48
Nick sat in his office in the Acropolis, staring at the casino’s ledgers lying on his desk. He had come to Las Vegas in 1965, and opened the Acropolis two years later. It had been a helluva run.
He heard a delicate cough and looked up. Wanda was standing in the doorway, dressed in a red leather mini skirt and stiletto heels, his favorite outfit.
“Hey, baby,” he said.
He hadn’t seen her since yesterday. Too busy figuring out how much Albert Moss had screwed him out of. Good old Al had run him right into the ground. His cash reserves were gone, his credit allowance at the bank depleted.
“Can I come in?” Wanda asked.
“Of course, baby.”
Wanda didn’t walk into a room: She made an entrance. Nick rose from his chair and watched her come around the desk. Taking his hand, she led him across the office.
“Where are we going?”
“To the big picture window. I have something wonderful to tell you.”
He needed some good news. She picked up a remote and pushed the button that automatically drew back the picture window’s blinds. Sunlight streamed into the room.
It was a gorgeous day. Down below, one of the last of his employees was standing on a ladder, scrubbing his ex-wives with a mop. He was going to leave the fountains on for as long as he could, just to piss everyone in town off.
“Hold my hands,” Wanda said.
Nick obliged her. An ancient gold coin hung around her neck, and he smiled. He’d given it to Wanda the night he’d proposed. It was the only coin that hadn’t disappeared when his employee had hidden his treasure.
“Remember when you gave me this coin,” she said, “and told me how you believed it was magic. Do you?”
Nick smiled. “Yeah, baby.”
“Well, it really is. I’m pregnant.”
He gulped hard, then lowered his eyes and stared at her wonderfully flat stomach. “I thought . . . you couldn’t have a kid.”
“That’s what the doctors said. My first husband and I tried everything—in vitro, artificial insemination—and they kept coming back saying it was me, I couldn’t be a mommy. Well, they were wrong, Nicky.” She touched the coin dangling above her magnificent breasts. “The coin was magic. I’m going to have a baby.”
Nick stared at the coin. His father and grandfather had been sponge divers in a town called Tarpon Springs. Some nights they would come home and give Nick coins they had plucked off the ocean floor.
He put his arms around her waist. “You sure?”
“Yeah. You’re not . . . mad, are you?”
He shook his head.
“I thought . . . maybe you wouldn’t want a baby.”
“Your baby I want,” he said.
She squealed and jumped up and down and kissed him all at the same time. She was acting like it was the greatest day in her life, and he decided to wait, and tell her later that he’d lost the casino. Holding her in his arms, he felt a tremendous explosion rip the air.
“Oh, my God, Nicky! Oh, my God!”
The whole building was shaking, and they watched the picture window bow like it was made of putty. Amazingly, it did not break, and they stared at the enormous black cloud rising in the western sky.
The cloud quickly blocked out the sun. Down on the street, terrified tourists were running for cover, with people being trampled and hurt. Nick wanted to do something, but wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He looked at Wanda. She was crying.
“Nicky—what’s happening?”
He wished he knew. Going to his desk, he picked up the phone and began punching in numbers. He knew everyone in the Metro LVPD who was important. All the police lines were busy, and he slammed down the phone.
“I want you to go home,” he said. “Stay in the house, and don’t come out until I call you.”
Wanda’s face was pressed to the window. She wasn’t moving.
“Did you hear me?”
She turned from the window. “Oh, Nicky,” she cried.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s . . . it’s . . .”
“What?” he said.
“Magic,” she said.
Nick hurried over to where she stood. Down below, the employee on the ladder had fallen onto the statue of Bambi, his second wife. The statue had broken at the waist, and hundreds of shimmering gold coins now lay in the fountain’s turquoise water.
49
Valentine blinked awake. He was lying in the pickup’s shadow, and Earl was standing over him, holding the Remington with one hand. Earl’s lips moved, but he couldn’t hear what he was saying.
“Can’t hear you,” he said.
Earl knelt down and put his mouth to Valentine’s ear. “Mister, what the hell was in that car?”
Valentine pushed himself into a sitting position. The last thing he remembered was shooting Amin in the back of the head. The Taurus had banged against an embankment and flipped over. He’d started to run, believing he could still save Gerry. Then a brilliant white light had enveloped him.
He stood on shaky legs, staring at the deserted lot where he’d last seen the Taurus. It was gone, replaced by a black, smoldering crater as wide as two football fields. His eyes shifted to the housing development Amin had been heading for. The windows on every house were gone. Many of the closer houses had lost their roofs. The destruction looked horrific, and he saw a line of neighborhood people standing at a fence, gaping at the crater. Earl’s massive hand touched his shoulder.
“I’m sorry about your boy,” Earl said in his ear.
Valentine went and leaned against the pickup. Stared at the ground for a long while and listened to himself breathe. He’d done what he had to do.
“You going to be okay?” Earl asked loudly.
“No,” he replied.
Earl got on his cell phone and tried to dial 911. All the lines were busy, and Valentine heard him call his gas station. Suddenly, he acted excited, made Valentine get in the pickup, and gunned it across the desert. Valentine knew he should stay—the police would eventually show up, and want to ask a thousand questions—but Earl was having none of it.
Soon they were back at the gas station. One of Earl’s employees was standing by the front door. Earl jumped out. Valentine’s hearing had come back, and he heard Earl say, “Where is he?”
The employee pointed at the car wash on the other side of the station. Earl came over and opened up Valentine’s door. Grabbing Valentine by the arm, he said, “Come on.”
Valentine followed him, feeling like he was in a dream that he was never going to wake up from. They walked around the car wash, and Valentine saw two men he recognized from earlier, on line at the cash register. They were standing over another man, who lay on the ground. Valentine felt his heart leap into his throat. His son.
Valentine pushed the two men aside without thinking, got on his knees, and saw that Gerry was breathing.
