21. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
Watching the man pulling into the parking garage, Goldie saw him passing the all-important key to the Bentley over to the valet.
He then took a cab to his high-rise apartment, where he disappeared inside for the evening. Goldie took his notes the old-fashioned way, in a small notebook. Even if a cop got ahold of it, they’d never be able to read his scrawl.
Two full days of following the man around led him to see the guy was precise and scheduled. He didn’t deviate from his routine for an instant. Goldie liked that kind of mark.
Work all day, take the car out of the parking garage for a trip to a little restaurant to have drinks with clients. The Bentley was a talking point when the valet at the restaurant brought his around first. He paid the valets to do that.
Impressed, the clients saw the car and coveted it, thinking that the guy could help them invest their money well enough that they could drive the two-million-dollar car.
The car was tucked into the garage for the night. That’s where it will be taken from. A spot in that garage cost nearly ten grand a month, but it was worth it for the security.
Back at the pub, Goldie gathered in the basement with all the members of their little gang and as he looked around the room, he was happy to say, “It’s almost too easy.”
There was laughter, but Cosmo drummed his hands on the table. “I knew it!”
“The guy is very routine. The hardest part of it will be getting it out of the parking garage where he keeps it. Kepler’s Garage.”
Murphy groaned before he said, “Impossible. That place is locked down tight, cameras all over the place, the security guards are never absent from the front box, and more are walking around the entire time.”
Goldie nodded, but Cosmo asked, “That’s the only place it’s ever parked?”
“No, he always goes to this one restaurant, every day, with clients he’s shmoozing.”
“Why can’t we boost it from there?”
“Broad daylight,” Murphy scoffed.
“Hear me out. It’s a bunch of minimum wage workers that work as valets. You’ve all seen stupid movies and shows where they take the cars out for joy rides. We can get that car and be gone before the owner ever finishes his appetizer.”
“Confidence is sexy,” Abs gave him. “Cosmo, that’s very little time to steal a car like that. Cameras, witnesses, there are a lot of little things that could go wrong.”
“What restaurant is it?” Cosmo asked Goldie.
“The French Connection.”
There was laughter all around and it was Mims that first agreed with Cosmo. “I know, with enough time, Abs and I could break through the security, and we could do something about the guards, but the restaurant sounds like the better choice. We get out of there fast, but I think we need an unfamiliar vehicle.”
“What do you mean, Mims?” Goldie asked.
“A truck we can drive into, hide the Bentley. There are way too many cameras on the way to the drop. This is downtown. From one end to the other. Even with side streets, we’re hitting at least a hundred cameras. That’s not counting cellphones.”
Goldie thought of something crazy. “Rented truck.”
“Come on,” Murphy scoffed. “They know who rents them, Goldie.”
“Those numbers are easy to fix, and if we rent one in another state, they’ll never guess. Change the plates, temporary paint over the numbers on the truck itself.”
“After Oklahoma City, they’re regulated hard.”
Cosmo smiled and said, “Leave it to me. I’m the vehicle guy, right? Let me stretch my wings a little.”
Everyone stared at him, but Goldie’s detail-oriented mind went wild. “Okay, getting the truck is one thing. Getting it to the restaurant is another.”
“No. No, it won’t,” Hippy suddenly said. “Murphy, if you can buy an old box truck like that, we can paint it for some repair service. We park behind the place, Mims and Cosmo do their tricks and get the car into the back of the van. We’re out of there and heading down the street.”
“What repair?” Cosmo asked.
Goldie said, “Those places always need repairs. Plumbing, refrigeration, gas.”
“Plumbing,” Cosmo said. “One of us can go in there and fuck with the plumbing. Have it set so the problem will happen right when the place is going, like when ourmark is there drinking with his clients. They’ll call a plumber, and Mims can intercept the call.” He turned to Mims and assured, “You can do that, right?”
“Sure, yeah, it’s a little rerouting.”
“We pull in, we plumb, and while you guys are unclogging the place, Mims and I get the car into the truck, and bam, we’re gone.”
Hippy laughed as he asked Cosmo, “We’re not plumbers, so how are we pulling this off?”
Groaning, Murphy said, “Who do you think plumbs this place? It would cost me a fortune to call a real plumber all the time when some queen clogged up the toilets.”
“So, Murph, you’re going along on this trip, I guess,” Hippy said with more laughter.
“Great. That’s just great,” he said, laughing along with Hippy. “I get to do someone else’s plumbing.”
In his glory, Goldie said, “Okay, I’ve got a lot more research to do. I’ll need all the phone numbers from that place, Mims, including the cell phones from all the managers and hosts. Mims, can you come up with a guy to go to that place with? A date?”
“I got a new one on the line, sure. He’s got deep pockets.”
“Good. Make up a card for a fake company called Emergency Plumbers or something like that with the number for my new prepaid. Leave it on the desk, mention it to the cashier, the manager, whoever. In fact, make up a few. Be subtle about it but play along like we’re a new company trying to get clients and we can be at any plumbing emergency in minutes and not hours or days.”
“I get where you’re going with this. Okay, sure. If I can, while on my date, I’ll slip it into the manager’s office, if I can find it empty.”
Cosmo whistled through his teeth. “You guys are superb. This is something that usually would take months to plan.”
“It’s why I recruited the best and brightest. It’s why I wanted you, Cosmo,” Murphy said with a wink.
Goldie saw his family grow at that moment. Cosmo’s holding back and his reservations of being with such a close bunch of misfits. Well, Goldie saw it in his eyes. He finally felt part of them.
The next two days went by fast. Goldie watched the restaurant, took his notes, found the manager and assistant managers were rarely in their offices, which he let Mims know, and they were attentive to their guests.
Mims not only sneaked into the office to plant the plumbing card on the corkboard next to the desk but to also get an idea of the camera placements and security. In the ten minutes he was in the office, he got it all.
Bragging to them, he was very impressed with himself. Goldie kissed him right on the mouth as the others got their individual jobs planned.
Cosmo was antsy, but he made nightly trips to his boyfriend’s place. His boyfriend, the fed. Goldie was still unsure about the guy, but he trusted Murphy with his life. Murphy thought it was good for them to have a couple of iffy feds on the team.
The weekend came before they could get the car stolen. The guy who owned the Bentley got the flu. That knowledge came when Goldie followed him to a doctor in yet another high rise. One of those doctors who only treated the very wealthy.
Calling the guy’s office, Goldie was told he’d be back on Monday, so they planned the heist for Tuesday. That meant more lessons of the bartending variety for Cosmo.
They went to the basement, playing several tunes Hippy listed for them. Cosmo dropped more bottles than he caught before Abs stopped the music and went to Cosmo, holding both his hands as he spoke to him like a father speaking to a small child.
“Your mind is a million miles away, honey. Stop thinking about the Bentley, about the boost. Stop thinking about your guy.”
“I’m not…”
“Okay. Well, whatever it is, stop. This is our steady money. This is what we’ll do when we all have enough money to retire, eventually. This is how you pay for that expensive cat food you’re buying for Daiq.”
Cosmo’s smile was sweet and shy as he admitted, “You’re right. I…I’ll get my head in the game.”
“I’m gonna toss you a bottle the distance of the bar. That means, you’ll be on one end of the bar, me on the other, and I not only want you to catch it, but catch it and flip it upside down to pour into the glass that will be in your other hand.”
Cosmo paled some, which made Hippy laugh. “Quit being a prick,” Goldie whispered to him. “We were all new once.”
“I’m laughing. That’s not a crime.”
Abs kissed Cosmo’s cheek and then left him standing where he was and estimated the distance of the bar, standing that far from him. Goldie handed him one of the practice bottles, giving him a wink.
“He’ll do it, I know it.”
“For being so dark and brooding, supposedly, you’re our biggest cheerleader.”
“Bite your tongue. Or you can always bite mine.”
“Sicko.”
Hippy handed Cosmo an empty glass and for once, acted encouraging, if not a little twisted. “It’s as easy as slipping a dick in a hole. All it takes is good aim.”
“Right,” Cosmo said with a smile. “How do you figure I’m a top?”
“Big dick energy, babe. Like me.”
“Hey, I have a hanging cock and I’m a happy bottom,” Mims argued.
“He knows what I mean, baby,” Hippy told him, kissing him sweetly. “Go for it, boys! I got a hankerin’ for Eazy’s stir fry.”
Goldie was as tense as if it was him stepping up to the plate. Watching the shaking in Cosmo’s hands, seeing the way his confidence from only moments ago drained from his face along with all the blood, making him sickly white.
Abs, on the other hand, his pointed little chin was raised and the pride and love he already felt for Cosmo was right there for everyone to see.
The bottle was thrown, arcing high between the two men, and Cosmo’s eyes watched it, like if he even blinked, it would fall and shatter.
And…it dropped, turning end over end. The room was so quiet it was almost eerie. Watching that bottle catching the light, then…he caught it! And not only that, but he also caught it perfectly and then flipped it around, holding the spout over the empty glass.
The way his face brightened, and the room exploded in cheering for him, it was sure; he was part of their family. He was part of them. He nodded and did a few more flips with the bottle in the air, catching them each time, and then they had to work on the moves the rest of his body made.
Mims slinked over to the middle of the room, and he got some music set that was upbeat but sexy. “Now, Cosmo, when you’re pouring drinks, or dancing on the bar, or doing the tricks, don’t forget your lower half.”
As Mims swayed his hips, Abs blew him a kiss and Haze beamed over at him. “That’s my sexy boy.”
“Stop flirting. You’re much too young for me.”
Cosmo watched and not only was the color back in his face, but it was also darkening. Goldie could almost read his thoughts, and all of them were dirty.
Like he was boneless. That was how Mims moved. His hips swayed in tight little circles, his pretty little butt flexed and relaxed along with the music, and his waist seemed detached from the rest of him as it moved opposite of his torso and his hips. Yeah, he thought that, and it was true, though he had no idea how it happened. It was…physically defying, but even so, that sweet boy did it.
Cosmo was breathing a little faster, and Goldie leaned over to whisper to him. “You’re taken, and even if you weren’t…you’re not allowed.”
“Damn…”
“I know.”
Cosmo did the funniest thing then. He turned to Goldie, his brows high as he asked, “I’m taken?”
“Boy, you’re so taken that I’m surprised you don’t got a ring on your finger.”
“We barely know each other.”
“You know enough. So does he.”
Waving Goldie on, Cosmo tried to deny it, but then laughed to himself. “Looks like we need to have the talk.”