I had a “go bag” all packed with a fake passport and ID, a hundred grand in cash, three burner phones, and a few changes of clothes.
My cut from the sale of the diamonds would be deposited in an offshore bank account I had set up weeks before. The rest of the crew wanted their cut in cash, which I knew would eventually get them caught. Even Eddie, who was a sloppy crook and a big spender. He’d spread money around like butter and people would notice. That would be his problem then. By that time, I’d be long gone.
All I had to decide was where I wanted to go.
And whether I wanted to take Sandy with me.
* * *
I came out of the back room and slid onto a bar stool. Sandy was tending bar for the third night in a row and seemed to be enjoying it. The regulars loved her. They especially liked looking at her big tits and the cleavage that spilled out over the top of her bra. I loved it, too. I buried my nose and mouth and cock into it every chance I got.
The only person that didn’t like Sandy was Eddie, who said there was something about her that set off red flags in his head, whatever the fuck that meant. He asked about her background, where she had come from all of a sudden, and what made me think she wasn’t a cop.
“I can smell a cop from a mile away,” I told him. “Trust me, I’ve been over every inch of her body and her apartment. If she was a cop, I’d know it.
“You can’t smell with your dick,” he said, giving me a hard look to let me know he was serious. He gritted his teeth at me. “You let this girl get under your skin fast as fuck, brother. I’m not convinced she is who she says she is. There’s something familiar about her. And when I figure it out…”
“You will do nothing, little brother,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a hard squeeze to remind him of the pecking order. “I’ve got this. You just focus on the job and try not to fuck anything up in the meantime.”
“You’d better be right,” he said, unamused. He jerked his shoulder from beneath my hand and looked me in the eye. “If she becomes a problem, you’d better take care of it or I will.”
* * *
“We need to talk,” I said, sliding onto a bar stool with my go-bag in my hand. I set the bag on the stool next to me and folded my arms on the bar.
Sandy gave me and the bag an apprehensive look. “Okay, that doesn’t sound good. Do you want a drink?”
“No, and it’s nothing bad,” I said, giving her the smile that she said curled her toes. “I’ve been meaning to ask. What would you say to getting away for a while?”
“You mean away from this place or the city?”
“I mean get away as in you and I getting on a plane and never looking back. We go somewhere sunny and warm, Belize maybe, or Tahiti, and we start again.”
She blinked at me for a moment. “I… I don’t know. I mean, what’s brought this one?” She nodded at the bag. “And what’s in the bag?”
I dragged the bag onto the bar and unzipped it so she could see inside. “Money, a new passport and ID, clothes.” I zipped it up. “It’s my go-bag.”
“Go-bag?”
“The bag I grab when I have to go. Quickly.”
A look of fear washed over her eyes. She put a hand to her lips and lowered her voice. “Why would you have to go?” she asked.
I glanced around the bar. It was late and the place was empty except for a couple of bikers and one old biker whore shooting pool. Eddie and the crew were out somewhere doing God knows what. I just hoped they didn’t get caught. The Crown job was in two days. I needed them sharp if we were going to pull this off.
“I want to start a new life,” I said, leaning over my elbows on the bar and lowering my voice so only she could hear me. “And I want you to come with me.”
“Okay. When would we go?”
I took a deep breath. I trusted her as much as I had ever trusted anyone in my life. I prayed Eddie wasn’t right, that my cock was not doing the thinking for my brain.
I said, “I am about to make a big score, one that will set me for life. It happens Friday. I’ll wrap up the details Saturday and be ready to go on Sunday. I want you to come with me.”
“You’re scaring me,” she said. “What kind of score?”
“I can’t tell you that. You just have to trust me.”
She looked deeply into my eyes. “Will anyone get hurt?”