After the man had fled, she checked the tosser's ID, smirking as she handed it back to him and then made him stand against the wall for a pat-down. She picked up a card from the table and turned it around so he could see the black queen. " looks like I win."
The tosser started unfazed at the card. "Since when do the feds care about a harmless game of chance?"
She put the card back on the table. "Good thing your marks didn't know how 'chancy' this game of chance really was. Maybe I should go and enlighten some of the bigger guys who might like to come back and beat the crap out of you."
He looked down at the black queen. "Like you said, you won. Why don't you name your payoff?" He took a roll of cash from his fanny pack.
In response she took out her cards, slipped the badge off her belt and dropped both on the table. He glanced down at them.
"Go ahead," she said casually. "I have no secrets."
He picked them up. The "cards" didn't authenticate her as a law enforcement officer. Behind the plastic shield was a membership card for the Costco Warehouse Club. The badge was tin and engraved with a brand of German beer.
His eyes widened as she slipped off her sunglasses and recognition instantly came. "Pamela?"
Pamela Conroy said, "Leo, what the hell are you doing cooking Monte with a bunch of losers in this crappy excuse for a town?"
Leo Adams shrugged but his grin was wide. "Times are tough. And the guys are okay, a little green, but learning. And Monte's never let any of us down, has it?" He waved the word of bills before stuffing them back in his fanny pack. "Little dicey pretending to be a cop," he scolded mildly.
"I never said I was a cop, people just assumed. That's why we have a career, Leo, because, if you have enough balls, people assume. But while we're talking about it, trying to bribe a cop?"
"In my humble experience in works more often than not," Leo said, fishing a cigarette out of a pack in his shirt pocket and offering her one. She declined.
"How much you making on this gig?" she asked matter of factly.
Leo glanced at her suspiciously as he lit his Winston, took a drag and blew smoke out his nostrils, neatly matching at least in miniature the fetid clouds coming out of the smokestacks overhead. "The pie's split up enough as it is. I've got employees to take care of."
"Employees! Don't tell me you're issuing W-2s now?" Before he could answer, she added, "Monte's not on my rader, Leo. So how much? I'm asking for a reason, a good one." She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the wall waiting.
He shrugged. "We usually work five locations on a rotation, about six hours a day. Clear three or four thou on a good one. Lotta union boys 'round here. Those guys are always itching to lose their cash. But we'll be moving on soon. Another round of factory layoffs coming, and we don't want people remembering our faces too well. It's not like I have to tell you the drill. I get the sixty split of the net, but expenses are high these days. Saved up about thirty Gs. I'm looking to double that before winter. It'll hold me for a while."
"But just a while, knowing you." Pamela Conroy picked up her beer badge and Costco card. "Interested in some real money?"
"The last time you asked me that I got shot at."
"We got shot at because you got greedy."
Neither one was smiling now.
"What's the deal?" Leo asked.
"I'll tell you after we run a couple shorts. I need some seed for the long."
"A long con! Who does that anymore?"
She cocked her head and started down at him. In her high-heeled boot she was five-eleven. "I do. I never stopped, in fact."
He noted her long red hair. "Weren't you a brunet the last time I saw you?"
"I'm anything I need to be."
A grin eased across his face. "Same old Pamela."
Her gaze hardened slightly. "No, not the same old. Better. You in?"
"What's the risk level?"
"High, but so's the reward."
A car alarm erupted with eardrum shattering decibels. Neither of them even flinched. Cons at their level that lost their cool under any circumstances became either guests of the penal system or dead.
Leo finally blinked. "Okay, I'm in. What now?"
"Now we line up a couple other people."
"We rolling all star on this?" His eyes glittered at the prospect.
"Long con deserves nothing but the best." She picked up the black queen. "I'll take my payment in dinner tonight for pulling the lady out of your 'magic' deck."
"Afraid there aren't many restaurants worth eating at around here."
"Not here. We're flying to L. A. in three hours."
"L. A. in three hours! I'm not even packed. And I don't have a ticket."
"It's in your left jacket pocket. I snaked it there when I was feeling you up." She eyed his flabby mid section and raised an eyebrow. "You've put on weight, Leo."
She turned and strode off as Leo checked his pocket and found the plane ticket. He grabbed his cards and raced after her, leaving the card table where it was.
Monte was on vacation for a while. The long con was calling.
TO BE CONTINUED.........
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