Jerome drove a Jeep Cherokee, and the tires sang a high, whiny monotone as they headed west along I-10.

Griffen watched the passing scenery and mentally blotted out the conversation between Valerie and Jerome as he tried to sort out his thoughts. He still hadn’t managed to get any sleep, and the last few days were taking on an almost surreal aura in his mind.

Dragons.

He didn’t feel like a dragon. In fact, he didn’t feel any different than he had two days ago. He hadn’t been able to turn into one when he needed to. Still, Valerie was right. It seemed enough other people believed in it and were willing to act on it that he had to take it seriously.

Unfortunately, taking it seriously now had him en route to New Orleans with someone he only knew as a gambling acquaintance.

Before they had gotten into the Jeep, Valerie had pulled him aside. Giving Jerome a none-too-friendly look and asking to talk with Griffen privately. As usual, she cut straight through the bullshit.

“You know you are being an idiot, Big Brother,” she said.

“So what else is new?”

She sighed and crossed her arms.

“I know he’s your friend, and you trust your friends too much sometimes. That doesn’t mean you can trust whoever he works for.”

“Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but how can we know till we get there?” Griffen said.

“Okay, but don’t you think his showing up is awfully convenient?”

She looked shocked and then angry when Griffen laughed.

“For us maybe. For him, not a chance. He timed this very carefully and spent more time and effort than he wants to admit tracking me down. Not to mention enrolling in a school and putting in a few years. No, frankly I didn’t think Jerome had this kind of patience, which makes me want to meet his boss all the more.”

He wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze.

“Little Sister, you are just mad you can’t think of any better ideas.”

“Damn straight!”

She grinned, finally relenting, but the first part of the drive had been tense. She had glared at Jerome and it was she who finally asked for more detail about the organization. Griffen didn’t stop her, not that he could if he tried. Besides, he wanted to know, too.

“Now, Mose is the man who’s been running our crew for a while,” Jerome was saying. “Once you get settled in, I’ll introduce you to him and he can start teaching you the ropes.”

“So, what kind of specialty is your crew involved in?” Valerie said.

“This and that,” Jerome said, “mostly on the edge of the law. Our main income comes from gambling.”

“Wait a minute,” Griffen said. “Are we talking about organized crime here?”

Jerome laughed.

“Like I read somewhere, when you see it up close, it ain’t all that organized.”

“Does the ‘this and that’ part include drugs and prostitution?” Griffen said. “’Cause I’ll tell you Jerome, I don’t think I could be part of that.”

“That’s up to you,” Jerome said. “You might want to take a closer look at it before you make your decision, though.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I don’t think you’ll find it’s what you think. The way we do it, it’s not like you see in the movies.”

“Suppose you tell me about it.”

“Well, as to the drugs, we don’t do any street sales or anything like that,” Jerome said. “If a player in one of our games wants some pot or maybe a little coke, we know some people to call to get him some. That’s about the extent of it. If anyone wants the hard stuff like heroin or crack, they got to leave the game and find it on their own, and even then we probably won’t let ’em back in. We don’t mess with junk like that.”

“And prostitution?” Valerie put in.

“Same thing. We don’t run strings or do any recruiting,” Jerome said. “If a player is looking for company, we know a few girls we can call…not full-time professionals, but bartenders or secretaries who turn an occasional trick to supplement their income. Even then we don’t take a piece off the top. We make our money from gambling.”

“Isn’t there a casino in New Orleans already?” Griffen said. “And I know there are some in Biloxi. Why do people sit in on your illegal games when they can gamble legit at a casino?”

“I can answer that in one,” Jerome said. “Taxes. You win big at one of the casinos, it gets reported to the IRS. What happens at our games is between us and the players. If you win, it’s pure profit without paying a slice to Uncle Whiskers.”

“There’s another point, too,” he continued. “Mose has been running his games for a long time…a lot longer than the casinos have been around. Some of the players that sit in when they’re in town have been playing in his games since way back…some of their daddies, too. It’s kind of a tradition with them, and if there’s one thing New Orleans is big on, it’s tradition.”

“So, how are they going to react when you run Grifter here in on them?” Valerie said. “Doesn’t that kind of mess up this whole tradition thing?”

“Don’t rightly know,” Jerome said. “I expect Mose has some plan in mind to ease you in. There might be a few problems, though. We’ll just have to see.”

“What about you?” Griffen said.

“What about me?”

“I mean, how do you feel about this whole thing with my being brought in. Don’t you have any problems with that? I should think this spot that’s being set up for me would rightfully be yours.”

“Don’t worry about that, Grifter.” Jerome laughed. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time. Hell, the reason I was up in Michigan was to keep an eye on you and see how you developed. If I didn’t think we’d be better off with you on board, I would have either tried to veto the plan or bailed out myself. No need to worry about me. I’m behind you one hundred percent.”

He glanced over his shoulder at Valerie.

“What I’d like to know,” he said, “is how all this sits with your sister. She has the same bloodline as you do, and she’ll be coming into her secondary powers pretty soon. Is she going to have any problems with your being treated like the big cheese while she stands in the background?”

“Nice of you to think about that, Jerome,” Valerie said. “I’ve never wanted to be the head of anything. I figure to enjoy the city and help out when and if I can. Mostly, I’m here to cover my big brother’s back. He isn’t always as careful as he should be.”

“Well, sure, anyone who’s known him for ten minutes knows that,” Jerome said.

Valerie smiled despite herself.

“I would like to get one thing straight, Jerome,” she said.

“Shoot.”

“You are bringing Griffen into this. If you aren’t up front with him, if this is a trick, a trap, or some cruel college prank, I’m holding you responsible. And you will answer to me, up close and personal.”

There was a moment of silence in the car, broken by Jerome laughing.

“When I said shoot I didn’t mean straight from the hip! Hey, Grifter, it’s Big Jake all over again.”

Catching the reference, Valerie grinned.

“‘Your fault, my fault, nobody’s fault,’” she said.

They both nodded at each other, and the tension that filled the car seemed to seep away.

“It seems we’re in agreement as much as we can be until we actually see the setup,” Griffen said, clearing his throat. “So what’s the plan, Jerome? What do we do when we hit town?”

“We’ve figured to let you take a week or so to get settled in and get to know the town…at least the Quarter. Then I’ll introduce you to Mose and he can start showing you the operation and answering your questions.”

“So where will we be staying?” Griffen said.

“We got a place ready for the two of you,” Jerome said. “Actually, you’ll each have a place.”

“What are we talking about here?” Valerie said. “Rooms at a hotel? That could get real expensive real fast.”

“Better than that,” Jerome said. “You see, we own a few properties around the Quarter. Mostly, we use them to host poker games and sometimes to give out of towners a place to crash. What we’re going to do is have you use one of our slave quarters as a home base until everything gets sorted out.”