Armand, Frankie, Vinny, and Freddo were always around at the Marchesi because that was where we were the most. Those four were closer in the sense that they looked after the family and stood guard at the hotel and casino. They also travelled to the other sites and businesses.
There was a clear distinction but they were all still knights.
Armand may have been Pa’s most trusted, and a consigliore in the traditional sense, but to me he was the fucking joker.
What I was trying to figure out now was how a card game would initiate someone into the fold.
The men sat around the table and as Armand stood, another guy came from the corner carrying a tray with four cups that he set down in front of the men.
“Welcome to this very rare recruitment session,” Pa rumbled. He straightened up and looked at each of the men.
Each of them looked like something from a nightmare. No wonder Pa told me not to make eye contact. I doubted though, that any of these men would have dared to look at me directly.
Even if they didn’t know me, they saw I was important to Pa because I was sitting next to him.
I was watching whatever game this was unfold with curiosity, just staring ahead though. Not looking at anyone’s face in particular.
“Drink,” Pa instructed and the men took a cup each and drank.
I glanced at Pa when he shuffled and a wicked smile spread across his lips.
“It’s good to see you take instructions well. Now, now let the games begin,” Pa chanted. “There will be a series of games. If you survive you’re in. You have four minutes to solve the puzzles my trusted knight will provide.” Pa’s voice grew louder and Armand moved to the table and picked up the first deck of cards. “Your drink contained a potent concoction of viper’s venom. You will be dead within four minutes.”
I wasn’t sure who was more shocked - Me or the men.
Given that it was them who’d drunk the poison, anyone guessing would place their bets on them being the most shocked and not me. I would however beg to differ because I couldn’t believe my ears.
My father just gave those men poison to drink. Viper’s venom?
I winced but Pa grabbed my hand and gave me a crude hard stare, warning me without words to keep my silence. The stare told me to shut the hell up and if I didn’t he couldn’t guarantee what the hell would happen to me.
I looked away from him and gazed wide-eyed back to the men.
Armand had laid out the cards in some kind of sequence of three stacks each per guy.
I was a distance away but could still see the layout because the platform where we sat was raised. The first thing I noticed was that the cards weren’t ordinary playing cards at all. They looked more like tarot cards.
“The first to solve the puzzle will receive an antidote for the poison,” Pa continued. “The aim is guessing, the skill I’m looking for is attention to detail. It’s up to you how you gather the information required to solve the puzzle. The cards are face-down. I want you to find me three red queens.”
When Armand looked back to Pa with that smug smile, I hated that I knew this was part of the game. I knew too that these men wouldn’t be able to guess anything.
Armand then turned to the men who had started to look sick. One of them looked pale, the one next to him actually looked green. My hands started shaking and I held back tears.
The first guy at the left end of the table, who seemed to be the strongest, went first. He selected a card from the stack in the center and he was wrong. He selected another from the stack to the left. Wrong again. Stack to the right, wrong again. he continued searching. There were no red queens. It was all jacks and kings, Not even a black queen. It was clear Pa meant for him to go row by row, and as I watched the guy I started to think none of his stacks contained any red queens, let alone three.
The guy who looked green had been doing the same but stopped midway, stood up and just dropped to the ground. The guy who looked pale followed suit.
Tears ran down my cheeks and now I knew there was more reasoning to why I’d never been allowed to come here.
This was business.
God in heaven, this was business. A part of it.
The darkness.
The strong guy collapsed on the floor in a heap joining the others and the guy I hadn’t been paying attention to started shaking and screaming.
He screamed so loud it pierced through me. Armand ended him with a bullet to the head. Blood splattered everywhere and Armand just laughed.
Bile rose in my throat and my voice faded away.
Pa released me and stood looking on at the four dead men lying on the ground.
“I guess they didn’t make the cut,” Pa declared with a wicked chuckle. “It’s a lesson for the guys on the next round. If you want in, this is it. My test. I need the strongest. Who’s next?”
I didn’t think anybody would get up. It was clear this was some death game and Pa had obviously made an example out of the first four men.
I expected silence but shock flew through me when a blond man stood up from the back and walked forward. It took me two seconds to recognize him.
Mr. Gorgeous from the club!
What was he doing here?
I wasn’t sure if I should be annoyed, because he must have known who I was last night.
It was just as I’d said. This was Vegas, you only tended to see people a second time if it was intentional. No one knew I’d be here tonight, but the only thing that connected us was Pa.
Through my tear-stained gaze I watched him, and my heart stilled in my chest when he walked straight past the table, straight past Pa and Armand, and came up to me.
He stopped just in front of me and those eyes held me in place. They made me forget my prior thoughts of last night and meeting him.
There was something gentle in the stare that captured me and soothed me away from the horror that was taking place. He surprised me further by pulling a Kleenex from his back pocket and handing it to me.
I took it even though I was still looking at him, still looking at the brightness of the hue of his eyes. He moved away before I could utter my thanks and walked up to the man who carried the drinks.
A shudder swept through me when he grabbed a cup and knocked it back like a shot of vodka. He did it effortlessly, knowing it was poison. Then he took his place at the table, lowering to sit in the chair nearest Armand while two of Pa’s guys started clearing away the bodies of the fallen men.
Both Pa and Armand looked him over with curiosity, as did everyone else.
Who was this guy?
Why in the hell did he seem so fearless?
I thought Pa might ask for more people but it was obvious that no one else would be stepping forward tonight and if they did have plans to, they were clearly checking things out first before they put themselves in the danger of death like the first guys had.
Armand took a stack of cards and did the same set up he’d done before.
Three rows of cards laid out on the table before Mr. Gorgeous.
“Go on, find the three red queens,” Armand told him.
Mr. Gorgeous looked to Armand and surprised everyone when he picked up the three stacks and placed them back together.
He stood again and wowed everyone when he did some sort of shuffle with the deck that made the cards flicker out and back in again. As if each card were attached to a spring. It was fascinating and magical to watch.
“This is a job interview right?” he asked, aiming the question at Pa who looked well and truly taken with him.