Mousy grabbed Skinny’s right arm. “Come on! We’re getting the hell out of here!”
The two mobsters ran from the alley and disappeared.
Helen began laughing.
Blade and Geronimo joined their colleagues.
“Were you serious about going after Don Giorgio?” Hickok asked.
Blade replaced the right Bowie in its sheath. “Of course not. I wanted to buy us time to find Mindy. If Giorgio expects us at his Palace, he might drop the tails. We should have a few hours before he gets suspicious.”
Hickok chuckled. “By the time the cow chip realizes we’re not comin’, we’ll be long gone with Mindy.”
“I hope,” Blade said.
Geronimo slid the tomahawk under his belt. “So now we find Mindy,” he remarked with determination.
“About time,” Helen muttered.
Hickok looked up and noticed Blade was thoughtfully chewing on his lower lip. “What’s buggin’ you?”
“Something is not right,” Blade said.
“Like what?” Hickok questioned.
Blade frowned. “I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it. There’s something I’m missing.”
“It’ll come to you,” Hickok said. “Give it time.”
“I guess you’re right,” Blade argued. He stared at Helen. “Let’s go rescue your daughter.”
“And keep your eyes peeled,” Hickok told Helen.
Helen gazed at the gunman quizzically. “For what?”
“Mobsters with warts. I can use some target practice,” Hickok commented.
Helen simply rolled her eyes heavenward.
CHAPTER NINE
“What’s that, pard?” Hickok asked.
The four Warriors stood near an intersection over a half mile from the alley.
Blade flipped through the pages of the small black book he’d removed from his right rear pocket. “I found this on the body of the stranger killed at the scene of Mindy’s abduction. I’m double-checking the address for the Golden Crown Casino. That’s where Pucci told Ted we’d find Mindy. And the mobster in the alley confirmed the Golden Crown Casino is Pucci’s personal casino.”
“We never did figure out why the stranger was killed,” Geronimo mentioned.
“Maybe Pucci will tell us,” Hickok said.
Blade found the address he wanted, then closed the black book and returned it to his rear pocket, slipping the book alongside the wad of two thousand dollars and the piece of blue plastic. “This is the correct boulevard. The Golden Crown Casino should be just up ahead.”
Helen hefted her Carbine. “I pray she’s all right.”
“She will be,” Hickok assured her.
“Let’s go,” Blade declared.
The quartet crossed the intersection.
“Any sign of a tail?” Blade inquired.
Geronimo, bringing up the rear, shook his head. “Nope. Don Giorgio must be waiting for us at his casino.”
Blade scrutinized the buildings ahead as he sauntered along the sidewalk. They passed several casinos, liquor stores, one food store, and a gas station crammed with cars. He stared at the pumps, puzzled. Where did the mobsters obtain their fuel? Gasoline was a precious commodity elsewhere; the Civilized Zone and California stringently accounted for every gallon. Las Vegas, though, possessed gas in abundance. He gazed up at a flickering neon sign. There was another rarity: electrical power. The Outlands were totally devoid of such a luxury, and even California and the Civilized Zone, where generating plants were scrupulously maintained, were forced to conserve their usage, primarily supplying power to the urban centers.
The mobsters, though, were under no such limitations.
How did they do it?
Blade walked ten more yards and happened to glance at a casino sign fifty yards distant.
“Blade,” Geronimo said, his alert eyes having already spied the sign.
“I see it,” Blade stated, halting.
“See what?” Helen inquired.
Blade pointed toward the sign.
Helen took one look and started to head for it.
“Hold it,” Blade directed, gripping her right wrist.
Helen angrily attempted to pull free. “Let me go! Mindy is in there!”
“We need a plan,” Blade said.
“Plan, hell! I want to go to Mindy!” Helen snapped.
“Calm down!” Blade instructed her.
Helen’s lips tightened, but she relaxed her arm. “Okay. What do we do?”
“We can’t all go in at once,” Blade said. “Pucci would spot us too easily.”
“Do you suppose he has our descriptions?” Geronimo asked.
“Could be,” Blade said. “Remember, he asked for me by name. He must have some idea of how I look.”
“Yeah,” Hickok quipped. “It isn’t every day you run into a seven-foot giant with big ears.”
“His ears are no bigger than your mouth,” Geronimo cracked.
“We’ll go in two at a time,” Blade proposed. “Geronimo and I will go in first. Hickok, give us three minutes and come in with Helen.”
“I want to go in with you,” Helen said to Blade.
“No.”
“Why not?” Helen questioned in annoyance.
“Because I know you,” Blade said. “If you spot Mindy in there, you’ll start shooting every mobster in sight. I’m going in first to see if she’s there.”
“I’ll watch over Helen,” Hickok promised.
Blade inspected the Commando, insuring the safety was off. “Then let’s get to it.”
“Not so fast,” Geronimo cautioned. “We have a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Blade asked.
Geronimo nodded at the opposite sidewalk. “See for yourself.”
Blade turned, surveying the far sidewalk, perplexed until he recognized two faces in the seething crowd. “Damn!” he exclaimed.
Mousy and two other mobsters were standing on the opposite walk, and Mousy was gesturing at the Warriors and talking rapidly.
“Where’d he come from?” Hickok queried. “How’d he get here so fast?”
“He had a car, remember?” Blade reminded the gunman.
Mousy and his two companions unexpectedly began running, rudely shoving pedestrians aside, heading in the same direction as the Warriors.
“What’s that all about?” Helen wanted to know.
Blade studied the casinos on the far side of the boulevard. Fifty yards away was the answer, a casino with its name in bright red letters overhead.
Mousy and the two mobsters were heading for the Palace as swiftly as the logjam of pedestrians permitted.
“Johnny’s Palace,” Geronimo said. “It’s right across the street from the Golden Crown Casino!”
Blade stared from the Palace to the Golden Crown, feeling frustrated.
He’d never expected this! Why were Don Giorgio’s Palace and Don Pucci’s Casino directly across the boulevard from one another? Was the territory on the far side of the boulevard Giorgio’s? Was this side Pucci’s?
“We can still find Mindy,” Helen declared. “This doesn’t change a thing.”
“Yes, it does,” Blade said, disputing her. “If we go into the Golden Crown and rescue Mindy, we’ll undoubtedly have to take on Don Pucci’s men to free her. And when we come out, Don Giorgio’s men will be waiting for us. I don’t like the odds.”
“We could leave,” Geronimo suggested, “then try and get inside the Golden Crown after dark. Maybe we won’t be spotted by Giorgio’s hit men.”
“I’m not leaving!” Helen vowed.
“I have a plan,” Hickok mentioned softly.
“Even if we do leave,” Blade said, ignoring the gunman, “there’s no guarantee we can sneak into the Golden Crown undetected after nightfall.