The bartender stopped in front of me, his dark hair hanging in his face. He picked tobacco off his lip and spat it onto the floor. You have yen? he asked.
I smiled, tossing my credit dongle onto the bar. Sick with it. One thing I still had was yen. Problem was, you needed a fucking wheelbarrow of it to buy anything.
He looked down at the dongle for a second but didnt bother to pick it up and scan it. He sighed, almost in disappointment. What will you have?
I liked his accent. It was hard to understand, but it sounded nice. He was Russian, of course, of some sortmaybe he was Bulgarian or maybe he was a fucking Cossack, but it didnt matter: he was Russian for all practical purposes. Everyone in Vegas was a fucking Russianthey owned the city, if you wanted to call it a city. Mainly because no one else wanted the piece of shit out in the middle of nowhere. The Russians were keeping Vegas going through sheer determination, though things had gotten easier recently since the army had moved into the Southwest. I hadnt seen a System Cop in
months.
Doesnt matter, I cant taste anything anymore anyway. Gin, I said. Warm.
He snorted, producing a glass and dropping it in front of me. Gin. Fucking prole, yes?
I winked, pulling a cigarette from my pocket. Fucking right.
My Russian was an old guy, short but broad in the shoulders, with the tight look of a man whod been lean and tough his whole life. He was old, silvery hair thick and short on his head. In the mirror he was sitting at a table crowded by two tall, plump baldies who sweated freely in their standard-issue leather coats. My Russian was clasping the hands of a tall, thin man with waxy skin and a shiny suit: the owner. They were beaming at each other so forcefully, pumping hands, I wondered which one hated the other more. The dining room was pretty full, lots of swells out for a nice meal, mostly fat men in suits so fucking pretty they were almost gowns. There was a nice buzz of noise in the air.
The bartender poured my drink, and I lit my cigarette, sending a cloud of bluish smoke into the air. I picked up my glass and swallowed the drink in one gulp, ticking my head down toward the glass before he could put the bottle away.
Another, I said.
You really cant taste anything, eh? he said, squinting at me and pouring another.
Or feel anything.
Bullshit.
In the mirror, I watched the tall, waxy guy walk away from My Russian and plucked my cigarette from my mouth. I pushed the red coal against the top of my right hand and held it there, white smoke curling up. I counted five, watching My Russian in the mirror sweep the room with his tiny, thin eyes, and then put the butt back in my mouth, waving my hand at the bartender to show off the blackened welt. Not a fucking thing.
Thats impressive. The bartender nodded, leaving the bottle on the bar as a sign of good humor. Nerve Augment?
I shook my head, picking up my glass and staring into the cloudy liquid. Something that happened to me in prison, I said slowly, one of my moments coming on me, a strange, slow feeling in my thoughts. I shook my head a little and let it slide past meit only got worse if I tried to force a memory. I dont like to talk about it. I toasted him and drank my shot off as he spun and walked away. As I was setting the glass down, I felt the air around me getting crowded. In the mirror, My Russian and his two sweaty bodyguards had suddenly gotten much nearer.
My friend, My Russian said, I have been seeing visions of you all day. He spoke with the weird precision foreigners brought to English, every word bitten off, newly minted, invented a few seconds ago. Why is that?
I returned my cigarette to my mouth. Without looking around at them, I shrugged. Ive been hired to kill you.
In the mirror, My Russian shot his cuffs, and I caught a glimpse of a dark, blurry skull tattoo on his wrist. Fucking Ivans and their bullshit: the Russians had been just about the only organization to survive Unification, and it had made them fucking batty with the symbols and rituals. It wasnt pretty, of coursethey made most of their yen through drugs, heavy shit sold to the bottom rung of the System, mostly designer, unstable, and as likely to pop a vessel as get you high. The cops had no patience for narcoticsDick Marin, the Director of Internal Affairs and pretty much king of the cops, set the tone thereand they beat up on the Russians every chance they got, and the Russians were quick to put a bullet in the head of anyone who looked like a weak link to them.
Theyd never made much of a dent in New York, back when thered
been
a New York. The locals had closed ranks against them, and the System Pigs owned New York the way the Russians owned Vegas. Thered been a couple of attempts over the years, but it had ended in tears. But the Russians had survived.
Everyone in that organization had done terrible things. Terrible Things was their fucking initiation rite.
My Russian cocked his head at me for a moment and then burst into laughter. His two bald friends joined in after a second of hesitation. Their boss looked around as if hed made a terribly funny joke, soaking up the room.
Come have a drink with me, my ghost, he chuckled, turning away. Talk to me.
One of the bald giants leaned down, but I forestalled that bullshit by standing up, blowing smoke around. Touch me, Boris, and I will break a finger.
He grunted, straightening up. Name not Boris.
I nodded. Finger will still be broken, I advised, pushing through them. I jerked my head at the bartender, who was back to leaning against the wall, watching me walk by with slitted eyes and smoke curling up from his own cigarette. He flicked his hand from his waistband, and my credit dongle leaped at me. I snatched it from the air.
Spaaseeba,
I said, just a collection of sounds Id learned. I tucked my dongle away into a pocket.
Nice knowing you, he said to my back.
I grinned.
The place was air-conditioned aggressively, but I imagined I could still sense the heat out in the desert. It had been 113 at noon, though it was expected to cool down to a manageable 104 by midnight. I hated Las Vegas. It was like living in someones armpit.
They led me toward the back, passing the packed tables, and kept walking past all of the heavy-looking red padded doors marked private and took me through the swinging doors into the kitchen. The black, humming cooking unit took up an immense amount of space, swollen within the tiled room, just a cube of rough black metal with neat, tidy conveyor belts inching out of it. It was idle at the moment, there being more activity at the bar than the menus, but I didnt like the way it hummed, an almost silent vibration that reached inside me. I pushed my hands into the loose pockets of my ill-fitting suit, too heavy for the weather and full of my sweat, soaked up lovingly and held jealously. I wasnt made for this town. Too hot, too empty, too old.
My Russian kept walking through the empty kitchen and out the back door into a fenced-in lot that smelled like rot, the wet, heavy smell hitting you in the face and settling down to soak into your clothes and skin. Weeks from now Id be smelling like this fucking parking lot. I kept smiling, though, trying to look my new friends over. All of us thought we knew exactly where this social call was ending, and all that remained was to see who was right.
I put my eyes on My Russian and ran them up and down his shiny suit, deciding he wasnt carrying a barker. The Russiansthe higher-ups, at least, the real old-school Ivanshad a fetish for strangulation, a wire shining out in the darkness. Id heard they regarded any murder that didnt require you to get right up close to the marka knife, a piano stringas pussy work. American murder.
Pussy or not, the two bald mountains had two guns each, big ones, under their arms. They didnt look fast, and their coats were too tight for that kind of moveit would bunch up if they tried to pull both at once, and if they were going to pull them one at a time they were fucking morons for carrying two anyway. The two bodyguards stopped and let My Russian and me take a few steps more, so that I ended up between him and them, the two huge balls of flesh between me and the door.
My Russian stopped and turned to smile back at me. I squinted around, the dark heat settling on my shoulders and pushing. It was bright out, a big moon shining down onto us. The fence looked high, a serious fence. Not impossible to scale, but not something I was going to leap over while people shot at me. The sky was a dark blue canopy over us, empty, clear, just filled with evaporating heat.
I take meetings here, My Russian said, spreading his hands and grinning. His suit shone expensively in the dim light leaking from the sky. It is quiet. So, he said. You have been hired to kill me, yes? Who has hired you? Why? He cocked his head. I know your face. I know your name. New York, yes? Lots of you New Yorkers out here these days. Rats fleeing the sinking ship.
New Yorks gone, I said. Theyre tearing it down and replacing it with a goddamn shopping mall.
Yes. I know youa big gun, yes? How many men have you killed, for
yen?
He said it as if there were better things to kill for. Then he squinted one eye at me owlishly. You were in Venice recently, yes? The World Banker. I forget the name.
I shook my head. Havent been to Europe in years, Boris. Youre thinking of some other desperate old man.
My Russian frowned and pushed his hands back into his pockets. From below his collar a smudge of ink was visiblea star atop what I assumed was a crown, the symbol of high rank. I reached up and scratched my shoulder where my own prison tattoo used to burn. Prison had been good for me. I didnt like to think about it too much, about Michaleen and Bartlett and the others. It hadnt been a good time, an
enjoyable
time, but it had been a
necessary
time, for me. It had boiled me down, and Id come out of it the better man.
He saw me looking and smiled. You know what it means? He suddenly jerked his sleeve up, revealing two and a half of the blurry skull tats on his arm. And these?
Prison work, I said, keeping myself still, feeling the bodyguards eyes on me. Whered you get the art?
You know what it means, my friend?
I smirked, figuring that would annoy him. I know what its
supposed
to mean, Boris. Anyone can slap some ink on you.
My name is not
Boris,
he complained. Maybe he wasnt as smart as me after all. I wasnt used to being the smartest guy in the room. And where I come from, they kill you for false emblems like that. Buy you a drink somewhere and slit your throat, you fall back onto a plastic sheet, five minutes later it is like you were never there.
Yeah, I said. How many? Five? Ten? You think
ten
is a big number? If Id had a skull for every person Id killed, Id be a fucking shadow. Id be nothing
but
ink.
Numbers do not matter. You New York boys, always counting. He peered at me. You are sure you did not work the Venice job? I heard your name, very clear.
Then someone is lying to you, I said. Id been sucked into Chengara Penitentiary and hadnt made it too far away since getting out. The last two times I made it to Europe, things didnt go so well for me. The two big boys behind me hadnt moved, not even to loosen up their coats.
He nodded, crimping his lips as if to say,
yeah, okay, whatever.
You know my people? he said suddenly, voice soft and casual, like he was asking me if I liked his shirt. I didnt. My own shirt was white and scratchy and a little tight around the neck, like itd been made for a different man. You know who I work for?
Sure, I said, nodding. Youre connected. Youre a high roller. You run this townfor your boss. You live in a fine suite in an ancient hotel; you go from an air-conditioned room to an air-conditioned mini-hoverits fucking cute, like a little toyto an air-conditioned room every day and probably havent sweated in ten years.
He chuckled, nodding and stepping around me.
Da,
he said jovially.
Da!
And you were sent to kill me. It is funny. Now, if you will excuse me, I must have my dinner. Lyosha and Fedya will finish our conversation.
I turned to watch him walk back into the restaurant, the door shutting behind him as if on a motor of some sort. I looked at one of the big guys and then at the other. They were slightly different in the shape of their rounded heads and the angle that their mouths hung open but were essentially the same person occupying different space. I wondered idly if there would be an explosion if they accidentally touched.
The one I was looking atI thought he was Lyosha but wasnt sure why I thought thatgrinned. You break my finger now?
I sighed, feeling tired. Sure, why not, I said. I could do the math: two of them against one of me, alone in a back lot, their friends inside and everywhere, fuck, the whole damn city. They hadnt frisked me or tried to take my own gun away. I chose not to be insulted. I reached up and took my crappy cigarette from between my lips and held it carefully between my thumb and forefinger.
Lyosha flicked his own cigarette into the air and exhaled briskly, shrugging his shoulders, getting loose. The butt fell limply to the ground as if the air were too thick to travel through, the coal bright on the dark, shadowed ground. For a moment we all stood there, hands hanging free, each of us waiting to see who would move first. First move was a losing moveit telegraphed your intentions, and when you had more than one person to deal with, it guaranteed at least one gun was going to find its way onto you and make some painful alterations. The air around us was completely still, like hot jelly, and I was reminded of the yard back at Chengara, where Id gotten a free but excellent education on how to fight when outnumbered.
