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WHEN TONY WENT TO FETCH the food, he also organised a meeting with Axel that evening. There was a little club near the wharves where some of the sailors drank. It had a small restaurant behind it. It was dark, hidden and generally unknown, which made it perfect. Not clean, but perfect.
Chance sat opposite Tony, sipping a kind of red juice with herbs from a wine glass. “What’s good here?” she asked.
“Nothing.” Tony smiled over his own glass of juice. “None of it’s what you’d call good, but it’s all edible. The beef with red beans is nice, as well as the fried chicken with vegetables.”
“You spend a lot of time down here?” Chance asked.
“I had a poker night every Tuesday in one of the old warehouse offices,” Tony said.
“Is that how you met Pablo the marble shark and his friends?”
“No,” Tony laughed. “I was one of them once.”
“So you grew up around here?” Chance smiled. This was the first time she’d imagined Tony having had a childhood.
“Yeah. You could say that.”
“Well, I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Axel said as he sat at their table. “Strike that, I hope there’s something to interrupt.”
Chance then realised how wide she was smiling.
“Hello Axel,” Chance said, ignoring the quip.
Tony smiled at his friend.
“You ordered?” Axel asked.
“Tony said the beef with red beans is good,” Chance said.
“Good when you sleep alone,” Axel said. “Tracey has me sleep downstairs when I’ve had it.”
“Well what are you having then?” Chance asked.
“Beef with black sauce and vegetables,” Axel answered.
“I’m having the chicken,” Tony declared. “It’s been a while and I’ve got a taste for it.”
Axel looked at Chance. “They make good chicken here,” he said.
“I might try some of Tony’s then.”
Axel laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Tony asked.
“You two,” he smiled and went to a door near the bar.
“Did Axel grow up here too?” Chance asked.
Tony nodded. “We were all part of the same gang.”
“Gang?” The word bothered her.
“Group,” Tony corrected. “Gang like Pablo’s gang of friends. Not what you’re thinking.”
Chance gave an exaggerated sigh to express her relief.
“I’ll tell you who else grew up here. Tommy Toms, although he was Tommy Smith then.”
“So you two were childhood friends?”
Tony nodded.
“Well that explains a lot.”
“A lot of what?” Axel asked as he sat again.
“Tony just told me you both grew up here.”
Axel nodded. “That we did. I just ordered our meals. It’s on me.”
Tony shook his head at Axel.
“We recently came into a lot of money,” Axel explained. “Enough to hire a shaman who can fix Tracey’s blood, get the kids some more schooling and help some friends who need feeding. Sorry about the passage. I’ll see if there’s another tomorrow.”
“Can’t we just get a couple of tickets on a paddle steamer and go that way?” Chance asked.
“They’ll be watched,” Tony said. “So will the trains and coaches.”
“Carlos can’t have enough people to watch everything,” Chance said.
“No, but the other casinos can.” Tony looked at Axel. “Now it seems they’ve enough to even watch the shipyards.”
Axel shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said. “Those were Mendel’s men, not Carlos’s.”
“Well where would Mendel hear that we’d be looking for passage from here?” Tony asked.
“Don’t know. They sounded so certain, but it might have just been gossip. Doormen putting some things together?”
“Does Carlos know you grew up here?” Chance asked.
“No.” Tony shook his head and looked at Axel. “Jonathan?”
“Not on purpose, but maybe. I’ll see him tomorrow night. I won’t be able to get you passage before then and it’d be nice to know if today was just a piece of rotten luck.”
“Luck happens,” Chance said.
“Yes, it does,” Axel said. “I’d like to know whether today was luck, or something we can rely on. If it’s something we can rely on, I don’t know what to do.”
“Mendel doesn’t have men in your office?”
Axel shook his head. “If he does, then I don’t know about them.”
“It’d be useful if he did.”
“Why’s that?” Chance asked.
“Then it’d be something we can rely on,” Tony answered, “and use.”
***
DREAD SEIZED CHANCE when they were back at their room. She supposed it was something about the darkness. After all, there had to be some reason for it.
“What’s wrong?” Tony asked once he’d lit the gas light.
“Why do you think there’s something wrong?” she asked.
“The look on your face,” he told her.
“We’re going to survive this, aren’t we?” she asked. “Promise me we’re going to survive this.”
Tony sighed. “I’ll not make a promise I’m not sure to keep.”
“Then lie to me.”
Tony shook his head. “I’ll do everything I can to make sure you survive this.”
“Not just me,” Chance said. “I said we.”
“I’ve told you what I’ll do,” he said. “I’ve got friends who owe me and I’ll call in as many favours as I need to get you out of here.”
“You’ve got friends who love you who’ll do what they can for you. Haven’t you noticed that?”
“I don’t know,” Tony went to their bag.
“I don’t want to get out of this without you,” Chance said.
“You don’t mean that.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because nobody means that when they say it. Shit, I never meant that when I said it.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m alive.” Tony took his deck from the bag, sat at the table and started laying out a game of solitaire.
“Don’t do that,” Chance said.
“Well what do you want me to do?”
“Hold me,” she said softly.
Tony stood and went to her. He put his arms around her.
She clung to him, tightly. It felt... she couldn’t find a word that didn’t cheapen the feeling so she basked in it instead. “Tell me I’m safe tonight then,” she whispered.
“No,” Tony said.
“Why not?”
“Because we’re not.”
He pulled back, put his finger under her jaw and lifted her head.
His eyes were like—
He kissed her. She should have expected it. Instead...
She kissed him back.
Tony pulled back at the end of the kiss. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t kiss a girl then apologise for it,” Chance chided. “Especially if the girl...”
She kissed him.
This time Tony kissed her back with more passion than before.
“See,” she whispered. “I’m not sorry.”
“We’ve only one bed in this room,” Tony said.
“That’s all we’ll need,” she answered.
“Kissing like this... We—”
“We only have now,” she said. “I wanted that, and I want you to hold me.”
Tony nodded. “So do I, but...” he drew a deep breath.
“This time tomorrow you might be shot, and I might be drowned.”
“I prefer not to think of that,” Tony said.
“Then don’t.” She kissed him again.
“We—”
“Shut up,” she whispered and moved her hands down his back, planting them firmly on his buttocks and pulled him close.
“We shouldn’t,” Tony told her.
“I can feel you want to.”
“You don’t fall for injured,” Tony said.
“You’re healing.” Chance smiled. “But you don’t fall for pretty.”
“I’m not sure about that.” Tony started unbuttoning her blouse.
“Well what’re you doing then?”
He didn’t answer. When he’d unclasped the final button, he put her hands down and pushed her blouse off.
He leaned close and began untying her bodice. She stood still, lost in his closeness.
He whispered into her ear, “Raise your hands.”
She did. It was an act of surrender. His hands on her skin sent electricity through her as he lifted her bodice.
His hands moved to her hips while she unbuttoned his shirt. Her skirt fell to the floor before his shirt was unbuttoned.
“It’s what I thought,” Tony said.
“What is?” Chance bit her lip and swallowed.
Tony nodded. “This is going to be a mistake,” he said.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you’re not pretty,” he whispered. “You’re beautiful.”
Excitement shivered through her as he led her to the bed.
***
TONY AND CHANCE WERE awakened the next morning by a knock at the door. Tony dressed quickly and went to the door while Chance hid beneath the covers. There was an envelope on the floor. It must have been pushed under the door. Tony picked it up and opened it.
“What’s that?” Chance asked.
“It’s from Axel,” Tony answered. “It says he’s organised passage for us out of here by train.”
“Train? I thought you said the railway’s being watched.”
“They are, the passenger routes that is. We’ll be travelling with cattle, heading south-west to Milleston and from there we can make our way north to Rhanoi, and then to the islands, if that’s where you still want to go.”
“And what’re you going to do?” Chance asked.
Tony sat on the bed and leaned over her. “I was thinking I could come with you.” He kissed her. “If you’ll have me, that is.”
Chance glanced at his trousers, then back to his eyes. “I might,” she said. “You’re healing, so I guess you’re acceptable.”
Tony pulled the covers off her.
She pulled them back quickly. “Excuse me!” she snapped.
“No, I won’t.” Tony pulled them down again and looked at her. “This was the best mistake I’ve ever made.” His eyes scanned her body.
“Me too,” she whispered.