Page 36 of Game of Love
“And you chose it,” I filled in.
He chuckled. “Of course. Only an idiot would pass on an opportunity like this. It was down to starting out on a salary of twenty grand a year or six figures. Which would you choose?”
I smiled. “That’s a no-brainer man.”
“Precisely.” He pointed through a door and I followed his gaze. “That’s us over there. There is no surveillance past that point.”
“What’s over there?” I asked.
“The Castle.” He smiled.
“Castle?”
“In case you hadn’t noticed Giovanni is very fond of playing cards. He’s the king, we’re the knights. That is the castle.”
“What of the queen, the joker and the ace?”
“The queen is dead and you don’t ask about her. That would make you the joker who ends up dead. The ace is me, his most trusted.” He made a show of flicking invisible lint off the shoulder of my jacket.
This guy really was a prick. I hated being touched, but I’d let him have that on account of this being a job and me trying to blend in on my first real day.
“Gotcha, Ace.” I smiled.
“You will meet the others now.” He started walking again and I followed.
He proceeded in the direction of the metal doors. Unlike the oak wood doors, these opened when he pressed his fingertip to the panel.
We went inside and I saw straight away that this section was different to everywhere else.
This section was more spacious, yet had further subdivisions that were sealed like vaults. It took me two seconds to guess that if the prints were going to be anywhere it was here. Had to be.
Absolutely fucking had to be. No surveillance so it couldn’t be seen.
It was the best way to keep something hidden.
“What’s down here?” I asked.
“Secrets.” Armand looked at me, giving me a cold stare and stopped to regard me. “It’s curious. Very curious indeed.”
“What is?”
“You. The rest of us had to wait at least a year to venture down here, yet you come along and hey presto, he wants you in on his secrets.”
That was none of my doing and very curious indeed. Last night’s conversation came to my mind. It seemed like I’d made more of an impression on the Vegas mafia king than I realized.
“I don’t know what to say. Maybe he likes me a lot.”
“Could be, but you know what’s more curious? Him thinking one of you was enough to replace four people.”
“Well, that says a lot about me now, doesn’t it?” It was my turn to be a prick. I leaned forward and flicked invisible lint off his jacket, smiling at the annoyance that washed over his face.
Armand didn’t answer. He just continued walking and I followed.
The corridor was our final destination.
There were three men standing there, talking and laughing. They looked the part of standard mobster tough guys.
I’d seen them the other night at the recruitment.
