Potter's Eleven
By Natasha Shaitanova
Chapter 7: Recon
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I don't own Ocean's Eleven. I do own the compilation of the two in this story.
Quick A/N: okay everybody, it's pretty glaringly obvious that Hermione is not getting a major role in this crossover. However, I believe she deserves a major role as one of Harry Potter's main characters. As such, I am going to save her for the next installment: Potter's Twelve. You can probably guess who she'll play….
Once the group had assembled in the living room, Sirius shut the doors and blinds before turning on an enlarged version of the screen he used to show the olden casino days to Harry and Draco. The screen shimmered as it expanded, before focusing in on three elaborate buildings.
"Lady and gentlemen, the 14000 block of Las Vegas Boulevard," Harry waved a hand toward the floating images, "Otherwise known as the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the M.G.M. Grand. Together, you well know that they are the three most profitable casinos in Las Vegas…"
Harry paused and raised an inquiring eyebrow as Draco fiddled with some sort of purple crystal, jabbing it in the direction of the screen.
"Dammit, Sirius, how do you work this thing?" Draco banged the crystal-remote against a nearby pool table, scowling.
"Hey stop that! You have to love it…" Sirius grabbed away the 'remote' and stroked it carefully before pointing it back at the screen. Immediately, the images blurred into the next picture.
"Okay, moving on," Harry again grasped the group's attention, "This is the Bellagio vault. As you see, three tunnels, one from each casino, lead into freight elevator that descends a full 200 feet through solid earth to the vault itself. It safeguards every dime that comes into any one of the three casinos."
Harry paused a beat for dramatic effect, "And we are going to rob it."
The assembled crooks sat awed, exchanging cautious glances. Only Ron snorted, "Smash and grab job, huh?"
Harry fought not to roll his eyes while Draco simply looked disdainful, "A bit more complicated than that."
Eager to prevent any premature rifts, Harry jumped in, "Alright, bad news first. This place houses a security system which makes nuclear missile sites look outdated. First we need to get inside the casino cages—"
"Here, here, and here," Draco interrupted, gesturing a the corresponding images on the floating screen.
"—which anyone knows takes more than a pretty smile, "Harry went on, unperturbed, "Next, through these doors, each of which requires a different six-digit code changed every twelve hours. Past those lies the elevator, and this is where it gets tricky: the elevator won't move without authorized personnel fingerprints—"
"—which we can't fake—"
"—and vocal confirmation from both the Bellagio security center and the vault below—"
"—which we won't get," Draco concluded.
As the group watched the verbal tennis game between the pair, Harry continued, "Furthermore, the elevator shaft is rigged with motion detectors—"
"—meaning that is we manually override the elevator, the shaft exit will lock down, leaving us trapped inside."
"Once we're past that, it's a walk in the park. Just two guards with Uzis and predilections toward not being robbed…and the most elaborate vault door conceived by man," Harry finished cheerfully, "Any questions?"
Mute silence met the end of the speech, as each group member stared incredulously (with no small amount of apprehension) at the hosts. Finally, Cho spoke, reverting to her native language due to the excitement.
Draco seemed to be the only one to understand her, "Nah, tunneling is out. There are Richter scales monitoring the ground for one hundred yards in every direction. If a gnome decided to nest there, they'd know about it. Anyone else?"
Ron frowned, "Why don't we just use magic? A few confounding charms, hexed, basic spellwork, and it's in the bag…"
"Oh right, we forgot to mention this," Draco spoke with faked sincerity, "The three casinos are owned by none other than Severus Snape. Without a doubt, he would be monitoring magical activity levels in his casinos at all times."
Another silence descended over the living room, interrupted eventually by Fred, "So, ah, you mentioned good news?"
Harry smiled, pleased that the question was asked, "The Nevada Gaming Commission stipulates: a casino must hold in reserve enough cash to cover every chip in play on its floor. As I already said, this vault services each of the three casinos above. This means that, by law, during the week it must hold anywhere from sixty to seventy million dollars in cash and coin. On a weekend, between eighty and ninety million. On a fight night, like the one two weeks from tonight, the night we are going to rob it…"
"At least a hundred and fifty million, without breaking a sweat," Draco crossed his arms, secretly delighted at the bulging eyes of their audience, "There are eleven of us. Each gets an equal share. You do the math…"
George, seemingly counting on his fingers, whistles.
"That's what I said," Draco smirked.
As the others are muttering in low voices, suitably impressed with their share, Lupin raises his hand, "I have a question."
As Harry nodded for him to go on, Remus spoke quietly, "Say we get into the cage, and through the security doors there, and down the elevator we can't move, and past the guards with the guns, and into the vault we can't open…"
"Without being seen by the cameras," Draco pitched in, "Sorry, forgot to mention that."
"Well ok, say we do all that…We are just supposed to walk out of there with a hundred plus million in cash on us without being stopped?"
Harry threw on his most charming grin, one even Draco could not refuse, "Yeah."
Remus leaned back and pressed a hand to his stomach, before popping a Rolaid.
"Alright, here's how we start. First task: reconnaissance. I want to know everything that is going on in the casinos, from the rotation of the dealers to the path of every cash cart..."
A pair of security guards pushed a cash cart past the tourists and players, navigating their way through the casino floor. As they passed a blackjack table, neither noticed a gamer turn slightly and follow them to the cages entrance with his eyes.
Ron turned back as the guards disappeared behind the security doors, reeling in his winnings.
"…I want to know everything about every guard, every watcher, anyone with a security pass. I wanna know where they are from, what their nicknames are, how they take their coffee…"
Draco snorted casually at the latter.
Dean joined two technicians in one of the back rooms for a smoke break, casually doing a crossword on the other side of the table. The pair grumbled about their sex lives in front of an apparently uninterested coworker.
"You know, I've only seen her once but I think Charmaine really likes me…"
Dean tried not to chuckle at the unlikely affair with an exotic dancer as she scribbled a transcript of the conversation into the crossword puzzle. His gaze lingered on the technician's electronic key-card, clipped to his belt.
An identical electronic card, with only minute differences of a picture and a name for the various employees, was swiped through a keypad at one of the entrances to the cages, red light flickering to green.
The Weasley twins turned their backs to the entering technician, but not before noting the sentry at the entrance as well as the security camera imbedded in the ceiling above the door.
Fred nudged his twin as the two headed fro the exit. George nodded. No one went through to the cages unchecked.
"Most of all, I want you guys to know these casinos. They were built as labyrinths, to keep people in. I want you to know the quick routes out."
Fred and George got perhaps ten feet away from their recon station, before splitting ways.
"I'm telling you, the exit is that way! Look, I can even see the light, I swear…"
"Right, with the sense of direction you have!"
"Better than yours! You're heading to the high stakes area!"
"The hell I am! Look—there are the slots, they are always near the entrance…"
"Second task: power. On the night of the fight, we're gonna throw the switch on sin city. Zabini, it's your show."
"Got it, boss…"
Blaise strolled casually down the street, amid the other tourists, before stepping toward the road and waving an orange traffic cone through the air. Quickly, he positioned three orange cones around a man-hole cover in the right traffic lane, his actions so relaxed that no one spared him a second glance.
With the man-hole safely protected from on-coming traffic, Blaise used a metal hook to pull up the cover and flip it off to the side. He wasted no time dropping in.
In a large, fluorescently-lit room, dozens of watchers monitor computer screens that oversee the gaming floor, keeping check of the comings and goings of the players.
Slightly apart from the central hubbub of main casino monitors, another bank of computer screens is manned by two watchers. These two oversee a different section of the building—the cages, the tunnels, the elevator, and of course, the vault the lead to.
"Third task: surveillance. Casino security has an eye and ear on everything, so we want an eye and ear on them. Neville…"
"Well, it's not the least accessible system I've seen, but it's close, "Neville mumbled as he pored over a familiar set of blueprints, "I don't suppose they have a closed-circuit feed I could tap into?"
Harry chewed his lip before glancing at Draco. The latter shook his head.
"No such luck."
"Well, this is definitely a black-bag job. Do they employ and in-house technician?"
Draco grinned, "Two. And one of them is lonely…"
In the bowels of the Olympic Gardens strip club, one of the technicians Dean had eavesdropped on sat drunkenly in a front row seat, with a busty blonde in his lap. The lap dance progressed swiftly as the oblivious employee dished out twenty bucks every few minutes, pawing at the torso of his "love".
The dancer ground her pelvis languidly, distracting the technician as she leaned forward and swiped the electronic key card from his belt. She tucked it into the back of her outfit and rose.
"I'll be right back, hon. Don't move a muscle."
The technician grinned crookedly, "Depends on which muscle…"
The blonde pouted professionally, hiding her disgusted grimace as she made her way to the back door of the club.
Outside, she looked around quickly before walking toward the best-dressed man in the backstreet. Draco smiled as the dancer approached and quickly traded a c-note for the key, "Thanks Charmaine. I'll have it back within the hour."
The dancer nodded, about to return to the club, when Draco added, "Say 'hi' to your mom for me."
'Charmaine' just shrugged, "Say it yourself. She's onstage in five minutes."
Draco looked almost tempted before popping a lollypop back into his mouth and jumping into his convertible. He started up the car whilst pushing aside a cloud of pink balloons in the passenger's seat in pure irritation.
A delivery boy weaved his way expertly through the Bellagio game floor, carrying with him a dozen or so pink balloons, all congratulating "Happy Anniversary!" He looked back just as he was passing the sentry-guarded door, in the process bumping forcefully into a tourist in front of him.
The balloons were ripped out of the delivery boy's hands by the impact, floating up to the camera imbedded in the ceiling.
"Hey, watch it, bud…"
A/N: And there you go—another chapter done. You know, guys, I am having second thoughts about the forced pairing of Snape and Ginny, even if for a little while…I am thinking of just changing the script slightly to rule out any "romance" and make it an employer-employee relationship instead. Although Snape might have other designs, it hasn't actually gotten anywhere…Why? Just because I really don't wanna write about that pairing. But we'll see.
As usual, please REVIEW! Please with sexy lollypop-licking Draco's on top:)
-NS