The Texan turned, grabbed the linen hankie from the girl behind him and opened it to find a transmitter smaller than a matchbook.

“Now how you-all gonna explain this?” the Texan shouted, his face red.

The house man froze. Two bouncer gorillas moved in beside the Texan. They were armed, Bolan was sure.

He saw the floor boss reaching down, and the Executioner knew the man was dipping toward a leg holster. Bolan drew the Beretta, tracking the two Mafia goons who had reached for hardware.

“Don’t try it!” Bolan snarled. The floor boss straightened up, and the hardmen stopped, hands motionless inside jackets. “Freeze,” Bolan shouted, “and no one will get hurt!” He pointed with the Beretta at the two hardmen and the house man at the table. “Three of you, hands in the air. The rest of you go out the back door. This place is closed. Now, move — no panic, just file out. My Texan friend can take the chips he was cheated of, if he wants to.”

The Texan divided the pot, pocketed one half and left with the others.

Bolan ordered the hoodlums to the far door. He placed a block of C-4 plastique on the poker table, set the timer-detonator for thirty seconds and escorted the hardmen down the steps into the alley. They were well away from the building when the C-4 exploded. The club’s top floor rose about six inches, then sagged. There was no fire. No one would cheat gamblers at the Flamingo for a while.

Bolan told his captives, “Dump your weapons on the ground, and be glad you’re still alive. Tell Carlo Nazarione he’s going to be seeing a lot of me in the next week. Tell him I’ll get around to him soon.”

Bolan signaled a dismissal, and the three men ran down the alley toward the front of the Flamingo, where a police car had just arrived, its siren whining.

In an expensive residential district several miles away, Jo Jo Albergetti arrived home. His wheelman drove the car into the garage, then went to his own car and left. Jo Jo entered the big house via the kitchen and found his wife, Angela, sprawled on the living-room rug. She wore only panties.