Hard Times in Old Anvil
Part 1
“Ox, how’s the family?” King Vargo says, sitting with his back to me in the low light of his warehouse office.
“Can’t complain.”
“The boys good? How old are they now?”
“Six and ten, Vargo,” I say with a small twitch under my right eye as I look over to his brother, Jimmy, standing in the corner toying with a butterfly knife. “Keep themselves busy, you know? Their mother’s always running around after them. Got her looks, thankfully. A bit too much of my spirit, though, I reckon.”
Vargo feigns a small laugh. “Well, that’s what we like to hear. Maybe they’ll join the crew one day,” he says, more statement than question.
“Aye, well, we’ll have to see about that.”
“Listen,” he turns his chair around to face me. He’s all sharp features, cold grey eyes, hair in a neat crew cut, a chiselled face worn down from a million battles fought. Most won. He is the King after all. “We need to talk.”
I step forward and nod. It’s a tidy office, overlooking the warehouse floor that runs most of the illegal trade in Grand Anvil, and half of that beyond. All the usual here—weapons, drugs, black-market gear, and of course, the biggest prize of all, Echo relics.
“That thing with Keira?” I say, coming to the desk, towering over him in height and width, but there’s no hint of intimidation in his eyes. He knows I’m the one who works for him. “I thought we’d wrapped all that up?”
“Are you as dumb as you are big?” Jimmy Vargo pockets his knife and steps over to me. Mean little bastard, this one. The opposite of his older brother. A fucking weasel, and if he weren’t the boss’s next of kin, there’s a hard chance I’d have buried him beneath a nanocrete vat already.
I turn to him, jaw clenched, bring one of my mitts up to my thick red beard, run big fingers through it for a second before catching Vargo in the corner of my eye. There’s a look there. He doesn’t hate his brother, but I know for a fact he’s not his biggest fan. Blood’s blood though, right? Right.
“Less of that, Jimmy,” he says, raising a flat palm. “What about your manners?”
“This lump doesn’t have any manners. You forget where he’s from?” he steps over to me, puffing up his little chest. “Or maybe you forgot?”
“I remember alright,” I say, stepping to him, his head halfway up my broad chest, little eyes, long dank hair. I could flatten him in a second, but I draw a breath and turn back to the King.
“Take it easy, Jimmy. We’re all friends here,” Vargo says, throwing his feet up onto his desk, sitting back and lighting a cigarette.
Jimmy sneers, pushes his jaw up to me. “Just remember who got you to where you are, pulled you out of those slums down in Canal Nine,” he says before turning back and taking a seat on the edge of his brother’s desk.
“Eternally thankful to you, boss, you know that.”
“I know it,” the King says, taking a long drag on his cigarette. “Look, Ox, that thing with Keira? It’s all cleared up. I’m a man of my word. She’s part of the crew now. Unfortunate we lost our source inside the Old Silk Exchange, but I got the Echo relic, and she had the card, so the rest is history.”
“Good,” I say, taking a deep breath. “So, you got something for me? New relic come through you want to get your hands on? Some mean chrono-spikes in the last week or two.”
“No, nothing of particular interest right now.” He stubs the half-smoked cigarette out in the ashtray on his desk, takes his feet back to the ground, leans forward. “Another matter has come to my attention.”
“Oh?”
“Two words; Relentless Joe.”
“Old friend,” I say, running my hand down my weathered and scarred face. “I thought he was doing well? Casino Grande’s booming, right?”
“The place needs looking into.”
“He pays his dues, boss, always on time. Runs a tight house.”
“He needs to be taught a fucking lesson,” Jimmy pipes up, that sneer written across his ratty little face again.
“My brother here,” Vargo points and shakes his head. “Brought it to my attention he believes Joe is skimming the take.”
“Now, Vargo—”
“That fucker’s hiding something.” Jimmy gets off the desk and steps up. “I was over there two nights ago. The place is heaving, and what? We’re supposed to be getting twenty points on the dollar, right? I saw what the men brought in from him last month, and it isn’t half of what it should be. HALF. Either he’s too dumb to realise his counting room is stealing from him, or we’re not getting the cut we’re owed. Either way, he needs talking to.”
Vargo stands, eyes focused on his brother, before he turns them to me, all business. “Ox, you know the man, did a bit on the protection racket together back in the day, right?”
“Yeah, taught me the ropes when I got off Canal Nine, showed me what’s what before he moved up the ladder.”
“Right. Look, head over there and have a talk with him. Take a few of the men. See what he’s up to. Hell, have a drink, a game or two, get a scope of the place you know, but make sure he’s on the level. If he’s as busy as Jimmy here says he is, and we’re not getting our cut, well, we can’t stand idly by. He’s earned himself a certain level of respect. Like you say, he pays his dues and keeps a tidy house, but if he’s grown overconfident, thinks he can skim and underpay us? Then we’ll need to remind him who is in charge.”
“I hear you, boss. I’ll get a team together and—”
“I’m coming,” Jimmy says.
“Vargo?” I look at the King.
He shakes his head. “Jimmy, you’re not needed on this one. Ox and the men can handle this themselves.”
“No shit?” Jimmy says, turning to his brother. “You might have a sweet spot for big Ox over here, but I trust him about as far as I can throw him. I’m coming. Make sure Joe knows he can’t fuck with us and the take.”
Vargo clears his throat, takes another cigarette, lights it and blows smoke into the air. “Okay, just let Ox do his job, right, Jimmy?”
“Oh, he’ll do his job,” the little weasel says. “And I’ll be there to make sure Relentless Joe knows his fucking job, too. He works for us, the Vargos. He doesn’t like that? Well, like you said, brother, we’ll just have to remind him who’s in charge here in Grand Anvil.”
Part 2
Low ceilings with hanging lights that highlight the thick smoke from the down-and-outs around the card tables. People hunched over, holding their stares, trying to keep back a tell, or giving one away. The sweat beads on their foreheads as they drag on their black-market cigarettes and down cheap liquor.
“May I help you, gentlemen?” A young-looking fella comes up to us, smart suit, top-hat at a jaunty angle on his head and cane in his right hand. “I’m Milo, the new compere here at Casino Grande.”
“Seen you before, right?” I say.
“Ah, there was some press in the Daily Echo about a recent incident I had my part to play in.”
“Right,” I look past him at the busy room. “Hm, you usually get this many in here on a Tuesday night?”
“Times are hard in Grand Anvil, my big friend,” he says, looking up at me. “Here, we give people a moment of respite, of escape. Entertainment, you see, even in times of hardship, always thrives.”
I smile. “You got that right, all sewn up.”
“Indeed. Now, may I show your group to a table? Blackjack or poker, perhaps?”
“Listen,” Jimmy comes from behind me, hands twitching. “We’re here to see Relentless Joe.”
“Oh,” Milo pauses, shifts his gaze from me to Jimmy and back again with a hint of disgust. “May I inquire who you are exactly?”
“I’m Jimmy fucking Vargo, you little shit. You dumb as well as new?”
“Ah—”
“It’s okay,” I say, stepping in front of Jimmy. “Joe knows we’re coming. The King sent us over. We’re here to have a talk. Nothing more. If you’ll show us to him, we’ll get out of your way.”
“Indeed,” Milo says as he listens to his comms-link and nods. “Follow me.”
We do. Myself, Jimmy, and two hard-nosed men I’ve brought with me just in case, Lex and Focus. Joe didn’t earn his name Relentless through being a pushover. Half the reason King Vargo put him in charge of the casino in the first place.
Quick steps across the gaming floor. More of that smoke and cheap alcohol, the stench of rising sweat. Half fear, half excitement.
“YOU FUCKER!” The shout comes from across the room as Jimmy spins, drawing his fat, snub-nosed revolver.
There’s some commotion and two bouncers move in. Double speed. Grab the losing player a few tables over in a headlock and start pulling him out back.
“Put that thing away, Jimmy. You’ll get someone hurt,” I say, turning to follow Milo.
“Yeah—yeah, right,” he slips the hand cannon into the back of his trousers.
“My apologies, gentlemen,” Milo says as he stands by a heavy-looking door. “As mentioned, these are trying times in the old Anvil. Some of our clientele lack a certain sense of decorum.”
“House always wins,” I say under my breath.
“Quite.” Milo holds his hand on the scanner next to the door. It flashes green and slides across. “Relentless Joe is ready for you now.”
“He better fucking be,” Jimmy spits as he comes around me and through the door.
“Appreciate it,” I nod to Milo as he tips his hat.
I duck under the small door frame and enter the room with Lex and Focus close behind.
Jimmy finds a spot at the side of the room, lights up a cigarette as Relentless Joe spins around in his chair behind his desk. A wall of CCTV screens behind him shows the casino floor from every angle, all that heavy smoke and sweat.
Tough look to Joe, appearance the same as it was when we were on the streets back in the day. Mean eyes, crooked nose that’s been broken and set a hundred times, square jaw covered in three-day-old stubble, thick crop of jet-black hair. He brings his bruiser hands up in front of him, ringed with golden sovereigns, half of which are Echo relics taken from the bodies of the less fortunate.
“Ox, old friend,” he says, real low. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
I take a step forward as I spot a figure off to my right, and that twitch comes back under my eye.
“Ah,” Joe notices, leaning back in his chair. “Don’t mind her. She’s just here to keep watch.”
“Right,” I say as the slender figure comes from the shadows. Pretty face, purple eyes, dark bobbed hair and lean muscle under black latex, ribbed with combat webbing, a heavy-looking gun on her right thigh.
“Wild Cat,” Joe says, turning his head to her and back to me with a raised eyebrow.
“You need a bodyguard now, Joe?” Jimmy hisses as he comes in front of the desk, putting his cigarette out in an ashtray.
“You tell me?”
“Look,” I take a step forward and come beside Jimmy. “Calm is what’s called for here, gents. No need to be getting lively, just a quick word and we’ll be on our way.”
“So, what’s the word?” Joe says, dismissing Wild Cat with a wave of his hand.
“You’re skimming the take,” Jimmy says, placing his hands down flat on the desk.
“Not true.”
“You take us for fucking idiots, is that it, Joe?”
“Now, now Jimmy,” Joe’s eyebrows raise as he stubs out his own cigarette. “When have I ever not been straight with the Vargos? The King himself? Had this place for over a year now and it’s been straight down the line, you know that.”
“You don’t think I see what’s going on here?” Jimmy takes a step back, beady little eyes looking up at the bank of CCTV screens casting out their watch of the casino floor. “You run a tight ship, alright, too fucking tight if you ask me. I’ve seen the numbers coming back to us, Joe. You think you can steal from the Vargos?”
“Calm, Jimmy, we’re just here to talk.” I put one of my hands on the little rat’s shoulder.
“Get the fuck off me,” he bats the hand away. “Ox, teach this guy a lesson. Give his mushed-up nose a few more rounds. Get him to tell us what’s really going on here.”
Tension in my jaw, in the air. Joe sits still and looks up with mean eyes. Wild Cat steps back out of the shadows. Lex and Focus come in close behind me.
Joe moves forward, moving one hand below the desk.
“Fuck this guy.” Jimmy pulls his gun out from behind and fires two shots into Joe’s chest.
Our eyes go wide in the low light. The smoke curls up from the barrel of Jimmy’s gun. Joe slides down half an inch in his chair. Wild Cat bolts from the corner, drawing her pistol. Lex and Focus bring theirs up to meet hers. I stand in the middle, Jimmy twitching at my side.
“Oh, fuck,” I whisper before bringing the focus in. “Hey, HEY! Calm it! Take a breath.”
Wild Cat stands still, arm out straight, quick breaths, eyes moving between me and the boys. “Which one of you dies first?” she says, cold as ice.
“Yeah?” Jimmy steps up. “You’re outnumbered and outgunned, little lady. You want to die like him, or you want to come work for some real men?”
I grab Jimmy by the collar of his jacket, swing him around in a quick motion, slamming him into the wall. He falls in an unconscious heap, and I take a step towards the girl as she eyes me and the men, gun still up, arm still solid.
“Don’t.” I say, raising a hand. “It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. Maybe you pop off one of us before you get a bullet to the face, but either way, you make the wrong move, you’re dead.”
“No shit,” she says, still calm, but there’s a tell in her eye, recalculating the moment.
“Yeah, no shit.”
Her eyes twitch again, more quick recalculations on might get her out of here alive.
They fix on Jimmy on the floor to my right as she points, re-holstering her gun. “That piece of shit—get him out of here, quick. Joe’s boys’ll be through here any second. This is about to get dark, and I don’t want to be caught in the fucking middle.”
“Smart,” I say, lowering my hands and motioning the boys to do the same. “Could use a person like you.”
“Yeah, right?” she gives half a smile. “Not much use here was I?”
“Even I didn’t know that piece of shit would start shooting.” I step over to Jimmy, lift him up with one hand and throw him over my broad shoulder. “Quick way out of here?”
“This way,” she says, moving across the room to a wall beside the big panel of screens. “Takes you out back.” She hits the wall with the back of her fist. It clicks and shifts sideways.
“Good,” I signal to Lex and Focus. “You two, on me.”
“Ox,” Wild Cat says as I come to the door. “You gotta make it look like I put up a fight, slug me, so they know I didn’t just let you guys go.”
I nod, turn away and then back again quickly, clenched fist to the right eye. I give it about ten percent, but she drops out cold. I shake my head, reposition Jimmy on my shoulder as the boys come beside me, and we make our way out the back entrance into the cold, dark night.
Part 3
“Joe survived,” King Vargo says, lighting a cigarette as we walk the aisles of the warehouse floor between stacked crates of illegal wares, stolen Echo relics, weapons and the rest. It’s late, but the place is still thriving. The hum of illicit activity is always there, no matter what the hour.
“No shit. How?”
“Bulletproof vest.”
I huff a small laugh, my heavy boots making soft thuds on the smooth concrete floor. “I guess they don’t call him relentless for nothing.”
“Real mess this, Ox.”
“I’m to blame, boss. I should have kept a better eye on Jimmy.”
“No, big man,” Vargo stops his walk, pulls on his cigarette in the low light, and turns to me. “The kid’s a fucking liability, I know it. He’ll sink us one day, but blood’s blood.”
“Yeah,” I shake my head and pause a note. “Joe, he’ll be gearing up for war now. No doubt.”
“I know that too,” he nods, flicks his cigarette on the floor and stamps it out before looking up at me. “Going to need you to tidy this one up for me, Ox. Can’t afford a war right now, not after all that mess with Keira and the Echo relic. Arkwright Industries Security, Intercept Team Investigation, local police, all breathing down my neck enough as it is.”
“What’s the play?”
“I need you to get over there, Ox. Small crew, hard hit. Load up, lock and stock, take whatever you need from the wares here. Full flush, you hear me? Nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand. Take out the casino and everyone in it, all his crew. Send a message, real tight. We’ll lose a few good men, but it’s better than all-out war.”
“Vargo—”
“I won’t hear it, Ox,” he pauses, pulling a hand down his hardened face. “Fucking Jimmy.”
“Boss—”
“Listen, if we don’t hit back now, and I mean right now, hard, take Joe and his crew out before he has time to organise himself? This thing will get drawn out for Christ knows how long. You remember the last turf war? Fresh out of the slums of Canal Nine, the big brute you were. You had to pull some hard work for me back then.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure you remember the bodies we had to bury beneath the vats, too.”
I nod, running my thick fingers through my beard, the thought of my wife and boys at home in bed running through my mind. What it might mean to them—a turf war. More violence and panic on the streets of Grand Anvil.
“Yeah. Well, we need this over, quick. Pull a small squad together, real hard hitters like I said. Get your ass there tonight and don’t be polite. You hear me?”
“I hear you, Vargo.”
“Good. Report back to me when it’s done.” He nods, lights another cigarette and walks off down the aisle between the stacked crates, the people parting their way, nodding to give their signal of recognition as he passes.
I wipe the sweat from my brow with a heavy hand. “What a mess,” I say out loud as I let out a long sigh.
“Yeah, and if you think you can take care of this shit by yourself, Ox, you better think twice,” Jimmy’s voice appears as he comes around the corner of a set of crates a metre or two down the aisle.
“The fuck are you doing here?”
“Less of the attitude, big man,” he steps to me, looks up with his little eyes, pokes me in the chest. “If you’d not thrown me against that fucking wall, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now. I’d have made sure Joe was dead, and we’d have a handle on the casino.”
“Calm it, Jimmy.”
“You threaten me or pull anything like back there again and I’ll have your family killed, Ox. You better believe it.”
I stay quiet.
“Listen, you big prick, I’m leading you. Time to put Joe to bed and show my brother I know how to take care of business.”
“You what?”
“Can’t hear me all the way up there?”
“How long were you listening?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he says, stepping back to glance down the aisle after Vargo before he turns back to me with his mean little face, eyes glaring with hatred. “Gear up, get Lex, Focus. A few of the others. We’ll head out in an hour. Hit them real hard.”
“Jimmy—” I step to him.
“You hear what I said about your family, Ox? Those two boys of yours? That pretty wife you have down there in the tenements? You listen and listen tight. Get the crew together, load up, and meet me out back in an hour. We’re going to get this done and dusted.”
I purse my lips, crack my thick knuckles, and look down at my scarred hands. “Right, Jimmy,” I say, pushing down the anger as I picture the boys at home with their mother. “Out back in an hour.”
He swaggers off, and I watch. An hour. Enough time to get the crew together, pull in the weapons we need, and maybe, just maybe, figure another way out of all this.
I roll up my sleeve, my comms-bracelet coming to life with a low green glow in the warehouse light. With a couple of taps, I look up the contact, hit the name and let it ring a few times.
“Ox?” she says with a hint of sleep in her voice. “It’s late, big man, what’s up?”
“Kestrel,” I raise the bracelet to my mouth, whispering. “Got an idea, need a little bird to send a message.”
“Anything you need.”
“Good. Now, listen carefully.”
Part 4
“We’re gonna have some fun tonight, boys,” Jimmy says as we pull up outside the Casino Grande in the armoured truck we got from the warehouse.
“Yeah,” I say, letting it out as a low growl. “Everyone tooled up?” I turn to them—Lex, Focus, a few other hard hitters with angry faces holding their weapons.
“Course they fucking are,” Jimmy pumps the big shotgun he’s carrying before turning to the small troop.
“Now listen, you lot, Ox over here had at least one good idea. We go in clean, you hear me? No explosives, no burning this place to the ground like my brother wanted. We catch them by surprise, take out Joe’s guys and the man himself. The casino stays intact. In-fucking-tact. We nail this down, and we’ll have the place back open and turning a profit before the sun comes up.”
He looks at me with a sneer as the men nod, quiet, intent in their eyes and the sweat builds on my brow. This is it.
“Right, let’s get this done.” Jimmy grabs the handle of the door, pulls it down, swings it open and takes a step out into the cold, dark night.
It’s quiet. First thing. There’s not a soul here, the street around the place devoid of its usual bustle of people. The inhabitants of Grand Anvil as they get up to their usual business—drinking, trading, and the occasional bit of fighting. All gone.
It’s dark. Second thing. The casino’s glittering holo-sign is out. The usual low-orange sodium-vapour lamps are off. The oil barrel fires and car lights and street stall neon signs. All gone.
“The hell is this?” Jimmy says, turning to me.
I look down at him, shrug and shake my head.
He steps forward as big spotlights fire up from the roof of the casino in front of us. Bright white light cuts through the darkness in clean beams.
Jimmy raises a hand in front of his beady little eyes, shotgun down at his side in the other.
“That’ll be far enough, shithead.” Relentless Joe steps out of the shadows from behind the spot beams. Heavy boots crunch on the gravel-laden ground.
Wild Cat’s beside him, tight in that black latex, a big revolver in each hand, held straight up. She smiles and gives me a nod.
My eyes dart. More of them. A lot more in the dark behind the lights, cocking and pumping their guns to let us know they’re there.
“The fuck are you doing out here?” Jimmy says, fright in his voice as he raises his shotgun.
“Don’t,” Wild Cat steps forward again.
“Fuck you!” Jimmy’s gun clicks, but no shot comes from the barrel. Empty. Saw to that myself. The double-cross is in play.
“Now, now, Jimmy,” Joe steps forward, coming alongside Wild Cat as he looks at me and nods.
“Ox…” the little man turns to me, raising the gun. “What the fuck is this?”
“Just business, Jimmy,” I turn to him and swallow.
“You—oh, you’re going to pay, you and your fucking family! They’re dead, you hear me?! D-E-A-D.”
“Enough,” I step to him, grab the gun off him with a big, swift hand, throwing it out of sight. “That’s the last time you threaten my family, Jimmy.”
He flinches, eyes me, takes a step forward, but there’s nothing there. He knows it’s over.
“Enough of your threats and all your shit, little man.” I grab him by the throat, raise him up off the ground and throw him a good five feet over towards Joe and Cat.
He lands with a shriek on the gravelled ground, panting, and looks back at me for a split second before he barrels to his hands and knees. The spotlights come down on him, stony dust kicked up, dancing in the still night air.
“Keira’s message got through, then, I take it?” I say to Relentless Joe as he steps over to Jimmy.
“That little bird sang loud and clear, my old friend,” he signals to Wild Cat as she comes in and binds Jimmy’s hands around his back with a zip-tie.
“Oh, you want a war? Now you’ve got a war! You’ll fucking get it now!” Jimmy screams before Wild Cat launches a quick fist across his weak jaw and his face thuds against the ground. Out cold.
“You guys make a choice,” I turn my head over my shoulder and say to the small gang of men behind me. “You saw what I did. You know the numbers Joe’s got here. Fight now, maybe you make it, maybe you die, or you head back to Vargo, no questions.”
They look at each other, heads turning, eyebrows raised, guns lowering.
“Tough gig, Ox. Nice knowing you,” Lex says as he turns and walks into the night.
The other guys follow suit. Live to fight another day, rather than die here and now for a prick like Jimmy.
“My family?” I say to Joe, walking over to him. “A deal’s a deal. You get this little prick, I get protection, right? My wife and kids, out of Grand Anvil, out of all this shit. Far enough away, Vargo can’t ever reach them.”
“Ah, about that,” Joe steps to me, the sovereigns across his knuckles glittering in the white light.
“Now, Joe—”
“Check your comms-bracelet,” he says, lighting a cigarette, pushing the smoke out in two funnels from his nose.
“Joe—”
“Just do it, old friend.”
I pull up my sleeve on my thick forearm, look at the comms-bracelet’s digital green readout.
Ox, if you’re reading this, the gig’s gone right. Jimmy’s a liability, always was. I knew it. Family’s family, but the gang, the relative peace I’ve secured in Grand Anvil, bleeds because of him. So, I saw my out, one you opened to me. Give Joe here what he wants, hand Jimmy over to him. No war. The casino keeps running, and we maintain stability. The people of old Anvil think Jimmy pushed his luck too far. Joe here gets his revenge. I get the liability over and done with. The world keeps on spinning. It all fits, and you’ve helped it, Ox. No need to worry about me anymore. I’ll be sad to lose you, but you’ve come out on top here. And as you know, I’m a man of my word. Always have been. Joe has the details.
King Vargo
I look up at Joe as he flicks his cigarette to the ground and crunches it out on the gravel.
“What the—”
“You’ve done well for yourself, old friend,” he says, stepping to me. “I’ve got all the details lined up. You and your family, out of Grand Anvil. Out of Horizon City. Far away from this place, fucking Arkwright Industries Security, Intercept Teams, Echo relics and chrono-spikes. A fresh start. Got all the documents you need.”
“Christ,” I say, my old Irish inflection coming back, and the memory with it, the old place where the chrono-spike pulled me from, into this new world. One I never wanted, but one I had to embrace. Found love in a good woman, two beautiful boys granted to me, more than a man like me could ever want or deserve, and now this.
“No, just King Vargo,” Relentless Joe laughs. “Cat, get that piece of shit off the ground and into the basement, will you? We need to make sure no one ever finds his body.”
A wide smile comes across Wild Cat’s face as she drags the unconscious Jimmy across the floor towards the casino.
“What now?” I ask, still in shock.
“Now you get a new life, Ox,” Joe smiles. “About time too, if you ask me.”
“Time, eh?” I smile at Joe as I turn and walk away. Time’s what took me away from one home, Anvil’s what gave me another, now it’s up to me, the boys and my wife, to find some place we can settle down and call our own. “Time’s a funny thing,” I say over my shoulder.
“You got that right, old friend,” Joe shouts, followed by his deep laugh that flows over me from far behind.