Tempted by Trouble (26 page)

He said, “Dmytryk.”

Then he smiled. It was a grin that spoke of Eddie Coyle and Cora’s intimacy.

His smile got to me and I felt the blood boiling underneath my skin.

I pushed away my pains and stood tall. I took off my fedora and my overcoat, loosened my tie, pulled off my suit coat, checked the time on my pocket watch, then said, “What do you have for me?”

He motioned with his head. “Kitchen table. Everything we need to know is right there.”

I dropped my hat and coats on the black sofa.

With the exception of a six-foot-tall Christmas tree that had flashing red, yellow, blue, and green lights, the apartment was unadorned. It had dreary beige walls, dull beige carpet, and furniture that looked like it had all come from the returns area in IKEA. The only thing that stood out was the fifty-inch television in the living area. It was on CNN. Copies of
The Trussville Tribune
and
The Birmingham News
had been dropped on the floor.

Diagrams were on the kitchen table, and at least half a dozen architectural layouts. It was the same diagram that had been inside of Rick’s luggage. One of the programs he’d carried was to the edifice for this job. It must’ve been his part of the job, the area he’d had to memorize to pull his weight on this gig. That let me know that Rick had visited the building at some point and had surveyed the halls to verify the diagrams were on point.

I said, “The vault is in the basement?”

Bishop nodded. “We’ll have to handle two, maybe three security guards and make our way to the basement. That’s what me, my brother, Jackie, and Cora will do while you have us ready to roll out. The location for the stage-two vehicle is already set. It’s on Chalkville Road. We drive about a mile and a half, dump the primary, load up the secondary within ten seconds, and you get us back to the safe house. We split the money. We say good-bye. It’s a simple plan.”

“I’m still looking at the location of the vault. Long hallway. Stairs. This diagram is telling me that there aren’t any windows in this hallway. This bank used to be a fallout shelter.”

“It’s not a bank.”

I looked at the diagrams again. “This is a part of a property that belongs to a church.”

Bishop said, “Six Flags over Jesus. That what we call it. Six Flags over Jesus.”

I read the details on the map. The megachurch was off an interstate that connected to I-20, only it wasn’t the section of the interstate that ran through Atlanta. The area I was looking at was over two hours away. We were robbing a church in Alabama.

I said, “I thought this was a bank job.”

“Now you know it’s not.”

“So this isn’t going down on Friday.”

He shook his head. “It’s going down on Sunday.”

“Robbing on the Sabbath.”

He nodded. “Amen, brother. Amen.”

I stared at the drawings.

Bishop said, “By Tuesday, I’ll be in Ocho Rios sipping on drinks.”

Entry and exit points were all circled in light blue ink. The immense architecture had a gigantic parking lot, plenty of open space, numerous doors, and a lot of security cameras.

Bishop said, “Most of the cameras aren’t in use. They trust the people and they’ve never had a problem. The cameras are up for insurance purposes, but that’s about it. The ones that are working, they’ll be pointed up at the sky; Cora’s contact will make sure that happens.”

There were a lot of hallways, but based on what I saw, two entrances were used the most. The principal entrance was in front and the secondary entrance was in the back. The best entry and escape routes were highlighted in yellow. The secondary or backup exits were highlighted in green. Jackie walked in while I inspected the route that had been highlighted as our getaway. The book she had bought at Barnes & Noble, she put it down on the table, photograph-side up.

I read the location on the map and said, “Trussville?”

Jackie said, “It’s right outside of Birmingham.”

I looked at her and her expression told me that she had known all along.

She said, “It wasn’t my job to give you any information.”

“That’s very military of you.”

“It’s about trust, and I can keep secrets, Dmytryk. Everybody knows that I can keep secrets.”

Jackie went to the counter and found a fresh bottle of vodka waiting on her. She poured herself two fingers’ worth in a glass, then she did the same for Bishop.

I headed inside the bathroom and a panic attack came as soon as I closed the door. It came at me hard, just like it had in Los Angeles, only it was more intense, its waves higher and pounding me with almost too much force to bear. I threw water on my face, then looked at myself in the mirror.

I saw my father’s angered face. I saw the anger he held when things were getting to him.

Banks were federally insured. What we stole the government put back. We traumatized the bank employees, but the tellers and security guards had also been trained for what we brought. Each bank knew that being robbed was as inevitable as sunrise.

This job was a church.

I wasn’t the most religious man in the world, but I understood morality and degrees of wrongness. This was who my wife had become. This was who
I
had become.

We were monsters now.

The front door opened again and I heard Eddie Coyle’s voice.

I heard Cora Knight talking to either Eddie Coyle or Bishop.

When I heard the woman who was still my wife, the world stopped rotating.

She was on the other side of that door and I could smell her, feel her, taste her.

Every vile word she had said at Thumbs Up echoed inside of my head.

Every angered word battered me.

I raced out of the bathroom and hurried toward the front room. Cora saw me running straight toward Eddie Coyle with my hardened hands in fists. I was an executive, a laborer, a man, but before all of that I was a fighter’s son. Henrick’s blood was in my veins.

If Eddie Coyle had any doubts, they were removed when my right hook connected with his chin and took him down to the floor. Before I could get to him again, his hulking brother had made it to me.

Jackie sipped her vodka and laughed.

Bishop grabbed me.

The blow put Eddie Coyle flat on his back and scrambling to get to his feet.

Jackie sashayed toward Eddie Coyle. Cora ran toward me, made strong eye contact, and then backed away when she saw in my eyes that she would be next. She began pleading with Bishop, telling him not to take this to another level and mess up the job. They needed me.

They
needed me. Her focus was on the bottom line. I’d expected her to run and protect Eddie Coyle, or run back to me, but she remained in the neutral zone, became political and redirected the hostile energy in the direction that would benefit her the most. She said to focus on the job. I’d expected Bishop to come at me in retaliation. They were blood, and Bishop was protective of his brother.

We didn’t trade blows, but he wrestled with me, tried to get a good grip on me, maybe hold me so his brother could beat me. My adrenaline was high and my strength had doubled. It was enough to surprise Bishop and take the wrestling match from the kitchen to the living room and we fell into the Christmas tree, made it topple, then we fought and fell on top of it before we rolled to the carpet. The way I was hurting, the damage Abbey Rose had done to my body made that battle short and it didn’t end in my favor.

Bishop pushed me near the sofa and I grabbed my coat but dropped it when he grabbed me again, yanked me up, and pushed me up against a wall. He drew his fist back in threat but then he realized I had a gun pointed at his gut. It was Jackie’s gun. When he had pushed me on the sofa, I had grabbed my coat and pulled the gun from its pocket. With the injuries I had, I couldn’t beat Eddie Coyle and Bishop in a fight. One-on-one I’d take on Bishop and lose, although I’d do my best to make a good showing in the first round. But I didn’t expect to win this battle. That blow to Eddie Coyle’s chin had been my swan song.

Bishop took his hands off me and backed away. I lowered the gun, grunted when a wave of severe pain coursed through my body, every ache singing Abbey Rose’s name.

Eddie Coyle made it up on one knee and had the look of my death in his eyes. Jackie reached for him but he pushed her away and made it back to his feet on his own, his mouth bloodied.

Jackie wasn’t laughing anymore.

Cora looked terrified.

My expression was rabid. Christmas tree crap was all over my clothing. My shirttail had been pulled out of my pants, and my shirt was ripped, missing more than a few buttons. Not to mention that I had spots of sweat underneath my armpits. The tree had scratched my face like a passionate lover during a night of wild sex. Bishop’s face had received the same fate.

Cora yelled, “Dmytryk.”

She said my name the way she had said my name during the first four years of our marriage, spoke my name with fervor and passion, said my name as a wife who loved her husband. All eyes were on me. Each expression was different. I saw fear and anger and respect.

Jackie put her vodka down on the counter and sashayed toward me with her palms extended, desperation and anger in her eyes as she said, “Don’t blow this, Dmytryk. Think about what you’re doing. One hundred thousand dollars. Is that two-timing cow worth that much? One hundred thousand dollars. Don’t be selfish. You’re part of this team, so be a team player. You know my situation. This money can help set me straight. This money can get me what I need for my kid. Now, give me that damn gun.”

I tossed the gun to Jackie. She caught it and checked to see if it was still loaded.

Jackie said, “You’re lucky, Bishop. That man is a killer. He popped someone twice in L.A. Isn’t that right, Dmytryk? Tell everybody how you killed somebody in broad daylight and walked away like you were Jesse James.”

Bishop was fuming. He moved like he was coming after me again, and I was ready to throw at least two blows before he took me off my feet, but Eddie Coyle yelled his name and stopped him.

Eddie Coyle came over to me, his face twisted in anger. And guilt. A lot of guilt was in his eyes. I moved past him and grabbed my suit coat and my wool topcoat. When I pulled both coats on, Jackie asked me if I was leaving. She ran to me and grabbed my right arm and begged me to stay. Then her expression threatened me. I moved her out of my way. Jackie held on to my arm like she was my wife, like I was her husband and I was walking out on her.

Cora looked at me too. I couldn’t tell if she wanted to run to me or take that gun and shoot me. Her life was no longer tethered to mine, though I remained a planet caught in her gravity. She hated every memory of me. She despised everything I represented. What existed between us was dark energy.

Jackie said, “Abbey Rose, Dmytryk. Abbey Rose.”

I went to the door and looked back at Eddie Coyle. He went to the kitchen, rinsed the blood out of this mouth, and put on his coat and gloves before he followed me out into the freezing air.

We walked the complex, moved through the cold with our breaths fogging in front of our faces.

Eddie Coyle said, “I could kill you for that.”

“I could’ve killed you five minutes ago. Every time you take a breath, remember that.”

He didn’t argue with me. This time he was the one with the gun inside his coat pocket. I knew that. If he was going to shoot me and kill me, I didn’t want to die in front of Cora. She wasn’t the last person I wanted to see. And I didn’t want to die in a room filled with people I didn’t respect. I’d have rather died outside in the cold.

I took a deep breath and said, “So this is what you and Cora have been planning.”

“All of us. Not Just Cora and myself. Rick, Sammy, Jackie, my brother, all of us.”

“Six months. Cora’s been on your team. She’s worked with you and Rick and Sammy and your brother for six months. You’d pretty much laid me off, pushed me to the side like you were another CEO.”

“We did a few jobs. We needed the money to make it happen. A lot of people had to be paid off.”

“You robbed banks to finance this church job.”

“The last few jobs we did, yeah. Sammy and Rick had done the same, worked and contributed toward financing this payday. We’re going to church. That’s where this ride is headed. Now you know.”

I asked, “Do you have Cora’s back?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you looking out for her best interests or just your own?”

“What’s your concern?”

“I don’t like her. But I love her. So I’m making sure she gets to the other side of this.”

“That’s noble of you.”

“It’s a birth defect.”

“She’s with me now, Dmytryk. I can protect her if she needs to be protected.”

“I know how you operate. Are you planning to harm her when this is done?”

“I told you how I feel about her.”

“She’s still my wife. Don’t touch her in front of me. Don’t smile at her in front of me. That’s the way it’s going to be, Eddie Coyle. I’m here to work this thing for you, like I promised, but I’m going to make sure Cora gets to the other side of this job.”

Eddie Coyle pulled his gun out of his pocket. He looked at it, his wounded ego thinking.

He said, “You’re loyal.”

“I’m a fool. But I know there have been bigger fools in this world.”

“Despite that little hiccup you had with Jackie in Texas, you’re loyal to Cora.”

“I was with Jackie one night. I’ve known Cora for eight years.”

Eddie Coyle rubbed his jaw. “Jackie announced that you’d spent some time getting personal. She said that when this is done, you might be going to South America with her.”

I didn’t answer. Part of me wanted to believe that he had green-lighted Jackie taking me to bed before Sammy’s body had cooled off. If I was going to be in on this deal, he needed a wedge between Cora and me, and Jackie was that wedge. But part of me knew that no man had that power over Jackie.