didn’t budge. “Are we going in to watch the show or not?” Morgan asked, speaking loudly so the boys out on the street could hear.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“The men’s room.”
“Why? You want me to hold it for you?”
Charles didn’t smile or in any way reply to the infantile wisecrack, just began walking quickly to the men’s room. They could hear the orchestra blaring the opening notes of the theme song. The restroom was empty when they entered. Charles moved toward a urinal, reached down to his front, then spun around with a.38 caliber in his right hand. “Now, we’re gonna do this my way, Morgan. Don’t get nervous. I won’t shoot you unless you make me.”
Morgan’s mouth gaped open in shock. “A gun,” he gasped loudly.
“I believe that’s what it’s called, yes.”
Morgan balanced his feet and tightened his grip on the briefcase. “What’s this? A two-bit holdup?”
Charles studied Morgan’s face a moment. “I told you to come alone, and you’ve turned this into a street orgy. I warned you not to wear a wire, and you’re a walking DJ. You’re making me nervous, Morgan. This”-he began shaking the gun-“is to make sure you don’t break any more rules.”
Morgan adjusted his expression to one of resignation. “Hey, pal, I have no intention of getting myself clipped, not over fifty grand. Hell, it’s not even mine. Here,” he said, taking a step closer and jamming the briefcase in Charles’s direction-another five feet and he’d be all over him. A quick kick in his groin, a chop across the forearm, then he’d make him eat that gun.
Charles immediately stepped backward and the gun popped into Morgan’s face. “Don’t. That would be very stupid.” The sound of the hammer being cocked was loud and ominous.
“All right.”
“Step back.”
Morgan stepped back.
“Put down that case.”
Morgan placed the case on the floor. Whatever the man with the gun wanted.
“Good boy. Now take off your clothes.”
“What?”
“The clothes, Morgan. Remove them.”
“Forget it. No. That’s just not going to happen.”
Charles leaned his back against the wall. “Listen to me. I offered you a deal, and I intend to honor it. But on my terms, not yours.”
When Morgan did nothing, Charles leaned toward him and announced very loudly, “Listen up, fellas. Your friend Morgan is about to blow this deal. Because of his silly modesty, you’re not going to learn things about Wiley you couldn’t imagine. It’ll cost you fifty thousand to get nothing.”
“Who are you talking to?” Morgan asked. This time, not only was he not convincing, it sounded asinine.
“Jack has a nasty scandal in his past, Morgan. Very nasty. It’s everything you’ve been hunting for, and then some. But you’ll never find it without me.”
Well, what the hell, Morgan thought. Charles had already made a fool of him-twice-so what was a little more mortification? Only one thing was worse than this: after all this time, effort, and money to come back empty- handed. With a great show of reluctance he removed his jacket and tossed it to Charles. Then his shirt, his shoes, and his trousers, until he was naked but for his socks and underpants. He couldn’t remember a more humiliating moment. “Get into that stall,” Charles ordered, waving the gun at the far one along the wall.
Looking very aggravated, Morgan dutifully entered the stall, and Charles closed the door behind him. He could hear Charles walk around, then the sounds of him entering the adjoining stall and sitting down. “What next?” Morgan asked, wondering how it came to this.
Twenty-five years in the CIA. He had survived so many dangerous encounters, outsmarted so many bad guys, and this amateur, Charles, had the money, and he had the gun, with Morgan stripped down to his undershorts in a public bathroom. He cursed himself for turning on the mike. The entire episode had been broadcast to the boys out on the street. He knew the ribbing was going to be absolutely horrible, and he was right. “What are you doing?” he asked, after a long moment with no answer.
“Counting my money, Morgan. Since you lied, I want to be sure you haven’t cheated me. Now, shut up.”
“It’s there, all of it,” Morgan insisted with as much force as he could muster, given the circumstances. “You can trust me.”
“Twenty thousand, one hundred. Twenty thousand, two hundred…”
The trail crew heard every word until the instant Morgan, confronting a gun, disrobed to his skivvies. They knew which theater they were in, knew it was
Then, silence.
After a frantic, whispered huddle, Nickels took the first shot and scrambled to the ticket window. “Please, just listen,” he said to the pale, wrinkled old man smiling back from behind the thick glass divider. “I flew out all the way from Oregon.”
“Oregon? That right?”
“Yes.”
“Long flight. Pretty state, I hear. Never been out there myself.”
“This is my life’s dream.”
“Yeah, good choice. Great show.”
“Yes, and, well, I have to fly back tomorrow.” Nickels shrugged his shoulders and produced a tragic frown. “My assistant was supposed to order tickets. The useless cow screwed it up.” He held up his arms and looked perfectly crestfallen.
“No kiddin’?” the old man grunted. “Know what?”
“What?”
The old man tapped a skinny finger on the SOLD OUT sign.
“Aw, come on. You and I know you’ve got extra tickets back there. A few set aside for cast members, maybe, or there’s always a few no-shows. Always. One is all I need, just one,” he pleaded, pressing a trio of hundred- dollar bills against the window. “Nobody will know,” he whispered with a sly wink. “Not a soul.”
The old man took his eyes off the money and stared at Nickels. “Look up,” he said.
With a befuddled expression, Nickels’s eyes moved up. “That,” the old man announced, pointing at the lens, “is a camera. Reason it’s there is to keep jerkoffs like you from corruptin’ a sweet old man like me.”
Nickels looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of the words.
The old man pressed his hands on the counter and bent forward. “Why don’t you smile for the nice man inside before you take a hike, pal?”
Nickels had struck out, and he edged away, then walked halfway down the block, where Rivers was waiting. “Take your best shot.” He added, “Be careful of the old man. A real wise guy.”
Rivers nodded, then walked briskly to the window. He tapped the nightstick softly against his left leg as he walked, and with the other hand reached up and straightened his NYPD cap.
The old man looked up and offered a nice smile. “What can I do for you, Officer?”
Rivers straightened his husky shoulders. “The precinct just got a call from someone inside the theater.”
“Yeah? About what?”
“About a robbery taking place inside.”
The old man leaned forward on his elbows. “A stickup?”
“With a gun and everything. Go figure. I was told to check it out.”
“So what? You want I should let you in?”
“What do you think? Yeah, and make it quick.”
“Where’s your partner?” The old man’s eyes narrowed and shifted left and right. “Don’t you got any backup?”
“Handling another call. Busy night.” An officious-looking but slightly impatient smile. “Listen, Gramps, you
