The Emperor of Vegas

by Ryan Stygar

“Adam! Adam you gotta pick up!” Vince screamed into the receiver. He was panicking, something Adam had never seen or heard him do in their decades-long friendship. It sounded bad, really bad. “The cops were at my house. They’re looking for you dude! They said you’re in trouble. You gotta call me back!”

  The message clicked off. Adam was stunned. Cops. Of course there were cops. Did he really expect to go around killing guys and hanging out with gangsters all day without any consequences?

  There were two choices. He could avoid Vince at all costs, or he could come clean and hope for the best. Adam felt his heart breaking. Vince had been with him through thick and thin. He imagined the horrified look of disgust he might receive. But even that was better than taking a chance on going through all this without his oldest friend at his side.

  He dialed Vince’s number.

  Vince picked up on the first ring. “Adam!” he heaved into the receiver. “Adam are you ok? What took so long?!”

  Adam felt his lip quiver. “Yeah… yeah I’m ok. It’s a long story man. I got your message,”

  “Dude you need to come over, I don’t know what’s been going on but people are looking for you!”

  “Vince…” Adam began sorrowfully.

  “I can’t help unless you tell me what’s going on” he interrupted. “But you need to get over here. You aren’t safe man! Those cops said more thugs are gonna come after you. You gotta come over,”

  Adam didn’t respond, was this some kind of trap? How did he know that the police, or worse, some Russian hit squad, didn’t have a gun to Vince’s head? It was a horrible thought, one he never would have had only a few days ago, but his life was upside down.

  “Adam are you there?”

  “I…” Adam said. “I’m coming, thanks man. I know I can trust you,”

  Vince seemed to relax. “Call me when you’re close, just in case. I can’t tell what those cops really wanted but from what they were asking it sounded bad,”

  Adam couldn’t keep it together anymore. “It’s bad man… I’m in deep shit,”

  He broke down and bawled like a baby. “I’m so screwed man” he cried. “I don’t know what to do…”

  Vince did his best to shush his weeping friend. “Whatever it is, I know we’ll get through it man. Come over. I have your back buddy,”

  Adam was sobbing when he hung up. Wrapping his arms around the steering wheel for support he heaved as the tears came pouring out.

  It was a good, long cry. Sniffling, he wiped his puffy red eyes and composed himself. Then he put his S10 into drive and headed toward Vince’s place. It’s not a trap, he assured himself, Vince has my back no matter what.

  Orange street lights threw strange shadows across every angle between the two rows of apartments as the sun dipped below the horizon. His stomach turned at the once-soothing sight of Vince’s door. Each step sent a quiet echo under the old stairs. To Adam it sounded like a bell tolling for his demise. What would Vince do? Would he turn him in?

  Adam sucked in a lungful of air to cool his nerves before rapping on Vince’s door. He cringed at the sound of Vince’s steps. He gritted his teeth and braced himself for whatever fury was surely coming his way.

  “Adam is that you?” Vince called from the other side.

  “It’s me,” he answered. When Vince threw open the door Adam could see that he had been crying.

  Vince threw his arms around his old friend. “What’s happened to you man? Is it true? Is it true what they said about you?”

  Adam shuddered. Overwhelmed by the bluntness of Vince’s question and the way his voice quavered when he asked it. Adam only nodded and wept. Vince stepped back, holding Adam at an arm’s length away as he looked at him. It wasn’t disgust or anger on his face, but a look of hurt, as if he felt betrayed by Adam’s crime. “Why?” he asked. “Two men, Adam? You killed two living people? How could that happen? All the time I’ve known you… how could you do that?”

  Adam couldn’t stand looking at him. “It all just… it all just got so bad Vince…” he felt tears stream from his eyes again. “They were gonna take Lily from me, I had no money. I didn’t know what else to do… I didn’t know…”

  “Come inside,” Vince put an arm around Adam and led him in. “I know you. I know you have a good heart. But this… you need to explain yourself Adam,”

  “I just… I just ran out of options. They were gonna turn Lily over to the state,” Adam began. Over the course of two tear-soaked hours he told Vince about his failed gamble on Fremont Street and the encounter with Lukas Petrov. He confessed how he stowed away into the Sunset View Motel room and waited for a chance to murder Andrew Kremenski. Vince gasped when Adam recounted the arrival of the two men in the motel and the fight to the death that followed, but he never interrupted.

  He told Vince the real story about the being tortured by Jacob in the Sumatra. Vince couldn’t take it anymore. “Adam,” he said with a firm hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We have to get you out of town!”

  “I can’t just leave. I want to but I can’t,”

  “Why not? Let’s use some of that money you got and get you out of here. I have your back man, but we can’t hide from gangsters and cops forever, you have to run,”

  Adam told him again it was impossible. “I can’t pull Lily from St. Judith’s until I pay the rest of the debt, and even then I’ll need a lot of cash to make sure she has all her meds,”

  “So we get you some money and then we get you and Lily out of Vegas,” Vince said. “When the cops questioned me I gave them your old address. It won’t fool them forever but I’m sure it’ll keep them off the trail long enough,”

  “I wish it was that easy,” Adam said. “There’s more; I got dragged into a gunfight yesterday, a big one,”

  “Shit…” Vince cursed. “Did you kill someone with my gun?”

  “No… no I just fired a few rounds. But they got me… there’s a whole other side to the Sumatra Hotel that you and I never saw before. The owner, Dimitri Jordan, he’s the most powerful gangster in the city. I met him. He’s basically forcing me to work for him,”

  “My God…” Vince stammered. He loved Adam and he wanted to help, but all this was just so much bigger than they were.

  “What are you gonna do?” he finally asked.

  “I don’t think I have a choice,” Adam sighed. “If I don’t do what Dimitri Jordan says then I’m dead. And without money I don’t have a way to get away,”

  “I won’t help you kill anyone…” Vince said. “Anything you need, I’m here, but I can’t go that far,”

  Adam nodded sadly. “I never thought I would go that far either..,”

  There was silence for a while. It didn’t need to be said that Vince would stick by his childhood friend, even if there were hazards. Outside, dusk was falling and another sleepless Vegas night was beginning.

  A few hours passed. Vince cooked up some grilled cheese sandwiches for them to eat. After the meal Adam was fumbling with one of his burner phones and looking distressed. Vince asked what the matter was.

  “Read this… it’s from the Russians,” Adam said, holding up the phone for Vince to see. “What do I do?”

  Vince took the phone to read the message while Adam buried his face in his hands. “God this whole situation is just… I don’t know,”

  Vince read aloud, “You are not dead, this is great news. Make visit to Red Star Plaza tonight at 9. Do not be late,” Vince closed the phone and set it down as if he were handling a dangerous reptile.

  “Shit man,”

  “Welcome to my new life,” Adam said as he cracked open a beer. He gulped down half the can and asked Vince what he thought. Vince shook his head. “I don’t think there’s a choice here. You said these guys found you before, right?”

  “What if it’s a trap?” Adam asked.

  “I think they would have just hunted you down again if they wanted to hurt you… it’s gotta be something else,”

  “They probably want
me to kill someone again. Vince this is what I do now… you can’t be part of this,”

  Vince slapped Adam’s knee. “Hey! It would be different if you were some kind of murdering psychopath – but you’re backed into a corner here man! I get it. You’ve been forced into this. I’m not leaving you alone because I know you’d do the same for me. Go and see the Russians, maybe there will be a way out of all this,”

  “Nine PM is only a couple hours away,” Adam said, raising an eyebrow at his watch. “I need to get ready,”

  “Let me go with you,” Vince blurted.

  “That’s crazy and you know it. There’s no need to get you wrapped up in this,”

  Vince bit back his lip, scorned.

  “Well… at least take some more ammo, just in case,” Vince said. Within a minute he produced a baggie of bullets for the Bersa. “If you kill someone… please for the love of God do not leave my gun where someone might find it,”

  “You’re a great friend,” Adam said, standing up. “I’ll be careful with it,”

  “Be more careful with yourself buddy,” Vince answered.

  The friends hugged at the door, hoping it wouldn’t be their last time. Vince waved hopefully as Adam drove off toward Red Star Tower.

  31

  Sumatra Hotel, Dimitri Jordan’s Gym, 55th Floor, 7:00pm

  S heriff Wyatt paced outside the double glass doors that led to Dimitri Jordan’s personal gym. Fitness machines of every conceivable shape and function filled the lower level in neat rows. Above them, the carpeted mezzanine held Jordan’s free weights. The Emperor of Vegas was bench pressing a massive iron bar on the upper level while Wyatt was escorted inside.

  Wyatt was furious when he stormed through the rows of machines. “What is wrong with him? Playing with his weights at a time like this!” he barked to no one in particular.

  Massive windows lined the stairs that led to the mezzanine floor. Wyatt huffed and puffed as he stomped up the steps, he was beet red and pouring sweat when he finally reached the top.

  Clunk! Jordan re-racked a bar loaded with four hundred and fifteen pounds of iron onto the incline bench press. At his feet lay a pair of two-hundred pound dumbbells. Without taking a break he reached down from the bench, hoisted the gigantic weights over his shoulders and began pumping them up and down over his head. It was a display of strength that made Wyatt stop and rethink the angry speech he’d planned to deliver.

  The floor shook like an earthquake when Jordan dropped the dumbbells. A towel was handed over with a glass of water.

  “James!” he called in a cordial tone. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you. My man says he paid you already,”

  “He did,” Wyatt heaved. He leaned up against a row of weights to catch his breath.

  “Then what’s this nonsense about you interrupting my workout?”

  “I told you to give me Jacob. Without him to pin this on I can’t just…” he leaned over to heave again, “…damn those stairs!” he coughed. “I can’t just wave a magic wand and make this shit go away,”

  “I told you that Jacob would be delivered to you and that is what happened,”

  “He’s no good to me dead!”

  “Neither of us could afford to have him talk. He was a loose cannon; I had to shut him down,”

  “Well now he’s worthless. You screwed me on this one, Dimitri! I should have never let Watson go…”

  “Watson has nothing to do with this,”

  “He does when he’s going around shooting up strip clubs like a thug,”

  “I already had a talk with him about that, it won’t happen again,”

  Wyatt threw up his hands. “Oh you had a talk with him about it? Why didn’t you say so sooner? A talk! Well thank goodness, I guess we’ve got nothing to worry about!”

  “Spare me the theatrics, James. I’ve handled it; it won’t happen again. This isn’t the first time things have gotten heated between my men and some gung-ho cop. We’ll get through it just like we always do,”

  Wyatt puffed. “Well, dropping dead hogs on a sergeant’s doorstep and shooting up his house isn’t how we handle that sort of thing,”

  Jordan shook his head. “That wasn’t us,”

  “Oh save it, Dimitri. One of your dipshit Lieutenants left his gun at the scene. Which reminds me, you owe me big-time for keeping that whole incident from blowing up in your face,”

  “You want more money? Here, take more money,” Jordan snapped his fingers and a guard quickly appeared at his side with five stacks of cash worth ten grand apiece. “Take it,”

  Wyatt grumbled as he accepted the money. “I’m telling you, your Lieutenants need to chill out and lay low for a while. It’s getting harder and harder to keep the heat off of you,”

  “Message received,” Jordan said. He set down his glass of water, which was carried away by one of his guards. At the same instant, Kiersten hurried to his side with his little black case.

  With raven hair that was log on one side and buzzed short on the other, Wyatt thought she had an edgy, goth-girl look that made him stir with desire. Wyatt eyed her well-shaped bottom while she injected Jordan with his steroids.

  “It’s rude to stare, James,” Jordan scolded. “You have your money. I believe we’re done here,”

  “No, we are not!” Wyatt complained. “Jacob’s actions set off a chain of events that I am having a very hard time getting under control,”

  “Funny, I thought you were the Sheriff?”

  Wyatt scowled. “Is this funny to you? Without someone to throw under the bus for that shooting we are both screwed. I need a scapegoat to take the fall for it,”

  Kiersten packed up the needle. “That’s the last one; I’ll buy some more tomorrow,” she said softly.

  Jordan pulled out a wad of one hundred dollar bills from his gym bag and placed it gently in her hand. Taking the money, Kiersten kissed Jordan’s cheek and took her leave. She gave Wyatt a not-at-all friendly look on her way out.

  Jordan leaned forward in his seat. “I paid you half a million dollars to make that problem go away. Why don’t you put that to good use?”

  “It’s already gone,” Wyatt said, stepping forward to meet him. “I got things controlled internally, but the collateral damage is causing noise,”

  Jordan thought for a moment. “Feds?”

  “Two special agents visited my office,” Wyatt said. “They’re asking a lot of questions and I can’t stall them forever. Now that a woman was killed on Las Vegas Boulevard, collateral damage from Jacob’s little outburst, mind you, they can use the homicide investigation as a means to hijack my department from me. They’re gunning for us, Dimitri,”

  “More like gunning for a big fancy promotion and a pay raise, I’m sure. You can’t shut that down?”

  “I can obstruct the investigation to an extent, but they can remove me from office if they feel I’m intentionally hindering them and you know where that road will take us. There’s this hard-ass chick, a special agent from the DHS, she doesn’t like me much. It won’t be long before she just goes over my head if I can’t give her something. I think the best move is to pin that dead woman’s murder on someone and then get him behind bars. Once I show the Feds that Las Vegas Metro has the case under control, that special agent will have one less tool to use against us,”

  “Are there any other options?” Jordan asked.

  “You can try offering a bribe, but I don’t think she’ll take it. I’m telling you she’s a hard-ass,”

  “What’s her name?”

  Wyatt shook a finger. “Don’t you even think about it,”

  “I just need to know who I make out the check to,” Jordan said innocently.

  “Bullshit,” Wyatt said. “I’m not handing over a federal agent for you to kill, that’s insane,”

  “You said yourself she won’t take a bribe. I don’t see another option,”

  “I need a scapegoat – alive. I let Watson go because I thought you were going to hand Jacob over. You need
to turn Watson back in so I can use him to show the Feds some good will,”

  “Out of the question,” Jordan said. “Lieutenants don’t go to prison; immunity is part of their benefits package,”

  “I need something,” Wyatt pleaded.

  “Lukas Petrov was there wasn’t he?”

  Wyatt scoffed. “I know damn well you’ve got him in a shallow grave somewhere by now. Killing people is causing you more harm than good,”

  Jordan pursed his lips; the Sheriff had a point. Then an idea occurred to him.

  “I have someone working for me, but he’s not essential. You can probably make better use of him than I can,”

  Wyatt leaned back in his seat. “Okay… who do you have?”

  “Adam Friend,” Jordan said.

  Wyatt raised an eyebrow. “No shit…”

  “You recognize the name?”

  “Sure do, he’s wanted for questioning in a homicide investigation. When can I have him?”

  Jordan stood from his bench and guided Wyatt down the stairs to leave. “You can take him in whenever it suits you. As far as anyone besides you and me is concerned, Adam Friend is the cold-hearted killer who shot that woman on Las Vegas Boulevard. I’ll help you with whatever physical evidence you need,”

  “I need him alive, Dimitri. I’m serious, no more bodies,”

  “Alive,” he agreed. “Go and get him. My men won’t stop you,”

  32

  Red Star Tower, 8:45pm

  V iktoriya Petrov watched as Adam Friend’s S10 rattled into the Red Star Plaza parking lot. She turned to her brother and shooed him away. “Go back to bed, Papa and I can handle him,”

  Lukas patted her slender shoulder. With long blonde hair, milk-white skin and bright blue eyes, Viktoriya looked like a Russian Barbie Doll. When she wore her gold evening gown, she looked downright divine.

  “You look beautiful, little sister,” Lukas said. He still guarded his injured side as he limped away from her. “Ivan will be standing by if you need help,”

  “I won’t be needing Ivan,” she said, smacking on a fresh layer of red lipstick. “I know what I am doing,”