Dying For LA

by Ian Jones

  But they got lucky, in the end.

  A man and a woman, both wearing the hotel security uniform came out of a side door into the casino right in front of them, so John stopped and asked the same question.

  ‘Excuse me, do you have any idea where to find George Scott?’

  The man immediately closed up, but the woman eyed Reed with interest.

  ‘Now you are a big boy,’ she told him, pouting.

  ‘Thank you ma’am, but could you please answer the question? We’ve been looking for him all over,’ Reed asked politely.

  The woman looked at him, then smiled, all teeth and makeup.

  ‘Sure. The asshole is through here.’

  ‘Monica,’ the man with her warned, but she ignored him.

  ‘Fuck him, he is an asshole. You hear how he just spoke to me?’

  She turned and swiped a card through a lock next to the door she had just emerged from and pushed it open.

  ‘Down here, first right and then go to your left. The jerk is in there.’

  They looked inside, it was a long corridor.

  ‘Thank you,’ Reed said.

  ‘No problem honey, and you come find me afterward. I really hope you came here to break lumps off him, and I would love to buy you a beer.’

  ‘Thanks,’ John told her, and then they walked through. The door closed behind them, shutting out the racket from the casino.

  The corridor was empty, and obviously led right into the bowels of the hotel. They took the first corridor on their right, and shortly after there was a long caged off section on the left, with an open door to an office just inside. There were stacks of boxes piled high with a man in overalls next to an open gate moving some off a trolley.

  ‘Hey, is George Scott around?’ asked Reed confidently.

  The man spun round and stared at them.

  ‘Who wants to know?’ he asked loudly, going to close the gate.

  But Reed got there first, shoving so hard the gate flew open and the man fell backwards against the boxes.

  They ignored him and walked into the office, which was small, just a desk, with two men there, one counting through a small pile of crumpled dollar bills.

  ‘You George?’ John asked, standing in front of the doorway.

  The two men froze and looked up.

  The nearest man was wearing overalls like the one in the cage, and was young, furtive, guilty looking. The second man who was counting the cash was a lot older, in a burgundy blazer. He had elaborately coiffured grey hair and heavy jowls on a red face. He looked annoyed.

  ‘Who the hell are you?’

  Then Reed appeared behind John, and the man’s face dropped, eyes wide. The young man jumped up.

  ‘I better go Gee-Gee, I got, er … that er … thing. Yeah.’

  Then he was off, squeezing past, with the other man in the cage following him rapidly away.

  John walked in and stood to the side so Reed could follow and effectively fill the room. Now it was Tom’s turn to show what he can do.

  ‘We need to have a word with you George,’ he said passively.

  Scott looked down at the cash on the desk, then back up.

  ‘Look, it’s no big deal OK? These fucking guys, they got more money than sense, right? All I do is arrange some ….’

  But Reed interrupted him.

  ‘It ain’t about whatever that bullshit is George. We don’t give a shit about that. It’s about Madeline.’

  John produced the photo and laid it on the desk.

  Scott looked nervously down then back up again, confused.

  ‘Jesus Christ. What about that bitch? Whatever she said, it’s bullshit. I looked out for her. I gave her loads of chances to make dough, she’s lying. They all lie, these fucking whores.’

  ‘She’s dead,’ Reed told him, folding his massive arms.

  ‘What? When? Nah, that’s bullshit.’

  Reed leaned on the desk, just like he had done countless times before, and John could see it, the cowering soldier who had screwed up, ready to own up to anything to get this giant out of his face.

  ‘Why did she quit working at Caesars?’ Reed asked slowly.

  ‘What? I don’t know. She was always fucking complaining.’

  Reed stood upright and glared down at Scott, who was looking at John, appealing for support. Then Reed walked around and hauled the man out of his chair and across the desk as if he weighed nothing at all, and threw him headfirst out into the caged area outside. Scott landed heavily on his side and slid across the floor. Reed walked out, and picked him up again and threw him even harder back into the office, where he crashed full pelt into the desk, sending the chairs everywhere and the cash flying all over the room. Reed stalked back in and pulled him to his feet, then pushed him across the desk so he was squashed against the wall and started banging his head against it, hard but not so hard it would knock him out.

  ‘I don’t like you George. I don’t like you at all. So, either you answer our questions nice and politely, tell us the truth and play like a good boy or I’m just gonna carry on throwing you around. What do you say?’

  Scott had his arms up. His nose was bleeding and one side of his face was grazed and bloody. His blazer was torn and the white shirt below it filthy.

  ‘Ok! Ok, stop please, Jesus stop.’

  Reed let Scott’s head fall back, then dragged him onto the floor with a thump, and rested one big foot between his legs. Scott stared down in a panic.

  ‘OK. Here’s how it works. You answer what we ask, and every time we think you’re lying to us I’m gonna really hurt you. Understand?’

  ‘Oh shit. Oh shit. Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah, of course.’

  ‘Good. John?’’

  With a big grin all over his face John slapped Reed on the back and crouched down.

  ‘I’ll just repeat Tom’s question. Why did Maddie stop working here?’

  Scott looked wildly at him, and John knew he wasn’t going to bullshit.

  ‘It was the Russian. It wasn’t me, it was the fucking Russian!’

  The Russian. They had heard that earlier in the day. The foreigner? A pattern was emerging.

  ‘What Russian, tell us about him.’

  ‘Fuck. Pinsky. Leonid Pinsky. A real badass. Stays here a few times a year.’

  ‘OK, and what’s the connection with Madeline?’

  ‘Look, I’m telling you it’s nothing to do with me!’

  John looked at Reed who leaned down with his foot, and Scott immediately squealed out.

  ‘I thought we had explained George. We need you to answer our questions. Sorry if that wasn’t clear, my fault I’m sure. Must be my stupid accent. I’ll ask Tom to throw me around later as a punishment. So, where were we? Ah yes, the connection.’

  ‘Fuck!!! OK, OK. Look Leonid, he always has a suite, OK? Always, and there’s guys come and go. He wants things, and I sort it for him.’

  ‘Right, by “things” you mean girls, drugs, whatever the hell he asks for, right?’

  ‘Well … yeah I guess. They gamble and do all sorts of shit. There’s always a bunch of them. Make a pile of cash for the hotel. But girls, yeah, always. Maddie is real good looking, the men love her, so I line her up, with a couple of other girls. She gets paid but she is real pissed about it, starts saying she ain’t doing it again. I dunno what went on, I swear.’

  ‘Was,’ John said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You said “is good looking”, you should have said “was”. We just told you, she’s dead. But what happened next?’

  ‘Yeah, right, I’m sorry. Well he comes back, and wants Maddie again but she ain’t having it. Then Leonid says he got a special job for her, worth fifty grand. I’m like fifty grand! So, I go and tell her all about it.’

  ‘Yeah you did. Less your ten you fucking chancer.’

  ‘Hey look, it’s the deal. I look after the girls, I get my cut.’

  ‘Right. Twenty percent for doing fuck all. I should let Tom start break
ing bones anyway.’

  ‘Wait! Just wait! I’m answering the questions right! So, Madeline says no, and she is real pissed at me anyways, but we both know it’s a lot of money and she’s gonna think about it, then next day says that she got someone else who will do it, and she’s got this blonde woman with her. I seen her before, cute enough I guess but not a patch on Maddie. So, I bell Leonid and he comes down and they go off and talk about it and everybody seems happy again.’

  ‘How long ago was this?’

  ‘Er … it was a while ago. Like months ago.’

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘Nothing. I mean it’s all like it was. No sign of anyone, and Maddie ain’t around neither. She ain’t been here in a long time I swear. Then Leonid comes back, and he is pissed. Real pissed. Starts on at me, the fucking girls are no good, it’s all my fault, I fucked it all up, but I don’t know nothing about it. I ain’t seen no one since, right? And Pinsky is not a guy you fuck with, he is always ready to get someone hurt, or worse. So now I am pissed, and I got to go find Maddie and tell her she got to deal with Leonid, that he wants to see her and it’s fucking urgent is what it is. She just starts freaking, and she tells me to fuck off.’

  ‘OK. So what did you tell Leonid?’

  ‘Look, I had no choice. It’s what I’m saying, you don’t fuck with these guys. I gave him Maddie’s address.’

  ‘Smart. You arsehole.’

  John looked at Reed who raised his eyebrows and shrugged. Scott had filled in a few details and more or less confirmed what they already knew.

  ‘You said guys come and go to Leonid’s suite, did you see any of them?’

  ‘Well, yeah. I kinda dealt with it for him, you know, meet them and take them up. Make sure they get looked after. Part of the deal.’

  ‘So who were they? Any soldiers? Police?’

  ‘A couple of times, yeah. Mostly just guys, lot of Russians.’

  John dug out the photo of Major Hayter.

  ‘Ever see this guy here?’

  Scott looked at it closely.

  ‘Yeah, but only once, he was on his own, weren’t wearing no uniform. But something went down, he didn’t stay long. Leonid was pissed about that too.’

  ‘Where can we find the Russian, this Pinsky? How do you contact him?’

  ‘I don’t. He comes here, but I don’t never hear from him when he ain’t around. We’re not like, buddies, I guess.’

  ‘Where is he now? We got to speak to him.’

  ‘He checked out this morning. I wasn’t working so didn’t see him but I heard he still seemed pissed.’

  John stood up, and Reed stepped back, removing his foot. Scott gingerly sat upright on the floor, looking warily at Reed.

  ‘That it?’

  ‘Yeah, for now. We’ll be back here if you’ve given us one word of bullshit, you can count on it.’

  John leaned down and straightened Scott’s crumpled blazer then spoke quietly.

  ‘You got one thing you have to remember Gee-gee. I know who you are. You’re a bully, we can both see that, and I don’t like bullies, and Tom here, well he really has a problem with them. So, if one word of our conversation gets mentioned anywhere we are straight back here, and if you’re not here, we will find you. We are very good at that. So, am I clear?’

  Scott nodded, even more frightened now.

  ‘Yeah, crystal. I got it.’

  Reed picked up some of the bank notes and tucked them into Scott’s torn shirt pocket.

  ‘We’ll be seeing you.’

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  After a strained meal of mostly cold pizza, with not a great deal of notable conversation, Greg and Rolf disappeared upstairs with the big bag, to sort out their sleeping arrangements. Rico and Sal sat on the sofa, while Voorhees, perched on the only chair that he dragged out of his office picked at the remaining scraps of food. Leo stood static in the centre of the room, a half-smile on his face, hands in his black leather jacket, which made Rico and Sal even more nervous and uncomfortable, so they made some poor excuses about helping the others and stood up, but Leo stopped them.

  ‘Is ok, I go. I think Yann needs to talk to you.’

  He stalked across the room, and moved up the stairs.

  The two men looked at Voorhees.

  ‘It’s not a big deal,’ he said evasively, wiping his mouth.

  ‘Ok,’ Rico wanted some plain speaking, ‘you said four men, but there’s only three.’

  ‘Yes, ok, ok, but it’s enough for what we got to do.’

  Voorhees dusted himself down and looked at the TV. It was clear that he didn’t want to talk about it, which irritated both men, who wanted to know what was going on.

  ‘And what’s the deal with Leo?’ Sal asked. ‘You know each other, right?’

  This had immediately seemed strange, and struck a chord with something Voorhees had always taken great pains to tell them, which was every team was independent. Nobody knew each other, there were never any names disclosed.

  Voorhees pursed his lips and frowned, then rubbed his face with his fat hands.

  ‘Fine. I’ll tell you. But it won’t help any. We didn’t get four men. This is true, I only found out today, there has been some trouble with another team. They’re out of action. We actually got only two. Greg and Rolf.’

  Sal frowned.

  ‘But Leo …’

  ‘Leo is not with us.’

  ‘So who the hell is he? He was at the gates with the other two?’ Rico asked, annoyed.

  ‘Leonid works for our client in this matter. I was told yesterday he would be with us but I didn’t think it would happen. My understanding was he was dealing with matters elsewhere. He has come here because they are not happy with our progress, or our mistakes.’

  Rico slumped back on the sofa, while Sal looked behind at the stairs.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ he said eventually.

  Voorhees wheeled himself closer, and after checking the staircase for himself spoke very quietly.

  ‘Right. Understand this. Leonid was originally doing the work. I believe he failed. This is why the client came to us. I met with him, and he made it clear he did not believe that we could do the job. It was a very difficult meeting. But the client said for us to proceed, Leonid was not very happy. He still believed he could get it done. I didn’t know he was coming until very late, there was nothing I could do about it.’

  He moved even closer, and spoke in a whisper.

  ‘Do not trust him. He is a dangerous man.’

  Then he pushed himself back, and stood up. He looked closely at the two men, tapped a meaty forefinger against the side of his nose then went back into his office, pushing the chair in front of him.

  ‘Fuck,’ Sal said quietly, and silently, Rico agreed.

  ***

  John and Tom Reed sat in the bar in the Luxor. They had enjoyed a good dinner at Hakkasan, then made their way back. Now they had a table at the edge next to the busy casino. John was enjoying working with Reed, the big man was genuine, and dependable. He didn’t get fazed. They had discussed what they now knew for sure, along with what they suspected. It felt like there was something tangible, at last.

  ‘How fucking tall are you anyway?’ John asked him, eyeing his ridiculous frame.

  ‘Why? How tall are you?’ Reed replied, grinning.

  ‘Six foot. Boring. I wish I was you.’

  Reed shook his head.

  ‘It’s not all good. At thirteen years old I was over six-two. Try explaining that in the yard. I had a bad memory as a kid, real bad. My mom tells everybody I just forgot to stop growing. I’m six-seven, as you asked.’

  ‘Six-seven!!! That’s stupid, you must be a cartoon.’

  ‘Yeah, I know it. I got a brother, he’s six-five so also big. And the really weird shit is my mom and my dad are just regular and so is everyone else in the family. Funny thing is I had a buddy at school, boy call Artie Hill, he was even taller. I ain’t joking. Stands best part of seven fee
t now, plays for the Heat down in Miami. Not me, I was shit at basketball. I missed my calling I guess.’

  ‘Yeah, but you’re not just tall, you’re the size of a house!’

  Reed shrugged diffidently.

  ‘Always have been.’

  John cast his eye around the casino, he felt pretty secure. They hadn’t stayed in one place anywhere for any time the whole day; dinner was probably the longest, and he was confident nobody was following them. They had paid cash for the rooms, and there were dozens of hotels right on their doorstep. He leaned forward.

  ‘So, we let’s confirm what we know, some of which we had already kind of worked out.’

  Tom also moved toward him.

  ‘Yeah, this guy Pinsky was setting up Deanna; she was being paid to get close to Major Hayter. Right now we got no idea why. But it wasn’t going well, and it looks like she must have offered him some cash to marry her. Probably desperate because she knew the Russian guy, this Pinsky, was getting pissed at the lack of movement, and everybody seems terrified of that guy, plus we know Major Hayter was always short of cash down to the gambling and owed money all over.’

  John nodded.

  ‘Right. And we know that originally Madeline was lined up, but she had already met Pinsky and didn’t want to touch it, even for forty grand. Plus, she didn’t trust that arsehole Scott and who can blame her.’

  ‘Ok. And we know that Madeline and Deanna had been to LA before, so there was maybe nothing special about this trip, but other than a couple of nights at the MGM Grand it doesn’t look like she spent any time with Major Hayter, of course the whole honeymoon thing could be bullshit anyway.’

  John took a drink of beer.

  ‘So what we need, is to find Pinsky. That’s the key. Just who in the hell is he? Does it mean something that he’s Russian? I can’t work out his involvement in the Metro shooting, and if I’m honest, that was a bit ragged really. No way should I have been able to just pick up the AK. But we need to find him. He is the name now, got to be central in this.’