“Not great.”
“Is your old man even alive?”
“I wouldn’t be the one to know that, would I?” Annabelle answered.
CHAPTER 17
IT TOOK A FULL WEEK TO MAKE the preparations. As part of that work Annabelle gave a list of the documents and IDs she needed to Freddy. When he came to the end of the sheet, he did a double take.
“Four U.S. passports?”
Tony looked up from his computer. “Passports? What for?”
Leo stared at him contemptuously. “What? You think you cross nutcase Jerry Bagger and stay in the country? Give me a break. Yours truly is going to Mongolia and becoming a monk for a few years. I’d rather wear a robe and ride a yak around than let Bagger cut little pieces of my body off while he’s screaming about wanting his dough back.” He returned to working on his disguise.
Annabelle said, “We need the passports to get out of the country for a while until things cool down.”
“Out of the country?” Tony exclaimed, half rising out of his chair.
“Jerry’s not infallible, but there’s no sense in being stupid. You can see the world, Tony. Learn Italian,” she advised.
“What about my parents?” Tony said.
“Send ’em postcards,” Leo growled over his shoulder as he struggled to fit a toupee to his head. “Talk about your freaking amateur hour.”
“U.S. passports are difficult to make, Annabelle,” Freddy said. “They go for ten grand each on the street.”
Annabelle gave him a hard stare. “Well, you’re being paid six point five
The man swallowed nervously. “I see your point. You’ll have them.” Freddy went off with the list.
“I’ve never even been out of the country,” Tony said.
“Best time to go is when you’re young,” Annabelle said, sitting down across from him at the table.
“Have you ever been out of the country?” he asked her.
Leo piped in. “Are you kidding? You think the States are the only place to run a con? Ha!”
“I’ve been around,” Annabelle admitted.
Tony looked at her nervously. “Well, maybe we could travel together. You could show me around. You and Leo,” he added quickly. “And I bet Freddy would want to come too.”
Annabelle was already shaking her head. “We split up. Four apart is much harder to catch than four together.”
“Right, okay, sure,” Tony said.
“You’ll have plenty of money to live on,” she added.
Tony brightened. “A villa somewhere in Europe, with my own staff.”
“
“No problem,” he said immediately. She eyed him questioningly. “Look, I dropped out of MIT after two years because I was bored!”
“I know. That was the
Tony looked down at his laptop and started typing. “I’ve actually done it before and fooled the place with the best security in the world.”
“Who’s that, the Pentagon?” Leo asked.
“No. Wal-Mart.”
Leo shot him a glance. “You’re kidding me? Wal-Mart?”
“Hey, Wal-Mart doesn’t mess around.”
“How quickly can you do it?” Annabelle asked.
“Give me a couple days.”
“No more than two. I want to test it.”
“I’ve got no problem with that,” he said confidently.
Leo rolled his eyes, said a silent prayer, made the sign of the cross and went back to his toupee.
While Freddy and Tony were working on their assignments, Leo and Annabelle donned disguises and headed to the Pompeii Casino. The largest casino on the Boardwalk and one of the newest, having risen from the ruins of an older gambling den, the Pompeii, true to its name, also sported a working volcano that “erupted” twice a day, at noon and six in the evening. What came out of the volcano wasn’t lava, but certificates that one could use to get drinks and food. Since casinos practically gave food and alcohol away to keep people gambling, it was not much of a sacrifice on Bagger’s part. However, people loved thinking they were getting something for nothing. Thus, the twice-daily eruptions were a surefire draw, the crowds lining up early and then proceeding to dump far more money in the casino than they would ever get back in food and liquor from the belches of the fake volcano.
