"Well, she did..."
"Forget it. Boss. Even if she could handle the job, which I'm not too sure she could, Don Bruce would never send her after you. Heck, you're one of his favorite chieftains right now. You should hear him ..."
Nunzio suddenly pressed his palms against his cheeks to make exaggerated jowls as he spoke. "... Dat Skeeve, he's really got it on the ball, know what I mean? Mercy! If I had a hundred like him I could take over dis whole organization."
His imitation of Don Bruce was so perfect I had to laugh.
"That's great, Nunzio. Has he ever seen you do that?"
"I'm still employed and breathin', aren't I?" he winked. "Seriously, though. You're barkin' up the wrong tree with Bunny. Believe me, you're the apple of her uncle's eye right now."
"I suppose you're right," I sighed. "If you are, though, it leaves me right back where I started. Who is the Ax and what can..."
"Hi guys! Is that a private conversation, or can anyone join?"
We glanced up to find Bunny and Markie entering the garden.
"C'mon over. Bunny!" I waved, nudging Nunzio slightly in the ribs. "We were just going to ..."
"GLEEP!!!"
Suddenly my dragon was in front of me. Crouching and tense, he didn't look playful at all. I had only seen him like this a couple of times before, and then ...
"STOP IT, GLEEP! GLEEP!!!" I screamed, realizing too late what was about to happen.
Fortunately, Nunzio was quicker than I was. From his sitting position he threw himself forward in a body check against my pet's neck, just as the dragon let loose with a stream of fire. The flames leapt forward to harmlessly scorch a wall.
Bunny swept Markie behind her with one arm.
"Geez! What was..."
"I'll get him!" Markie cried, balling up her fists.
"MARKIE!! STOP!!"
"But Daddy..."
"Just hold it. Okay? Nunzio?"
"I've got him, Boss," he called, both hands wrapped securely around Gleep's snout as the dragon struggled to get free.
"Bunny? You and Markie get inside! Now!!!"
The two of them hurried from sight, and I turned my attention to my pet.
Gleep seemed to have calmed down as fast as he had exploded, now that Bunny and Markie were gone. Nunzio was stroking her neck soothingly while staring at me in wide-eyed amazement.
"I dunno what happened there, Boss, but he seems okay now."
"What happened," I said grimly, "was Gleep trying to protect me from something or someone he saw as a threat."
"But Boss..."
"Look Nunzio, I know you mean well, but Gleep and I go back a long way. I trust his instincts more than I do my own judgment."
"But..."
"I want you to do two things right away. First, put Gleep back in his stable ... I think he's had enough exercise for one day. Then get word to Don Bruce. I want to have a little talk with him about his ‘present'!"
Chapter Sixteen:
"I thought we were friends!"
-BANQUO
"I TELL you, partner, this is crazy!"
"Like heck it is!"
"Bunny can't be the Ax! She's a space cadet."
"That's what she'd like us to think. I found out different!"
"Really? How?"
"By ... well, by talking to her."
I spotted the flaw in my logic as soon as I said it, and Aahz wasn't far behind.
"Skeeve," he said solemnly, "has it occurred to you that if she's the Ax and you're her target, that you would probably be the last person she would relax around? Do you really think you could trick her into giving away her I. Q. in a simple conversation?"
"Well... maybe she was being clever. It could be that it was her way of trying to throw us off the track."
My partner didn't say anything to that. He just cocked his head and raised one eyebrow very high.
"It could be," I repeated lamely.
"C'mon, Skeeve. Give."
"What?"
"Even you need more evidence than that before you go off half-cocked. What are you holding back?"
He had me. I was just afraid that he was going to find my real reason even less believable than the one I had already stated.
"Okay," I said with a sigh. "If you really want to know, what finally convinced me was that Gleep doesn't like her."
"Gleep? You mean that stupid dragon of yours? That Gleep?"
"Gleep isn't st..."
"Partner, your dragon doesn't like me! That doesn't make me the Ax!!"
"He's never tried to fry you, either!"
That one stopped him for a moment. "He did that? He really let fly at Bunny?"
"That's right. If Nunzio hadn't been there ..."
As if summoned by the mention of his name, the bodyguard stuck his head into the room.
"Hey, Boss! Don Bruce is here."
"Show him in."
"I still think you're making a mistake," Aahz warned, leaning against a wall.
"Maybe," I said grimly. "With luck I'll get Don Bruce to confirm my suspicions before I show my cards."
"This I've got to see."
"There you are, Skeeve. The boys said you wanted to see me."
Don Bruce is the Mob's fairy godfather. I've never seen him dressed in anything that wasn't lavender, and today was no exception. His ensemble included shorts, sandals, a floppy brimmed hat, and a sports shirt with large dark purple flowers printed all over it. Maybe my wardrobe sessions with Bunny were making me overly sensitive on the subject of clothes, but his attire hardly seemed appropriate for one of the most powerful men in the Mob.
Even his dark glasses had violet lenses.
"You know, this is quite a place you got here. Never been here before, but I heard a lot about it in the yearly report. It doesn't look this big from the outside."
"We like to keep a low profile," I said.
"Yeah, I know. It's like I keep tellin' ‘em back at Mob Central, you run a class operation. I like that. Makes us all look good."
I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. The last thing I wanted to discuss with Don Bruce was our current operation.
"Like some wine?" Aahz chimed in, coming to my rescue.
"It's a little early, but why not? So! What is it you wanted to see me about?"
"It's about Bunny."
"Bunny? Oh yeah. How's she workin' out?"
Even if I hadn't already been suspicious, Don Bruce's response would have seemed overly casual. Aahz caught it too, raising his eyebrow again as he poured the wine.
"I thought we should have a little chat about why you sent her here."
"What's to chat about? You needed a moll, and I figured..."
"I mean the real reason."
Our guest paused, glanced back and forth between Aahz and me a couple of times, then shrugged his shoulders. "She told you, huh? Funny, I would have thought that was one secret she would have kept."
"Actually, I figured it out all by myself. In fact, when the subject came up, she denied it."
"Always said you were smart, Skeeve. Now I see you're smart enough to get me to admit to what you couldn't trick out of Bunny. Pretty good."
I shot a triumphant glance at Aahz, who was suddenly very busy with the wine. Despite my feeling of victory over having puzzled out the identity of the Ax, I was still more than a little annoyed.
"What I can't figure out," I said, "is why you tried it in the first place. I've always played it pretty straight with you."
At least Don Bruce had the grace to look embarrassed. "I know, I know. It seemed like a good idea at the time, is all. I was in a bit of a spot, and it seemed like a harmless way out."