your left arm, and vice-versa—on the armrest. In the extremely unlikely event that you lose, I’ll press a button, and that very heavy iron block will slam down onto your arm, hitting it right below the elbow. It will smash your forearm into that deep groove in the armrest, breaking it in at least two places.”
Ethan stared at the armrest for a moment. “So it’s a horrific arm-breaking.”
“Oh, yes. It’s not a hairline fracture. Your arm will be broken.”
“I don’t think I’m interested.”
“I’m not here to simply hand you free money. There’s an element of risk involved.” Rick walked over to the door and called outside. “Mindy? Could you bring me two of the introductory envelopes?”
Mindy stepped into the room and handed Rick two thick yellow envelopes. He thanked her and she left. Rick sat down in the arm-breaking chair and tore open one of the envelopes. He pulled out a large stack of twenty-dollar bills.
“Five thousand dollars,” he said. “Our game is for ten thousand, so you’ll get both of these if you win. Or, like I said, we can do direct deposit. Do you have a banking app on your phone?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. You can verify that the money’s there before you leave. Do you feel like you have all the information necessary to make your decision?”
“I guess so, sure.”
“Then I hate to do this to you, but it is a game, right? The offer expires in sixty seconds.”
Damn. Ethan hadn’t expected that. He didn’t want to stagger out of here with a shattered arm from the Bone-Crushing Nightmare Machine. But there was only a 1% chance it would happen. A 99% chance that his problem would be solved. A 99% chance that he’d escape a devastating fight with Jenny. A 99% chance to chalk his gambling losses to a moment of weakness, and vow to never let it happen again. He’d get his note to himself tattooed onto his chest.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m in.”
“Glad to hear it.” Rick stood up. “Looks like it’s time for you to win some money. Have a seat.”
2
“Do I have to sit in the chair now?” asked Ethan.
Rick nodded. “I believe that you and I have mutual trust. But in the same way that I don’t expect you to trust that the wheel doesn’t have a magnet that will draw it to a certain number, you can’t expect me to trust that you won’t make a run for it if you’re unlucky.”
Ethan wasn’t comfortable with this. Yet he also had to agree that there was no way in hell he’d voluntarily put his arm underneath the iron block if he chose Rick’s number. He’d flee for the exit, no question.
He sat down in the chair. He took a deep breath, then placed his left arm on the armrest.
Rick crouched down beside the chair and began to fasten some Velcro straps over Ethan’s wrist.
“Whoa—hold on, is that necessary?”
“I can only speak for myself, but I would certainly pull my arm away.”
“How do I know you won’t set it off even if I win?”
“If you think that I’m the kind of depraved freak who would bring you here for the sick pleasure of breaking your arm, then I’ll give you the opportunity to back out of our oral contract. I hope you’ll play the game, but make no mistake—you’re not the only person wandering around casinos with haunted eyes.”
“Fine. Do the straps.”
Rick fastened the straps. “And you still want to guess the number I write down, right?”
“Yes. Can we use my paper?” Ethan wasn’t sure how they could scam him, but he wanted to take every possible precaution.
“Of course.”
With his free hand, Ethan took out the note to himself. He handed it to Rick. “You can write it on the back of that.”
Rick turned the note around without reading it. “May I use my own pen?”
“Sure. Actually, no. What’s your receptionist’s name? Mindy?” Ethan called out. “Hey, Mindy, could you come in here for a second?”
Mindy peeked her head into the room. “Yes, sir?”
“Could you get us a pen?”
“Of course.”
Again, Ethan had no idea how they could scam him on this, but he wanted to take every element out of Rick’s control that he possibly could.
Mindy returned a moment later. He thanked her as she handed him the pen. As she left, he looked the pen over very carefully. Just a regular ballpoint blue-ink pen. “Here you go,” he said, giving it to Rick.
“Admirable display of caution,” said Rick. “We’ve lucked out having you as a