Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Me, too,” Matteo agreed, his tone calm. “It’s a big desert around Vegas, Leonardo. Rumor has it there are about five thousand men buried in that desert. Do you want to join them? Because I don’t.”
“Chickens,” I said with a scowl. I’d never been able to convince them that they were turning away a fortune. “And who said we’d be stealing from corporations? Even if we did…”
“If we won’t steal from corporations, who the hell will we steal from?” Matteo asked. “The corner bakery? A nudie bar? Corporations have all the money. And the minute we touch them, every single fucking cop in Vegas will come after us, including the feds. I say we start casing banks.”
The expression on Cesare’s face shut that down. “It’s not like the old days. Their security systems are bulletproof; we need a hacker to disable them. The armored truck is still our best bet.”
“Cesare…” Matteo began.
“Hear me out,” he said. “We were close, man. We would’ve succeeded if the driver hadn’t thought he was a knight instead of a pawn. We almost pulled it off.”
“Almost doesn’t pay the bills,” Matteo muttered.
“Second time’s a charm,” Cesare continued. “This time, we take out the driver right away.”
“It would have to be at a point where the truck won’t run off the road or down a hillside once the driver’s out of commission,” Matteo mused. “Plus I doubt they’ll be just one man in the cab next time. Not now that we’ve made a move.”
“And they’ll have more backup,” I said.
“But we know that, and we can prepare for it this time,” Cesare insisted. “I doubt that’ll expect us to try again right away. Not after you got shot.”
“Right away?” I questioned.
“We lose this chance and we have to start from scratch. All those months of planning go right down the drain,” Cesare said.
“They’ll change the route,” Matteo warned. “They’d be idiots not to.”
“So? You’re the brain. You think of all the possibilities and we’ll plan for them, one by one. We’re never going to get this chance again, so we’ll work our asses off.”
“I’m in,” I said.
Cesare barely spared me a glance. “Your job is to get better. Matteo and I will do the heavy lifting.”
Getting sidelined sucked, but maybe there were things I could do that would still help out.
Matteo wasn’t convinced. “It’s risky.”
“Remember when we came here when we were kids?” He looked his cousin in the eye and then turned to me. I nodded. We’d first started coming here together when I was thirteen or so. At the time, I thought this place had the best pizza in the world. “Remember those guys who came in here? Paulie and Sergio and the other made men?”
Matteo scoffed. “We thought they had everything figured out.”
“They did, compared to us. They had power. They had crews. They were respected members of the organization. That’s what I want. We’re not trying to knock over an armored truck for shits and giggles. We need this.”
Matteo nodded. “Or we’ll end up in jail. Or in the Hudson wearing cement shoes.”
“Or full of buckshot,” I added. Then I repeated my position. “I’m in.”
This time, Cesare didn’t dismiss me. Instead, he gave me a long look and then we both turned to Matteo. After a long pause, our buddy nodded.
Game on.
4
PIPER
The day after Leo was discharged was my day off. Usually, that meant sleeping in. After three twelve-hour workdays in a row, I usually needed it—especially since twelve hours shifts often turned into at least fifteen. But for some reason, I was up bright and early around midday. Energy coursed through me even before my coffee.
But as I caught up on some household tasks around my apartment, I realized it wasn't normal energy. It was more like restless energy, and at first, I couldn’t figure out why.
At work, I prided myself for my stamina. But on my days off, I was a lot more low-key. Except today.
Was it because of Leo? I was definitely going to miss him. There was no doubt that he and his friends were involved in some bad things, but he himself was a real charmer. Even when he was in pain, he had a smile ready for me, usually accompanied by a flirty comment. Though he was a few years older than me, he had a kind of boyish look to him. Mischievous like. It wasn’t until the third time I’d grabbed a quick snack in the relative quiet of his hospital room, that I realized who he reminded me of: Colby.
Not so much in looks, but in demeanor. Leo was quick-witted and often made me laugh. Colby had been the same way.
So yes, I’d miss him, but that was the nature of my work. The patients—both the nice ones and the crabby ones—left. It was often like having a series of very short-term friendships, at least with the nice ones. But that was what was supposed to happen. I wanted patients to get better and be released from the hospital. It was far better than the alternative.