Stone Cold

“I don’t know the details of why the a

A pensive Bagger sat back. A

He stared across at Joe. “Good work, Joe. Keep digging and see what you come up with.”

Joe rose. “Already on it, Mr. Bagger.”

After Joe left, Bagger stared down at the picture of the youthful A

Bagger rose and looked out the window, onto his empire that occupied nearly an entire block on the Boardwalk. Making up his mind, he picked up his phone and called his chief of security. “Warm up the jet, we’re heading out.”

“Where to, Mr. Bagger?”

“My favorite city. Washington, D.C.”

CHAPTER 22

THE NEXT MORNING, while Reuben and Milton drove to Atlantic City, Harry Fi

“I just go where they send me, guys,” he said apologetically. “We won’t be here much longer. It’s the damn visitor center project.”

“You mean that taxpayer hell pit?” one of the cops growled. The project had become D.C.’s version of the Big Dig fiasco in Boston.

Fi

“Tell me about it,” the other cop said. “Just make it quick.”

“Roger that,” Fi

The surveyor’s apparatus they were using was actually a video camera currently filming two entrances to the Capitol building and detailing the rotation of security guards and other essential elements for a successful penetration later. Ever since a man had broken through the Capitol security perimeter with comparative ease, several high-ranking pols had been livid. They had secretly retained Fi

Back at the office, Fi

Today Fi

As Fi

And then he decided, on impulse, to visit his mother. He would catch a flight that very night, after the kids were in bed. He could see her the next day and be back home that same night. After the navy gig, he had some downtime coming anyway. His was not a nine-to-five occupation. And with several jobs percolating in the prep stage before the field operations would begin, now was actually a good time to go.

He both loved and hated to see his mother. The routine never varied; it couldn’t, actually. Yet since it had all begun with her, Fi

He booked the flight online and called Mandy and told her. He left work early, drove his two youngest to swimming and baseball practice respectively, and then picked them up later. After they were asleep he left for the airport, for the short ride to one of the longest days of his life.

CHAPTER 23

STONE PUNCHED IN A

“Where are you?” he said.

“Oliver, I left a note.”

“The note is bullshit. Where are you?”

“I don’t want you involved in this, so just forget me.”

“I’ve sent Milton and Reuben up to Atlantic City to do a recon on Bagger.”

“You did what?” she screamed into the phone. “Are you insane!”

“Now there’s the A

“That’s suicide, sending them to Bagger’s turf.”

“They know how to take care of themselves.”

“Oliver, I left town so you wouldn’t get involved.”

“Then come back, because we are involved.”

“I can’t come back. I won’t come back.”

“Then just answer one question for me.”

“What?” she said warily.

“What did Jerry Bagger do to you to make you rip him off for millions?”

“I ripped him off because that’s what I do. I’m a con.”

“If you keep lying to me I’m going to get really upset.”

“Why do you care?”

“You helped us, now it’s our turn to help you.”

“I helped myself. You guys were just in the way.”

“So be it, but you still need us. And we’re wasting time. If Bagger’s as good as you say he is, you may not have much time left.”

“Thanks for your vote of confidence.”

“I’m just being practical. Where are you?”

“Forget it.”

“Then let me guess. But if I guess correctly you have to tell me where you are. Deal?”

“Whatever makes you happy.”

“I said deal?”

“Fine. Deal.”

“Okay, you’ve taken my advice and you’re trying to pin something on Bagger. And what you’re trying to pin on him is the reason you ripped him off. And that’s where you are right now, at a place where he did something so bad to you or yours that you had to come back at him. And do it damn hard. Am I right?”

A

He said, “Now, since I won the bet you have to tell me where you are.”

“You didn’t give me a specific location.”