The murmur of a large crowd filled the streets, the smell of hotdogs, popcorn, cigarettes and cheap booze permeating the air. The sound of slot machines and swing music boomed throughout the boulevard along with as many street buskers as you could imagine working over the gathering marks. Many artists worked their cons on the streets of Vegas and John Young, known only by his street name Johnny Christ, was no different from the others. Dressed in a black clergy suit, Johnny meandered through the crowd to pick his own marks. Up ahead near a lamppost there was an opening in the gathering mass, and that was where he would make his presence known.

Hopping up and grabbing the pole with his hand, one foot resting near the base, Johnny swung around it like a very well rehearsed exotic dancer... You know, a classy cabaret kinda guy! As his swing came to a halt, he released and jumped down from his short perch with a smile on his face.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Gather around quickly! SIR! Yes you, sir, in the red scarf! Come closer, closer!" With a quick whip of his hand, a deck of cards appeared and he grinned, "I know you like magic, right? Everyone likes a good magic trick!" As a few people grouped up, the man with the red scarf waved Johnny off...

"Aww! Got a sour one, ladies and gents! No matter, YOU madam!" He pointed to a fairly well dressed woman hanging on the arm of an older man... Either a working gal herself, or a trophy wife of a rich old-timer... Regardless, Johnny didn't care. "Come closer, care to see a magic trick?" He fanned the cards wide and then rolled one over his fingers as the deck slid tightly packed again. "I do them all, card tricks, levitation, vanishing, all the things that make your mind wander!"

As his card flourish distracted everyone's eyes, Johnny's free hand relieved the old timer of his pocket watch... A set up for his next few tricks, of course. The card he rolled over his fingers came to rest on the top of the deck and he fanned it out to the young lady once more.

"Go ahead, pick a card, any card. Don't show me, but show the rest of the crowd!"

The woman did as she was told, and held her card out to the small gathering.

"Alright, now do me a favor, and stick the card in your purse... Yea?" As she did so, Johnny took the deck of cards and sent them flying into the air over the crowd and produced a new, unopened deck of cards. He held it up for everyone to see and smiled.

"So here's where it gets interesting! See this deck, a new deck, never opened and never touched by my hands until now... You'll see that this deck is blue versus the red deck I used prior. You may think to yourself... Well of course he's going to guess the right card, it's a different color to the deck! That's not how this works! Madam!" He held the deck out to her, "Do me a favor, and thumb through this deck. Look really hard, tell me what card is missing from the blue deck?"

He stepped back and placed his hands behind his back as he waited, rocking back on forth on his feet until she paused and looked up at him. "The nine of hearts is missing from the blue deck!" the woman exclaimed excitedly, as the crowd gasped, bewildered at the coincidence of her holding the red nine of hearts in her purse and the blue nine of hearts missing in the unopened deck. Johnny smiled, the trick wasn't even done yet!

"Do me a favor and pull the card out of your purse?"

Quickly, the young woman stuck her hand in and produced the blue nine of hearts, only pausing once she realized she had the blue card and not the red one. "Wha, when did? How did? Where's my card?" she asked in a mixture of frustration and confusion.

"Your card?" Johnny asked quizzically, feining his own aloofness to the situation. "You're holding your card, the blue nine of hearts!" At that exclamation, the crowd begin to buzz slightly. Of course, Johnny held his hands out and with a quick flick of his wrist, held the red nine out to her. As she reached for it, he grinned and flipped it back toward himself, "You can have the card if I can just borrow that ring on your hand for a moment, hmm?"

Thinking for a moment, she finally relinquished the ring and Johnny traded her the card which he placed in her hand then leaned over and blew on it, sending the red hearts and two number 9's on the face of the card fluttering off into the wind. In red where the previous writing had been the card now read:

As the woman stared at the card, then blinked up at Johnny, he winked then held her ring out in his hand. "Now for my next trick, this poor woman's ring is going to vanish!" And before she could contest, he closed both hands into a fist, bumped them together, then held out both hands, palm up, empty. "That's my engagement ring!" the woman cried out, obviously distressed. Johnny chuckled and looked at the older man, "Hey, I'm not a marriage counselor or nothin', I mean, they kicked me out of seminary, but I'd think twice about a gal willing to just hand over her engagement ring for a playing card!"

Everyone aside from the now irritated woman laughed, even her older partner who turned to look at her and shake his head.

"Don't worry, miss... Your ring is safe. Can everyone do me a favor and reach into their pocket? By the way, I accept tips thank you very much! Anyway, reach into your pockets and pass up a few bills to help get me on my way! Oh, and one of you, not going to name any names even though I could," Johnny held up an ID toward the crowd... "I'll need you to give this woman her ring back, especially if you'd like your identification returned to you!"

Wasting no time Johnny made his way through the crowd. He didn't want someone mad of course! As he reached the person who's ID he held, he stuck his hand into their vest pocket and produced the engagement ring. Tossing it into the air, Johnny snatched the ring with finality as he handed over the ID. "Thank you very much!"

Returning to his lamppost, he got down on one knee and smiled, "Your ring, madam!"

The crowd applauded as the woman snagged her ring out of his hand and stormed off, even leaving the older gent behind. Shrugging, Johnny pat the man on the shoulder, "Good luck, mate. Seems you might need it." With a smirk, Johnny turned back to the crowd and bowed, "Thank you, thank you very much! Really folks, tips are appreciated!" A few folks walked by and handed him a few bills, shaking his hand and asking small questions... Of course they all got the same reply, "A magician never reveals his secrets!"

As the crowd cleared out Johnny walked off from his lamppost and counted the bills. Never much in the form of tips, but he always made up for it as he wandered through the entranced crowd. Though he'd wait to appraise his treasures of pocket watches, bracelets, and extra money clips once he got back to his room. Turning down one of the side streets, he hoped to disappear into the crowd and make it safely back home.

Little did he know the night had other plans for him...

As he made his way down the alleyway, quickly and quietly, a car pulled up at the end of it. Johnny slowed his pace exponentially as he eyed the black, four door coup with dark windows. Something felt very, very wrong about the vehicle. Turning around to walk back toward the rest of the Vegas night life, Johnny paused. Another car pulled in front of the alleyway blocking his path... Same vehicle. Black, four door coup with dark windows. Looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't seeing double, Johnny paused.

Think Johnny, think... This obviously looks bad. It is bad. Check your escapes!

Looking around casually as he resumed his walk toward the direction he'd originally come from, he noticed two fire escapes on either side of the alleyway. Slowly shifting his path toward one, Johnny's pace hastened. Each step was a little bit quicker and longer. It wasn't until he heard the doors behind him open, and saw the ones in front of him do the same that he broke into a run.

Deftly hopping onto the dumpster near the bottom of the escape to his right, he jumped up and grabbed the ladder of the catwalk, hanging on tight as it slid down until it caught. Hands and feet climbed swiftly, making short work of the ladder and pulling his weight onto the catwalk where he rushed the stairs.

He'd made two floors before four men where at the bottom of the escape, boosting each other up and yelling at Johnny... He didn't much listen as he took a quick glance, then returned to his escape.

Fucking rule number ONE Johnny, DON'T LOOK BACK!

He berated himself in his mind as he rushed floor after floor until he reached the top of the building. Taking a quick glance around, he spotted the door and made a beeline for it. Grabbing the knob, he twisted...

Locked...

Taking a split second to decide that lockpicking was too long of a process, Johnny broke into a hard run for the edge of the building. Without even a second guess, he took the running leap to the ledge of the building and launched himself from it with the next step, immediately realizing his folly...

"Fuck fuCK FUUUCK!" Johnny yelled out as his miscalculation was noted. Balling himself up as small as he could, he crashed through a window and rolled to a stop, laying for a moment to regain his senses. "Gotta love my luck, thank you!" He kissed the cross that hung around his neck and blew toward the roof of the building before sitting up as the lights came on.

"What in th-" the startled old lady's voice started, but Johnny cut them short.

"Sorry grandma, I miscalculated a trick... Here's for the window." He dropped some bills on her table and rushed for the door, hastily sliding the chain lock and deadbolt. Taking one look back at the confused woman, Johnny blew a kiss and winked before shutting the door and barrelling down the hallway toward the stairwell.

Taking two steps at a time, he rushed along the stairs until the reached the bottom. Bursting from the stairwell with force, he quickly found the front door and ran headlong at it, only to skid to a stop and reverse slowly, raising his hands in the air. A gentleman in a nice blue suit and tan fedora carrying a cane walked in, two goons with guns levied at Johnny behind him.

"Micky, I was just comin' to see ya!" Johnny started.
"Cut the crap, kid. We knows ya been plannin' ta skip town. We're just here ta make sure ya pay what's owed and then give ya a fair warnin' ta neva, eva, come back," Micky reached for Johnny's shoulder, who flenched as the man's hand got near. Micky chuckled and dusted off Johnny's shoulder with a shake of his head. "Through a window, Johnny? Really? Ya hardly even look like ya got a cut!" Micky grinned, "Lemme help ya out with ya story."

As swift as the words exited Micky's mouth, a diamond ringged hand back-handed Johnny across the jaw and cut his cheek directly below his right eye, and followed along the eye socket toward his nose. Then the two goons began to beat Johnny to the ground, kicking him until he was curled into a ball, bloody and writhing in pain. Micky bent down and picked up the pocket watch he'd taken from the old man previously.

"Ya know, this is my father-in-law's pocket watch. Ya need ta be more careful who ya FUCK WITH JOHNNY CHRIST!" Micky yelled before flipping his cane and swinging it like a golf club at Johnny's face, sending stars and bright explosions into his vision and ears, knocking him out cold.

"Take'em outta here, boys..." Micky commanded, then paused. "To the airport. Put'em on a plane across the country. I don't want 'em on our coast anymore. Leave 'em alive, I still owe 'em my life once. This pays tha debt. Take his money, his things, leave him with tha clothes on 'is back and a note that says my debts been paid. But if I finds out ya killed 'im an' made my debt unpaid, I'll make sure bothayer lives are fuckin' hell for an eternity. Ya' understand me?" Micky paused looking at the goons, then yelled, "WELL DO YA?!"

"Yeah boss!" they retorted, then got on with their task...

"New York, boss? Let the syndicate deal with'em?"

"Nah, fuck him, he'd do to well for himself there, Idunno, send 'em to Jersey or somethin', hell, Philly, I don't fuckin' care."

Nodding, the goons drug Johnny off to the car and tossed him in the backseat...