Page 1 of The Devil's Dilemma

Chapter one

Austin

“So what’s the plan?”I took a swig from the ice-cold bottle of beer. What did Joel have up his sleeve this time?

We’d hit two casinos and were already three-quarters of a million up. The deal was three hits. Then we’d split the profits and disappear.

“The next one needs to be the big one. Seven hundred and fifty thousand won’t get us far split four ways. Barely enough to keep Pete here in designer shoes for a week, let alone the rest of his life.”

“Cheeky fucker.” Pete took off his designer trainer and threw it at Joel, narrowly missing his head.

“Bastard. You’re not getting that back now.”

Joel scrambled to get to the trainer before Pete did. Honestly, it was like working with children.

Joel, Pete, Freddie, and I had been friends since primary school. We’d grown up on the same council estate, all of us from broken homes.

We’d played truant from school, spending more time around town than we ever did in lessons. We’d stolen booze and cigarettes and spent most of our days under the bridge that spanned the canal, getting drunk, and when we weren’t doing that, we’d be getting high.

At some stage, we’d all been in trouble with the police, although I’d like to think my misdemeanours had been less than those of the others. At least I didn’t have a criminal record, unlike the troublesome trio.

Not sure how I’d avoided one, though. Maybe it was my angelic looks and quiet nature leading the police to believe I couldn’t possibly commit the crimes, but somehow I’d escaped punishment, only ever spending one night in the cells.

The others, however, were easily recognisable, with their many tattoos and piercings. They were picked out in a lineup every time.

I, on the other hand, had no distinguishing features. I dressed smartly in trousers and a shirt, but I was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, able to talk myself into anywhere, and charm the pants off our target, man or woman. I’d been told I had the gift of the gab. Some said I must have kissed the Blarney Stone, but strangely, I always knew the right thing to say or do to put people at ease.

Never did they imagine I was conning them out of their life savings or, in the last few cases, stealing from two of the biggest casinos in the city. Was it stealing if I was winning it fair and square? Although fair was a stretch.

I had a knack for winning. Didn’t know why or how, but if I betted on the horses, mine would place ninety-nine per cent of the time. If I played roulette, more often than not, I’d be takinghome a wad of cash. And at blackjack, I’d win almost every time, even though I didn’t count the cards.

Grandpa swore I’d been blessed at birth, but if that was the case, how come Dad had upped sticks the minute Mum passed away, leaving me with his dad to bring me up? If only my home life had been as lucky.

I’d been seven. An impressionable age. Grandpa had done his best, but then I’d fallen in with these guys, and things had gone from bad to worse. Petty crimes initially, gradually progressing to jobs that would see me in prison for a few years if I got caught. Thankfully, that had never happened, but I’d not been the best grandson, that was for sure.

I loved the bones of him, but being bad was infinitely more interesting than toeing the line, no matter what he said. I lived for the thrill, the excitement, the adrenaline rush as we once again got away with it. There was nothing like it.

“Hey, let’s get this sorted. I have to get home and cook tea for Stan.” I didn’t have all night to sit around drinking and smoking, unlike these three. Since Grandpa had taken a fall at home a few months earlier, he couldn’t do much. He had people going in, but I took over his care at nighttime. It was the least I could do.

“Okay, gather round, guys,” Joel said.

Joel had mirrored his laptop to display the next hit in glorious HD on the huge plasma TV on the wall.

“This is Temptation, the biggest casino in the county. They take upwards of three million each week.”

“Where’d you get this information from?” I asked. Joel always had the facts and figures, and he’d never been wrong yet.

“I know a man. The less you know, the better, but this is legit info, bro. It’s the next hit, I’m telling ya.”

“When?”

“A couple of days. A week tops, but the minute we hit this joint, we have to get out of there fast. If we get caught, it’s lights out for all of us.”

For the first time, a sliver of unease crept up my spine, and I shivered. This was bigger than anything we’d ever attempted.

We weren’t big-time crooks, and this sounded way out of our league.

“What do we do?” Pete was normally the lookout. He was big, brawny, and as thick as pig shit. Joel was the mastermind, if you could call him that, and Freddie was usually my wingman, sticking close, ready to pull me out if he saw anything amiss.

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