Free THUGLIT Issue One by Johnny Shaw, Mike Wilkerson, Jason Duke, Jordan Harper, Matthew Funk, Terrence McCauley, Hilary Davidson, Court Merrigan

instructions. “If it’s not you, it’s got to be Joey. Where is he?”
    “How the hell should I know,” she said. “I ain’t seen him for three whole days, the bum. Never could rely on that lousy bastard for nothin’.”
    “That’s too bad. That just leaves you, unless someone else in this place was in on the skim with you. And the quicker you start talking, the easier this is going to be. For both of us.”
    Mimi shook a long, crooked finger at him. “Let me ask you somethin’, tough guy. In all of this big thinkin’ Archie’s been doin’, did the grand man himself ever ask why we’d steal from him? Now? After all these years, now we get greedy?”
    “People change,” he said. “Crazy notions pop into their heads out of nowhere. Notions like maybe they ought to jump ship and join up with Rothmann’s bunch.”
    “P shaw,” she said with a boozy wa ve. “That’s crazy talk.”
    “Not really.” He nodded over at the chair where Carmine Rizzo had been sitting. “You having one of Rothmann’s top boys in here tonight doesn’t look too good.”
    Mimi’s face became all lines and shadows. “First you call me a thief, then you call me a traitor. You sure know how to make a girl sore. You…”
    “Quit stalling. I know damned well you’ve got the money you owe Archie with you right here and now. Just hand it over and Archie promises he’ll forgive the whole thing for old time’s sake. But if you keep lying to me, and I have to tear this place apart looking for it, things will get real ugly real fast.”
    He heard a floorboard creak behind him just before he heard the door open. He had plenty of time to go for his gun, but didn’t.
    Archie had already told him no gunplay.
    Quinn heard the hammer of a .38 being cocked behind him. The same kind of gun he knew Carmine Rizzo used.
    “You’re goddamned right it’s gonna get ugly,” Carmine said. “Starting with you.”
    “What the hell are you doing?” Mimi shrieked from the couch. “Put that damned thing away before he takes it from you.”
    Quinn turned just enough to let Carmine see his grin. “Listen to the lady, stupid. You’re not going to use it anyhow.”
    “No kidding?” Carmine said. “What makes you so goddamned sure?”
    “Because shooting me is going to make your life more complicated than it already is. Especially when you have to explain to Rothmann why you shot me. And what you were doing here in the first place.”
    “Bullshit. Rothmann knows I’m here.”
    “Bullshit,” Quinn repeated. “Rothmann would never let you muscle in on one of Archie’s gambling dens. He knows better than to risk a war over a hellhole like this. But you?” He laughed. “You’re just greedy enough to think you could get away with it. Dumb enough, too.”
    Carm ine didn’t laugh. “For a washed- up pug, you’ve got some imagination.”
    “Nah, just a good pair of eyes.” He motioned to the unconscious Van Dorn punk on the floor. “You brought those two fat cats in the tuxes here tonight, didn’t you? Sold them on a can’t-miss way to buy themselves a piece of the action. For just a grand or so apiece, they’d get a cut of this place, plus the satisfaction of screwing over Archie Doyle in the process. Any smart guy would’ve laughed in your face, but a couple of well-heeled dopes like them, well…”
    Mimi dropped her glass of champagne. “Jesus Christ, Carmine! How the hell does he know all that?”
    “Relax,” Carmine said. “He’s just guessing. He doesn’t know shit.”
    “Sure I do.” Quinn looked at Mimi. “People like to talk. And Archie likes to listen.”
    Mimi’s eyes went wide. “I…it wasn’t me, Terry. I swear.” She pointed back to Carmine. “It was him! He cooked the whole thing up. Him and that lousy bastard Joey. They lied to me. They…”
    Carmine came around Quinn to get a clear shot at Madeline. Quinn yanked Carmine’s gun arm up and hit him with two short rights to the jaw.
    Carmine went limp,