by Gregg Burton
Newman’s face was burning with anger.
“You know,” Ace said, “you should really teach your son to read every document he signs. One day, he could sign a form agreeing to a hundred-million-dollar wire transfer.”
“Fontanne, I don’t know how you think you’re going to get away with this. I will find you, and I will tear your body limb from limb!”
Newman was spitting on his computer as he yelled at Ace.
Now laughing at Newman, Ace threw one more jab. “I thought you would say something like that. So, that’s why I have this.”
It was a small black tape recorder. When Ace pressed the “play” button, it played back Newman incriminating himself during his plot to kill Ace, while also confessing to the murder of Mrs. Hanson. Noticing the confused look on Newman’s face, Ace explained.
“You know the FBI has some of the best toys. It’s not your bodyguard’s fault for not catching this, either, because really, who would think to look inside a hat for a recorder? If anything happens to me or the people I love, this will be put into the hands of the media. You know they would go crazy with this story. Anyway, old friend, I have a flight to catch. It was nice talking to you again.”
Ace closed his laptop on his furious old friend and enemy as he was still yelling empty threats.
The victory was bittersweet for Marco ‘Ace’ Fontanne. He sat back and thought about his lover Tim, the man Newman had killed so many years ago. Now in his late sixties, Ace would never get the chance to love like that again. He also thought about Malik. The result of one drunken night he was with the only woman in his life. The woman with a beautiful smile had given him a son he could never claim, fearing the harm that could come his way. Ace always kept a close eye on him. Everything fell into place that day when Malik got caught stealing candy from the bodega. It warmed Ace's heart to know that the kid was a chip off the old block. For years, he trained Malik, taught him everything he knew. In turn, Malik made Ace proud to be his father, even if Malik would never know it.
Malik showed his own talent by bringing in Linda, who was such a lovely girl and as bright as they come. Ace was really surprised that Linda had missed the connection with Jessica. Although Mohamed Khan was his contact at the bank, Ace and Mohamed needed someone fresh to find the Swiss account number in case something went wrong. But, Jessica played her role well and should be a good addition to Malik's and Linda’s crew.
Ace wanted to feel bad about not letting Malik and Jim Payne in on the real con. But, in order to get away free and clear, he had to give them the fool’s eye.
Epilogue
Ace had been gone for six months, and we all really missed him. I really missed him, but the con must go on. I had gotten really comfortable in my role with the crew. I just wished there were more girls other than Jessica and myself. It’s not like I could hold auditions. I thought I would never find anyone clever enough to join us. That’s until I met Nicole. She was a young girl, thirsty for a family and a fortune. The first time I worked with Nicole was when I met her.
I was following this mark, a jeweler who worked in Midtown Manhattan off of 44th Street and Fifth Avenue. I managed to follow him from his shop to the F train on 40th Street and 6th Avenue. I had been doing it for weeks.
On this particular day I pretended like I was reading a novel called, Inside Rain by Monique Mensah, while waiting on the train. I studied him, watched for the little things people missed. One was the way he kept his head down. He was an insecure man. Or, the way he continuously looked at his watch. That showed his impatience. The attribute my mark possessed that was most important to me was lust. However, the women I caught him staring at were black, somewhat slender, tall, and dark-skinned. On this one particular day, I saw him staring at Nicole, which was a bit surprising. Although she was tall and dark-skinned, she looked kinda homely.
She had on some worn-out Reeboks, loose-fitting jeans, and a plain white t-shirt. Not the choice of woman I would have picked, but it gave me an idea.
I approached her with a smile. “Hi, excuse me?”
She returned my kind smile with a suspicious one. “Yes?”
Nicole was standing close to the yellow line. The one that lets you know you’re standing too close to the train rails. She was reading a novel called, Str8 Laced by Pheare Alexander.
I didn’t have time to sweet-talk her, so I put all my cards on the table and went for it.
“How would you like to make a thousand dollars?” I asked her.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Linda Smith, and I would like to know if you want to make a thousand dollars.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
She was interested. Her skeptic grin quickly turned into a hopeful smile. A thousand dollars was a lot of money. Besides, the girl looked no older than sixteen. To a teenager, a thousand dollars seemed like a million.
I told her, “No, I’m not kidding. All you have to do is sit next to that Jewish man on the train. You have to make sure your butt touches some part of his body. Don’t say anything to him, not even 'excuse me'. Just sit down, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
She lost her smile after I gave her the instructions.
“Shit, I thought you were serious for a minute. Ain’t nobody paying no thousand dollars for me to let a man touch my ass.”
“You know what. I’ll find somebody else to do it. I’m pretty sure I could find somebody that could use the money.”
I started walking away, ready to think of another way to get to the jeweler, when she stopped me.
“You really going to pay me a thousand dollars just for me to rub my ass on him?”
“Yes, but he’s not going to rub on your ass.”
The way she spoke made me want to reconsider, but then again, I was once like her.
I told her, “You need to do exactly what I tell you to do, okay?”
“Sure, but first, let me see the money.”
I reached in my purse and showed her my money.
Her smile returned. “Okay, so what do you want me to do?”
“The first thing I need you to do is wipe that silly grin off of your face. Now listen closely.”
While we waited on the train, I got her name and found out which borough she was headed to. I also found out her age. She told me that her name was Nicole and that she lived in Brooklyn. I later discovered that she actually stayed with a friend, because her mother was deceased and her father was unknown. She told me that she was nineteen, but when she said it, she looked down and away from me.
I asked her again, “Sweetie, really, how old are you?”
She blushed. “I just turned eighteen.”
Hearing the rumbling of the train coming, I instructed Nicole once more on how to approach the Jewish jeweler.
The jeweler was a short man. He wore the traditional black pants and a white button-down shirt that was partly covered by a black vest. He had a full white beard, two long curly strands of hair on both sides of his face, and a large brim hat. Because of his stout frame and large stomach, he walked somewhat like a penguin.
I walked away from Nicole as we all got on the train. The mark took a seat next to the door. Nicole rushed to get the seat next to him before someone else did. When she sat down, she did exactly as I instructed. She grazed the jeweler’s arm with her butt as she sat close to him. He smiled at that and looked up briefly at her before returning to his slumped position. Nicole tried to smile at the mark, but his head was down. She looked at me and shrugged her shoulder.
I mouthed to her, “Talk to him.”
She cringed, looked at him, and rubbed her fingers together, indicating she wanted more money. I nodded yes.
Maybe this girl is brighter than I originally thought.
She smiled, turned to the mark, and initiated a conversation. I don’t know what she said, but in less than two minutes, she had him blushing.
He was coming out his shell and showing
the real freak that he was. Nicole started rubbing his arms and whispering in his ear. There were two Jewish women sitting next to me, looking at him and speaking in Hebrew to each other. I wanted to laugh because they were making the same gestures we sisters make when watching a brother talk to a white girl.
The train stopped at 34th Street, then 23rd Street, and by 14th Street, this little girl had my mark eating out of her hands. When the train finally got on the Williamsburg’s Bridge, I got up from my seat, walked by Nicole, and nodded. She stood up and walked to the door, where she started looking out the glass.
My mark was confused, and rightfully so. He went from having the company of a young, attractive girl that was young enough to be his teenage daughter to a woman clearly not his type sitting next to him.
I introduced myself. “Hi. My name is Linda.”
“Hello, I’m Joseph. I’m sorry, do I know you?”
When I held out my hand for him to shake, he just looked at it. I guess I wasn’t kosher. Didn’t matter, because I had him where I wanted him.
“No, you don’t know me, but it seems you know one of my girls.” I nodded toward Nicole when I said that.
“Your girl? You mean, she’s…”
“Yes, Joseph, she is, and you could have her for two hours for a very reasonable price.”
“You’re kidding, right? There is no way I will pay for a woman’s––” He lowered his voice. . “There is no way I will pay to have sex with her.”
“Joseph, I can certainly understand your position, and I can tell you’re a man who likes his privacy. Trust me, secrets are something I’m very good at keeping.”
He thought for a minute and then said, “This is insane. No, I will not do this. Please leave me alone.”
“Hmmm, so you don’t think my girl is worth your time or money? That’s very disappointing. I thought we would be able to work together. I guess your wife is going to see the video I made of you and my friend.”
I showed my BlackBerry to him. On it was a video of him and Nicole touching and talking. Seeing that made Joseph’s face suck in like he had just eaten a hundred lemons, at once.
“If you listen closely, you can hear those nice young ladies over there speaking in Hebrew about how upset they are about you talking to a––” I lowered my voice, “black girl. And don’t try to take my phone. I’ve already emailed it to my partner. If anything happens to me, everybody finds out about you.”
He looked at the two Jewish women in their long black dresses and their short, cropped hair covered by matching small black hats.
He lowered his head and asked, “What do you want from me? I don’t even know you. Why are you doing this?”
“I can tell you what will make all of this go away. First, we need to get off at the next stop and go back to your jewelry store.”
“How do you know I work at a jewelry store?”
“Own, Joseph. You own a jewelry store, and it’s not important how I know. What’s important is that if you want this embarrassment to go away, you need to do exactly what I say. Now, I need you to give me a few minutes to talk to my girl. When we get to Marcy, I need you to be ready to go back to the city.”
Joseph just shook his head as I got up to go talk to Nicole. The train was still crossing the Williamsburg Bridge, and Nicole was watching the Lower East Side fade away.
“I’ve always loved this view of the city,” I said.
She smiled. “My mom use to say she loved it, too. Said the city was so beautiful at sunset. I think of her every time I leave the city.”
I watched as she wiped her eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about my momma, that’s all.”
“Nicole, that’s really sad, but I really need you to listen to me for a second.”
Nicole wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m listening.”
“First, don’t let anyone ever see you cry, unless it’s part of your con. Next, I want you to know you did a great job back there. Now, let me pay you what I owe you.”
I went into my purse and handed her a thousand dollars that was rolled up and held together by a rubber band. She looked at the roll and said something I didn’t see coming.
“What if I only take half of whatever that is and you teach me whatever you know? I mean, I’m a quick learner, and you see I can be useful.”
“Nicole, this is not that type of party. Just take the money and go home to your mom.”
“My mom’s gone.”
“Well, go home to your daddy, because I don’t have time for this. We’re getting closer to my stop.”
She looked at the bills. “Look, keep your money. Just give me a chance.”
I looked in the direction of the other side of the train and saw Joseph looking at us intensely. Over his head, I saw the building with the huge HSBC sign on it. Time was up. We would be at the stop in a matter of moments. Standing there arguing with her could mess up the con, so my hand was forced.
“Just come with me and keep your mouth closed. Don’t make me regret taking you.”
She flashed a smile of gratitude. It didn’t really matter, because I planned on getting rid of her after this was over.
On the way back to Manhattan, the train was nearly empty. That’s when Nicole surprised the hell out of me. While I sat back, she buttered up Joseph better than she did on the way out of the city. She placed her leg over his leg and whispered sweet nothings in his ear. Here I was, taking this man back to his jewelry store to blackmail him, and he looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. I wondered what she was saying to him.
When we finally made it to his store, he pulled me to the side.
“I know you want some jewelry from me, but what do you want for me to take her in the back?”
Now, I’m no pimp and this girl was only eighteen, so I asked him to excuse me while I talked to her.
After pulling her to the side, I told her, “Look, this man wants to sleep with you, and he’s willing to pay you well to do so.”
“Really? Will you wait for me?”
“Listen, this is not how the game is played. We tease them with the thought of sex, but never do it. Just take the money I was going to give you and leave. Now if that’s how you get down, I can’t stop you, but I need you to make up your mind because I have to go.”
Tourists interrupted our conversation when they started pulling on the door to the jewelry store. Joseph explained to them that the store was closed, but they could come first thing in the morning.
Nicole looked at what the tourists had on. She then looked at what I had on, and then looked down at her own attire.
“Nicole, I have to go.”
She held out her hand for the money, and I gave it to her. She stuck the money into her loose pants with a disappointed look.
I thought she had gotten the point, but I was wrong. After taking the money, she walked up to my mark, took him by the arm, and walked with him into the jewelry store. I suppose being broke was something she was used to and being well off is where she wanted to be.
Inside, I pointed out the pieces I wanted. Joseph reluctantly gave them to me. For a second, he looked at me like he was willing to take his chance and not give them to me. That was, until I waved my phone in his face. He gave me a slight shrug of the shoulder. Then, I pressed the number three on my cell and started talking to my contact.
“Yeah, I’m almost finished here… Problems? No. No problems here… Okay, see you soon.”
I then said to Joseph, “Could you please box those beautiful gems? I have somewhere to be.”
“Okay, okay, fine. What about the girl? Does she have to be somewhere, as well?”
“She’s a big girl. She can find her way home.”
Nicole looked at me as if she had changed her mind. I looked at her to let her know it was up to her. She shook her head and started walking towards me.
Joseph grabbed her by the arm and asked, “Where are you going? Don’t you want to sta
y?”
“Not this time, daddy, but next time. Okay?”
She freed herself of his grasp and continued to walk my way. Joseph’s face turned red. Not only was he being blackmailed, he was also being denied his chance for some sweet chocolate. His voice betrayed his words. Instead of sounding upset, his voice was whiny.
“But you promised to make me feel good. Why lie? Do you want more money? I will not accept this.”
He charged after us as if he was just going to take her. She moved behind me while I quickly pulled out my Taser. I caught him in the neck as he tried to push me to the side. The shock jolted his body back. He tried to hold himself up against the glass counter, but his elbow slipped. He hit the floor hard. I watched for a second as he spat foam from his mouth. Then, I grabbed Nicole and got the hell out of there.