Fast and Loose Read Online Free Page A

residents, and Cosmo is the lead attorney for the Nevada Gaming Control Board.”
    â€œNot just yet, Maggie. If Bert wanted to involve Cosmo and Lizzie, he wouldn’t have contacted me . . . us. He would have contacted them. That tells me we need to keep a lid on this, even from Cosmo,” Charles said.
    â€œI can assign some extra agents to our Vegas field office,” Jack Sparrow volunteered. “I have to tell you all that Vegas security is ten times better than the security they have for the White House, what with those Secret Service guys who keep getting into one sort of trouble or other. To say it’s top-notch would be an understatement. As much as I hate to admit it—and Bert and I have been around and around the bush on this—his people are better than my best-trained agents. So if Bert has some bad apples in his crew, those bad apples know what they’re doing. If any of you are thinking this is going to be a walk in the park, adjust your thinking right now.”
    The table went silent when Sparrow had finished speaking. It was Dennis who finally broke the ice by saying, “I think we’re up to the challenge!”
    â€œWell said, kid, well said,” Ted announced, clapping the young multimillionaire reporter on the back.
    Jack reached for the encrypted phone. “Anything else before I place the call?” No one said a word.
    â€œNo? Okay. Here we go, then! The next voice you will hear will be that of Bert Navarro, coming to you all the way from Macau, China.”

Chapter 2
    â€œI f we’re sure we’re all okay with this, then here we go,” Jack said, hitting the number two on his encrypted phone. He turned up the volume and hit the SPEAKER mode. The short burst of sound was as loud as a buzz saw on a still morning in the quiet room.
    Bert clicked on after two rings. “I’m listening,” he said curtly.
    â€œJack here, Bert. We ran it up the flagpole and everyone saluted. That means we’re all here. We’re good to go. Abner is going to drive cross-country, because he can’t fly. Dennis will allow us to use his Gulfstream, so we can fly out at a moment’s notice. Charles is working on a plan. That’s our end of things. Oh, there is one thing, before I forget. Notify Dixson Kelly that I’ll be bringing Cyrus, and we’ll say he’s a service dog. I don’t want to have to jump through hoops when I get there. It’s a game changer, Bert. If Cyrus doesn’t go, we don’t go.”
    â€œNot a problem. I’ll take care of it. When do you think the rest of you can get under way?”
    Jack looked around at the others. Almost as one, they shrugged, which meant they could go at a moment’s notice or they could wait until Charles came up with a plan. If necessary, they could wait three days, until Jack Sparrow could begin taking his vacation days.
    â€œIt’s Charles, Bert. To be on the safe side, I’d say we’ll be good to fly out of here in three days, give or take a few hours. Abner will probably arrive before we do if he leaves today, even though he’s driving cross-country. From what Jack has told us, this is not a time-sensitive matter, which means we will use the coming days to formulate a plan and, of course, run it by you for your approval before we commit to it. Will that work for you?”
    â€œIt will. Okay, let’s get to it. Like I said earlier, I have a lot of time on my hands over here and no social life at all to speak of, so I’ve been running numbers, checking over bank statements, talking to the accounting firm, reading reports, doing everything I always do when I’m at Babylon, but with a little more thoroughness. I can’t explain what it was or what triggered something in my head, but once I started the review, I knew in my gut something was off . I use the word ‘off’ because I am not sure something is wrong . My gut is telling me