Tony gambino's Arc

Chapter 1 of 4

Tony pulled his collar up and stepped out of the old stone jailhouse he had claimed as his base. The barred windows watched the dusty road like tired eyes. He had come to the Bleached Badlands with two men, one bag of cash, and a plan to build something no one could ever take from him again. Out front, his stacked bone marker rose from the dirt, a quiet warning that this ground was spoken for. His man came back from town with bad news. Hunters were at the truck stop down the road, asking questions. One of them carried a folded paper with Tony's face sketched on it, his name printed bold, a number printed bolder. Tony read the poster twice, then folded it into his coat. A bounty meant his old city had reached across the sand. If he ran, he lost the Badlands. If he waited, the hunters came to his door. He took half his cash and drove to the truck stop himself. He did not pull a gun. He sat across from the two hunters and slid the money over the table. He offered them double the bounty to ride back and swear they had found his body in a ditch. They counted. They agreed. They left before sundown. Tony walked back past the skull marker with an empty pocket and a quieter road. The bounty was buried, but so was half his war chest. Whatever move he made next would have to be made lean.