by Ian Jones
So they were on. George had mentioned the name first, and John decided to get straight to the point.
‘Look George I really appreciate you meeting me. I need your help. I don’t need you to actually do anything, but I am looking for a girl. This girl, her name’s Abby.’
He took out the picture of Abby and George had a good look at it, then frowned.
‘That’s Richard Cromwell’s daughter.’
John was surprised. How the hell did George know that? There was no point in denying it.
‘Er … yes that’s right actually. But how did you know?’
‘I’ve met her a couple of times. The first time in London, and again when she came out here on holiday. Nice girl, a lot of fun. I didn’t know she was here.’
‘Here somewhere, hopefully, and that’s where I need help. Nobody has heard from her, and Richard is very worried.’
‘Is Pablo the connection, is she at the Acropolis?’
‘It’s possible, but nobody knows her there. I’ve had a good look around. It just doesn’t feel right; my guess is she is somewhere else. But I don’t know this city, Richard asked me to come out and find her, he is getting concerned to put it mildly.’
George nodded.
‘I’d say so, for sure. They’re real close, anyone can see that.’
‘Richard is really worried now, I was hoping to find her quickly, but I’m wondering if Pablo has got her stashed somewhere else, she could be in any of the hotels, or Pablo could have apartments or whatever somewhere.’
George smiled sadly and shook his head.
‘No, he hasn’t. Trust me, he’s got nothing now. And nobody around Vegas is doing him any favours, if she’s in a hotel then the room is being paid for. Her credit card been used?’
‘Richard said it was hit hard for a while, but the stuff being bought wouldn’t be for her. I don’t have any details, but he put a stop on the card.’
Their orange juices arrived and George took a drink. He looked like he was weighing something up, making a decision internally.
‘You in a rush to be anywhere John?’
‘No, not really.’
‘OK, so let me start right at the beginning. I met Francesco first in 1975. I’m a New Yorker, at the time I was involved in a project here in Las Vegas. Francesco was working on the same thing. We hit it off straight away. Let me tell you something for free, he is an amazing man. If he was here now you could put a dollar in his hand, and ten minutes later he’d be back with two. So, the project went well. Real well. My bosses were very happy, and I guess Francesco’s were too, hell I love the guy. We kept in touch, and did a couple of cool things together, then the eighties and the nineties came along and then Vegas changed. Before then there weren’t that many hotels around this part of Vegas, there were a few, but not like it is now. Most of the places you see round here now got built around then, place was crazy for a long time. So anyway, round about then I moved out here working on something new and I was on the phone to him straight away, he was already living here anyways. Rest is history. They call this end New Vegas; the so called purists all claim that it’s lost its soul and all that bullshit, and go on about Sinatra and the Brat Pack. They forget Caesars has been here since the sixties. But this is bigger, way bigger and Francesco was there making it all happen. He was the money man, and I got what needed done.’
John saw the steel in the man. He imagined when he was younger people didn’t say no to him, probably most still didn’t.
‘Francesco moved out here, what in 79? He had the boys already of course. They were the great American family; his wife Ann was like the perfect Texan beauty. She was amazing, they adored each other. Her family hated him mind you, but that’s another story. Anyway, he was already rich but from the late eighties onwards we got busier and busier and the money just rolled in. Everyone was happy. Everybody loved Francesco. They still do.’
George shook his head, reminiscing.
‘Now I didn’t really get to know Pablo. Eddie was always interested in what was going on, always around. He is a good kid, I’m not surprised at all he has done what he’s done. He is a sharp man, no question, and a worker. But Pablo, well. Francesco used to get worried about him and it just got worse as he got older.’
‘Yeah, I heard. He had a lot of trouble as a teenager right?’
‘Teenage was a walk in the park John. I’m serious. Francesco was out working and his thirty year old son was sitting on the couch all day trying to be a gangster.’
‘Gangster?’
‘Oh yeah. He was spending money like it was going out of style and enjoying doing it too. His father’s money of course. He was trying everything. Coke, guns, girls.’
‘Trying?’
‘He was fucking terrible at it. He had no idea. He failed at everything. I beat the shit outta him one time. I got contacts you know? Me and Francesco had respect. We earned it. New York always looked after me and they loved him like a brother. So when Pablo hatches some bullshit plan to sell a bunch of Uzi’s to some guys from Atlantic City who are trying to muscle in on some action they shouldn’t be anywhere near I get the call, cos I’m way out here where all the trouble is being caused. So I make a couple of calls and it’s Pablo. I can’t fucking believe it. With his father’s money. So I have it out with him. As usual he’s got some candy-ass ex-jock getting paid to bust heads for him, cos he can’t do it himself. In the end the jock goes down, and I whale on Pablo for five minutes cos it makes me feel better.’
‘Can’t say I blame you.’
‘Did no good though. Course I can’t say anything to Francesco. Pablo knows it and gives his dad some kind of bullshit and a few days later Francesco starts talking to me about the Acropolis. And you got to know that Pablo is still pulling, or trying to pull the same bullshit right now. Trying, and failing, and that’s where all the money goes.’
‘Ah.’
‘Thing is, New York, they love Francesco. Do you understand who I’m talking about in New York John?’
‘Yeah, yeah I think so. I understand.’
‘Right well these guys, they got money. Real money. But they can’t put it in the bank right? They can’t even spend it! So they need to do something, so they come to us. Let’s build a new hotel. The deal is simple. Both sides are happy, me and Francesco put our bit in but most of it is from New York. Everything is worked out; it’s a loan, all the repayments everything are set. All the money gets cleaned. Francesco is happy, he sets it all up so his sons get a chunk each, but the rest is all owned by New York, and let me tell you Francesco got more than usual. But like I said, they love him, and now they got even more cash coming in, but this time, it’s all legit. The Acropolis opens. They leave it to Francesco and he sets up this management company to run it with Pablo at its head.’
‘Big mistake.’
‘I tried to warn him, but Pablo is his son. His screw up of a son. No, he tells me, you’re wrong. He’s my son, he’s going to do a good job. This will straighten him out. But it makes him worse of course. Now he is a big man. He owns a hotel right? He was a terrible gangster, he had no clue. Buy an AK-47 for two-fifty and sell it for a hundred. That was his business strategy. He had no idea. So of course, running a hotel is the same. Your dad is in Ely State less than a month and he starts building that fucking penthouse on the roof. Eight million that cost. Plus he is still trying to be a big man, trying to get respect. So he thinks OK I can buy it all now and that’s exactly what he does, and all the cash only goes one way. He has spent a fortune in five years. Any OK hotel works in this town, and the Acropolis was doing real good at first. Francesco was really the guy running it from behind the scenes.’
‘Pablo took Richard Cromwell for a million. Pounds that is.’
‘Really? I didn’t know that. I only met him a couple of times but Richard was Francesco’s business. It doesn’t surprise me. He thinks the same as he does about New York, they’re way over there so no need to worry about it. You know Pablo sold t
he family home close to a year ago? Beautiful place it was, the little shit got less than a tenth of the value. He’s got some shark of an attorney who engineered that. I tried to stop it, so now I’m banned from the Acropolis.’
‘You are?’
‘Yeah, I own five percent of the place and I can’t put a toe in the door. But I know it’s all gone badly wrong. Thing is, hotels in Vegas, they don’t earn off the accommodation. It’s not like any other city in the world. They don’t look at occupation percentages or stuff like that. So they charge what forty bucks a room just to get you in the hotel. Their rooms are basic; they don’t want you in there they want you in the casino, or at a show or even the restaurant. Look at Caesars. Look at The Mirage. Well the Acropolis hasn’t had a good act on in years. Nobody goes there apart from tourists who want the cheapest room they can find or bandits who don’t wanna be seen anywhere else until it gets late. And I can’t do anything to change it all the while Pablo’s there.’
‘Eddie said you told him my timing was good, what did you mean?’
‘I still talk to New York all the time. They are unhappy to say the least. Pablo hasn’t made a payment in a long while and he isn’t talking to them. I’m sure you understand how this works; everything is all paid for and once the doors open clean money goes back east, every single quarter that goes through the place, every month. Whatever. But these are serious people, and they get paid. And here’s a big problem, there’s no money. They got someone down here right now. Fella called Shawn Farley; he’s a good man with the numbers. Sharp as a tack. So Pablo is in the shit, and I think it’s starting to dawn on him, it’s taken long enough. Till now New York is way over on the other side of the country what did he care? Now it’s real. But, they won’t sort it like they would normally out of respect for Francesco. In truth I don’t know what’s gonna happen. But understand this; I am not shitting you John. I want my friend off death row and out of Ely State. I want him back here.’
‘George, what I really don’t understand is where did all the money go? It sounds like you’re talking about millions of dollars.’
‘Like I said, Pablo tried to buy his way in, buy respect. He did nothing but spend money trying to be a big man, the main man. And if the rumours are true, and believe me I really think they are then he’s spending a fortune even now paying off loans he took to buy fuck knows what and also pay off the law enforcement to cover up all the other shit he’s pulled. But he’s a laughing stock, and now he is deep with New York, along with some other fuckers you wouldn’t want to owe a single cent to. It’s incredible how he has fucked up so badly, but the numbers got bigger and bigger and he took no notice. So that brings us to now, and finally, a long time too late, he’s getting the point.’
‘George, I have to ask you, do you have any idea where Abby might be? I sympathise with the situation with Pablo and Francesco, I really do; he sounds like a straight guy. But I didn’t come here to do battle with Pablo, the airport business was just something I had to deal with.’
‘Why is she even here?’
‘Nobody really knows. She said she wanted a holiday, she was interested in getting an apartment here apparently. But Richard seems to think she came over here to be with Thomas, and there’s no trace of him either. Do you know him?’
John showed George the photo, he looked at it and shook his head.
‘Maybe. I think I might have seen him with Richard. Maybe even Pablo. But I don’t know him.’
‘It’s possible that she had a thing going on with Thomas. He was spending a lot of time here before he made it permanent, and as I said it’s thought she had come out to see him. Richard knows she had a couple of holidays here. But the last time, she never went home and nobody has heard from her apart from an email and a phone call some time ago.’
‘Look, if you ask me, she’s at the hotel. But I can see the problem, it’s a big place. Lots and lots of rooms. I don’t know of anywhere else Pablo has apart from that shithole Honeys, but there is really nothing there. It’s a shed.’
‘Thing is I have shown her photo round, and nobody seems to know her.’
‘That’s certainly possible at the Acropolis, nobody works there for long. But, so actually you’re looking for Abby and this guy Thomas right? Well that’s better. If they are together it should be easier to find two people rather than one.’
‘I’ve been in the hotel, and I’ve been watching it. But no sign, I can see the front clearly from where I’m watching.’
George nodded and pondered the problem.
‘Actually things are on our side for a change. Fact is, Pablo won’t be getting any help. He’s got no friends in this town. Also he doesn’t have a lot of guys left, and you took care of two more of them so they’re out of action. Right, count me in. Let’s find her.’
John was pleased, he liked George, and it would really help to have him onside.
‘Great, thanks George, I suppose we can’t storm the hotel so where do we start?’
‘It’s crunch time right now. Pablo has got New York on his doorstep, I can’t imagine what he’s telling them, but he’s gonna be distracted. They want money, and he can’t pay. But I got a guy on the inside, that’s how I got told about the airport. Man did I laugh at that. Anyway, let me make a call.’
He fished out a mobile and ignoring the ‘No Cell Phones’ signs dotted around the room dialled a number. With a polite nod to John he stood up and strolled around, talking quietly. John watched him carefully, feeling the comfortable solid bulk of the Glock in his waistband. A big part of him believed George and thought him trustworthy, but they had just met and he had been wrong before. If the cavalry suddenly turned up John would be ready for a fight. He saw George becoming increasingly animated on the phone, then a wide smile spread across his face and he laughed delightedly and hung up. He then dialled another number and had a short conversation then walked quickly back; John stood up to meet him and immediately George began shepherding him out of the room talking quietly.
‘Right, listen up. We just met so if you are fucking me around I’ve got maybe two hours left. But I don’t think you are, and I just called Eddie and he thinks the same.’
Chapter Nine
They walked out of the country club and into the car park, George looked carefully around him and then steered John left.
‘What’s going on George?’
‘This is the time John. I can’t tell you where Abby is right now but everything is about to completely fall apart for Pablo. If you help me now, then I swear I will break every door down in the Acropolis to find her if I have to.’
They reached a sleek, highly polished dark blue Mercedes and George went to the driver’s door.
‘Get in, I’ll explain on the way.’
John climbed in the car and George drove smoothly out of the country club and then headed east through the traffic, anxiously looking at the clock on the dashboard.
‘OK John, here’s the deal. Pablo bought a private jet a couple of years back. The fucking idiot, a private jet. Who the fuck does that, really. It’s a second hand Gulfstream, my bet is he’s maybe used it once. He paid eleven and a half for it. Now my guy has just told me he’s sold it for three, cash deal.’
‘Good business.’
‘Yeah, spectacular. But now he’s gone even better by getting it knocked down to two and half if he gets the money today. No surprise in saying that this was accepted.’
‘Very happily I imagine.’
‘He’s a desperate man. All he’s thinking about is getting some breathing space, he wants New York out the door. For now. I don’t have the exact figures but I’m told he’s behind by a huge amount. Two and a half ain’t even gonna touch the sides.’
‘I get it. So, what are we doing?’
‘The plane is at Brook, it’s a small private airfield about thirty miles out of the city. The deal is happening there, in less than an hour or so. I’ve just been told that Tony and Skinny already left to go pick up the mone
y.’
‘George, this means Pablo is near enough alone in the hotel! I could just go there right now and search the place.’
‘Hear me out John. I got a plan and it will work out for us both, believe me. It will force Pablo out, hell he may even come to me direct he’ll be that desperate. He ran out of people to help him a long time ago, and knows it. Nobody will lend him a single cent, trust me.’
‘What’s your plan?’
‘Well that’s the simple bit, we rob Tony and Skinny. No problem at all. Tony’s OK, he’s old school just doing his time but Skinny is a fat useless piece of shit. It’ll be no trouble. Tony will know what you did to Robert; he’s been around long enough to know when he’s beaten, and he ain’t interested in getting hurt to try and save Pablo’s ass.’
John thought hard. He was already in the car, so was heading out there anyway. He could see why George was so keen to bring Pablo down, and maybe he was right. It wasn’t just for Francesco, it was for his friends on the east coast too. If Pablo was desperate enough anything could happen, and he needed to find Abby.
‘Alright George, I’m in. What’s this place like?’
‘I got a small Cessna, I keep it there myself. And yeah, I know it’s a vanity; shoot me. Brook isn’t really much of a place. Minimal security, a couple of big old hangers and a small traffic control tower with an office. It’s normally only manned by a couple of guys. It’s linked to McCarran for take-off and landing. It’s handy for me; I had my pilot’s license for a good few years now so I can get to New York nice and easy. We used to go together, back in the day; Francesco used to love it. I heard some time ago that Pablo bought the plane, the stupid asshole, but I never knew nothing about it. He doesn’t have a license; he must use a pilot, which really costs believe me.’
‘It does sound expensive.’
‘Yep. It costs a chunk just to keep the plane there, even my little bird; and hiring a pilot on top is big money. But this is what Pablo does; spend, spend, spend. He’s out of control with it.’