On the screen, Wang popped a bottle of bubbly and served his guests. There were fresh-cut flowers on every table and a spread of food befitting a king. Beautiful women were considered good luck in Asia, and Wang was pulling out all the stops to impress.
Pepper and Misty ate it up. Not that long ago, they’d been living in a trailer park with a couple of pound pups, and now here they were, getting the star treatment in the ritziest digs in town. Being a thief had its perks, especially in Vegas.
Pepper and Misty made small talk as they sipped their champagne. They had reached the crux of the con, for it was now that Wang needed to be convinced to play an innocent game of backgammon with his guests. If Wang didn’t take the bait, the scam wouldn’t fly.
Wang took the bait. Of course he’d play backgammon with Pepper and Misty. Wang called the concierge, and a few minutes later, a backgammon game was delivered to his suite.
A coffee table was cleared and the backgammon game set up. Billy could no longer see what was going on, and he sent Misty a text and told her to move her purse.
Misty got the text. She picked up her purse and placed it on another table, pointing it so Billy could see the backgammon board. Signaling between cheaters had gotten a whole lot easier with the advent of cell phones.
Billy leaned back in his lounge chair. The only thing he enjoyed more than pulling a scam was watching another cheat pull a scam. In this case, the cheats happened to be his students, which made the play that much sweeter. He settled in for the ride.
Twenty-Seven
Backgammon was one of the world’s oldest board games. The game consisted of a board, two sets of fifteen checkers, two pairs of dice, a doubling cube, and two dice cups.
The object of the game was simple. The checkers were moved by a roll of the dice, with a player winning by removing all of their checkers before their opponent.
The game was a combination of skill and luck. An inexperienced player might win a round or two, but over the long run, an experienced player would come out ahead.
Billy had a good reason for choosing backgammon to scam Tommy Wang. It was similar to a popular Chinese board game called Coan ki, and there was a strong likelihood that Wang had grown up playing Coan ki and already understood the game’s fundamentals.
Misty went first and rolled the dice. Then it was Wang’s turn. It soon became obvious that Wang was an experienced player, and that Misty had little chance.
Wang won, and they started a new game. Misty suddenly began to cough. She’d worked on the cough for weeks until it sounded real, and cause for alarm.
Wang’s smile vanished.
Misty pointed at her throat as if choking.
Wang went to the bar to fix a glass of water. Misty used the opportunity to scoop up the four dice on the board and replace them with four gaffed dice hidden in the pocket of her sundress. The gaffed dice were loaded with motion-activated transmitters and could be made to electronically roll various combinations that appeared fair but weren’t.
Misty passed the real dice to Pepper. Rising from her chair, Pepper went outside onto the balcony, where she pitched the stolen dice over the railing. Bye-bye evidence.
Wang brought Misty a glass of water. Misty took a swallow and pretended to recover. Wang’s smile returned and he sat back down. The game resumed.
Backgammon scams were common and often took place beside hotel swimming pools. In these scams, the sucker initially got taken for chump change, with the bets growing in size with each subsequent round. The losses quickly added up, with the sucker eventually losing a sizable amount of money.
The con they were playing on Wang was different. In this scam, Wang was going to win, and made to believe he was the luckiest bastard on the planet. Billy didn’t think there were two people more capable of pulling this off than Pepper and Misty.
The sun came out from behind the clouds, the glare catching the computer’s screen. Billy shifted his lounge chair and the picture came back into focus. He watched Misty lose the next game against Wang.
“You’re amazing!” Misty exclaimed.
The feed had no audio, yet Billy still knew what Misty was saying. This was because every line was scripted, with nothing left to chance or improvisation.
“I give up,” Misty said to Pepper, following the script. “See if you can beat him.”
Pepper and Misty switched chairs.
“Let’s play,” Pepper said.
Wang went first and tossed the dice onto the board. The dice showed a four and a two, totaling six. Pepper pointed at the dice.
“Another six! That’s amazing!” Pepper said, following the script.
The game resumed. Wang continued to throw sixes, along with eights and nines. Each time these numbers came up, Pepper stopped the game to point it out.
Wang’s lucky numbers — six, eight, and nine.
It all looked innocent, and Wang didn’t have a clue he was being conned. Had Wang turned his head, he would have noticed that each time he threw the dice, Misty was tapping an app on her cell phone that caused the gaffed dice to roll a certain way.
But Wang didn’t turn his head. He was too enamored with the drop-dead, redheaded beauty sitting across from him. Pepper had sent an arrow through his heart, and Wang was smitten. Billy couldn’t have been happier, and he went inside to grab a Coke from the bar.
When he returned to his chair, the scene on his laptop had changed. The backgammon game was over, and Wang was pouring the last of the champagne into the flutes.
Wang lifted his flute in a toast. His face was flush with the euphoria that came from winning. It didn’t matter if it was a friendly game of cards or a contest with a million bucks on the line. Winning produced sensations that were better than any drug, even better than sex.
Wang had swallowed the bait. Now Pepper and Misty needed to reel him in.
Pepper didn’t think the backgammon con could have gone smoother. The weeks of practicing up in Lake Tahoe had paid off. Billy was smart that way; he left nothing to chance.
They moved to the sitting area in the suite’s living room and sat on couches covered in exotic animal hides. Wang fixed a plate of delicious finger food, which he graciously offered.
“You’re the luckiest person I’ve ever met!” Misty exclaimed. “Isn’t he?”
“You’re telling me,” Pepper said. “I’ve never seen anyone roll dice like that. You didn’t cheat us, did you?”
Wang was taken aback and placed the plate of food down on a coffee table. “Cheat? I would never cheat.”
“Never?”
Wang shook his head.
“So you’re a square john,” Pepper said.
“What is a square john?” Wang asked.
“A truly honest person. Someone who wouldn’t cheat, even when the opportunity’s staring him in the face. There aren’t many of them in this town.”
Wang laughed softly. “Count me as one. You could say good fortune is on my side.”
“You mean you’re lucky,” Pepper said.
Wang shook his head. “Luck is when you find money in the street, and that can happen to anyone. Good fortune is a gift from the gods. When good fortune shines down upon a person, it is that person’s responsibility to recognize it and seize the opportunity.”
“Is good fortune shining down on you?” Pepper asked.
“Yes,” Wang said with emphasis.
“How can you tell?”
Wang started to answer but hesitated. He wanted to tell them but hadn’t worked up the nerve. Pepper leaned over, put her hand on his thigh, and gave it a squeeze.
“You can tell us. We’re your friends.”