Jackpot

68

When Arrow hadn’t heard anything from his driver or from Li Feng after he saw the chaos unfolding, he got on the phone with his own contacts and found out what happened. It sounded like everyone was dead, and it felt like time to leave Macau and return home to the U.S. He could eat real American food and bask in his new monopoly on cell phone equipment in rural areas that would provide him massive business income as well as the opportunity to do the kind of lucrative spying on American citizens he’d been ready to blame on China.

He called the business airport and arranged for a flight back to Los Angeles. If nothing else, he could lay low on the beach until this all blew over, then see what his next move should be.

The flight was smooth, and Arrow slept soundly until they landed the first time. He was sleeping so well he would not even have awakened had he not gotten an urgent alert on his phone from his accountant. Arrow couldn’t get a cell signal but could check his voicemails. His accountant, not normally a man prone to dramatic outbursts, had left an exclamatory three-word voicemail.

“Check. Your. Accounts!”

Arrow logged on to his laptop, which was connected to the plane’s Wi-Fi. He pulled up his accounts. All of them were empty. Still unable to get cell service, Arrow clicked the video conferencing app on his laptop and within a few seconds was staring at the haggard face of his accountant.

“How did this happen?”

“Some of it seems frozen by the government, but most of it seems like it was looted by someone who gained access to your personal accounts and all the money stored in the online casino’s accounts. Everything is gone.”

“Trace it!” Arrow screamed.

“We’re working on it, but it’s going to take time. This is very sophisticated and, as I mentioned, some of it has been frozen by the government so I would expect a visit from them soon.”

Arrow quickly disconnected the video chat and went to grab his pilot so they could get back in the air before they were found. As he peeked his head out of the cabin door onto the landing strip, he knew he was done. A mixed group of uniformed and plainclothes officers was approaching. One of them, the FBI agent he’d seen talking to the CIA girl at the warehouse, was out in front of the group and coming toward Arrow.

“I’m Quentin Phillips with the FBI and this is a warrant to search your plane and any electronic devices on board and on your person.”

“Where are we? This isn’t legal. Where’s my pilot?”

“This is less about where we are and more about where you’re going,” Quentin said.

“And where is that?”

“Back to the U.S. to be tried.”

Arrow took a step back into the plane and wondered how long it would take for him to get the door shut and locked and if it would be quick enough to keep the cops off of the plane. He had no idea how to fly the plane and there were no weapons onboard that he knew of that could be used for a shootout so finally he gave up and put his hands in the air.