Aces

I was inspired by Victor the Crab’s Barclay Davis to introduce you all to my own creative writing. This was inspired by Casino Royale and the general plots of the Grand Theft Auto video game series.

I want to see what you all think.

The title is Aces.

Aces is a hotel casino located 10 miles north of Elko, county seat of Elko County, Nevada. It is 50,000 square feet with more than 4,000 slot machines, 200 table games, a few restaurants and gift shops, a swimming pool, a fitness center, and 1,000 hotel rooms. In addition, it has a landing strip under construction along with a VIP fight stadium and private poker room. Aces is 21 stories tall. The outside is decorated with gold and white, and the inside is swathed with even more gold. Overwhelming gold.

Aces is the main setting.

Alec, a former MMA fighter and professional poker player, owns and operates Aces.

The resort is not yet finished. In fact, it recently had a disastrous opening launch because the construction was incomplete. Aces opened before it was ready because Alec is in serious financial trouble and desperate to keep cash flow stable.

Thanks to construction falling behind schedule and being over budget, Alec is several hundred million dollars in debt, which he is desperate to recover.

To recover this money, Alec stages an extremely high stakes poker game.

Taking advantage of Alec’s desperation is Manuel Hernandez, an expert advantage player who works security on the Las Vegas Strip while counting cards on his days off to build his retirement account.

Backed by a wealthy hedge fund manager and a group of investors, Manuel enters this high-stakes poker game to win $100 million.

Neither Manuel nor Alec can afford to lose.

If Manuel loses, he will be helping to finance organized crime and a monster of a man.

If Alec loses, he will have to explain to the Cortes Cartel why it has lost so much of its money.

Characters at the Start

Manuel Hernandez: An autistic security intelligence officer on the Las Vegas Strip, Manuel is an expert advantage player and highly skilled investigator. He leads a double life counting cards on his days off at casinos outside Nevada to build a retirement account. Intelligent, no-nonsense, and determined, Hernandez has a polite but ice-cold demeanor while working in any capacity. Because he won a poker tournament this wealthy hedge fund manager had hosted, he has been entrusted with a $10 million buy-in to win $100 million.

Alec Atkins: The main antagonist of Aces, Alec is a former MMA fighter who went by King of Kings and professional poker player. Before he built Aces, he had several questionable businesses going, including an MLM that sold supplements to allegedly make men fitter and more manly. Alec has also sold martial arts equipment. But his crown jewel was running a webcam business using girlfriends and groupies, pimping them out to high-paying clients. He put his businesses and mansion on the line as collateral to secure loans needed to build Aces. His social media presence, along with fraudulent financial documents, allow him to attract a large number of investors. But because everything goes wrong with Aces, he is up to his eyes in debt, including owing $100 million to the Cortes Cartel (the original deal being the cartel could operate freely on his premises and he would help clean its money). His schemes to recover the money and get Aces up and running have to work or else he will lose everything.

Mina Davis: The hedge fund manager and lead investor who is backing Hernandez with $10 million. She is a Black woman in her fifties. Mina is a focused, no-nonsense hedge fund manager and investor who helps manage the money of some of the richest professionals in Las Vegas, including managers of some of the biggest casinos on the strip. On her off time, Mina likes to do yoga and cook organic food. Manuel has done business with Mina in the past when she backed several of his card-counting ventures.

Alejandro Garcia: The main representative of the Cortes Cartel at Aces and an overseer of the cartel’s operations in northern Nevada. He is a member of Los Guardias, an organization of sicarios and hitmen who do the main dirty work of the Cortes Cartel. He oversaw the importation of migrants to work on Aces so as to cut corners on construction after Alec had a falling out with his main contractors. He leads a small team to ensure that once Aces is open, the cartel will get its money and Aces will be able to start money laundering for the cartel. Although he is allied with Alec, he and Alec deeply distrust and resent each other.

Billy Atkins: Alec’s younger brother and right-hand man. While Alec is at the poker game to win the money needed to secure his empire, Billy is working to keep the casino operational while the game is going on. Billy is an ex–MMA fighter himself and went by the name Angel of Death. Billy helps his brother run his businesses, especially the webcam and high-end escort business. Like Alec, Billy has everything to lose with his own mansion on the line. If these schemes fail, Billy will lose everything as well.

Spencer Brooks: An investor and trader who manages Alec’s and Billy’s money. Because of his financial knowledge, Spencer is able to cook the books to lie to investors to get the casino up and running. To help pay off debts that Alec incurred building Aces, he conducts a crypto pump-and-dump scheme, along with other pump-and-dump schemes, using a crypto currency he invented called Alpha Coin as the main pump and dump. He will eventually switch sides to the Cortes Cartel once it becomes apparent that the cartel is going to kill Alec and everyone who is working with him—all so he can keep his suite on the 21st floor in Aces where he can run his stock brokerage firm.

Luke Smith: An ally of Hernandez working for Mina, Luke arrives at Aces before Manuel does to smuggle in supplies, including a disassembled firearm and ammunition. Luke and Manuel have worked together before as card counters out of state. So while Hernandez is going to break the bank by winning the poker game, Luke is leading a small team of card counters to gather information, test the security system of Aces, and, in the process, make some money themselves. When a round of poker goes badly, Luke will be able to help Hernandez get back in the game with a small bailout.

Matthew Little: A local of Elko County whose family has had a past and ugly dealing with Alec. He was a contractor who never got paid for work on Aces and had to declare bankruptcy as a result of legal fights with Alec. Consequently, he lost a business on which he worked incredibly hard. Several of his family members, including a son and daughter, are involved with gathering information for Hernandez. Because Matthew helped build Aces, he has a general knowledge of the layout.