15(S2E4)-The Flip

15

The Flip

(Season 2 Episode 4)

It was the fastest sixteen hours of Sidney’s life.  The driver took an inhumanly small amount of breaks and multiple times they were forced to stop based on the bladder of the two women in the back, both of which had consumed quite a few drinks while they mentally dueled for control of the situation.

Any time Sidney left the car she was accompanied by a guard who seemed to be more about keeping her from making any contact with anyone else than stopping her from escaping.

Savannah had already decided that what she had was enough to keep Sidney on board.

The change of scenery, circumstance aside, was welcomed.  It was beautiful in North Carolina and Sidney couldn’t help but stare out the window as they crossed the long bridge onto Emerald Island.

After five or so more minutes they arrived at a house on the beach.  It was small, only two bedrooms, and raised off the ground on wooden stilts.  They walked up the stairs arriving at the first floor deck and the ocean stretched out before the rag tag group.

By the time they arrived it was morning of the next day and the water looked inviting. Sidney had never been much of a swimmer but she was suddenly called to it like never before.

“We are not here to swim, honey, we’re here to work.  Remember that.”  Savannah’s sweet southern voice ripped apart Sidney’s feeling of awe.

“I’m sure if I forget, you’ll be here to remind me.”  Sidney replied with no small amount of spite.

Savannah’s guards gone in first to check the place over.  When they gave the okay, Savannah lead Sidney to her room.  “Here’s where you will be staying, sweetie.”

Savannah then snapped her fingers like the villain in an old James Bond movie and one of her big lumbering men walked in with a large suit case.

“That is everything you need to be me,” Savannah explained.  “Seeing as how it is Friday, the first game is tonight, so I would get to it.”

“So who are you?” Sidney asked with a raised eyebrow.

Savannah suddenly dropped her own accent as easily as Sidney was going to put it on, “I’m going to be a brunette named Kate Rothchild.  When we go in tonight you will introduce me as such.  Kate will be playing on Savannah’s dime.”

Sidney was impressed with her northern accent.  She knew it was harder for a southerner to drop their accent then it was for a northerner to fake a southern accent.  “Well done.”

Savannah’s chimey southern bell returned.  “What dear?  Did you think you were the only one with talent?”  With that, Savannah made her exit shutting the door behind her.

Sidney opened the case in front of her.  Staring at the contents within, she couldn’t help but smile.  “Time to go to work.”

****

Linda stared at the two as they drove.

“So, what’s the first move?” Hank asked Tobias.

“Get to North Carolina as fast as possible, then you’re going to have to work the dealers.” Tobias answered.

“How?  Do we have that information?”  Hank asked before picking up his bottle and spitting some of the chew into it.

“I have Skeever working on it.  Once we flip the dealers, Sidney will start getting good cards and she’ll be able to work the table.” Tobias answered.

Linda had heard enough.  “So let me get this straight, you got my brother in on this?”

Both Tobias and Hank sat ridged for a second, having gotten too involved in the job they had forgotten Linda was in the car.

Neither one of them could answer.  She watched as each of them scrambled to come up with a lie.  “Not to mention the fact, it appears that Hank is familiar with Sidney, which would imply he’s been in on jobs before, which is really interesting since I introduced you after you promised me you were done with all this criminal stuff.”

Tobias sighed and scratched his head.  He was caught red handed.  Hank got defensive.  “I can take care of myself.”

 “If you could, you wouldn’t be in the car right now,” she said sarcastically to Hank before turning back to Tobias. “So my brother was in on whatever you pulled to get the restaurant then?”

Tobias was taken aback.  “How did you know about that?”

Linda raised an eyebrow.  “One day out of the blue all your problems with your crappy boss are gone and you suddenly own the place? You’re not as slick as you think you are.”

Hank scowled at Tobias.  “You let her come along.”

Tobias sighed and decided to come clean… with everything.

****

The limo pulled into a large driveway in front of a huge beachfront house.  Sidney was in the back dressed in her best Savannah get-up.  Across from her sat the real Savannah, her hair brown and her blue eyes obscured by heavy glasses.  Savannah now wore jeans and a long sleeve top, while Sidney was dressed in the business skirt attire.

It was as if they had traded places.

“Remember what you are doing?” Savannah said one more time as the car pulled to a halt in front of the front door to the beach house.

Sidney sighed with frustration.  This had been the fourth time they had gone over it. “The password to get past the door man is ‘absent’.  Once inside a clerk will find me at the door, I tell them I am Savannah Burton here for the Heartland game, and you are Kate Rothchild, my guest player.  They will then take me upstairs to the game and then we play.  They will cheat against me so I fold a lot and stay in the game at all costs while you work the table.”

Savannah nodded.  “Good, good.  No tricks or we’ll have problems.”

The driver opened the door and Sidney stepped out, almost losing her balance on the high heeled shoes she once again donned to fit the bill of Savannah Burton.

Savannah gave her a quick and hard look when she did and Sidney shrugged before whispering.  “I hate high heels.”

They approached the door.  The doorman stopped them.  “I’m sorry, this is a private residence.”

Sidney’s voice morphed into that of a southern belle.  Her attitude switched to flirtatious and teasing.  “Oh dear me, I thought the owners of this house were absent?”

The guard smiled as Sidney batted her eyes.  “Of course I can make an exception for you.”

He opened the door and let the two women in.  Inside the house had been transformed into a casino of epic proportions.  Craps and roulette tables, complete with women scantily clad delivering drinks, everything except slots, since they were too hard to move on short notice.

They had stepped out of North Carolina and into Las Vegas.

“I don’t recall being that flirty,” Savannah grumbled into Sidney’s ear.

“Well you’re not, but Savannah is.”  Sidney whispered back before a small pear shaped man walked over.

He bared a striking resemblance to the porn star Ron Jeremy, squat with more rings on his fingers than skin.  Sidney knew he was from the way he carried himself around the place, like a man who was king of his own world.

Harrison Foote.

“Savannah Burton!  Your reputation precedes you.  Welcome to my humble little slice of paradise.”  Harrison had a heavy accent, and everything he said sounded like a lie.

“Well hello Harry, I do declare it is much more amazing in person.  I love what you have done with the place!” Sidney poured it on thick.

Harrison smiled the smile of a snake about to feast.  “Glad to hear it, my dear.  The poker game is upstairs, you just have to register with my clerk here.”

He snapped his stubby little fingers and called over the clerk.  As the clerk walked over he turned back to the ladies.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to make my rounds. Drinks are on the house for you and your friend, and good luck.  You’ll need it, there’s a young gun up there by the name of Demtri Markov, and I hear he’s a sleeper.”

Sidney had to bite back the rage at how armature a move that was.  The brazen little shit had basically just told them it was a hype scam.

Bush league.

The scantily clad female clerk came over.  “Hello, you must be Savannah Burton?”

Sidney nodded.  “The one and only.”

The clerk smiled and nodded, “Of Course, of course.  So this must be your guest player, Kate Rothchild?”

Sidney saw her first opportunity to flip the situation and she took it.  As Savannah began to extend her hand to introduce herself, Sidney pushed it back down.

“I’m sorry but Kate just couldn’t make it, poor girl has pneumonia.” Sidney said with a smile.

Savannah’s eye twitched as she fought not to blow her cover out of anger.  The clerk looked sympathetic.  “Well that has been going around, who is this then?”

Savannah smiled.  “Well it was short notice but I found a replacement player.  This is Sidney Thomas.”

Savannah took a second then extended her hand deciding to play along.  “Nice to meet you.”

The clerk looked bothered.  “Oh, this is highly irregular.  We aren’t supposed to let replacement players in at the last minute.”

Sidney smiled at the girl.  “Well I understand, so if she can’t play we’ll both have to just head home now.”

The clerk frowned.  “Well let me ask Mr. Foote.  Maybe he’ll okay it.”

She walked off toward Harrison and Savannah stepped up close to Sidney and whispered angrily.  “What the hell are you doing?!”

Sidney never dropped her smile.  “I have to pretend to be you, it’s only fair you have to pretend to be me.”

In the distance, Sidney watched as the clerk explained what was going on to Harrison. Foote turned and eyeballed Sidney suspiciously, trying to figure out if she was running an angle.

Sidney poured on the sunshine and waved at him.

“You’re going to get us thrown out!” Savannah seethed behind Sidney.

Sidney never stopped smiling.  “Relax, he needs Savannah at the table for the scam to work.  He’d kill a kitten in front of me if I asked.”

“He probably kills kittens anyway.” Savannah said sarcastically.

Sidney shrugged.  She wouldn’t have put it past him.

The clerk returned.  “Alright ladies, let me show you upstairs.”

End Episode 15