Page 83 of Cosmo

“Mr. Daniels, hey.”

“That you, MacManus?”

“Yes, sir, it is.”

“Thought you was sent up the river?”

That voice had haunted his dreams, and the roughness of it came from the cheap whiskey and cheaper cigars. “I was, yeah. I got out recently.”

“You steal that truck, didja?”

Murphy was standing there, waiting to be introduced. “Mr. Daniels, this is my boss, Murphy. The truck is his, but we’re looking to unload what’s inside.”

As he chewed the cigar, he eyed Murphy hard. “Heard o’ you. Big time for a fence like me.” He reached over and shook Murphy’s hand, but never took his bloodshot eyes off him.

“I’m afraid there is some competition for us now. The man I usually take this stuff to is…unavailable.”

“Unavailable. Ain’t that a shame? Those coppers givin’ you trouble, eh?”

“You’ve heard of them?”

“Ain’t a crook in town don’t know about the cops givin’ us a run for our money. Well, let’s see what ya got.”

Liam led Daniels to the back of the truck and the second he opened the doors, Daniel’s eyes widened. “What the living Jesus is that?”

“A Bentley.”

“I know that MacManus. I ain’t blind. What you expect me to do with it? You know that’s got GPS!”

“It’s disabled, and right now, we have an extra scrambler inside, just in case.”

“We can’t lie,” Murphy explained. “We’re pretty desperate to get right of it, so give us a number and a two-million-dollar car is all yours.”

After Daniels climbed into the truck, he walked up and down it slowly, eyeing it, stroking a hand along the top. “Hardly gives off exhaust, even running in a box truck. Ain’t that something?”

Liam was nervous. They needed the car gone, but if it was less than a hundred grand, they would barely break even with the surveillance, prints, disguises for the van and all.

“I got a guy, might take it whole. I’d make a nice chunk from it, but that doesn’t mean I want to give it all to you. I’ll give you one fifty.”

Liam let out a sigh that was relief and disappointment at once. They were all supposed to get a much bigger payday.

Once they drove the car out of the truck, Daniels said, “What you want for the truck?”

“People might be looking for it,” Murphy warned.

“Not when I get done with it. How much?”

“Paid forty for it. I’d take that, break even on it.”

Daniels walked back and forth around it before he offered, “Thirty-five.”

Murphy thought for a moment, then shook the man’s hand. “It’s a deal.”

Back at the pub, the entire crew was in the basement, and Liam finally got to meet Ryan, who’d insisted on being there. Murphy started on his blond-haired, blue-eyed, much younger twin. “You are out. In fact, we’re all out until we reconfigure and see what we have to do with this new threat.”

Taran was there, and Hippy stared at him, demanding, “What are you doing about them? They’re not only doing the fucked-up jobs, but they’re taking our jobs too.”

“We…we have a mole inside the organization. We weren’t sure it was working until this morning, but now…we have someone in the Denver PD, and he recently was brought into the BBC. He’s going to help us take them down, but only if we can keep him safe. And that might be where you all need to come in.”

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