Cops and Robbers

Vigano

Vigano sat in an office on Madison Avenue with an absolutely clean phone; guaranteed. He had an open line to a pay phone on the corner of 86th Street and Central Park West, across the street from the park. He had a man in the booth, pumping change in, keeping the line open. A second man, outside the booth with a small walkie-talkie no bigger than a pack of cigarettes, was the relay between Vigano and the one hundred and eleven men he had scattered in and around the park. From the phone to the walkie-talkie, he could get an order to any man in the park in less than half a minute.

Aside from the transverse roads, the ones that simply cross the park and don’t connect with the interior road, there are twenty-six entrances to and exits from the Drive. Every one of them was covered, with either one or two cars, and a minimum of three men; including the one-way entrances that no vehicle was supposed to use in leaving the park, such as the one at Sixth Avenue and 59th Street and the one at Seventh Avenue and West 110th. His people with the two million dollars in the picnic basket were completely surrounded by Vigano’s men, and six others roamed the general vicinity on bicycles. If the two amateurs with the bearer bonds tried to get away by bicycle they’d be stopped at a park exit. If they tried to cut across the park on foot they wouldn’t get twenty yards.

Vigano had the interior people all in position before the basket was delivered, but he held off blocking the park exits until after contact was made with the amateurs; no point scaring them off. He had a conference call hook-up on the phone, so that it broadcast into the room and he could reply without holding the speaker to his mouth, and he sat back in the desk chair, his hands up behind his head, and smiled at the thought that he was the spider, and his web was out, and the flies were on their way.

“One man,” the speaker-phone said.

Vigano frowned and sat forward in the chair, bringing his hands down to rest on the empty desk. Over on the sofa, Andy and Mike looked alert. Vigano said, “What’s that?”

“One man, civilian clothing, has approached our people.”

Just one? Move the cars into position now, or wait for the other one? “What’s happening?”

Silence for nearly a minute. Vigano frowned at the phone, feeling tense even though he knew everything had to be all right. But he didn’t want anything unexpected now; if he lost that two million, it would be his head.

He wouldn’t lose it.

“Mr. Vigano?”

Vigano gave the phone an angry look. Who else would it be? He said, “What’s going on?”

“It’s one of them all right. He’s taken some of the money out of the — Hold on a second.”

“Took some money? What the hell are you talking about?”

Nothing. Andy and Mike were both looking as though they wanted to find something cheerful to say, but they’d damn well better keep their mouths shut.

“Mr. Vigano?”

“Just talk, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yes, sir. The other one showed up, in a police car.”

“A what? In the park?”

“Yes, sir. In uniform, in a police car.”

“Son of a bitch,” Vigano said. Now that he knew what was going on, he felt better. Giving Andy and Mike a tight grin, he said, “I told you they were cute.” He turned back to the phone: “Move the cars in. Don’t change anything, do it all like we figured.”

“Yes, sir.”

Andy got to his feet in a sudden motion, betraying the nervousness he’d been covering up. He said, “They must really be cops.”

“Probably.” Vigano felt grim, but confident.

“How do we stop cops?” Andy spread his hands, looking bewildered. “What if they just drive out of the park, order our people to move over?”

Mike said, “We can follow them, take care of them some place quieter.”

“No,” Vigano said. “There’s too many ways to lose them outside. We finish it in the park.”

Mike said, “Against cops?”

“They’re just men,” Vigano said. “They wipe themselves like anybody else. And they can’t call their brother cops to come help them, not with two million bucks in the car.”

“So what do we do?” Mike said, and at the same instant the phone said, “Everybody’s set, Mr. Vigano.”

“Listen,” Vigano told Mike. He said to the phone, “Spread the word. They stay in the park. If they try to get out, we can force them to stop at our cars. When they do, kill them, take our goods, clear out.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hold on, there’s more. If they don’t try to leave the park, we just keep them bottled up until the park is opened to cars. Then we drive in, surround them, finish it the same way.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The main point is, they don’t leave the park.”

“Yes, sir.”

Vigano leaned back again, smiled at Andy and Mike, and said, “See? They’re cute, but we’ve got everything covered.”

Andy and Mike both grinned, and Andy said, “They’ve got a surprise coming.”

“That’s just what they have,” Vigano said.

Nobody said anything after that for a minute or two, until the phone suddenly said, in an excited voice, “Mr. Vigano!”

“What?”

“They’re crossing us! They took off with our goods and didn’t leave anything! And they’ve got Bristol with them in the car.”

“He’s gone over to them?” That didn’t sound right; the people to carry the money had been very carefully selected.

“No, sir. They must have pulled a gun on him.”

“They’re headed south?”

“Yes, sir.”

Vigano squinted, visualizing the park. If they’d come in to try a double cross, they had to have some method for getting away again. Where would it be? Vigano said, “Cover the transverse roads. They might decide to cut across the grass and out that way.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Pass that one on.”

While the man was gone from the phone, Vigano kept thinking. How fast would a car move, surrounded by bicycles? It was no good settling for holding them in the park now; they had to be stopped, as quick as possible.

“Mr. Vigano?”

“All spare men,” Vigano said, “get over to the section of the Drive on the east side, just south of the bridge over the first transverse road. Block the road there. Don’t let them through, finish them off.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Move!”

Andy and Mike were both leaning on the desk, giving him worried looks. Andy said, “What’s going on?”

“They’re starting from 85th Street,” Vigano said, “going south. The Drive takes them down to 59th, and then across the bottom of the park. They can’t move fast, not with all those bikes. Our people get over to the east side of the park first, block the road there. If they try to get out before then, they’re stopped. If they last that long, they’re stopped.”

“Good,” Andy said. “That’s good.”

“They’ve been cute for the last time,” Vigano said.