Romance in Vegas - Showgirl! (19 page)

The curtain opened, again, to loud clapping
and cheers. The dancers walked down the stage, with Dani in the
lead.

But, as she went to strip off the headdress,
gloves and shoes, she froze. She was back on the same stage, the
same night, feeling the same pain and emotions she'd felt then. She
couldn't move. She couldn't breathe.

Someone started clapping to the pounding rock
music, and others in the audience followed. She still couldn't
budge.

Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw
Kim come up beside her. She removed her own headdress, gloves and
shoes slowly, and told Dani, "Move it!"

Dani complied, doing the same. Kim and Dani
moved as if one, in a synchronized dance routine, with Dani
following Kim's every movement. The audience clapped and cheered,
as the two long-haired dancers flipped their hair back and forth in
unison, then did a salsa routine, more hair flips, ending on their
knees, arms and heads held high.

The curtain closed, but the audience still
stomped and cheered, so she and Kim walked out hand in hand and
bowed to them.

*****

Lefty watched his boss, still sitting now, as
everyone else stood in the theater to clap for the dancers. Al's
hands came up to cover his face, and stayed that way for a matter
of minutes, before he could show his misty eyes.

Al pushed by him, and strode quickly towards
the penthouse elevator.

Dani, after hugging Kim, dressed slowly in
her jeans and t-shirt as she waited for Al to come in. But he
didn't. Her eyes filled with tears, which she quickly brushed
away.

Suddenly, Stutgart was in front of her. Dani
opened her mouth, but nothing would come out.

"So," the woman said, "what do you
think?"

"I love it," Dani gasped, "Kim! Look!"

Stutgart looked so different, Dani couldn't
believe it, like a whole different person as she smiled at the
compliments from the dancers.

Kim's cell phone rang after they'd changed
into street clothes, t-shirts and jeans. "Yeah, boss?"

She motioned to Dani then said, "You got
it."

"Come with me," she told Dani, "command
performance. The penthouse."

Dani's heart contracted as she followed Kim.
This would probably be where Al ripped up her contract. 'At will,'
it had said in the beginning...his will.

They walked into his office, and Dani saw him
standing by the picture window, holding a drink, gazing at the
lights below. "Sit," he said curtly.

Kim just shrugged her shoulders, as they
looked at each other and sat in two chairs in front of his
desk.

He sighed deeply. "Can I get you each a
drink? I have everything. I can get you anything you want."

Kim's eyebrows shot up, as she observed Dani
now.

"Yes, please," Dani said, "whiskey." She
wasn't about to make this easy for him, she thought.

She heard a bit of humor in his voice as he
said, "Straight up?"

"Yes. Please."

He strolled to the sideboard, made her drink,
sat it in front of her on his desk, and sat facing them both.

"What's going on, Al?" Kim asked him.

"I'm sorry to disturb you all after a
performance. I'm sure you are exhausted." He paused. "What happened
out there tonight?"

Not sure if he'd been in the audience or not,
Dani said quickly, "It wasn't Kim's fault. I froze out there. She
led me in the number. When I leave, you should make her lead
dancer, out in front."

His blue-grey eyes trained on her now
silently. She felt a flush start on her chest and move upwards to
her face. "When you leave? And where, pray tell, are you going Miss
Troubix?"

"Just let me know if I have to sign anything
on my way out," she retorted.

Growing increasingly uncomfortable under his
gaze, she blurted, "I wouldn't blame you if you fired me. Besides,
once my body goes, I'll be history anyway."

"It was never about your body," he said
harshly, still staring at her. "It was about your spirit, your
drive to excel, your endearing qualities as a person." Then, in a
softer tone, "Feelings and moments we shared. I loved it all. From
the first moment I saw you. The total package. Everything."

Dani's breath came out in a long breath, as
Kim said, "Maybe I should go. Leave you two alone..."

"No," he said, running a hand through his
hair, "I want you both to get some sleep tonight. Dani, you and I
will continue this discussion tomorrow. Nine o'clock sharp.
Here."

Dani nodded, and she and Kim rose and left
him alone in his penthouse den.

At four the next morning, the pull began on
the floor of the casino with Maude, Linda, Freddy and Michael and
the accounting team with their clipboards.

But at four-thirty, after they'd pulled high
limits pit, with boxes lined up in a neat row, three high, on the
rolling cart, a figure in white caught Michael's attention as he
threw a chair out of his way. "Oh, shit!" he said to Freddy,
"Dani!"

Robert, trying to get the cameras more in
focus, had moved the one by Dani's room. Now, he received a call
from the guard, Candy. "She what?" he yelled.

"She's wandering around down here. I'll call
base."

"Dani!" Candy and Matt both yelled at her,
but she was impervious to their shouts.

"Base, 10-18, we need assistance," Matt said
into his radio, "10-18, high limit pit." Neither of them could
leave their positions guarding the money.

Robert placed what he thought was the hardest
call in his life. Al answered his cell, sounding weary.

"Sir, she's on the floor again. I was
adjusting my camera-"

"Where?" Al said quickly.

"High limit area five, sir."

Logan sat at the blackjack table, watching
her, the one in the nightgown, and slipped over to jar Beamer at
another table with his elbow. The two left, for all intents, going
to the restroom.

In the restroom, Beamer reached inside his
fake stomach, pulled out two ski masks, two sets of gloves, two
extra strength plastic bags and two military issue 45 revolvers.
Each had six bullets.

"You ready?" Beamer asked him.

Grinning, Logan replied, "Ready as I'll ever
be. You first, shithead."

"Okay, fast now," Beamer told him, "we'll be
in and out before you know it."

The two ran along the wall fast, guns
drawn.

Robert saw them first. "Base 211 in
progress!" he yelled into the radio, "High limits zone five!"

Chapter 17

The guards saw them next. "Base," Candy
yelled into her lapel radio, as she drew her gun, "211 in
progress!"

Marie in the cage saw them next, and pressed
the silent alarm. "Oh my God," she breathed. "Dani..."

Al's pager went off in his pocket as he rode
the elevator down. It could only mean one thing, he thought. A
robbery. The pager was set up for that sole purpose. He called
Robert, "Where is it?"

"High limits, sir."

"Is Dani involved?"

"Not yet, sir."

"Call down to the cage. Have them give the
money up. All of it. And evacuate the casino. Now."

"Yes, sir."

Logan could tell things were not right from
the beginning. Two bitches spotted him, and then they spotted
Beamer. His gaze found the one in the little white nightgown,
walking along as if she were in a trance. No punch and run on this
job, he thought.

Perfect, he thought. And he also figured
Beamer would be proud of him afterwards, thinking for himself and
all. They could get the cage cash too then get rid of the girl
somewhere after they left. Hell, the casino would probably give
them a lift in a limo or something.

Walking up behind Dani, he threw his arm
around her neck, and pointed a gun to her head. She struggled and
tried to bite his arm, but he held fast.

The woman guard was edging towards him now as
he moved with Dani towards the cage. "Get back!" he told her, "Or
I'll shoot! I'll kill her!"

Then the woman he held seemed to go limp in
his grasp, and he began dragging her.

More guards arrived on the perimeter, but he
figured as long as he had the girl, he was safe.

Meanwhile, Beamer was forcing one of the
guards to open the pull boxes into the trash bag he held. "Cage!"
he yelled to Logan.

Logan thought he sensed that the woman he
held was moving along with him now on her own, but he still gripped
her around the neck, with his gun held against her head.

They edged up to the cage window. "Hey
sweetheart," he said loudly to Marie, "open up now. Or I shoot the
girl, got it?"

The blonde nodded, gestured to the outer door
to some unseen entity, and a buzzer sounded on the cage outer door,
then again for the inside door.

Exhilarated now, he looked around. "Get the
bag in my back pocket. And don't try anything funny or the girl is
shot."

She nodded again, and pulled the thing out of
his pocket.

LVPD showed up outside the casino, lights
flashing, sirens blaring, with a busload of Swat Team members
following closely. Police and the team fanned out, covering all
entrances and exits.

Beamer looked out the back door and groaned.
"Shit!" Then he yelled at Logan in the cage, watching the woman
scoop up cash for his bag, "We're made! The blonde bitch tripped
the silent alarm!"

Logan came down with his gun and hit the
blonde so hard she flew across a desk and onto the floor crumpled
on the other side. Looking around now, he saw that the cage
employees had all been evacuated. He let the red haired woman go,
but still held the gun on her.

She stood on her own now, and turned to look
at him.

"Search around for cash," he said
shortly.

But she didn't move. "What's your name?" she
said softly.

He noticed she had dark green eyes. "Look for
the cash, or you'll end up like her."

She moved around the cage, looking in and
unlocking drawers, before she moved to the safe, which was
open.

"There's quite a lot in here," she told him
quietly. "You'll need to take a cart."

In the casino, patrons had been told to exit
out the front door. And Al stood around the corner from the cage
viewing Dani calmly talking to the thug. "Robert," he said into his
phone, "what are they doing in there?"

"Sir, she just gestured to the cart. I think
she's telling him to take it out with him."

Dani watched the man. "What's your name?" she
repeated.

"None of your fucking business!" he spat,
"Why do you keep asking me?"

"Just wondering."

His mask was heating up now and he yelled to
Beamer, "What's going on?"

The man came up to the cage window. "Swat and
regular police all over the place, man. We gotta take her with us,
or we'll never get out of here."

Logan nodded.

"Did you grow up in foster homes?" she asked
Logan while Beamer turned around and aimed his gun at the
guards.

He watched her warily. "Why?"

"I did. It wasn't fun. It was really, really
hard."

"So, what does that mean to me?"

"If you kill us," she told him, as she waved
towards the unconscious Marie, "it will all be for nothing."

"What?"

But then the woman started to cry and tears
ran down her face. "I was going to get my GED, you understand? So I
could really be something. And Marie was registered for college.
Didn't you ever want to be something? Or wasn't there someone you
really loved so much, then they left you?"

Al stood listening, as he edged closer. That
explained it all. What an idiot he'd been to be so angry. He should
have known it was something important to her, the reason she'd
wanted to stay in her suite. He should have talked to her about it.
If only he was in the cage right now to help her, he thought.

Logan's gun wavered. "Yeah," he said quietly,
"I had a coach one time..." his voice drifted off as the memories
took over.

"Would he be proud of you now?" she asked
softly.

Beamer interrupted, "What are you doing in
there? Hurry up and bring the girl."

Logan increased his grip on the gun, and
waived it now towards the outside door. "Let's go."

"Give yourself up," she whispered. "It's the
only way. They won't be as hard on you. And you can see the
coach."

He groaned, held his head, and walked back
and forth waving his gun, as he threw off his ski mask. "Logan...my
name is Logan."

"Sir," Robert said into the phone, "he's
gesturing with the gun. They need to do something pretty quick
here. He looks stressed."

Candy moved next to Al. "I can take the
outside one. And Matt can get the one inside the cage if we can
somehow tell Dani to duck."

He nodded. "Let me try something first.
That's a last resort. I don't want Dani shot."

The phone in the cage rang. Logan looked at
it, and stopped his pacing. "What?" he said into the receiver.

A smooth voice said, "My name is Al Scaletti.
I am the owner of this casino. I will give you anything you want,
but please do not harm your hostage. She is one of our dancers, and
very valuable to us. What can I get for you?" Al wasn't about to
tell this man that Dani was his girlfriend, it would just fuel the
fire and make things worse.

Logan felt the sweat rolling down his back as
he replied, "Money. From the count room. I know there's a lot more
back there, and we can't get to it. That, plus a car."

Beamer gave him a quick glance and thumbs up
sign. Scaletti agreed to his demands, and a few minutes later, he
heard the squeak of cart wheels and buzzing of the doors opening.
Someone rolled a cart full of money into the room then closed the
door.