There was a time Jack never would have put himself in this position.
Jack had developed a set of rules that he used to test whether he should take a job, and in many ways, they were based on the mistakes he’d seen other thieves make. Including Reginald. The first was never to take a score large enough to chase. Eventually, law enforcement and insurance companies forget about the jewelry store thefts of the world; the Antwerp Diamond Centres, they never do. Never steal out of hunger. Jobs born out of necessity are often hastily planned and the thief might not be thinking clearly about the risk because they are too blinded by the need. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, never steal from someone with the will or the means to get it back. This job would have violated all three of those principles.
“You’ll be outside WorldSecure when the armored car leaves,” Jack said. “So you can notify us if Reginald and Vito are driving with them.”
“We don’t have enough cars to do a tail. Not unless you’re willing to leave Rusty alone or be alone yourself.” The plan was for Jack and Rusty to wait here in the parking lot and intercept the guards outside the building. WorldSecure’s guards would be trained in anti-thievery tactics and would know how to spot when they were being followed. Enzo’s suggestion would mean that they’d need a second car on the road that could switch off following the armored car.
“No, I think we stick with the plan. You follow them, but at a distance. It won’t be hard to keep that thing in line of sight on the road, and I doubt they’ll ever get over sixty. The thing we have to decide on is what do we do if Reginald and Vito are driving with them.”
“You’re not going to get into a shootout with them in the street,” Enzo said flatly.
“No, I am not. Get some pics of the parking lot,” Jack said.
Enzo took several from his side and Jack got a few more. He then drove to another part of the lot so he could capture the access road between the buildings and show Rusty where they’d need to come in from. “On our way out, let’s also get video of the entry road.”
“Got it.” After a beat, Enzo said, “How much longer are you going to avoid the question by asking me to take pictures? What happens if this comes down to us having to force Reginald to give them up?”
Jack laughed, but there was no humor behind it.
“Reginald deserves to die facedown in a gutter, but I’m not going to be the one to put him there. If he and Vito are following the armored car, I think we waive off. Even if I was willing to shoot them both, and I am not, there are still the security guards to think about. They’re civilians. Besides, a double homicide turns this into a freeway chase, and that only ends well for the cops.”
Enzo nodded.
“If it comes to that, I’ll tip Reginald and Vito to the authorities, and we can hope that they at least get arrested eventually.”
“What do you think about what Vito told you—about Reginald settling his score?”
“Oh, I think that’s the only honest thing Vito said last night,” Jack said and started to drive forward and leave the complex. “I think Nico will too.” Jack paused so that Enzo could film their path down the main drive. He continued as they pulled onto La Cienega and headed for the freeway. “I created Frank Fischer so that I’d have a place to hide that didn’t feel like hiding. Before I did the Carlton job, I was already on my way out of the life. Maybe another three, four years. But the idea was I had a secure identity that I could live under, a source of legitimate income and a way to clean my money. It was a place that the Bartolos of the world could never find me. Reginald robbed me of that. Thanks to him, now that lunatic Aleksander Andelić found out and now Bartolo too. I don’t want to abandon that life, or those people, but even if we succeed here, I don’t see how Reginald and Bartolo let me walk away. And one or both of them can come find me.”
“Not until all your enemies are dead,” Enzo deadpanned.
Jack half laughed again.
That was a toast they used to say when they were running together in Turin. There was this eccentric thief they worked with on occasion, and he used to say that’s when he’d retire, when all his enemies were dead. Then he was gunned down by some mafia heavies after he took down the wrong score. The School of Turin used to toast themselves with that after a job: “When all my enemies are dead.” It was the kind of black humor that one needed to insulate themselves against the darker parts of the life they’d chosen.
They drove for a time in silence.
Jack continued to think of ways that they could separate Reginald and Vito from the armored car. He and Enzo lobbed ideas between them, but all of them required either a level of additional support they didn’t have, were too complex for the size of their team, or relied on a face that their enemies didn’t know. Jack hadn’t worked as a thief in the United States since 1995, Rusty and Enzo never had, so they didn’t have a network of people they could tap for assistance. There was no one they could sub in.
There was a reason that armored car jobs had essentially been wiped out from the criminal ecosystem.
“If Reginald and Vito are with the WorldSecure car, we have to call it off. With what we’ve got available to us, we can’t separate them, and I’m not willing to risk innocent people getting hurt.”
Enzo said nothing. He just stared out the window as they merged on the freeway, heading back for downtown.
Jack knew what was going through his head.
Enzo bought an olive farm in Calabria a few years ago and semi-retired. He basically only worked when Jack called. His place was on Italy’s southern edge, the sole of the boot, as it were, overlooking the Ionian Sea. Enzo wasn’t a particularly good farmer, but he hired that out mostly. He grew olives and peppers and sold his stuff locally. He’d been with a woman for several years now; she knew about his past and didn’t care. Enzo wasn’t in the mafia, and that’s all that mattered to her. But now Cannizzaro knew that he was involved, and Enzo couldn’t be certain that win or lose, there wouldn’t be repercussions for him. His share of that take would help him disappear if he needed to. Or buy the kind of security that would make him not worth the while.
Rusty had a similar decision.
He was actively on the run now from the US government. That cost money. There was also the expenses they’d put into this operation so far. They’d chartered jets in Italy, plus the clean cars, the untraceable guns, the hotels, and the forged passports that would stand up to a CBP officer’s inspection. They’d spent a small fortune on this job already.
Maybe that’s why Jack landed in winemaking.
It took a large fortune to make a small one. Seemed like it was the same with thieving.
They returned to the hotel and debriefed.
Their suite had floor-to-ceiling windows that ran the entire length of the room, affording them an unparalleled thirty-eighth-floor view of downtown. Even the smog was breathtaking from up here. Their room faced north, and they could see the long gray ribbons of freeway eventually disappear into the mountains.
“Pan Pacific is a registered business,” Rusty said. “The address checks out, and I called the management company to confirm that they are leasing that space to Pan Pacific.”
“They say how long they’ve been there?” Jack asked.
“He told me a few months. They’ve got a corporate website, but it’s pretty generic. I called the number listed and got an answering service. They didn’t say they were an answering service, but I could tell. It felt like a front. It’s the kind of presence you have when you want someone to think you have a presence. We used to do stuff like this in Bureau all the time, set up fake businesses for stings. Honestly, this felt a lot like that.”
“Yeah. Once we found out that they were going to sell the entire load in one go, I knew it couldn’t be a legitimate business. No one could put this amount of honest money together that fast. Plus, with that shit Vito pulled last night, trying to throw us off.”
Enzo walked over to the window and studied the view. W
hen he spoke, he was still facing the window. “So, Reginald found a crooked diamond broker, and they’ve set up a bogus shop in this office park?”
“Looks that way,” Rusty said.
“And they have just enough polish to make it look like a real business at a fast glance, which is all someone looking to sell eighty million in diamonds is going to do.” The other two nodded. “Reginald would have sold them some story about how he got the stones, maybe they believe him and maybe they don’t, but the buyers probably don’t think they’re stolen.”
“Pan Pacific are probably crooks,” Rusty said.
Jack laughed genuinely for the first time in what felt like forever. The pair that stole from them was about to get taken themselves. “That’s our backup plan, Enzo,” Jack said.
Rusty looked confused. “I don’t get it,” he said.
“On the way back, Enzo and I were trying to think of what our backup plan was. What we would do if Reginald and Vito followed the armored car to the sale. Do we still try to pull the con and risk getting into a standoff with them and the guards? We were trying to figure out what the Plan B was in that situation, and there were no good options. But now…” Jack smiled and spread his hands.
Rusty finished the thought for him. “If we can’t do the intercept before the sale, we’ll just do it on the back end when the Pan Pacific crew is trying to clear out.”
“Exactly. Think about it. This place is what, three miles from LAX?”
“If that. Less if they have access to the cargo terminal.”
“That might actually be safer, honestly,” Jack said. “How quickly can we get a layout of the building?”
“I’ve got it right here,” Rusty said and turned his laptop around to show him. “Pan Pacific is in 208. Most of that building is one of those continuing education schools.”
“Perfect. Okay, you and I will still be together for Plan A. If that falls through, we enter the building here.” Jack grabbed a pen and pointed at a rear entrance. “That’s right near the stairs. Enzo will arrive shortly after the armored car and can watch the front of the building to tell us when Reginald and Vito leave. That’ll be our cue to move in.”
Rusty nodded in agreement. “The other crew won’t leave right away because it’ll look suspicious. We should assume that they’ll be armed, but the weapons won’t be out. Enzo can come in once Reginald and Vito have left. Backup if we need it.”
“Speaking of backup,” Jack said. “We haven’t really talked about Bartolo. He’s here, and he’s not alone. They at least know where Reginald lives, so they’ve got some kind of lead. Do we think they make a play? Any chance they know about this Pan Pacific thing?”
“Doubtful,” Rusty said. “Unless they’ve got really good surveillance or a mole, I don’t see how they’d know.”
“A mole isn’t out of the question,” Enzo said. “Cannizzaro is everywhere, seems like.”
“Listen,” Rusty said in a tone that sounded like a hand wave. “I’ve squared off against the mafia on both sides of the street. I’ve gone up against them as a cop, and I’ve worked with and against them after, and I’m not impressed.”
“They found out where Reginald lived,” Jack said.
“He’s a felon, Jack. A public records search can get you that. These guys aren’t that sophisticated.”
“You don’t know Nico like I do,” Jack said. “But I don’t know that it changes much. If they show up, it’s going to be a firefight. The part I do agree with Rusty on is that they aren’t subtle. If they roll in, I think we have to abort.”
Enzo nodded in agreement.
Jack grabbed a piece of drafting paper and a ruler from their supplies. He sketched out a scale rendering of the building’s second floor, the rear stairwell and rear parking lot.
“What’s our exit strategy?” Rusty asked.
That was a good question and one Jack hadn’t given much thought to since the game had changed. He’d been so focused on how they were going to adapt to the new situation, he hadn’t had the time to consider what they would do when they left. Reginald and Bartolo wouldn’t go away just because Jack had won.
“Cannizzaro,” Jack said.
“What?” Enzo asked, astonished.
“Once we steal these things, that only takes Reginald and Vito off the table. Bartolo knows we’re involved, which means Cannizzaro does too. What if we offer to sell the diamonds to him? At least that way, he’s not also coming after us when this is over.”
“Us, or you?” Enzo asked, challenge rising in his voice.
“I’m going to have to deal with Reginald,” Jack said. “I would much rather also not have to worry about a mafia boss with it. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but they’re here. I’m not saying it isn’t risky. We know that the Italian antimafia police have infiltrated Cannizzaro’s organization and are working with the FBI. Danzig knew about Vito and the diamonds, so we can assume the source is pretty well placed. But I also don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder for Nico Bartolo. I don’t think you do either, Enzo.”
“No, but I didn’t steal his woman.”
“It was the other way around.” Jack’s dour expression broke into a grin. “Asshole.” There was a laugh that sliced the tension, which they all needed. “Guys, it’s really risky, I admit. But it takes bad guys off the board.”
“Why do you think Cannizzaro will sell to us? Why wouldn’t he just kill us and be done with it?” Rusty asked. It was a fair question.
“Vito told me that Cannizzaro made some kind of a deal with a Russian gangster.” Jack opened up his phone and flipped to the notes app. He’d made a note of it as soon as he got in the car. “Gennady Sokolov. I looked him up on the ride here. Officially, he’s a businessman, shipping, looks like. According to Western media, particularly the British, he’s the next boogeyman. Smuggling, arms dealing, human trafficking. If it makes dirty money, he does it.”
“Why’s he so interested in diamonds?” Rusty asked.
Jack shrugged. “Vito didn’t know. He only knew that Cannizzaro seemed genuinely afraid of him.”
“Holy shit,” Enzo said, looking down at his phone. “Jesus, if half of this stuff is true.”
“It’s kind of funny,” Rusty said. “From what you’ve told me, Jack, Cannizzaro has been the apex predator of his ecosystem for the last twenty-five years or so. This guy isn’t even afraid of his government. Now, all of a sudden, he’s swimming in the ocean and there are sharks.”
“Globalization is a bitch,” Jack said. “So, guys, I know this one carries with it some risk. But it’s an option to make our money fast and reduces the number of people coming after us. We probably make less than we would selling on the gray market, but we get it faster.”
“And we’re still talking about a fucking lot of money,” Enzo said.
“Let’s estimate he just gives us half, for the sake of easy math. Minus what Reginald already moved, that’s still twelve million to each of us. I can live with that.”
“Twelve million and a threat off the board,” Rusty agreed. He nodded as he spoke. They both looked to Enzo.
“Hey, I’m just a simple olive farmer that you two brought into your,” Enzo rolled his hand, “so-called web of crime.”
Jack laughed again and the others joined in. This one lasted for a while. One of the things that he’d always loved about Enzo over the years was his friend’s singular, if not slightly offbeat, wit and his ability to weave that into the tensest of situations. The chuckling receded to a manageable level.
“I think there’s ways to manage Cannizzaro,” Enzo said. “We can point out that while he may have bought police off, that door can swing both ways.” Enzo didn’t mention Giovanni Castro by name, because that was still very real for both him and Jack. “Cannizzaro will deny it, of course, believe he’s too smart for it, but the message might get through. How do you propose getting the diamonds to Rome?”
All of this just to get the d
iamonds back to the place where they came from.
“I’d always figured that we’d have to move these back to Europe, so I’ve already placed some phone calls. We’re going to do a version of the cameraman.”
Enzo nodded and smiled. One of the biggest challenges in dealing in stolen gems and jewelry was that a thief had to be able to move them securely to a fence. In Europe, that invariably meant someone had to move them across national borders. One of the tools they used in the past was having hardshell transit cases that had small compartments built into them. These spaces would be along the edges of the case, usually running along the hinges. They would be lead lined, but thinly, so that it would appear on an X-ray to be just part of the case’s hardening. The main part of the case would be packed with something fragile and expensive, like camera equipment, something that most airport or border security guards wouldn’t want to handle for fear of breaking it. One of the things you could count on the world over was the cogs in a bureaucratic machine playing their parts. Those that were on the lowest part of that machine would go to great lengths to avoid getting in trouble with management, because that meant extra work, reprimand, or worse. They wouldn’t overlook something obviously illegal but would absolutely give the lightest of touches to something like a five-thousand-dollar camera, because that wasn’t coming out of their pay.
“I had the cases made up about a year ago. We’ll spread them out over two cases. I brought them with.” Jack walked into his room and returned with a black rolling suitcase. It looked like any piece of carry-on luggage, just that it was made of hardshell plastic. He set the case down on the floor between them and opened it. Inside was a camera and its associated equipment. Jack lifted that tray out and set it on the ground next to him. He pressed in a rounded section above one of the wheels, and it detached. There was no visible seam other than the contour of the case from the injection molding. Jack removed that panel and showed the interior. “This piece and everything around the compartment is lined so that on a scanner, it’ll look like reinforcement for the wheels. The diamonds will be packed in padded felt bags, which I also had made to spec.”
Once a Thief (Gentleman Jack Burdette Book 3) Page 21