Jake looked at him oddly; he hadn’t expected this. Tony hadn’t discussed it with him; it was obviously something done on a whim. He didn’t ask any questions while being watched by the other men in the room, but it did set the cat amongst the pigeons. All the other businessmen were now curious. What did Tony Lambrianu have planned, and what had he seen in the place that they had missed? They had been too interested in the casino to pay any attention to the club. Was that all Mr Lambrianu had come for?

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the auctioneer eventually started the bidding on the casino. The auction was a little like a poker game of its own. None of the other bidders wanted to discuss how much their spending limit was. No one wanted to show their cards, as it were.

Tony and Jake didn’t place a bid straight off, they waited to see how eager everyone else was. Tony wanted to see how quickly they would exhaust their spending limit. Obviously, this drove the price higher and higher, and then the room went silent. The auctioneer was giving everyone a chance to think and calculate. Tony and Jake looked around at the crowd. There were only, maybe, half a dozen serious bidders left. Some were consortiums that had put their money together and were going to have shares in the place.

At last, Jake made the first bid, and everyone turned to look at him and Tony. They had presumed that Tony and Jake weren’t going to bid, because up until now they had been silent. The auctioneer seemed to sigh with relief and carried on. The final bid was ten million pounds. The auctioneer looked around, waiting. ‘Fourteen,’ shouted Tony. He knew this was more than expected. The more serious bidders might have gone to twelve, but Tony had gone over that, and that was pushing it too far. He was trying to look cool and nonchalant about it. He didn’t want to look flustered or nervous, though deep inside, his heart was pounding.

Someone on the telephone made another bid. Tony felt angry and frustrated, but he tried to remain calm. ‘Plus one more million, auctioneer,’ he said. At last, the gavel went down; the casino was Tony’s. He had paid sixteen million pounds for a casino that had gone bust. He hadn’t expected that much would be necessary but, hopefully, in time, he would make his money back. He felt like strangling whoever had been on the other end of the telephone. Whoever it was, they weren’t going to steal his thunder.

Suddenly, the auctioneer interrupted the proceedings. It seemed everyone at the auction had had to prove they could afford to bid on this property, to stop time-wasters. It was a closed auction. Everyone who had shown interest in the casino had been shown around the property, and put on the ‘approved’ list after verification.

The auctioneer announced that the telephone bid had been from a woman who was not on their approved list. He then offered the casino to Tony at the original price. Tony’s smile lit the place up; he was in his element. But who the hell had been messing around on the other end of the telephone? He would make it his business to find out. He wouldn’t be made a fool of.