Super Con

Six

Going onto the lanai, Broken Tooth chopped the air like he was breaking a board. The little ones rose from their chairs and followed their boss through the slider into the house. Billy had noticed that Broken Tooth avoided using verbal commands with his men, preferring to signal what he wanted done with his hands or facial expressions. That was smart, since no one would ever be able to say that they heard Broken Tooth order his men to commit an illegal act.

Billy’s crew visibly relaxed and turned their attention to him.

“What does the crazy bastard want?” Gabe asked.

“Guess,” Billy said, heading for the slider.

“Don’t tell me he wants to work with us.”

“That’s right. Our reputations precede us.”

“Jesus Christ, what did you tell him?”

“I said yes. I didn’t have much of a choice.”

He followed Broken Tooth through the house and out the front door to the driveway with his crew a few steps behind him. Broken Tooth retrieved from his rental an eight-by-ten manila envelope, which he slapped into Billy’s chest.

“What’s this?” Billy asked.

“Information on the Rebel players who will fix the game,” Broken Tooth said.

“How can you be so sure these guys will do this?”

“Because they did it before, and you’re going to convince them to do it again.”

“That’s a tall order, don’t you think?”

“I’ll give you an incentive.”

Broken Tooth twirled his finger and pointed. The little ones grabbed Leon and dragged him across the front lawn. The rental’s trunk was popped open and Leon thrown inside.

“What the hell are you doing?” Billy said.

“Insurance policy,” Broken Tooth said. “I’ll keep your driver until this is over. That way, you won’t try to double-cross me.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“I don’t trust anyone.”

“Wait a minute. I want to talk to him.” Billy crossed the lawn and stuck his head into the trunk, making eye contact with Leon. “I’m really sorry about this.”

Leon’s head rested on the spare tire. He gave Billy a knowing wink. Leon was trying to play it cool, but the fear in his eyes was unmistakable.

“Keep the faith, man. I’m going to get you out of this,” Billy said.

“I’m going to hold you to that,” his driver said.

The trunk was slammed shut. Leon was single and didn’t have any immediate family. If he went missing for a few days, no one was going to file a missing person’s report with the police. The only person who really cared about Leon was Billy, and he cared about Leon a lot.

“Take care of my driver, okay?”

“We’ll treat him like a baby,” Broken Tooth said. “Won’t we?”

The little ones shared a mean laugh. They came across as the type of bastards who’d take pleasure in making Leon’s life miserable while he was in captivity. They climbed into the rental with Broken Tooth at the wheel. The engine roared to life, and the driver’s window came down. “I’ll call you every day for a status report. Don’t disappoint me, Cunningham.”

“Do you really think we can fix the Super Bowl?” Billy asked.

“You make it sound like a big deal.”

“It is a big deal.”

“Super Bowl will be easy for a smart guy like you. Remember, I don’t like being disappointed. Call you tomorrow.”

“Got it.”

Broken Tooth drove around the cul-de-sac several times. Each time he passed Pepper and Misty’s house, he stuck his head out the window and glared menacingly at Billy and his crew like they were his worst enemies. The little bastard had written the book on intimidation. The game got tired, and the rental finally drove away. Billy started to go inside when he had a thought that left a taste in his mouth as foul as one of Broken Tooth’s cigarettes.

“Who gave you my phone number?” he said angrily.

“Let’s take this inside,” Billy said.

His crew followed him into the foyer. He shut the door and turned around to face them. His crew didn’t scare easily, but this was one of those special times. “Okay, class, today’s assignment is to figure out how we’re going to fix the coin toss at the Super Bowl so I can get some players on the Rebels’ defense to fix a handful of plays. Any ideas?”

“I don’t know about this, Billy,” Cory said. “Plenty of gamblers have tried to fix the Super Bowl, and they all got caught red-handed and went to jail. There’s too much security surrounding the game for it to be compromised.”

“Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything,” he said.

“What’s in the envelope?” Gabe asked.

“Information on the Rebel players who Broken Tooth says are dirty.”

Gabe’s passion was betting on sports, and he let out a whistle. “There are dirty players on the Rebels team? Jesus, Billy, if you can get to them, then this just might work.”

“You think so?”

“Sure. A fix is nothing more than a conversation. If there are players who have done this before, then you’re halfway home.”

“Then let’s start working on this right now. Broken Tooth seems to think that if we can rig the coin toss, the rest will be a walk in the park. Gabe, is that possible?”

“I don’t see why not,” Gabe said. “I’ve rigged slot machines to pay off jackpots. Gaffing a coin to fall a certain way shouldn’t be any harder. What about the referee who tosses the coin at the start of the game? He’ll have to be involved.”

“That will be Cory and Morris’s job,” he said. “Find out who the ref is and see if he can be bribed into helping us. You need to get on this right now. I’m supposed to give Broken Tooth an update tomorrow. If he doesn’t think we can pull this off, Leon’s a dead man.”

Gabe nodded. Cory and Morris did as well. Leon’s life was on the line, and they needed to come up with a plan that would sound good enough to keep things moving forward.

“Now I need to ask all of you a question,” he said. “How did this fucking guy find us? He knew we were on Fremont Street and where the limo was parked. And he has my cell number. He didn’t find that information on the Internet. Someone gave it to him.”

He studied his crew’s faces before speaking again. “Who did it?”

“I didn’t tell anybody where we were tonight,” Pepper said.

“Me neither,” Misty said.

“Same here,” Gabe said.

“Neither did I,” Morris said.

All eyes fell on Cory. Cory was dating Gabe’s oldest daughter, and they were hot and heavy in love. It was a sore point, and Billy wanted the relationship to end.

“How about you, Don Juan? Did you tell Alexis where you were going tonight?”

“I told her Morris and I were going to see a movie,” Cory said.

“That’s all? No mention of Fremont Street?”

“No sir.”

The foyer grew silent. Billy could remember every casino scam he’d ever pulled right down to the threads he’d been wearing, and he played back the night’s events that had led up to their confrontation with Broken Tooth in the covered parking garage. The Chinese gangster had known exactly where to find them, which meant they’d been set up.

He kicked the front door with all his might. It sent a searing pain through his big toe, and white-hot flashbulbs exploded in front of his eyes. He hobbled on one foot, not knowing which hurt more, his toe or the betrayal. A stream of profanity escaped his lips.

His crew had figured it out as well. No one spoke for fear of further angering him. He didn’t get like this very often, but when he did, his crew knew to stay out of his way.

“Do you still have your gun?” he asked Pepper when the pain had subsided.

“What do you want a gun for, Billy?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Yeah, it’s in my night table.”

“Go get it. And make sure it’s loaded.”

Pepper went and got her gun. It was a Springfield XD 9mm, just small enough for Billy to slip into his pants pocket. He looked at the others before going out the front door. They understood the gravity of what had happened and knew that he had no other choice.

Except Pepper. She wasn’t catching on, or if she was, she wasn’t able to process it, and she followed him outside. The darkness made the conversation easy.

“Where are you going?” Pepper said.

“To have a talk with Travis.”

“Why do you need my gun?”

“Because Travis fucked us tonight. That’s why he left the Golden Gate early.”

Pepper brought her hand to her mouth. “Why would he do that? We’re his friends.”

“He made a crack to me earlier about needing money. He must be broke.”

“That’s crazy. We would have lent it to him.”

“What’s done is done. I’ll catch up with you later.”

The limo was parked in the driveway. Billy got in and started the engine. The headlights found Pepper on the lawn looking like she might be sick. She’d had a fling with Travis a while back and was still soft on him. He lowered the driver’s window and stuck out his head.

“Go inside and fix yourself a drink,” he said.