Tim Green - The Big Time

Gramps gave Troy's shoulders a squeeze before leading them into the kitchen. Bob McDonough sat at the kitchen table with two other men, both with short hair and wearing crisp, dark suits. Troy's mom pointed to a chair for him to sit in. She positioned herself by the sink, leaning back against the counter with her arms folded. Gramps took a stool from the corner and sat down on it next to her.

Bob McDonough introduced the men in suits as Agent Kerns and Agent Williams, with Williams having the friendlier-looking face of the two.

It was Williams who said, "Troy, do you know what kind of trouble your father is in?"

"I think so," Troy said.

The agent nodded and said, "And did your mom tell you that if you help us, we'll do everything we can to minimize the time he spends in jail?"

"She said one year instead of ten," Troy said, looking hard into the agent's eyes. "Or maybe he might not even go."

"Yes," Williams said, "that's right. Now, we can't promise anything specific other than that whatever would have happened, it'll be a lot better for him with this deal. We'll tell the judge that he helped us through you. And it is possible he won't go to jail at all. Maybe just lose his license to practice law and get probation."

"Can't you just leave him alone completely if I help you?" Troy asked, his voice desperate.

It was Agent Kerns who scowled and shook his head.

"Not completely, Troy," Agent Williams said. "I'm sorry."

"What if I don't help?" Troy said, raising his chin.

"We can't make you," Agent Williams said, glancing at Troy's mom and Gramps, then at Bob McDonough. "But like I told your mom, I think you'd regret it, Troy. No one wants his father in jail, and that's where he's headed right now. We aren't going away. We'll get these people. It may take years, but sooner or later they'll make a mistake. They've made one right now, but we can't take advantage of it without your help."

"Let's talk about what it is you want him to do," Troy's mom said. "He's not doing anything dangerous. No way. I told you all that."

"And we promised it wouldn't be," Agent Williams said. "No one will suspect a thing."

From his pocket, the agent removed a quarter. He flipped it in the air for everyone to see, then caught it and slapped it down into his palm. "All he has to do is drop this down behind a piece of furniture or slip it into the cushions on the zebra couch in G Money's living room. Not that anything could happen, but if it does, we'll be listening the whole time. We're set up next door, and we can be inside in a matter of seconds if Troy needs us."

"You saw the couch?" Troy asked. "Then how come you didn't do it yourselves?"

"We see the couch with spotting scopes and heat-sensing equipment from the neighbor's roof," Agent Kerns said in a stern voice. "That couch is where Luther Tolsky does all his business. They come and go and we can see them, but we can't hear anything. We get a listening device in that room and we can nail this guy good."

"Wait a minute," Troy said. "Luther Tolsky? The big, scary-looking guy? Bald with a thick black beard and a tattoo on his neck?"

Agent Williams narrowed his eyes at Troy and said, "You've seen him, right?"

"At the dome with G Money and my dad," Troy said, "and at G Money's pool, playing cards."

"That's our target, a very bad man," Agent Williams said, "but also a very smart man. He changes the place he conducts business every week. We never know where he'll be. He has a lot of contacts: people he can trust or people too afraid to tell him no. By the time we get the court orders for the wiretaps in place and figure out a way to get someone inside to plant one of these quarters, he's already moved on.

"But with your dad staying there, this will be easy."

"What if he can't get into the living room?" Troy's gramps asked.

"Look, we're not asking for guarantees," Agent Williams said. "We just want Troy to try. Nothing can happen. Look at this thing. It's a quarter."

The agent handed it to Troy's mom. She turned it over in her hand and passed it to Gramps before she asked, "What do you think, Dad?"

Gramps rolled the coin around with his fingers, then held it out away from him to see it better before he said, "Dropping this thing, I can't see how it could hurt, Tessa."

"No," the agent said, "it can't, but it could help. It could help us, and help his dad stay out of jail."

Troy's mom looked at Gramps. He sighed, gave the quarter back to Agent Williams, and nodded. In a quiet voice he said, "If he doesn't do it, Tessa, I'm afraid Troy will always look back on this moment and regret it. Jail is a horrible thing, and I think, good or bad, Troy loves his father. You know that."

"I wish his father loved him back as much," Troy's mom said.

Troy hung his head.

Softly his mom said, "I shouldn't have said that, Troy. I'm sorry."

Troy shrugged and said, "It's okay. I understand. I still want to help him, Mom. I'm not afraid, and maybe he's not as bad as they think. That's possible, right?"

Troy looked at the agents. Kerns's lips disappeared into the flat slit of his mouth.

Williams tilted his head and said, "Well, sometimes strange things happen; but in this business, it usually turns out just the way you think it will."

Everyone sat quiet for what seemed like a long time before, in a soft and serious voice, Troy's mom asked, "If we agree to this, Agent Williams, when would you want him to do it?"

The agents looked at each other, and it was Kerns who answered.

"Right now. Tonight."

" WHEN WE SAW YOUat G Money's the other night," Agent Williams said, "you just appeared out of nowhere. How did you get there?"

Troy bit his lip and raised his eyes toward his mom. She furrowed her eyebrows and said, "Wait a minute. He rode there with Drew last night, right?"

"No," Agent Williams said, "he just showed up on his own Sunday night."

Troy winced and studied the checkered tablecloth.

"Sunday night," his mom said, her voice as flat as a pancake. "Interesting."

His mom sighed loudly before adding, "Dad, I don't know what I'm going to do with him."

Troy snuck a look at his gramps, who said, "I know what you do. You just love the boy. He wants a father. He's wanted that for a long time. Everyone wants that, Tessa, and it's hard for those of us who've had a father to know what it's like not to. Let it go, darlin'. He's a good kid."

"Okay, Dad," she said. "You're right."

"Most times." He grinned.

"So," Troy's mom said, "how did you get there, Troy?"

"The wall," Troy said under his breath. "And Gramps's ladder."

"Great."

"Tessa," Gramps warned.

"Okay." Troy heard the sound of surrender in her voice.

"So, that's what we need you to do this time, too," Agent Williams said. "We can't risk having anyone see you being dropped off down the street. You just go in the same way you did before, only this time you'll be carrying our quarter.

"Now, do you have a reason to go see your dad?"

Troy knit his brow and said, "I guess the deal we agreed to, and my mom wanting to back out of it. I mean, it's something that might make me want to go see him. Not that I was going to do that."

Troy stole a look at his mom, who flashed him a mildly disgusted look.

"Perfect," Agent Williams said. "That's what you tell him. That will keep them all off guard, and I won't be surprised if this whole contract thing isn't part of their business."

"What?" Troy said.

"This contract," Agent Williams said, "how fast he put it together. I think Drew Edinger is under a lot of pressure. Your contract might be just what he needs to turn down the heat."

"Why would my contract do that?" Troy asked.