James Swain - Super Con

“This feels like the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” the young hustler said.

It was all Grimes could do not to wring Cunningham’s neck. He hated Cunningham with all his heart and soul, but that was meaningless right now. Grimes needed help. And when you were drowning, you couldn’t be too choosy about who threw you a life preserver.

Grimes briskly shook the young hustler’s hand.

Wearing a wire just wasn’t what it used to be.

Back in the good old days, a plant would go to a meeting wired up, get a crook to make an incriminating statement, and record it so the DA could use it against the crook in court.

This was easier said than done. Wearing a wire was cumbersome and consisted of a miniature tape recorder attached to the informant’s waist, with wires secured to a microphone that was taped to the informant’s chest. It was a bulky setup that required the informant to wear a long-sleeve shirt and a sports jacket to hide the apparatus. If a wire slipped free and made itself visible, or if the crook patted the informant down and discovered the deception, the plant was forced to jump through a window to avoid retaliation.

Not anymore. Today, wires were digital. An informant no longer needed to have a tape recorder attached to his body. Instead, he wore miniaturized recording equipment hidden in the button of his jacket, the point of a pen, a cuff link, or the edge of a tie clip. He could be patted down by a crook and not get caught. Thanks to the technological revolution, snitching had gotten a whole lot easier.

Billy sat in a room of the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s headquarters getting outfitted with a wire. Never in his life had he expected to be doing this. The gaming board was the cat and he was the mouse, and the mouse never willingly entered the cat’s lair. But he was desperate to save Leon and help Maggie, and sometimes desperation was the mother of invention.

“Hold still,” Grimes said.

Grimes had decided to put the wire in a button on Billy’s silk shirt. Grimes had chosen the top button because it would be closest to Broken Tooth’s mouth when the Chinese gangster started talking and incriminated himself in the fixing of the Super Bowl. Because English was a second language to Broken Tooth, it would be important for Billy to stand close and get Broken Tooth to speak clearly so the recording equipment in the gaming board van would be able to record what Broken Tooth was saying. Otherwise, they were wasting their time.

Billy looked down at the button Grimes was attaching to his shirt. The shirt was made by Versace and had a busy blue-and-gold Baroque print with front-button closure and a hidden placket. He’d paid $600 for the shirt, and it was one of his favorites. The button hiding the wire was a different shade of beige than the shirt’s other buttons but was hidden by the placket.

“The button’s the wrong color,” Billy said.

“It’s close enough. Besides, he’s not going to see it,” Grimes said.

“He’ll see the button if my shirt parts open.”

“What are the chances of that happening?”

“Fifty-fifty. Either the shirt opens up, or it doesn’t. Can you get another button? Just to be on the safe side?”

“This is the only one I’ve got. Look, he’s not going to see it. Just go in there, get him talking, and once he implicates himself, we’ll break down the door and bust him and his goons. Your driver will walk away unharmed.”

“My driver’s name is Leon,” Billy said.

“So?”

“I care about Leon. That’s why I came to you. I want to save him from getting shot. Are we clear about this?”

“Sure. No reason to lose your cool.”

“I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

The special agent nodded like they were on the same page. Only that was a lie. Grimes didn’t give a rat’s ass if Leon walked away with his skin; Grimes’s only concern was having his ugly puss splashed across the front page of the newspaper and getting his long-overdue promotion.

Grimes took a step back to admire his handiwork. The button was heavier than the other buttons and created a crease in Billy’s fancy shirt. Billy could see the crease but hoped no one else would.

Grimes moved to a desk on the other side of the room. Picking up a pair of headphones, he fitted them on his head. “Start talking in your normal voice.”

Billy started talking in a normal voice. Grimes shut his eyes and listened. Then he nodded and removed the earphones. “Clear as a bell. How good is Broken Tooth’s English?”

“It’s chipped,” he said.

“Meaning what? That he sounds like the illegal taking your order at a Chinese restaurant?”

“It’s a little better than that.”

“We need to be able to understand what Broken Tooth’s saying, otherwise the case will get thrown out of court. You’ll need to stand right next to him and get him to talk in a clear, concise manner. Otherwise, this won’t work.”

“He’s holding Leon against his will. Doesn’t that count for something?”

“The fact that Broken Tooth kidnapped your driver doesn’t mean he’s trying to fix the Super Bowl. Broken Tooth can tell the judge that your driver borrowed money from him and refused to pay it back. I’ve had that happen in kidnapping cases before. Does your driver have a record?”

“Yeah, Leon’s got a record.”

“The judge will take that into account. Look, Cunningham, I’ve played the game long enough to know what the rules are. Your job is to get Broken Tooth to discuss how he plans to fix the Super Bowl and that he’s giving you money to bribe the players. That information has to come through on the recording, otherwise this won’t fly.”

“Got it.” He fingered the button on his shirt. “What’s the range on this thing?”

“More than a quarter mile.”

“Does that take into account that Broken Tooth is inside a building, and that the transmission will have to go through walls?”

“Can’t you get Broken Tooth outside?”

“That’s a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“Broken Tooth’s a pro. He knows about wires. If we go outside, he’ll want to take a drive, and your transmission will be lost.”

“Then what’s your plan?”

“Broken Tooth will be contacting me soon. I’ll go pick up the money and make sure Leon’s okay. I’ll engage Broken Tooth in conversation and get him to drop his guard. I’ll steer the conversation to the fix and get Broken Tooth to implicate himself. Once that’s done, you and your posse can come to the rescue. That work for you?”

“Good enough. You going to be carrying?”

“Look at the clothes I’m wearing. A gun would stick out. No, I’m not carrying.”

“I just wanted to be sure.”

Billy glanced down at the crease in his shirt. He followed the maxim that the people he did business with were just as smart as he was. If he thought the button looked funny, Broken Tooth would think it as well. And if that happened, Broken Tooth would go berserk and have his goons tear Billy’s arms out of their sockets and beat him to death with them.

“Sure you can’t do anything about this button?”

“Tuck your shirt into your pants and tighten your belt. That will hide it.”

Billy gave his suggestion a try. The crease went away. It was as good as he could hope for. Grimes said, “I’ve got some people you need to meet.”

The special agent picked up his headphones and transmission equipment and walked out of the room. Billy followed him, looking down to see if the crease reappeared. It didn’t, and he forced himself to put it out of his mind.

Grimes escorted Billy to the building’s subterranean level where the weaponry was stored. Four gaming agents awaited them. The agents — two white, one Latino, one black — were lean and mean, all of them clean shaven with cropped hair and no visible tattoos. They looked like grown-up choirboys.