Marcus Sakey - The Amateurs

“We’re trying to figure that out,” she said. “I got a call saying Mitch was hurt. Ian was supposed to meet some guy named Katz. What about you, Mitch?”

“One of the bellmen told me a manager wanted to see me.” He looked at Alex, jerked his chin. The tension crackled between them like electric current. “You?”

Alex stepped into the room, let the door whisper closed behind him. “What the fuck is going on?”

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“What does it matter? The point is that someone brought us all here.”

“It matters, Alex , because we need to figure out who.”

“Guys.” Jenn put all her exhaustion into it.

Alex said, “A cop called and asked me to meet that detective here.”

“The one from the other night.”

“No, the one who was gonna mow my lawn. What do you think?”

“I think you’re an asshole.” Mitch paused. “No, I’m pretty sure of it.”

She shook her head. “Enough. We did this the other night.”

“Gentlemen.” The voice came from behind, and she spun to look. A stranger stood in the doorway. He wore a charcoal suit and an open-collared shirt of subtly textured white cotton, and had the breezy good looks of a cologne model. He nodded to Jenn. “And of course Ms. Lacie.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Alex said in his best bouncer voice.

The man smiled, strolled into the room. Behind him, face hard and red, walked Johnny Love. Two men in suits followed, taking up positions on either side of the door.

Spiders crawled through her chest. Nobody spoke, and she could hear the faint honking of a car horn outside, the hum of the air conditioner. The smiling man strode to the head of the table. Johnny hit Alex with a baleful look.

“My name is Victor. And I believe you all know Mr. Loverin?”

“Motherfucking right they do.” The fat man glared from one to the other. “Kern, you ungrateful prick. After all I’ve done for you, you pull this on me? And you,” his eyes narrowing at Ian. “Still got the shiner, huh? Wait till I get done with you. That’s going to seem like a day at Wrigley.”

“Be quiet, Johnny.” Victor’s voice was calm, but Loverin immediately shut up. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, the tough-guy demeanor not gone, but certainly throttled back.

Which made her throat go dry. Who was this guy?

“Alex, Ian, Mitch, Jenn,” Victor said, looking at each of them in turn. “Let’s not waste time, OK? I know what you did.” He paused, raised an eyebrow. “Can you guess who I am?”

Mitch said, “You’re the guy Johnny was buying for the night we robbed him.”

Victor practically beamed. “Got it in one. Good. I’m glad that you aren’t going to play around. That will make this easier.”

Ian said, “How did you-”

“How did I find you?” Victor stood behind a leather conference chair, his hands resting lightly on the back. “A piece of advice. When you rob someone, you should be careful who you tell about it in advance.”

Ian’s jaw fell, and his face went pale.

“Wait.” Alex turned to him. “What is he-who did you tell?”

Mitch said, “He told his bookie. The man who got him the guns in the first place.”

“Oh, you stupid-”

“Also, showing up to pay your thirty-thousand-dollar debt the day after you steal a quarter-million is something of a dead giveaway.”

“Katz.” Ian had a hand to his forehead. He turned to look at them. “I had to, you understand? I didn’t have a choice.”

“So,” Victor continued. “Mitch, you seem to be on a roll. Why don’t you guess what I want?”

“The money back?”

“As a matter of fact,” Victor said, “no. The money you stole from Johnny. Not from me. Part of it was mine, it’s true. But it was money that was already earmarked for a purchase. Do you understand? I spent my money. But I didn’t get what I paid for.”

“What”-Alex paused, looked around-“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. What do you want us to do about that?”

“I want you to get it for me.”

“How? I don’t even know what we’re talking about.”

“How old is your daughter, Alex?”

Alex’s shoulders clenched into iron ripples under his T-shirt. “My daughter is none of your business.”

“Cassandra? Sure she is.” He jerked his head toward Mitch. “As is Mitch’s brother, Michael, and Ian’s dad in Tennessee. I haven’t had the chance to check in on Ms. Lacie’s parents yet. But I will.”

This couldn’t be happening. None of it. Her parents? This total stranger, a guy she’d never seen before, was threatening her parents?

She looked at the others, saw them thinking the same thing. Her leg started to shake, and she leaned on it.

Alex stepped forward. “I don’t know who you think you are-”

Moving with uncanny speed, both the men by the door brushed back suit jackets and drew pistols. One lined up on Alex. The other moved from target to target.

Jenn felt the floor shift beneath her, reached for the chair, barely got it.

“Be careful, Mr. Kern.” Victor’s voice was level. “You should all be very careful. Last week you may have been normal people, but now you’re in my day planner. Believe me when I say that’s worth your attention. Right, Mr. Loverin?”

Leaning against the wall, Johnny had the pinched expression of a child facing a bully he knew would make good. He cleared his throat, then nodded.

Alex took a deep breath. Paused. “Listen, I’m sorry about my language,” he said. “I didn’t mean any disrespect. It’s just that this is none of my affair.”

Something in his tone caught Jenn’s attention. His shoulders were down, his hands up and open in a placating gesture. She knew what he was about to say before he opened his lips. It hit her with a sick shame and disappointment.

“I was in on robbing Johnny,” Alex said. “But I was tied up inside the office when your friend came. I didn’t shoot him. I didn’t have anything to do with that part.”

“Are you kidding me?” Mitch looked back and forth. “You’re seriously putting this on us?”

“It is on you. I wasn’t there.”

Mitch shook his head. “You coward.”

“Gentlemen.” Victor’s voice was cold. “A couple of things you need to understand. The man you shot wasn’t my friend. And I don’t care which of you pulled the trigger. All I want is what’s mine. Now. Where is it?”

Jenn’s pulse was pounding. She looked at Mitch, could read his thoughts. He was going to tell Victor that they had found what he was after, that it was in the back of a purple Eldorado parked down the block from her apartment. And maybe that was best. Give it up to him and get on with their lives.

Only, what if that’s not what he has in mind? This is a man who has Johnny clearly terrified. What happens when you no longer have what he wants?

It was all happening too fast, event piling on event. She needed time to think, to figure this out. It was like being back in the alley, that sense that everything hung by a thread, but that she had a chance, a slim, delicate ribbon of a chance, to make things work out. Even just to buy them time to talk and make a plan. Only how? What could she possibly say?

Mitch said, “Victor, sir-”

Suddenly she knew. Jenn cut in. “Before we dumped the car, we went through it. And we found a bag in the trunk.”

Ian and Alex both whirled to look at her. Mitch was staring, and she could see him thinking, God bless him, see him trying to figure out what she was doing. She hesitated a moment, then said, “It had four one-quart bottles in it.”

Victor said nothing, gave no outward sign of menace. Nonetheless, the air seemed to coalesce around him, a subtle hardening and cooling.