The Obvious in Ragtime

 221.

Davis and Saunders's new guy, Eddie:

"Let's take it from the top one more time so I get all this straight. As undercover agents you two, Davis and Saunders, using the guise of rich, successful and entrepreneurial gamblers, float shares of a billion dollar scam to a notorious Vegas mob boss who also contributes to the Republican campaigns of a corrupt Southern Senator from South Carolina. The plan is your basic sting operation. Set 'em up and knock 'em down. Que the ragtime.

Our fearless pair of debonair agents demonstrate one of their many casino tricks by hitting a series of slot machines for a million dollar payout. Knowing the casino security protocols, they are summarily ushered into the inner sanctum of upper management where they talk their way into a meeting with Sheldon Adelson, the capo dei capi, and his team of attack-dog lawyers and enforcement captains.

As the sting progresses and information secured, Saunders is ambushed while walking to the condominium that has doubled as their operations safe house. Davis barely avoids similar disaster by out maneuvering a drive-by hit in heavy downtown Vegas traffic. Simultaneously in DC, the under cover team's point man is gunned down and left for dead while in a synchronistic stroke of fate, or possibly - still unconfirmed - enemy action, the head of operations dies of an apparent heart attack. Meanwhile.…

…the terrorist cell whose young female leader is a valuable asset, the brains behind their domestic terror high-tech activities, falls victim to a mutinous coup, captured by her own staff and held hostage until she rats the codes and schematics of a super drone she has designed and the same for a software program with casino hacking capabilities and, ultimately, that of the Wall Street bog board as well. How we doing' so far?"

"Major players captured or killed, the sting stalls-out. Six months pass. Saunders and your boss, Bogart miraculously recover from the GSWs. The unit regroups. Under new management they convince the seedy Senator to reopen the mission and fund the operation with off-book black bucks from the Homeland Security budget that he oversees. He is also a target in the elaborate sting operation, the bait being a huge payday and support for his racist political agenda. A hundred verses in ragtime play," Eddie sings accompanied by his one-hand air piano.

"The central player in the sting sits in a SuperMax high-security facility in Florence, Colorado. He WAS the terrorist's leader prior to the current one, the young female double-agent, and responsible for a pair of terrorist strikes, one involving the jacking of several USAF jets and hacking of both civilian and military radar systems, plus the assassination attempt of the former VP. He is the linchpin in the sting operation, as his former business associates, the Senator Scumbag and the Vegas Mob Boss are the marks. The sting stalled, whaddya call him? Biggie? sits in isolation, granted but one miserable hour per day of faux 'freedom'. Poor bastard."  

Davis, Saunders and their new hire, the well-connected former head of security for the MGM Grand, retired and current consultant, Eddie Acosta, sip coffee and review the details once again. The most compelling and urgent of them also being the most obvious:

"Who ordered the hits?"