Z-box. That’s why we set you up in this place. You’re Americans, you got distance from the Agency and you can keep your mouths shut. You were supposed to infiltrate the game, pretending to be hedge fund billionaires or something, and you were going to make it look like you wanted to win this thing. But to do so, you gotta look good to everyone whose anyone in town this week. You gotta look like you have money to burn.”
He held out his arms again. “That’s why we arranged for this place.”
“So this gagnant game is what all the calls between the pirates and those Monte Carlo phone numbers were about?” Batman asked him.
Maurice nodded. “Yes—the pirates, who we believe were part of a gang called the Tangs, and those characters from Bad Sweeten in Germany, and the people who run the game. They’re the ones who were doing all the flapping. That’s how we found out about all this.”
“But how does it work?” Batman wanted to know. “You say the Z-box will be the game’s big prize, but the pirates have the Z-box. Why would they make it available for this gagnant? What’s their motivation?”
Maurice smiled darkly. “Well, at this point, the Tangs are either all dead or they’ve been paid off—most likely the former. But whichever it is, it was done courtesy of those ex-Stazi middlemen from Bad Sweeten. They now have control of the box. They contacted the people here who run the gagnant, knowing in past years people have won giga-yachts, or Gulfstreams. Oil wells. Oil tankers. Entire oil fields.”
But Batman still didn’t understand.
“OK, but if the ex-Stazi guys have the box,” he said, “how do they make money on this game?”
“From the buy-in,” Maurice explained. “That’s why I asked you about the entry fee. To play in the gagnant, each participant has to put up ten million in cash, and then a surety for another forty million. Fifty million dollars each—that’s the buy-in. By providing the Z-box as the grand prize, the Stazi guys will split all that entry money with the people running the game. This year they’re expecting at least ten people to be buying in ahead of time. And if someone shows up with the full fifty million at the time and place of the game, well, they’re not going to turn them away. So, do the math. They’ll be splitting at least a half billion dollar payday, maybe more.”
Batman let out a long low whistle. “Fifty million each, on one hand of cards?” he said. “Some serious bread.”
“And therein lies the problem,” Maurice went on. “Because the consensus is this Z-box thing is some kind of terror weapon and now, only someone who’s filthy rich can win it—or someone who’s in league with someone who’s filthy rich. And let’s just say there are a lot of not-so-friendly types who live in the Middle East who are filthy rich. And if the person who eventually wins it is without scruples or has ties to terrorism, then we’re sure they’ll use the box against the U.S.”
He took another serious drag of his cigarette.
“Now, there is another scenario,” he continued. “If someone filthy rich who might not be linked to terrorists but is still without scruples wins the box, then they can always ransom it back to the United States. But they could also just sell it to the highest bidder—and make a nice profit that way. And believe me, though everyone in this game will be super wealthy, none of them will be upstanding citizens, I guarantee you that.”
“The filthy rich get filthy richer,” Twitch said.
“Precisely,” Maurice agreed. “So, you see, if there were going to be any heroes in all this, it was supposed to be you guys. You were to get in the game, or at least pretend to, because we’re pretty sure once the ten million dollar entry fee is paid, you get the location of the gagnant. And once we had that info, we were going to move in, raid the place, bust some heads and either retrieve the Z-box, or at least find out where the hell it is. Then you guys would’ve gotten paid for your troubles, the USA would have stayed safe and we would have all gone home fat and happy.”
He crushed out his cigarette and checked his watch.
“There’s a deadline for sending in the entry fee,” he said. “And it’s less than a half hour away. But if that asshole didn’t give you the