"Merritt McKinney," a booming voice announced as a screen flashed through pictures of the Horsemen that were about to step onstage—all but Audrey. She was a glorified stage manager, though she was easily as good or better at all of their tricks in rehearsal than any of them were. "Daniel Atlas, Henley Reeves, Jack Wilder. Arthur Tressler and the MGM Grand proudly present the Four Horsemen!"
The crowd cheered loudly as the four walked out onstage, and Audrey watched from the back.
"Thank you," Merritt said, smiling and waving, and clearly glad to be in the spotlight once again. "Tonight, we would like to try something that will, well, set us a bit apart."
Henley picked up the dialogue next. "For our final trick, we're going to do something never before seen on a Las Vegas stage—"
"Or any stage for that matter," Jack pointed out.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Danny said, looking out to the crowd. "Tonight, we are going to rob a bank."
The audience erupted.
Jack and Danny glanced back to Audrey, and she nodded slightly to signal them on.
"That's a lot of excitement for a crime," Danny commented with a smile.
"I'm getting excited," Henley said quickly, looking to the crowd as she addressed them with a flourishing wave of her arm. "What about you, people?"
The cheering grew so loud it was thunderous.
Danny chuckled. "Now, please, please, settle down. Now who here has a bank they would like us to rob?"
Almost every person in the crowd raised a hand.
Audrey looked over to a man that wasn't with a frown, turning a security camera toward him on her iPad and zooming in. She recognized him almost immediately—Thaddeus Bradley, the magician debunker. He was the reason her grandfather had died.
She turned the camera back where it was supposed to be and turned back to the show.
"That's a lot of people with a vendetta," Danny stated, "so we'll choose one at random. My associates will make sure, right?"
The crowd pushed forward as Jack, Merritt, and Henley grabbed glass bowls filled with what looked like ping-pong balls from the back with Audrey.
"Thank you, dear," Merritt said with a smile and a wink.
She rolled her eyes and motioned him on.
"Jack," Danny said as the youngest male Horseman knelt over the crowd and had someone pull free a ball. "Will you toss me the section?"
Jack tossed the ball almost leisurely, and it bounced in front of Danny before he caught it. "Thank you. We have Section B. Can section be show themselves?"
The section waved and cheered.
"Now for the rows," Danny said simply.
Merritt tossed him on of the balls.
"Thank you, Merritt. We are looking at row number five. Where is that?"
The row cheered.
'And, Henley, could I please have a random seat number?"
Henley tossed the ball, and Danny barely caught—much to Audrey's amusement.
"Oh," Danny said pleasantly. "Lucky number thirteen. B-Five-Thirteen, where are you?"
The audience applauded as a dark-haired man waved.
"Sir, please stand up," Danny said, and all the Horsemen motioned for him to get to his feet. "Ah, there you are. Hi. Could you confirm that this is in fact your seat? B-Five-Thirteen."
The man turned to look at the number on the back of his seat, turned to face them again, and nodded. "Yes."
"Okay, wonderful." Danny clapped his hands together. "Now, could you please tell us your name and the name of your bank?"
"Well," the man said through a thick French accent. "My name is Etienne Forcier, and my bank is Credit Republicain de Paris."
"French," Danny said with a nod and a slight glance downward before he looked quickly at the other Horsemen—including an almost nonexistent glance to Audrey backstage. "Okay. Uh… We were hoping for something a little more local, a kind of mom-and-pop credit union with no security. But that's fine, a promise is a promise. Could you please come up to the stage, and we'll rob your bank."
The crowd cheered again, and Danny swapped the subject.
"And while he does that… There is someone here tonight that without whom tonight would not be possible—without whom we would just be four magicians working the circuit, trying to get… Well, actually, trying to get here."
Audrey closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Four magicians, she thought bitterly, as if they could do any of it without me.
Danny continued on. "You probably know this man, if not from one of the many, many companies he puts his name on. He is our friend, and he is our benefactor. Mister Arthur Tressler. Please stand up, Art, please stand up."
"The only man here with the Queen's cell phone number," Merritt teased with a smile, pulling a few laughs from the crowd. "Actually, please, stay standing, Art. I want to say that when we came to Mister Tressler, we promised that, as a unit, we could become the biggest name in magic."
Audrey held the teleportation helmet backstage, waiting for Jack to get it.
Jack walked up to her and shook his head. "Nah, you're coming out here."
"What?!" Audrey asked in quiet alarm. "No, Jack, I can't. It'll m—"
"Make the show better and give you the recognition you deserve," Jack finished for her, taking Audrey's hand. "Now let's go."
"So we wanted to say thank you," Henley finished. "And, by the way, Art, you'll notice on the sign out front, we made sure they put your name on top."
"If you turn out to be as good as you think you are, dear girl, that won't be necessary much longer," Arthur said with a smile as he sat back down.
"We haven't done our closer yet," Henley pointed out. "Why don't you watch it, and then you can decide for yourself. Ladies and gentlemen, Arthur Tressler!"
"Thank you," Danny said, calling attention back to him. "And, of course, once again, the Cardinal of Clairvoyance, Merritt McKinney."
The attention was turned back to the trick at hand, where Etienne stood beside Merritt after a quick bout of hypnosis.
Merritt caught on quickly when he saw Jack tugging out Audrey. "Etienne, what Jack and our lovely stage manager and Fifth Horseman, Audrey Shrike—everyone, say hello to our young beauty—are bringing to the stage now is what we in the magic world call a teleportation helmet. You will need to wear this, as it will allow you to literally fold through space and time to your bank in the… Eighth? No, ninth arrondissement."
"Yeah," Etienne said with a nod when Merritt guessed it right.
"Now, once you are there we will be able to speak with you through this helmet. Now, Audrey, if you will be so kind."
Audrey handed Merritt the teleportation helmet, and he slipped it onto Etienne's head.
"Oh, my God, that's beautiful," Merritt said, and the audience chuckled. "It has the added attraction of being very stylish. It's about time that the French learned from America on that subject."
He looked at Audrey. "Isn't that a beautiful piece of headgear? Give it up for the beautiful Audrey Shrike everybody!"
The Horsemen applauded, especially Jack, who was clearly pleased with himself for pulling her out onto the stage for her well-deserved spotlight, at least it was well deserved to him.
Audrey waved and moved to the back of the stage again as the crowd cheered for her for the first time in a long time.
She took a deep breath, shaking her head slightly. She would've been better off if she had never tasted spotlight again. Every time Jack or Merritt or Henley pulled a stunt like that to get her involved, it made it harder to adjust to being behind the curtain, and it made Danny twitchy.
Danny stepped up to Etienne next. "Before you go anywhere, could you please pick a card, any card."
Etienne reached for one, and Danny cut him short by teasing him. "Oh, not that card. No, that's an old American joke, you can take that one."
He plucked the card free.
"Okay. This one? Show it to your friends in Section B, but not to us."
Etienne displayed the card to Section B.
"Okay, great," Danny continued. "Now if you could just sign your name there. In English, if possible."
"That's good," Merritt said in approval as Danny went on.
"Put it in your pocket."
"Now for one tiny detail!" Henley called, pulling a cloth from the pocket of her jacket.
The cloth grew into a translucent black curtain, which swirled and tumbled between the Four Horsemen onstage, bringing gasps and cheers from the audience as the curtain disappeared, and a teleportation machine was left there.
Merritt stepped forward with the Frenchman. "Now, Etienne, let's step into this cockamamie contraption. And I'll step off of it. Bonne chance. It's 11:50 pm here in Vegas. That's 8:50 am in Paris. Your bank opens in less than ten minutes."
"One!" Jack called as Henley pulled down a transparent tube-like structure from the top of the teleportation machine.
"Two!" Danny called next.
"Three!" Henley called, and the machine slammed shut.
Everyone gasped, including the Horsemen.
Merritt let out a questioning expletive.
"Wow!" Henley sounded shocked. "Etienne?"
"Whoa," Danny said at the same time, with a shocked expression. "Etienne?"
"It wasn't supposed to happen like that, was it?" Merritt asked with a frown. "I liked that little French guy."
"Wait—there he is," Danny said, pointing to the large monitors above the crowd and surrounding the stage.
The crowd started to cheer, but Danny quieted them quickly. "No, no, no, no, please, please. This is Daniel Atlas. Can you hear me?"
"Etienne, are you okay?" Henley called in question.
"Yes," Etienne replied quickly.
"Perfect," Danny said in a pleased tone. "What do you see in there?"
"Money," Etienne said simply, in so much shock he couldn't say more. "Is this real?"
"Yes," Danny said as he leaned a little closer to the screen. "Looks like three million or so Euros worth."
Etienne said something in quiet French.
"Okay, now here's what we're gonna need you to do," Danny started again. "I want you to take that card out of your pocket, and take the ticket stub from tonight's show, and I want you to put it right there in the middle of the money."
Etienne hovered the card and the ticket stub over a gap in the money.
"Now drop it."
The Frenchman dropped it.
Danny continued giving directions. "Now, on the side of your helmet you should feel a button—don't press it just yet."
"That button activates an air duct that connects Paris to Las Vegas," Merritt explained.
"Alright, now, Etienne, hold on tight," Jack called with a lopsided grin like the Cheshire Cat. "You might feel a bit of a vacuum."
Merritt chuckled.
The sound of air whooshed through the bank, echoing to Vegas through Etienne's helmet.
Then there was a rumbling noise from the ceiling, and the Four Horsemen onstage looked up.
"Wait a second," Danny said, holding out a hand to halt any cheering from the audience.
Three million dollars in Euros fluttered from the vents over their heads, and the crowd exploded into cheers.
Audrey laughed at their happiness.
"Thank you, Etienne!" Danny called. "Thank you, everyone!"
"We are the the Four Horsemen!" Henley called out to the crowd. "And goodnight!"