She blamed Paige for allowing Toby to come. For even bringing up the job in the first place. What was she saying? They all decided on the job, her included. They all tried to have Toby stay home. He fought his way here, and somehow Paige was to blame?

Sly was upset as well, he needed help with the coding and felt like Toby should have helped him, but he made a backhanded comment about Paige not helping at all, maybe slowing him down by offering to help. She helped as best she could. She at least tried, while Toby was AWOL.

Toby was deflecting as much blame as he could towards Paige as well. She shouldn't have agreed to a contract with a loophole to get out of paying the full amount. They all looked at the contract. Wasn't Sly the attorney in the group? He signed off on it. Toby said she should have tried harder to get them some more time, maybe use a little more of what the good Lord gave her.

Toby even tried to play the hero. Claiming he knew she was in over her head and him gambling was only to hedge their losses. And they were buying it!

Paige was in disbelief. They were all blaming her, and if we've learned one thing about Paige, she isn't going to back down without a fight. She let all three of them know what she was thinking. She could have made a sailor blush.

"But when security got there to stop the yelling and screaming, Toby had her taken away and sent to the holding cell. Said she was belligerent and delusional and probably intoxicated. He told security he was a doctor and showed them his identification. They escorted Paige to jail for the night, told her she needed to cool down. When she did, she started bawling. Left all alone.

Toby convinced both Happy and Sly this was for the best. They didn't need the babysitter that Walter did, they could run CP on their own and that would be bigger cuts for each of them without Paige around. They voted, and it was 2-0, with Happy refusing to vote. They took the money the casino offered for the completed work, and they were on the first flight back to L.A. the next morning.

What was going on? They couldn't have just walked out on a friend, could they? Again?

Not Good!