The black Mercedes was definitely following the cab in which Steve and Lisa were riding. Steve watched as the Mercedes remained about 4 car lengths behind but mirrored their every move. Steve pulled a $100 bill from his wallet and showed it to the driver. “This is yours,” he said, “If you can lose that black Mercedes behind us.”

At first the driver hesitated as if weighing the potential profit against the calculated risk involved. But this was Las Vegas, and to survive and prosper here, you had to be willing to accept a little risk. “Fasten your seat belts!” the driver finally replied as he caught an opening in the traffic and hit the gas.

The taxi cab lurched forward and tires squealed as the driver turned right down a side street. The cab had only gone a couple of blocks when Steve saw the Mercedes turn onto the same street. “He’s still with us,” Steve announced.

Lisa let out a yelp and clutched Steve’s arm as the driver made an abrupt left hand turn. The cab careened down a narrow street at high speed. Suddenly the driver, who seemed to be enjoying this opportunity to exhibit his racing skills, turned right, then made another quick right into an alley. Halfway down the alley was an opening wide enough to conceal the cab behind the edge of a brick building. The driver skilfully parked the cab flat against the wall in only one try. It was also partially shielded by a dumpster. He killed the lights and they sat quietly everyone holding their breath. No one even spoke for 2 or 3 minutes as if they were afraid of being heard by their pursuers. They waited, meter running, for what seemed to Steve and Lisa like an eternity, but in reality it was only about 10 minutes. Finally, the driver got out of the cab and peered around the dumpster. Then, he removed his cap and walked to the end of the alley. No sign of the black Mercedes.

“Looks like you owe me that Slot Online $100 plus a nice fare,” the driver said upon returning to the cab. “Don’t see a sign of ’em.”

“You’ve earned your money,” Steve said. “Tell you what, instead of taking us downtown, take us back to the expressway. We want to go to the Los Palamos Motel. Do you know where that is?”

“Sure,” the driver replied. “I can get you there in about 15 minutes.”

Steve was gambling on the assumption that whoever was out to get him and Lisa had not yet associated Mack, Jimmy and Sam with Mr. Ciau. If his assumption was correct, they should be reasonably safe at the Los Palamos where the rest of the team was staying. However, if they had all been seen together at the Flamingo, then he needed to find out if the guys were OK.

Later that evening the team was once again assembled in a cheap room at the Los Palamos, just as before when they came to town several weeks ago. Only this time the topic of conversation did not revolve around blackjack or being banned from a casino, it was a subject of much more grave concern, namely, the imminent danger that they all perceived themselves to be in.

Sam was in the middle of another one of his angry tirades, busy pointing out that Steve had possibly jeopardized their very lives by getting them involved with Ciau without properly checking him out first. Also, though his points were made in anger, Steve also felt he was correct in pointing out that as soon as he went to the police, Steve would find himself at the head of the list of suspects. In addition to that, Steve still had access to around $200,000 which was still deposited in the Las Vegas Savings and Loan bank.

Since the incident with the black Mercedes, Steve was scared, really scared. And when a man gets that scared, sometimes he doesn’t think too logically. But, logical or not, Steve was formulating a plan.