Jacobs glanced at Thrower. “Boss did say to take care of him. But he didn’t say how.”
“What are you thinking?” Thrower asked.
Jacobs shrugged. “Maybe there’s a deal to be made here.”
“Yes,” Lee hopefully said. “Yes. A deal.”
“Tell you what, maybe we can all make out here.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Mallette have a safe here?”
“Yes. Yes, he does.”
“How much is in it?”
“Uh, maybe a hundred thousand.”
“Is it legit?” Thrower asked.
“It’s not counterfeit, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“It is.”
“It’s not.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Lee answered. “Rich does not like dealing in counterfeit money. He will if he has to, but it’s not a preference.”
“OK. So here’s what we’ll do,” Jacobs said. “You get us into that safe, we’ll take the hundred grand, and we’ll let you out of here.”
“That’s not what Mallette said to do,” Thrower said, playing along.
“Yeah, well, what he don’t know won’t hurt him. Or us. And it seems like it’s a sinking ship here, don’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“So let’s all of us get out while the getting’s good.” Jacobs then pointed at Lee. “We’ll tell Mallette we took you out, just like he wanted us to. You take your money and get out of here. As far away as possible. Don’t look back, don’t come back. ‘Cause if you do, the next time you won’t be leaving the same way.”
Lee quickly nodded. He was good with anything that kept him alive. “Yes. You’ll never see or hear from me again.”
“And make sure you keep a low profile. If this gets back to us, and we get in trouble for letting you off, then I will kill you.”
“Understood. I’m gone like the wind.”
Jacobs looked at his watch. “Boss is expecting us to call him within the hour, so we gotta make this fast. Get us into that safe, and then you gotta get moving.”
“Yes, absolutely.”
Lee immediately went over to what used to be an office area. Jacobs and Thrower followed him in. Once there, Lee went over to a desk that was against the wall and started pushing it. It was a little heavy and moved slowly, but within a few seconds, he revealed what he was doing. There was a floor safe underneath the desk.
Lee opened it, then took a few steps back. Jacobs went over to inspect the safe as Thrower kept his eyes on Lee. He wouldn’t have been the first to try to pull a gun at a time like this, and he certainly wouldn’t have been the last. But luckily, he didn’t try anything.
Jacobs started pulling stacks of wrapped bills out of the safe and setting them on the floor. There was a gun in there, probably meant for times like these. In other cases, Lee might have used it. But since he thought that Mallette was the one who wanted him killed, he wasn’t risking his life for it now. Jacobs kept the gun in the safe but pulled all the money out.
“That’s it, right?” Lee asked, holding his arms out to his side. “We had a deal? I get to go?”
Jacobs stood up and looked him in the eye. “Yeah. We have a deal. Get out of here before we change our mind. And don’t ever look back.”
“Like I said, I’m gone with the wind.”
Lee rushed out of the room. Thrower followed him out, just to make sure he was leaving without giving them a surprise. With Mallette involved, it wouldn’t have surprised them if there were other secret hiding spots in the building. Ones that had guns or explosives inside. And they weren’t going to get caught with their pants down.
They read Lee right, though. He wasn’t trying any tricks on the way out. He got out of there just as soon as he could. Thrower watched him from the door and didn’t stop watching until Lee had gotten into his car and drove away. Once he was gone, Thrower went back inside. Jacobs was coming out of the office with a black bag he’d found to put the money in.
“What do you plan on doing with that?”
Jacobs shrugged. “I dunno. Keep it, I guess. Just in case this thing with Mallette rages on a while and we get low on funds. It’ll help keep the lights on.”
Thrower nodded. “Sound thinking.”
“Lee gone?”
“Yep. No hesitation. Hope he doesn’t call Mallette on the way or something. Just to confirm that he was leaving?”
Jacobs shook his head. Lee didn’t strike him as that type of guy. “I don’t think so. Even if he does, so what? There’s nothing Mallette can do now.”
“So what’s the play now? Hit these other spots?”
“No, I don’t think there’s a point to that. You really think any of those spots are gonna be different?”
“Maybe not but might be able to fill the coffers for a while.”
“I think it’d be a lot of time wasted,” Jacobs said. “And if the people there are like this guy, they’re not gonna know any more than he does.”
“Can still hit Mallette where it hurts.”
“Yeah, but we don’t have to do that.”
“Then who will?”
Jacobs pulled out his phone and smiled. “I got a guy.”
19
As the police swarmed the building, Jacobs waited in his car until he saw Buchanan on the scene. Once he was, Jacobs got out of his vehicle and made a beeline for his former partner. Buchanan was talking with Detective Garza as Jacobs approached. Garza stuck his hand out and shook Jacobs’ hand, then hugged him.
“Been a while, man.”
Jacobs smiled. “It sure has. You’re looking good.”
“You too. How have things been going?”
“Ah, you know, getting better all the time. I’m almost there.”
“Good. You know I’ve always been in your corner.”
“I know.”
Buchanan tapped Garza on the arm. “Why don’t you start processing things in there?” After Garza left, Buchanan and Jacobs started walking away from the crowd. “How’d you stumble across all this?”
“Just fell into it, I guess.”
“Really? That’s what you’re giving me?”
“Does it matter how I got the info? What
