The Millionaires

9

Staring at his computer screen and running his tongue across a cold sore inside his lip, he had to admit, he didn’t think Oliver would go through with it. Charlie, maybe. But not Oliver. Sure, he sometimes showed moments of greatness… the Tanner Drew incident being the most recent… but deep down, Oliver Caruso was still as scared as the day he started at Greene & Greene.

Still, the proof was always in the pudding – and right now, the pudding looked like it was about to be sent to London, England. Using the same technology he knew Shep had, he called up Martin Duckworth’s account and scanned the column marked Current Activity. The last entry – Balance of Account to C.M.W. Walsh Bank – was still marked Pending. It wasn’t going to be long now.

He pulled a pen from his jacket pocket and jotted down the bank’s name, followed by the account number. Sure, he could call the London bank… try to catch the money… but by the time he got through, it’d almost certainly be gone. Besides, why interfere now?

His phone started ringing and he picked up immediately. “Hello?” he answered, standardly confident.

“Well…?” a gruff voice asked.

“Well, what?”

“Don’t jerk me around,” the man warned. “Did they take it?”

“Any second now…” he said, his eyes still focused on the screen. At the very bottom of the account, there was a quick blink – and Pending… became Paid.

“There it goes,” he added with a grin. Shep… Charlie… Oliver… if they only knew what was coming.

“So that’s it?” the man asked.

“That’s it,” he replied. “The snowball’s officially rolling.”