The House Always Wins

Chapter Fifteen: Forced Help

The realtor listened to those killing words, and became even more afraid after Maxi pulled out a Beretta that he stole from Stevie's lifeless body. That was all the intimidation that was needed to keep the realtor in the plan. The realtor spoke. "Okay. Alright. Fine. I'll do it. But only as long as I make some money. Let's get it over and done with." Maxi put away his gun and revealed a smile larger than life, which was unusual because Maxi was someone who took life away. Someone whose life was almost done. Being eighty, Maxi's timer was ticking. But there was one thing Maxi made sure of. He made sure that his timer never expired. This guy seemed immortalized, even though no one lives forever. This man was born with a rabbit's foot. Every time death was at Maxi's doorstep, he locked death out. That's how lucky Maxi is. Anyway, the realtor, who was still shaken up from the withdrawal of the Beretta, looked at Maxi for a minute and then introduced himself. "Hello, Maxi. I'm Freddy." Maxi looked confused for a second and then comprehended the statement before replying. "Boy, have you lost your mind? I was wondering how long it was gonna take before you finally introduced yourself as something other than "the realtor". I spent my prison days wondering what you were all about, and I gotta say, I'm pretty disappointed." Maxi could barely finish the last sentence as he broke out in laughter. After many minutes of laughing, Maxi recollected himself and spoke again. "Sorry. I just break out in laughter when the new guys do not introduce themselves. Charlie took damn near three months to tell us his name. Boy, you now hold the record for the longest amount of days being a dud." An oncoming tone of silence was brought forth by Maxi's words. Both men had now put themselves back together and sat motionless in the front seats of Maxi's tinted window low rider. Freddy asked Maxi "What do we do now?" Maxi stayed silent, thinking of an answer, wondering how to get his life started again. After a while, he spoke. "We need new talent. Those boys in prison, the ones I used to roll with, are either dead or dying. They all got life sentences. It is time to get going again." Freddy looked at Maxi, puzzled and dazed. "Why did they get life? What did they do?" Maxi looked at Freddy with a stern glare. "Boy, you're even dumber than you look. What do you mean "What did they do?" You don't ask a man like me that. They were mobsters, Freddy. Thieves, killers, scam artists. I used to run with them, but they're in the wind now. I can't even tell you what they did to get life, but I will tell you what they did wrong. They got caught. Yes, I know I got caught too, but they couldn't pin me with anything big. Unlike Red Shirt and the rest of the crew, Stevie and I hid our evidence well. We were smart. You, you almost got us pinched so many times. You wanted a chance to redeem yourself with the family, you got one. This is it. Now, let's see how smart you are when it comes to finding new talent." Freddy and Maxi got out of the car and took a walk together around the busy Manhattan streets.