Short Con, Long Odds
Issues 6 - 7

Short Con opens with a flashback to a dockside, where two young gamblers named Chucky and Pony are playing craps. Pony sees that the best way to beat a man is to do it  totally, to own him. Chucky is happy just to learn how to cheat well. So we see an adult Chucky hustling craps for nickel and dime stakes, fooling street gangs with his 'dumb cowboy' routine and being rescued at the sting by girlfriend Shantay. Chucky owes serious money to camp bookie Baby Maxwell, but can't get in a game to win back his losses. He goes to pay off some of his debt, but Maxwell reveals that he sold Chucky's marker on, at a loss, to Pony.

Chucky is less than pleased at this news. He thinks it's bad practice to owe money to a friend, as the two things never mix well. He heads for La Dolce Vita, Pony's restaurant. Seven years ago Chucky went to prison for killing a young couple whilst  driving drunk. In that time, Pony became a bookmaker, running the big games, and now doesn't gamble. As he arrives, the Maitre D' tells Chucky that there was a man in looking for him. Chucky says that unless the man was looking for a game or some money, then he wasn't there. He makes his way past Agent Graves.

Passing through the kitchen, Chucky breaks the balls of the chef, Fat Sal, before entering Pony's inner sanctum. The two men talk about Pony's frequent women and the debt. Chucky insists on paying it back, but Pony won't accept it and tears up the marker. He hopes Chucky will cut his losses and quit gaming. Chucky lays all the money he has on the Rangers.

Back on the street, Chucky is hustling a gang when he is rumbled for holding the dice as he means them to fall, his preferred cheat. Graves steps in to save his hide. Having seen off the gang without raising a finger, he explains to Chucky why he is there, offers him an attaché case, a picture of Pony, and the truth about who was driving the car that night seven years ago. Pony took Chucky's unconscious body and placed it behind the wheel, leaving Chucky in jail and Pony on the up.

Elsewhere, Shantay is having dinner with Pony, discussing Chucky's diminishing chances. They both want him out o the game. Chucky has other ideas. Baby Maxwell interrupts him as he hustles a kid at pool. A group of Japanese players are in town, and a third party wants them broken, so that they lose everything they walk in with and more. He is offering to bank the whole game. Chucky tells Shantay about this back in their room. Shantay tells Chucky to forget it, and to take the way out that Pony is offering. Chucky still wants to pay Pony back, with interest.

The game begins. Chucky takes some small action on one of the Japanese players, realising that he is using the same trick with the dice. A figure sits in the corner. Maxwell introduces the banker for the evening, a Mr. Shepherd. Chucky explains that the player is holding, Shepherd reminds him of the deal and leaves. Chucky draws the cheat to Maxwell's attention, showing how the game is being worked. Maxwell loses his head and pulls a gun. The Japanese shoots quicker, and as the bullets fly, Chucky hides under the table. He is forced to shoot one man, and then it's all over. He grabs a bottle and calls Pony. Shantay answers, from Pony's bed.

Chucky heads for the restaurant, shooting up the gaming room in the back. Fat Sal goes for him with a knife and is shot, but Pony is still involved with Shantay and is not there. He soon gets a call about Chucky shooting the place up. Soon he is back on the dock where the story began, where Chucky sits, tossing bullets into the water. Shantay waits in Pony's car. Chucky says how Pony can never change, and always has to steal women from him. They talk about the car crash, and how it has been Pony keeping Chucky out of all the big games to stop him from getting himself killed. Pony says that what happened with Shantay was Chucky's own fault, as he drove her away. He gives Chucky the money he made from the Rangers bet, having covered the spread. Finally he asks about the bullets being tossed in the dock. Chucky says it was a game with odds of a hundred to one, so he's evening them. He picks up his dice and throws them into the water, snake eyes. Both men pull guns, and from the car, Shantay hears a single shot ring out.

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