Page 101 of The Pretender
“How will you get new IDs and stuff?” Brogan asks.
“I already have one. I’ll have to get a new social security number.”
“Need help?” Tony asks.
“No, I know how to do it. You pick up a few tricks working for criminals.”
“Yeah, you do.” Lou chuckles. “Don’t worry, son. We’ve got it all handled. It ain’t our first rodeo.”
Tony nods. “Nah, you’ll be the fifteenth person we got out.”
“Fifteen?” Deo asks. “So this is normal?”
“There’s only two ways out,” Lou says. “You die or you’re killed. Both end in a body bag.”
Brogan visibly shivers. “This is meta.”
“What does that mean?” Tony asks.
“Not important,” Nonna says, waving her hands. “Do you need anything else?”
“Nope,” Lou says, handing me my work phone. “We got the body lined up. It’ll all go down tonight. Right now, before we take the phone, you just gotta send the message to Vin that you’re on your way back.”
I nod, exhaling slowly. “Okay.” I turn the phone on and stare at the screen while it powers up. Unsurprisingly, there are many missed calls and texts, but I ignore them, focusing on my mission.
Vin. You win. I’m on my way back to the city and should be there by tomorrow night. I’ve got everything you need to get your money. I want to state again that I did not steal your investments. They are safely in an account in your name. All you have to do to access it is provide the passcode I’ll give you when I see you. Please leave my sister out of this. She has nothing to do with any of it. Mike.
I press send and wait. He’s always glued to his phone, so I expect he’ll reply quickly. I see the notification that he’s read it and then the little dots at the bottom of the screen.
Vin: Money Man. Pleasure to hear from you. Glad to hear you’re coming to your senses. Call when you get in and I’ll send Gio to pick you up.
A shiver runs down my spine. I know exactly what that means. Gio shakes me down for the
info and I never get out of that car.
Vin: Don’t fuck this up, Money Man. My patience is wearing thin.
Me: I’ll be there.
Once I see the read notification again, I turn the phone off and hand it over to Lou and Tony.
“He’s definitely planning to kill me.”
“No,” Deo says, squeezing my arm.
“Yeah,” Lou says. “That’s the way it goes. We’ll handle it. I’ll let Coretta know when it’s all done. Two days from now, that old life is history.”
“I can’t thank you enough. I didn’t see a way out.”
“To outsmart a criminal, you gotta think like one.” Lou taps his temple. “Come on, Tony. We got work to do.”
The two men hug Nonna and leave. We watch them drive off just as the golf cart starts heading our way from the main house. Nantes is in it, glancing over his shoulder at the passing car.
“Who was that?” he asks as he comes to a stop in front of us.
“None of your concern,” Nonna says, sternly but with a smile. “What are you doing here in the middle of the day?”
“Came to see my brother and family. Is that a crime?”
