The Collectors

“I had kids early. They’re grown and gone and so’s my old lady.”

“Did she know what you did for a living?”

“Hard to hide it after a while. She liked the money, just not the way I earned it. We never told the kids. I wasn’t going to let them get near the business.”

“Smart man.”

“Yeah, they still ditched me.”

“Don’t look back, Leo, too many regrets start popping out.”

He shrugged and then gri

“And you were the best mechanic I ever worked with, Leo. Even when some rook cut into your move, you still nailed it before the dealer turned back around.”

“Yeah, I was good, but the fact is you were just as good a mechanic as me. I think sometimes your old man kept me on because you said to.”

“You give me way too much credit. Paddy Conroy only did what Paddy Conroy wanted to do. And what he ultimately did was screw us both.”

“Yeah, and leave us for Bagger to feed on. And if you hadn’t been cat–quick about it and made him miss by a couple inches?” He looked out toward the ocean. “Maybe we’d be out there somewhere.”

She plucked the cigarette out of his mouth. “And now that we’re done patting each other on the back down memory lane, let’s get to work.”

They started toward the casino entrance and then abruptly stopped. “Let the cattle drive get by,” Leo warned.

Each casino had a bus drive where the charters would start lining up at eleven o’clock in the morning. They’d disgorge their usually elderly passengers who’d spend all day in the casino ru

Leo and A

They hooked up a little later and had a drink at one of the bars. As Leo watched a curvy thong–wearing waitress carry a load of drinks to a hot craps table three deep with bettors looking to ride some action to riches, A

He munched on some pecans and sipped his Jack and Coke. “Blackjack table number five. Looks like we got a little monkey business coming out of the shoe,” he said, referring to the device that held the packs of cards.

“Dealer in on it?”

“Oh, yeah. How about you?”

A

“I thought they taught the dealers to really case their bets now. And how about all the sophisticated eyes–in–the–sky and microcameras they got these days?”

“You know how crazy the roulette table is, that’s why it’s past–posting Mecca. And if you’re good, anything’s possible despite all the high–tech stuff.”

He touched his drink against hers. “Don’t we know that?”

“How’s security look?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. I’m assuming the vault’s under a thousand tons of concrete surrounded by a million guys armed with machine guns.”

“Good thing we’re not going that route,” she replied dryly.

“Yeah, you don’t want to mess up your manicure.” He put his drink down. “How old would Jerry be now?”

“Sixty–six,” she answered promptly.

“I bet he hasn’t mellowed with age,” Leo said grumpily.

“He hasn’t.”

She sounded so sure, he looked at her suspiciously.

“You check out the mark, Leo, remember? Con Man 101.”

“Damn, there’s the asshole himself,” Leo hissed, and immediately turned away.

As A

As soon as they passed by, Leo turned back around and struggled to regain his breath. A ticked–off A

He held up a hand. “Not to worry, I’m over it.” He drew one last deep breath.

“We’ve never even met the guy face–to–face. It was his goons who tried to kill us back then. It’s not like he’s going to recognize you.”

“I know, I know.” He finished his drink. “What now?”

“When it’s time to go, we go. Until then, we work our script and practice our cues and look for any edge we can get, because Jerry’s so damn unpredictable that even if we’re perfect, it may not be enough.”

“You know, I forgot what a cheerleader you are.”

“Nothing wrong with stating the obvious. If he throws us a curve, we have to be ready to hit it out, or else.”

“Yeah, we know all about or else, don’t we?”

He and A

Chapter 18

At the end of a week they were ready. A

He said, “You know the only thing that bugs me about this is ratting out other cons.”

“Like they wouldn’t do it to us if they had the chance to walk away with millions? Besides, the ones we pegged aren’t all that good. Sooner or later they’ll get caught anyway. And it’s not like the old days. No more bodies buried in the desert or chucked into the Atlantic. Past–posting’s a conspiracy to commit theft by deception crime, something like a third–degree misdemeanor. They’ll pay their fine or do their bit of time and go hit the casino boats in the Midwest or pester the Indians in New England until enough time passes and then they change their appearance, come back here to start all over again.”

“Yeah, but it’s still a raw deal.”

She shrugged. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll get their names and send them twenty grand each for their troubles.”

Leo brightened but then said, “Okay, just don’t take it out of my share.”

They had left Freddy and Tony and checked into one of the best hotels on the Boardwalk. They would have no further direct contact with either of the men from now on. Before leaving them she had admonished both, particularly Tony, to keep in mind that spies were everywhere in this town. “You don’t flash cash, you don’t joke, you don’t say anything that might tip someone that a con is going down, because they’ll go ru