Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Nicoli Spano is throwing a fit over reports that Captain America is interfering with his Vegas schemes when word comes that his beloved Pasha was thrown overboard in a boating accident. Steve Rogers has dived in and pulled her to the surface where he is collected by Spano’s thugs and taken before their boss. Spano is grateful to Steve for rescuing Pasha and offers him the one gift he will accept: the gift of trust. He takes Steve below deck and shows him the captive Tina Foley and asks if he knows her; when Steve claims to have never seen her before they leave, and an ominous gunshot is heard behind them. At dinner, Spano asks Steve if he would like to join his organization to look after Pasha but they are interrupted by Tina Foley, very much alive. Steve knew it was a test all along, recognizing the thug in the hold as the same man who attacked him in his room the night before, by his distinctive cologne. In the middle of the night, Steve phones his friend Kate Letcher back in Brooklyn to talk about his discomfort at having to lie to Pasha to get at Spano; Kate advises him to gain her trust to show her what kind of man Spano really is—and wonders if Steve is falling in love with the girl. Pasha meets Steve in his room and asks him that if she helps him get the goods on Spano, he will promise to take her away with him; he makes that promise. She then tells him the tale of Nicoli Spano: an old-school gangster who grew up on crime films he sees Vegas as his big opportunity and the Captain America theme park is the key to that. Spano owns the Red Skull half and if he can delay completion of the Cap half, he can snatch control from the legitimate investors. He plan is to blow up their part of the park that night. As Captain America, he uncovers the notebook with the plans in it so he crashes the meeting of the saboteurs who have just returned from planting the bomb at the base of the Cap statue. Cap single-handedly takes on a huge gang but is captured when the thugs fire a bazooka at him. He awakens to find himself bound to the foot of the giant Cap statue. As Spano’s goons beat a hasty retreat, the bomb goes off….