The Heist (13 page)

The Golden Chalice dates back to the Herodian Dynasty in 37 BCE under the ruler John Hyrcanus. It was one of the many treasures bestowed upon Jannaeus when the Edomites were converted to Judaism. Passed on in tradition and through history, its last catalogued whereabouts were under Herod the Great. It is rumored that prominent men of wealth kept the sacred Chalice hidden and protected since it was stolen by the Romans and recovered soon after Rome’s fall. Some believe that the Nazis acquired the Chalice sometime during WWII. None of it has been proven. The Golden Chalice remains a mere myth. Or is it?

Michelle flipped it over to study the drawing. It was a myth. The thing was as old as time. She checked the envelope and removed a letter, addressed to her. Her breath hitched in her throat.

Ask yourself the question:

Did your father have to die?

Find the Golden Chalice and you will know the answer.

—A Friend

“Michelle, what is it? What’s that?” Sasha said from behind her. Quickly folding the note and easing it back into the envelope, Michelle turned on her sister, panic rising in her throat. She had to catch a breath to get her words out clearly. “When Lee kidnapped you, did he question you?”

“Huh?”

“During the kidnapping, did he question you about Pops’ old jobs, about something called, ‘The Golden Chalice’? Think, damn it!”

“No. He didn’t.”

Michelle checked the envelope for a postmark or anything discernible. There was nothing. This didn’t come from Lee. But who? And what did Pops have to do with the Golden Chalice? If it wasn’t a myth and Pops knew it, then this was possibly what got her father killed.

“What is it? Something wrong?”

“Stay in the house, Sasha. Don’t leave. Do you understand?”

Sasha nodded.

Michelle rose. She grabbed her jacket and her purse. “I have to go to work, but we’ll talk tonight. I need to think.”

“But….”

Michelle was out the door before she heard the last of Sasha’s words. Lee had questioned her about the Chalice and alluded to The Order’s desire to recover it. Did they kill her father over this thing? If they did, she would make them all pay.

Chapter Twelve

Cold damp air came in like a wave, announcing his arrival. Michelle’s hair hung low in her eyes. She lifted her head with a toss of her bangs and frowned.

“I told Cosmo to lock the door,” Michelle said.

It was close to midnight. The last diner had left minutes ago. “We’re closed,” Michelle grumbled. She continued to wipe down the counter.

Lee stepped through the empty diner, his hands in his pockets. Michelle peeked up at him. Flashes of the way he drove passion through her body surfaced then were extinguished with the confused distrust she carried after the letter arrived. She dropped her eyes immediately.

“We’re closed.” It was all she could manage, as she rubbed so hard she wouldn't be surprised if the enamel lifted off the sterile countertop. Lee strolled down the length of the diner’s bar. He scanned the picture frames tacked on the dingy walls. He studied the faces of famous Italians and local celebrities. Many of the photos were personally autographed. From the corner of her eye, Michelle took note of Abahti, her unwelcomed guest’s companion. Sharply dressed in a tailored suit fit for a giant, he stood guard at the door. She had sworn to Cosmo that things were under control. One look at Lee and he would know different. How would she explain this?

“You haven’t returned my calls,” Lee noted, bringing her out of her thoughts.

“What can I say, I’ve been busy,” she mumbled, taking down the condiment baskets from the counter to restock them with jelly and sugar packets. A growing knot of anger formed in the center of her chest. Her focus remained on the task at hand. How much would she and Sasha be made to suffer because of Pops’ life? And then that anger turned on her; the truth was something she’d have to admit someday. She was just as guilty as Pops. This, too, was her life.

She replenished the straw dispenser. From behind her, she heard the ungreased squeal of the barstool, and the soft ease he used when he took a seat. Michelle shot him an impatient glance over her shoulder.

“Too busy for a phone call?”

“What do you want, Lee?” she snapped.

“You left without a word. It’s been long enough since our business transaction,
Chocolat
. What do you think I want?”

“I told you I’m not interested.”

“And I told you that’s not an option.” He smiled. “I gave you time to think it over, to reconnect with your sister—now time is up.”

Michelle looked to the doors at the back of the restaurant. She heard Cosmo slamming pots. She needed to get Lee out. His presence encroached on too much of her normal life. Besides, she was hot right now. The police may or may not know about her, but they surely knew of Lee.

“I’m not Pops, okay? You played your only hand by taking Sasha. Now our business is done. I don’t owe you anything. What you got from me was a one-time deal, baby.”

Lee touched his chest as if wounded. “Awwww, but Lee wants more.”

“Get out,” she ordered in a hushed tone. Approaching the counter, she pressed both hands on the edge and leaned in. She did so without fear, though her voice carried a hint of malice. Men like Lee only gained power through what you gave them. She was not about to turn over hers.

“Leave and stay gone,” she warned through clenched teeth.

“Everything okay, Michelle?”

She glanced back over her shoulder. Cosmo waddled out from the back in a dirty apron. His kind eyes darkened at the sight of Lee. Caught, she gripped the edge of the counter in panic. “Yep, everything is cool, Cosmo. He was just leaving.”

“We’re closed, buddy,” Cosmo told Lee, who finally slipped him a tolerant look.

“Oh, he’s okay. Just go ahead and close down the kitchen,” Michelle blurted out. “I’ll take care of everything here.”

Cosmo didn’t move. A friend of Pops, he was the first person she had gone to when Pops had left them penniless. She almost confessed her fears about the mythical Chalice and Pops’ connection to it. To do so would put one more person in harm’s way. Until Michelle understood more about the Chalice and how Pops died, she wouldn’t risk it. She hurried around the counter and stopped before Cosmo, forcing him to acknowledge her.

“He’s cool.” She forced him around in an attempt to point him back in the direction he came from. “The deposit is in your office so don’t forget it, lock everything up, and I will shut it down out here. Oh, and bring me my coat.”

Cosmo made to object, but she pushed him toward the swinging diner doors. He went through eventually, trusting her. She prided herself on that trust. When she was sure he was out of earshot, she let go of a deep sigh of relief. Wiping her hands on her apron, she returned her attention to Lee.

“I’m done with this topic. Just go.”

“How’s Sasha?” Lee asked, playing with the bottom of the straw dispenser.

“She’s traumatized. She hasn’t said two words to me since she was dropped off by those hired goons of yours. If I find out any of them touched her, Lee….”

“She wasn’t harmed.” Lee shrugged off the threat.

“She was drugged and kidnapped! What the hell?” Michelle waved off her outburst. “Forget it. We settled it. I’ve thought over your offer. I think I might lay low for a while. Too much heat on me now.”

Lee smiled. Leave it to him to find her words endearing. “Then we have a problem because I was thinking the exact opposite.”

He rose.

She inhaled the potency of his cologne. “Close up the place,” he said as he removed his gloves from an inside pocket in his coat and slipped them on. “We’ll be waiting for you outside.”

There was no point in objecting. When Abahti opened the door and Lee stepped out, she finally exhaled in defeat, her eyes cutting upward to the ceiling.
This needs to go down simple.
She would have to deal with him, one way or the other. And more importantly, she wanted to know the truth. How did her father die among these men? What was Pops doing the last few years of his life? Why did Lee say he turned to the Feds, something she was certain he would never do?

“I’ve locked everything up.” Cosmo’s voice snapped her out of her worry. He reappeared behind her. He’d put on his worn Fedora and stuck his cigar in his mouth. Michelle smiled, accepting her coat, while removing her apron.

“Cosmo, I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“I need some more days off.”

Cosmo blinked at her. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it? It’s that hood. Am I right?”

“No, no. I just have some personal things to attend to.”

“Is it Sasha?”

“No, Cosmo….”

“School? You got accepted into medical school? You did, didn’t you?” he exclaimed.

Michelle’s eyes glistened. “Yes, Cosmo. It’s school.” And that part was true. She had learned earlier that week that Pritzker School of Medicine had accepted her—a lot of good that would do her now. But still, the victory was bittersweet, considering her new burden.

“I’m so proud of you. I know how hard you’ve been working. Good girl.” He hugged her. She closed her eyes and beamed under the praise. He was the only person to have congratulated her. The only person to know. “Thank you, Cosmo. I owe it all to you and your faith in me.”

“When you become that big-time surgeon Pops always knew you’d be, then thank me! How’s Sasha? She all right?”

“She’s doing good, real good.”

“That’s my girl. I worry, especially with that man coming here. I used to see him with Pops. He isn’t harassing you, is he?”

Michelle smiled. “Oh, of course not. You know I know a lot of Pops’ old friends. They stop in from time to time. No foul. Things are really improving, I promise. I just need a few more days off, okay?”

He patted her cheek. “
Bennisima
! Now let’s go.”

She retrieved her purse from his hand. In a white shirt with dark slacks stained with the lunch special, she slipped on her coat and smoothed over her hair. It was a feeble attempt to look like someone other than a waitress once they emerged. Cosmo dragged the gate over the front of the store. While he locked the place down, Michelle scanned the desolate street. A black Maserati with limousine tint was parked across from them. Abahti stood there, his arms folded patiently, waiting for her.

Cosmo turned and removed his cigar. “Who is that? Is that Pops’ friend?”

“He’s going to give me a ride,” Michelle answered dryly.

“I can give you a ride. I thought you said he was gone.”

“Nah, never said that, we’re going the same way. I’m a big girl, remember?” She kissed his cheek. “G’night, Cosmo.”

“Night,” he mumbled as she darted across the street. She looked back once more. He stood there, full of concern, in front of the diner. Abahti opened the door and she slipped inside to the warmth of the expensive sedan. Lee sat there, on the phone. Between them were two black gift boxes, one larger than the other, wrapped in red satin ribbons with gold trim. Michelle felt her heart sink at the sight of them. There was no turning back now.

He ended the call.

“I don’t want you to ever come around Cosmo. He has no idea of what I’ve done for you and I want it to stay that way,” Michelle told him.

“If he was Pops’ friend, I’m sure he has some idea.”

“All the same, stay away.”

“You sure do make a lot of demands.”

“No more than you do assumptions.”

Lee released a soft chuckle. The divider between the front and back seats lowered, and Michelle saw Abahti’s dark gaze focus on the rearview mirror. Lee gave a slight nod and the Maserati Quattroporte pulled away from the curb. The partition eased back up. Michelle couldn’t believe the comfort the tan leather seats offered. She felt as if she were sitting on a cloud. Not one usually impressed by material things, having had her share of them during Pops’ hey-day, she found the car just as she found Lee: dark, expensive, and addictive. No matter how much she distrusted him, he was the best and most elusive smuggler in the business. That was a fact.

“What’s the job, Lee?”

“Straight to business, huh, Michelle? After everything we shared?”

She cut her eyes over to his amused grayish-blue pair and then looked away. “Call me
Chocolat
from here on out. You haven’t met Michelle.”

“Oh, that’s not necessarily true. I held Michelle while she slept, loved her until she wept….”

Michelle laughed at the corny rhyme. “Don’t flatter yourself! It was never that deep.”

“Then why can’t you look at me?”

It was a valid statement. Everything about him left her conflicted. When she was younger it was clear. He was the ultimate crush. But soon his luster faded and he, like all the men she met through her father, became poison. Michelle ran her hands over her thighs, rubbing the sweat from her palms. “I know your game. You think I don’t?”

“I’m a man, too.”

“Well, that’s some other woman’s problem.”

“There is no other woman.”

“I doubt that.”

The car drove along the avenue past the derelicts scavenging for cover against the winter chill. The silence in the car was charged with the things unsaid. When she finally looked over to him, she found him watching her again. “So what’s this ride home going to cost me? Let’s face it, Lee, with you there’s always a price.”

“First, a question?”

“I told you, my personal life is off-limits.”

“Pops spoke often about your dreams to be a doctor. I assume the money you made from the heist will fund that dream?”

“Speaking of, when can I expect it?”

Lee moistened his lips, ignoring her question. “Why are you still flipping hamburgers?”

“Michelle wants to go to medical school,
Chocolat
doesn’t. They’re two different people, Lee. When I left the life, I left
Chocolat
behind.”

“Until your sister pulled you back in?”

She frowned. “Sasha made a mistake. Gambling is a curse straight from Pops. It was you that pulled me back in.”

“You sure about that?”