The Complete Lucky O'Toole Novella Collection by Deborah Coonts

Author:Deborah Coonts [Coonts, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chestnut Street Press

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1982

Las Vegas

Albert Rothstein stood, feet planted shoulder width apart, hands on his hips, fighting worry and his growing anger as he looked out his office window. He’d been a fool to let them take him last night…an arrogant fool. Now he had more problems than a wet spring and a delayed building project.

Boogie Fleischman. A wart on the world’s ass. Rothstein ached to kill him, but he had to think. Crider and the trigger man—they were serious complications. But every problem had a solution. He just had to find it.

Then there was Mona. Fifteen when Lucky was born? That couldn’t be true, could it? If so, that little complication might prove a bit more difficult.

He tried to park his worry for the moment. From four stories up, the view out his office window allowed him to survey the entire project. Behind schedule—thanks to a wetter than normal spring—they’d starting pouring the foundation only last week. Despite the gaping hole and only the bare bones of a structure taking shape, Rothstein could picture the building rising in front of him.

The Lucky Aces. His dream. His future.

Goddamn it, he’d done it. And he’d be damned to an eternity in hell before he let them take it from him.

All those years of fighting, of scratching out some respect, of trying to play the game but keep his nose clean, fear had been his constant companion. Fear of a bullet in the back of his head if he stepped on the wrong toes. Fear of being caught in the Kefauver net and thrown in with the wise guys he’d had to do business with. But life had played out for him, and somehow he’d convinced Mr. Thomas and his bank to lend him the money. That along with a serious dose of junk bonds, a new financial instrument. He was about as far from a Wall Street suit as it was possible to be, but Rothstein had done his research. Although sounding too good to be true, apparently junk bonds were the real deal. A risky deal, but one with odds well within his tolerances. A betting man, he understood odds. The hotel was all that mattered. Albert Rothstein shook his head and pressed his lips together. For a kid from the wrong side, life was really looking up. Or it had been until his little trip to the desert. They thought they had him. They always did. But they’d underestimated him before.

He glanced at his watch. 4:14. He’d better hurry if he wanted to be on time. Grabbing his jacket off the coat tree in the corner, he took one last glance around, then flicked off the lights. He still wasn’t used to running his own show…and his office was bare bones compared to the lush digs he’d had as Operations Manager at the Desert Inn. But this office, with its metal desk, chairs he’d pulled from the curb in front of one of his neighbor’s houses, and an old couch with a couple of busted springs even Goodwill didn’t want, was his…all his.

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