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THE SUN WAS NEARLY set and Tony had ante for a decent game. Where to find one was the next problem. The Strip held little promise for a night like this. What Tony needed were some serious players, and usually they were only found in one of the seven casinos on the hill. Tony had been to the Regal Embassy and the Velvet Dove this month, so they were out. Matt Norris was a little disappointed to see him the last time he visited the Regal Embassy. Tony made a note to smooth things over there. With only seven casinos in town it didn’t pay to burn bridges with any of them, except Cosimo’s.
Yeah, Carlos owed him a pass. Perhaps there was someone Carlos wanted taken down. He’d done that before. Someone winning too much at the poker tables, someone Carlos couldn’t deal with directly. Tony would come along, take enough of his money to get him to clear off, give Carlos his cut and disappear into the night.
As soon as Tony walked into the casino’s foyer he was greeted by one of Carlos’s overdressed gorillas.
“What you doing here, Tony?” the big man asked as he looked over the top of the sunglasses he wore. The sunglasses weren’t to protect the man’s eyes; they were to enable him to see the hidden marks and symbols on the arms and hands of chumps hoping to cheat the casino from its well-earned funds.
“I’m here to see Carlos,” Tony stated. “Things been going well for you Nolan?” It always helped to know the first names of the doormen.
“You know,” Nolan said as they started toward the stairs leading to Carlos’s loft.
“Those kids of yours doin’ alright?”
“Got no kids,” Nolan answered as they started up the stairs.
“That’s right. Sorry. How did the audition go?”
“Well, I thought.” Nolan smiled as they reached the top of the stairs.
“I must come along and listen to you play. When’s the next recital?”
“Next week.” Nolan stopped at the door. “It’ll be in the temple on Sting Street. I’ll get you a slip with the details.”
“I’d like that.” Tony smiled as Nolan opened the door.
“Stacey, Mr Sharpe here would like to see Mr Cosimo,” he called to a gorgeous platinum blonde with the fairest skin and darkest eyebrows sitting behind a desk with an enormous ledger on it.
“I’ll see if Mr Cosimo’s in for Mr Sharpe.”
As she stood Tony admired the cut of her black dress. It was careful to draw attention to her body’s curves in a way that broadcasted she wasn’t just a pretty face. She was a pretty good body as well. She smiled as she went through the door near her desk, emerging a few seconds later.
“Wait here,” she said. “Mr Cosimo will be ready for you soon.” She nodded to Nolan who left them.
Tony sat on one of the chairs opposite Stacey’s desk. “How’s your schooling going?” he asked.
“Good,” she said as she took her place behind the desk. “I’ll be a legit secretary this time next year. Do you think blonde makes me look more like a secretary?”
Tony laughed. “I think any hair colour makes you look like a secretary, provided it’s normal looking.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not green or blue or anything like you’d see in a circus, but yes, you look good blonde. Maybe better if you dyed your eyebrows too.”
“Then I’d need to dye other hair as well.”
“Nobody’d notice there.”
“You could,” Stacey glanced toward Tony’s crotch. “If you want.”
“Your father would kill me.”
“No he wouldn’t.”
“I’m thirty-two, you’re twenty... three?”
“One.” She pouted.
“If I were him, I’d kill me for touching you.”
“You mean you want to?”
Tony looked to the doorway. It was eclipsed by a dark-haired man covered with a tailored suit and gold chains. He stood three inches shorter than the door and was more than half as wide.
“I honestly don’t know how to answer that without offending your father.” Tony smiled and stood. “I’d like to say I don’t, but that would make it seem like I don’t think you’re as beautiful as you are. Perhaps it’d be best if I just pretend I prefer men.”
“Then I’d know you were lying,” the man in the doorway said.
Tony smiled and walked toward the door. “Carlos. It’s good to see you.”
“Really?” Carlos said. “You come here and flirt with my daughter where I can hear you, and then you claim it’s good to see me? Wouldn’t you prefer it if I wasn’t here?”
Tony shook his head and looked at Stacey. “With you here I know I’m safe from Stacey.”
Carlos smiled. “Shut the fuck up and get inside.” He pointed to Stacey at her desk. “You’ll break your mother’s heart.”
“Shut the fuck up daddy and get inside.” She smiled sweetly at him.
There were two Casino Security men in Carlos’s office, both with the same build and the same black suits that made them look like suited gorillas. Tony nodded the larger of the two. “Andy,” he said and looked at the second. “You’re new, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Not that new,” the man answered. “I’ve been here three months.”
“You just haven’t been around much,” Carlos said as he entered the room shaking his head. “Kids,” he said. “You think you’re doing the right thing, hoping they’ll turn out alright, and they break your heart like...”
“She’s young,” Tony said, “and her daddy’s daughter.”
Carlos smiled. “Always with the right thing to say,” he said. “She had a boyfriend last month, some cheap hustler from the east side. I think he was hoping to find a way into the Cosimo family without having to earn it.”
“What happened?” Tony asked.
Carlos shrugged. “You tell me. Young people. They’re in love one day and the next...”
“You liked him?”
Carlos looked at Tony and nodded. “Yeah, I liked him. I also hated the little prick. You know why?”
“Was he like you?”
“Yeah, he was like me.”
“Like I said, she’s her daddy’s daughter.”
“What’re you here for? What do you want?”
“I want a big win. Is there anyone here you want taken down?”
Carlos looked at his two security men. “That bastard still in the poker room?”
The one named Andy nodded.
“What do you need the win for?” Carlos asked Tony.
“Axel’s wife, Tracey. Do you remember her?”
Carlos nodded. “Best fucking dancer we’ve had here for years.”
“She’s sick. Doctors say it’s her blood and they can’t do anything about it.”
“Doctors,” Carlos spat. “They don’t know shit. What’s Axel doing taking her to a doctor?”
“He can’t afford anything else,” Tony said. “That’s why I’m here. A good shaman costs a lot.”
Carlos took a deep breath. “We got a player from Alverton. He’s with the Mendel family and he’s a fucking cheat. He’s got a symbol on his hand that gives him his edge. My boys can see it but can’t do anything about it without starting a fucking war. You up to take him?”
“What kind of symbol?”
Carlos looked at Andy. “Tell him.”
“Looks like some kind of dude hanging from a tree,” he said.
“Hanging by one leg?” Tony asked.
“Yeah.”
“Hanged man. Haven’t you seen it before?”
“Not around here,” Andy said. “I didn’t think it could work on white skin.”
“Generally can’t,” Tony said. “Depends how it’s applied.”
Carlos looked at Tony. “Can you deal with it?” he asked.
“I’ll need to get a potion,” Tony said. “It smells like shit though.”
“Why?” Carlos asked.
“Because one of the ingredients is shit,” Tony answered him.
“No, why do you need a potion?”
“That symbol isn’t just a carnival trick. It’s powerful.”
Carlos rummaged through one of his desk drawers and produced a bottle. “Will that help it?” he asked.
Tony looked at the bottle and read the label. “Cueros.” He looked at Carlos. “Toilet water, how fitting. And it smells like leather, I like that.”
“Can you break him?” Carlos asked.
“Can you protect me?”
“We can make it so he doesn’t remember what you even looked like.”
Tony nodded. “I’ll try.”
“You got an ante?”
“I took down a cheat on The Strip before coming here.”
“Well here’s another thousand,” Carlos rummaged through another drawer and produced a pile of notes. “Just in case you need it.”
Tony nodded and took the money. “I’ll make sure to drop it on the Black Knight table on the way out.”
“Don’t,” Carlos said. “Give it to Axel. Just don’t tell him it’s from me.”
“Should I leave him with—”
“Leave him with nothing,” Carlos snapped. “He owes me for his room. Waiving that debt and allowing him to return to Alverton will be my little present for the Mendels. If Grant wants to keep the piece of shit, he’ll owe me. If he doesn’t, then it’s his decision what to do with him.
Tony unscrewed the lid from the toilet water and sniffed. “Leather,” he said and splashed some on his face. “I’ll have to go to the apothecary down the street for the potion.”
Carlos looked at Andy. “Go with him to make sure he doesn’t have any trouble. Can’t see that the kind of potion being the kind an apothecary’s happy to make.”
Tony smiled. “They won’t even admit they know how,” he said and looked at Andy. “Let’s go, before he closes for the day.” He looked at Carlos again. “Mind if we have a coffee before we come back? I haven’t seen Andy for a while and I’m curious about how his shed is coming along.”
Carlos nodded. “So long as it’s quick.”