Dying For LA by Ian Jones (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📕

was it. I had to find out where you was staying.’

‘How many are you?’

The man spat thick blood onto the ground.

‘Just me. Fuck. Only me. This Russian, he asked for more, but I thought it was a bullshit job. Simple.’

He looked balefully at the two men. How wrong could he be.

‘And you didn’t want to split the money. What’s your name?’ John asked.

‘They call me Lucky.’

‘That’s a bad choice today.’

John looked around, there was a cab slowing for the junction. He hailed it and together they bundled Lucky inside. John passed the driver a twenty and told him to go to the airport. They watched as the car went off round the corner and then walked up the steps.

They entered the hotel, and up to the main floor. John saw the restaurant sign high on the wall. Hakkasan.

‘Wow let’s eat there later. I love that restaurant, and we got plenty of cash.’

Tom looked too, but it meant nothing.

‘You remember it from before?’

‘No, I didn’t know it was here. But they got two I think in London. Food is great, different gear altogether.’

‘Ok, yeah, let’s do that.’

They went over to the bar and sat down at the counter. For once, this one wasn’t right smack in the centre of a casino, but close to the entrance which led over the footbridge to Excalibur. Tom bought a couple of Budweisers and they clinked the bottles together and drank.

‘I wonder who this Russian is?’ Reed asked.

‘I’ve got no idea. I’m more concerned that they knew we would be at the precinct.’

‘So … who is it?’ Tom asked. ‘I think it’s Judy.’

John shrugged ruefully.

‘If it is one of them, and I’m not saying it is, then my money would be on Kyle I suppose, he hasn’t been really interested all day. He could be just going through the motions. But I don’t know, and I really don’t want it to be either of them.’

‘It sucks, it really does, we shouldn’t have to worry about this crap.’ Tom hunched forward, massive shoulders straining his t-shirt.

John looked at the barman and dug the photo of Madeline out his pocket.

‘Say, you know this lady?’

The barman, an elderly black man looked at the picture and smiled.

‘Lady? Ha ha, yeah, oh yeah I know Maddie, known her a long while.’

Tom sat up.

‘Can you tell us about her? We want to know if she was with anybody new lately.’

The barman shook his head.

‘Not really. I worked at Caesars before, she was always up there, then she just turned up here a while back. It was good to see her, she’s a nice person. She seemed to have stuff on her mind, but she was happier, last time I saw her. But that was actually some time ago now, she hasn’t been around for a couple of weeks I guess. She moved pitch, probably.’

Her death explained it better, thought John, but she wasn’t working before that either. So that confirmed the money, again. Everything they were hearing confirmed it.

‘Is there anyone she was friends with around here today?’ Reed asked.

The barman shook his head.

‘Not this early. If you’re here this evening you’ll maybe be able to catch someone. Depends how happy they are to talk.’

Chapter Twenty-Two

Rico and Sal had spent most of the day attempting to clean the place up, Voorhees kept mentioning they were being joined by a professional team, and they had to look good, so they had washed and swept, and gone for lunch at the bar at the mall, then come back again and continued with tidying, aware that they were just trying to keep busy while Voorhees sat in the office on the first floor. They had no idea what he had eaten, there was no chance of getting any food delivered here, and he was never going to walk to McDonald’s.

They ended up working in the room outside, Voorhees visible through the glass. He had been tapping away on the crappy laptop, no idea why, there was no internet, maybe he was writing his memoirs. Now, he was on the phone, raised voices again.

He walked out and looked at the two men.

‘So, I have been getting shit right? Blamed for the failures. Well, other teams are making worse fuckups, I kid you not. I’m told the endgame is nigh, and it’s time for us to shine.’

Rico and Sal looked at each other.

‘Now,’ Voorhees continued smoothly. ‘Good job on making this place look ship shape. Tonight when the boys get here they will be hungry, so I need you to get some food arranged, ok? Pizzas, whatever, but make sure all you need to do is collect it, I want everything ready.

Sal nodded, satisfied Voorhees continued.

‘I think we’re going to be given a new mandate tomorrow, if things don’t change we are going to have to get rid of one, maybe two people, so the focus will be on that. I’m hearing it’s being dealt with but I don’t believe it. Other people are making worse mistakes it seems. There is every chance you will be mobile tomorrow, I will work out the pairings when we meet the new guys tonight. But I need you to be sharp, be the best, hold your heads up. We were here first.’

‘What went wrong Yann?’ Rico asked.

‘What?’

‘You said another team fucked up. I wondered, what went wrong?’

‘They dropped the ball Rico. Underestimated their targets. I wanted to deal with this problem before but was overruled, now I am back in charge. And we do it right.’

He looked at the two men, then walked back into the office, obviously pleased with himself. He stopped then turned and looked at them.

‘Say, go get me something to eat, will you? I’m famished.’

He held out a twenty.

Sal walked over and took the money, and then left with Rico, headed for McDonald’s. They were happy to go. It sounded like it might soon be all over.

***

At five-thirty John and Reed walked into the Mile High Club. Inside, it was a big square, an L