Dead Man's Hand (26 page)

“
Are you sure that he said
‘
when he
took over
t
he Greek
’
?
”

Dixie thought about it
for a moment
.
“
Pretty sure. I never thought about it again until I heard about Mr. Grant
’
s death.
”

“
Can you think of anything else?
”

“
Nah. Not really.
”

He
knew
she w
anted to talk.
Dixie
was
always
either raising her kid or at work with no time for friends.
Her life hadn
’
t
exactly
been a fairy tale.

“
So, has that boyfriend of yours proposed yet?
”

She
spit out a laugh through the phone.
“
That
’
s done. Once he saw Nathan, he was gone.
”

Calvin regretted bringing it up.
“
You know, if I was single
…
”

“
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All you men are alike.
”
She chuckled
.
“
Calvin, you take care of yourself. And if you need anything, promise you won
’
t hesitate to call.
”

“
I promise. Thanks, Dixie.
”

He hung up. When this was all
over, if it ended the way he
hoped, then he would have to do something for Dixie and Nathan.

Chapter 2
6

Ace
lay
on his
Golden Horseshoe
Casino
office sofa.
His arm dangled over the side of the couch, his hand grasping a glass of expensive Scotch.
He clinked the ice cubes in his drin
k
and
closed his eyes
.
A deck o
f cards was scattered across his
35K touch-screen, interactive multimedia coffee table
.

Ace’s sources on the LVMPD had just told him his hit man had failed. Ace would tell the hit man he wasn’t the only shooter and it would be easy to hire one to take Watters out. Watters would join Grant and Pitt.
The longer Watters was alive and free, the more of a threat he became.

But the setback had been evened out by his latest news. He had just bought a
piece of
t
he Greek.

Grant must be rolling over in his grave.

As a rule
, a purchase as large as this one took days, sometimes week
s, to transpire. But
Ace
had the
Nevada
Gaming Commission expedite their review and gi
ve approval that afternoon
.
T
he contracts had been fast-tracked for signing and countersigning.
He
was now preparing for the press c
onference with Linda on
the final sale.

Gaming corruption was so great it was beyond any local or state control
,
though the constant effort was there to keep it clean. But the Commission could at least make sure that the casinos themselves were being bought and sold with all the legal proprieties observed.

He
had expected the Commission
’
s approval to be almost automatic. His purchase of part of
t
he Greek was exactly what it appeared to be: legal,
fair
and
not even close to
monopolistic control over all the other Vegas casinos. The competition for gambling customers would be as free and fierce as before.

He had to purchase his portion of
t
he Greek Casino at fair market value
,
$
40 million
. That was a Comm
ission requirement.
A lot of money, but compared to the $250 million that had been his last offer to Grant for the entire Greek, much more affordable.
It all meant smaller
mortgage loans on the
Golden Horseshoe
and Midas and a much smaller cut of his operating cash flow from both casinos
to pay it off
.
Even though the
annoying Shawn Grant would have majority control and ownership, Ace
’
s net worth with three casinos would be much higher.

His final purchase of his share of
t
he Greek had not happened as he and Linda had planned, but they
’
d made it work an
yway. With Linda selling him the shares that she already owned
, which even Shawn couldn
’
t stop,
he w
as in
. N
o one would be able to stop him from a full takeover. He
’
d already wor
ked out how
to sabotage the other stockholders, gradually forcing them to sell him their shares. Shawn would be the hardest to take down, but
Ace
had no doubt
s about the outcome.
He
’
d do
whatever it took.

So far, his plan had been flawless. There were only two remaining matters to deal with
—
Watters
and
another vulnerability that would need to be eliminated soon.
Ace wasn
’
t going to risk what was turning into a fiasco
.
H
is top assassin
was
not able to find and kill Watters, after a day and a half.
Killing a Vegas cop and t
he
failed car bomb had only brought more police attention to the search for Calvin
and
made the
hit man
’
s job more difficult.
The cops
would start a new massive investigation into the murder of one of their own, in addition to looking for Calvin and all other suspects. That meant that the LVMPD was now probably at its highest state of alert, investigative effort and
more
motivated than they
’
d
ever
been, perhaps in decades.

They all assumed that Watters was still in the city. By now, he could be in Europe.
Ace
’
s
only hope was that Watters would be too proud to let anyone push him out of Vegas.
He
t
hought that
fit
the most successful and terrifying collector that Pitt had
ever employed. Watters
was hiding
, but not out
side
the city.

Right now, killing Watters was Ace
’
s number one priority

He
h
ad
hoped the cop killing would make Watters a multiple
-
murder suspect, but the whole sit
uation
enraged him.
He was not in control of too many things.

Ace
would
tell the killer to kill or be killed
and
if he failed, he
’
d take out the assassin himself.

Just then his untraceable phone rang. Only two people had
the number.

“
Hello.
”

“
It
’
s me.
”

“
I know
.
”
The assassin was never late with his check-in call.
“
You failed
.
”

“
It won
’
t happen again.
”

“
No, it won
’
t
. You
’
v
e already killed a cop.
”

“
The cop was collateral damage.
”

“
Convince me you
’
ll get this done.
”

“
I
found
out about
Watters
’
hooker. H
e
’
s
bangin
’
a local girl. I haven
’
t been able to locate
her yet
and
other whores
don
’
t seem to know where she is. I
’
m pretty sure she
’
s with Watters.
If I find one, I find the other.
”

“
So what now?
”
Ace asked.

“
I
’
m confident Watters is still in the city. I put the word out through my few trusted contacts who know about tracking. They
’
ve been working it and they haven
’
t
received any data
to indicate he
’
s gone.
But I
’
m prepared to go on a long fugitive pursuit
that co
uld take me anywhere if it comes to that.
Did you get the information I need?
”

“
I did. It wa
sn
’
t easy
.
I found what you need in Pitt
’
s files, but even Pitt didn
’
t know where Watters conducted his business.
”

“
I have my own methods of finding his location. Get it to me
,
”
the assassin said.

“
I may need one of Pitt
’
s employees eliminated. She had Pitt
’
s personal USB
and
I don
’
t know if she looked at it. I doubt it though
. T
he files were well hidden. I
’
ll let you know if the situation escalates. Watters is your only priority.
”

“
Got it.
It
’
ll be done very soon.
”

Scott spoke so easily about taking a life that Ace felt a strange, excited chill.

“
Mr. Scott
,
let me be clear. If you fail again, I will find out who you really are
and
I won
’
t just kill you, I
’
ll have everyone close to you tortured and terminated. You know I have the means to do it.
”

He
hung up
, thinking his assassin had an incentive to deliver
,
and
glanced
at his watch. He had a conference to attend.

He
got up from the couch and moved towards the windows. The soft, Italian leather
of
the new sofa exhaled as he stood. He opened the curtains and looked down over the
Golden Horseshoe
lobby to the main floor.

Security was tight at both casinos. He
’
d buckled down with troops at the
Golden Horseshoe
because it was larger
and
easier to defend and protect
.
H
e could deploy many more security guards.
He
was not about to let Watters come in and destroy the place, or
t
he Midas. Ace had doubled the guards to walk the floors. He would keep his ships running tightly until Watters was dead.

As usual, t
he place was packed and the slot machines were being worn out by the hopeless losers looking to hit the jackpot. Didn
’
t they know the house always won?

As he reached for his suit jacket,
he
noticed that his right shirtsleeve had turned a dark red. He had treated the scratch marks on his wrist and had changed into fresh bandages, but it hadn
’
t worked. As he pulled up his sleeve and remove
d th
e stained wrap, he
noticed how deep the gashes were. He knew he couldn
’
t
go to the hospital for stitches and explain the wound
. T
onight he would call a
doctor friend and ask if he could
be stitched
up at the man
’
s hous
e.

Had his skin flaked in a way
that it could be found in Pitt
’
s office
,
on the fl
oor or under the hooker
’
s nails?

He cursed the woman
and
even more so
hims
elf for being so careless.
He
had allowed a struggle,
a flaw in his perfect plan. Ace was not accustomed to being sloppy.