Wild Cards 13 : Card Sharks by George R.R. Martin

burned to the ground."
    "What are you talking about?"
    "I don't think I ever realized how horrible that would be."
    I sat up. "Jokertown is going to burn?"
    She shook her head tightly. "I said too much."
    "You can't just say that and stop. Come on."
    "No! I can't!" She flung herself out of bed, turning away. Then she started crying again.
    I was amazed at her abrupt shift in mood. Talking about a fire scared me, though. I jumped up and turned her by the shoulders.
    "What are you talking about?"
    She shook her head, trying to move away.
    I stayed in front of her. "You can't just say that and quit! I live here! What about a fire? "
    She was sobbing and shaking her head. After a moment, though, she swallowed and looked up at me. "All right! All right. Chuck, my father and some people he knows secretly made Jokertown, starting back in the late forties. They wanted it to be a magnet, where they could draw jokers together."
    "What do you mean, 'made' it? Jokers just moved here 'cause it was cheap. Everybody knows that."
    "That's right. Rich people bought the buildings here and provided the loans for businesses through their own banks. They did the same with places to live, setting up everything to be real cheap. Then, after drawing as many jokers here as possible, they're going to burn it all down."
    "Aw, come on. Their own buildings?"
    "The buildings are insured for lots of money. And if they have to, they'll take a loss in some cases. They can afford it."
    It was starting to make sense.
    "Even the fire chief is in on it. He'll make sure all the fire engines arrive too late, or never get there at all."
    I truly felt like a kid. She was a year younger, but her manner was more mature, more sophisticated. She came from the real world, outside Jokertown. Her father was wealthy and powerful. Even the way she spoke sounded older than her years.
    "How do you know so much about it?"
    "My father still thinks of me as a little kid ... between my ears." She smiled bitterly. "He doesn't try to keep this stuff a secret from me; he's always taught me that people with the wild card are the greatest danger to American society ever. He's never thought of me as a security leak."
    I was silent a moment. "When is Jokertown going to burn?"
    "I don't know exactly. But I think the wiring of fire-bombs is going to start any time."
    "Look - can you tell me anything else? Any kind of a clue to what's going to happen?"
    She paused. "The name 'Lansky.' He mentioned it over the phone to someone late last night, after I got home. I remember he said it before, too, when he was talking about Jokertown."
    "What about it?"
    "That's all I really have." Her tone was apologetic.
    I looked into her brown eyes.
    "I want to walk you home ," Fats Domino sang on the little radio. "Please let me walk you home . ..."
    The phone rang. I hurried into the kitchen, stark naked.
    "Hello?"
    "Hiya, Chop-Chop; howsa boy?" Waffle's voice came through over Biff's sizzling grill and the roar of chatter behind him.
    "Hi, Waffle. Look - you got to keep this a secret."
    Flo came around the corner to listen. She had on her white underpants already. Now she was holding her bra, watching me.
    I knew Waffle's information could always be bought, but I had no choice. "Where could a friend of mine get an abortion?"
    "Damn! Way to go, Chop-Chop! Didn't know you had it in ya!" Waffle roared with laughter. "Haw! So, little Chop-Chop's got a girlfriend nobody knew about!"
    I was glad Flo couldn't hear him. "Come on, Waffle."
    Anyhow, Waffle came across. Since she was a nat, it would cost her three hundred for the doctor and two hundred for him. It would be done by a real doctor and we had to meet Waffle behind the Chaos Club in two nights at eight o'clock. I had to come with her. She okayed it on the spot.
    I hung up. She liked the fact that this would be done by a real doctor. We had both heard about quacks in that business.
    However, I told her to be down here by six o'clock. She couldn't risk