Page 51 of Cosmo

He parked on the third level, in the middle of two suburbans to flank him nicely. Taran chuckled nervously. “You don’t have gloves or anything.”

“Why do I need gloves?”

“Fingerprints?”

It was so cute that Liam leaned over and kissed Taran tenderly. “You’re adorable. If I pull this off, the car will be in my hands.”

“Oh. Right.”

Then he started looking around for cameras. Again, Liam calmed him. “Most are broken in here. That’s why this place is, one, cheap to rent, and two, too cheap to hire security. Cons talk.”

“And you were just in prison…got it. Wow.”

“Yeah. You don’t have to do this. I am pissed off at and mistrusting of you, but I don’t want to ruin your life.”

Taran’s eyes suddenly filled with tears as he admitted, “I’m more scared than I’ve ever been in my life, but…but it’s weird…”

“You’re also excited.”

“Yeah! Exactly!”

Liam opened the door of the car, but before he got out, he said, “If you come with me today, follow behind. If you stay here, be ready to follow me in the car. I’m taking this first one to a drop point and coming back for a second one. If it gets too much, don’t follow me. I can use a rideshare.”

“A rideshare to and from a fucking auto theft?”

“Yeah! It’s actually smart. Keeps guys like you guessing.”

Liam got out of the car and went right to the Cadillac Escalade parked in the darkest corner of the garage level. The camerahung pitifully from the last intact wire and the passenger side window on the Escalade was cracked open just a bit.

Taran was so close behind him that when he spoke, Liam jumped like he’d stepped on a snake. “Escalades have massive GPS.”

“Yeah,” he said as he caught his breath. “I know. Not so close and keep an eye out.”

Liam went around to the driver’s side back door, and it opened easily. He smiled as he saw the bag in the back, right where Gary Turner, AKA Big Mouth, said it would be. “It’s a place for thieves, basically. We get the stuff here and leave,” he started as he pulled out his wallet and took a hundred-dollar bill from it. “Money.”

After taking the bag and leaving the money, he closed the door and led Taran back to the car. Inside the car, he said, “It was set up to give us the tools we need in a pinch. I don’t have a tool bag of my own yet.”

“There’s a…network?”

“Yeah. Gonna bust them?”

“I already said no, Cosmo.”

“I already said you have a lot to prove, Taran.” As Taran’s eyes clouded, Liam said, “And that broken camera isn’t really broken.”

Taran’s head shot up and he stared at the camera. “It’s not facing anything and there’s only one wire connecting it.”

“Yeah, right? Good setup. The camera is actually pointed right where it needs to be.”

He took a long breath and nodded his head in a jerk. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

“You talk like you’re ninety.”

They left the parking space and the garage all together, causing more questions from Taran. “That place is like perfect!”

“It’s also run by the Algerian Mafia. They protect all the cars in there or they’re up for grabs from them. This tool kit is how they make some pocket change on the side, and why there is a camera there, so they know who to go after if someone takes the shit and doesn’t leave payment.”

“What if someone just steals the car?”

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