Page 98 of The Accomplice
‘Four wheelmen with their own rides at my office. I need a crew who have worked together before and know how to run a veneziana.’
‘You hitting jewelry stores now ?’
‘In fairness, it would probably make my life easier if I went into that line of work. No, I need to be somewhere and I don’t want the feds on my ass when I get there. Who is your best driver ?’
‘Wings is still the best.’
‘How old is he now ?’
‘Nobody knows and nobody asks. I’m the boss and I don’t have the balls to ask him.’
‘Fair enough. It’s thirty minutes’ work. Tops. Fifteen hundred per car. Two grand to you. That good enough ?’
‘Forget the two large to me. The guys will kick back five hundred a piece. I’m good. They’ll be out front in a half hour. Take care of yourself, fly man.’
‘Thanks, Jimmy.’
CHAPTER FIFTY
EDDIE
Twenty-nine minutes later I waved Otto into his Mercedes, he was feeling better than he had when he first showed up. It was safer this way. This was out of Otto’s league. All the while I was on the street, I couldn’t take my eyes off the van. There was someone behind the wheel, but I couldn’t make out a face. The more I looked at the van, the more I wondered if it was the FBI in the back, or whether it was just that driver up front. Maybe Otto was right and he was just spooked.
Better not to take the chance.
If we had time, I’d ask Bloch to do a walk-by and eyeball the driver. But there was no time, and it didn’t matter really. Soon as we took off, the van would follow, I was sure of it.
Bloch, Harry, Lake and I stood on the sidewalk.
‘Why can’t I drive ?’ asked Bloch.
‘Because you’re great at driving fast, but you don’t know how to work a veneziana.’
‘What the hell is a veneziana ?’ she asked.
‘You probably don’t want to know,’ said Harry.
A line of cars made their way past Ho’s Noodle joint in convoy. The car up front was a new model Mustang in electric blue. Behind that was another Ford, a Focus RS, followed by a Dodge Hellcat and another Focus. It didn’t matter what these cars looked like or what kind of engine had been fitted in the factory, every one had been remodeled to the driver’s specification, because that’s what wheelmen do. Most of them have their own shops, or they know a garage that is friendly enough to let them work at it all hours of the night and day.
They all pulled up outside the office. Harry got into the RS, Bloch the Focus, Lake the Mustang, and I got into the Hellcat. I knew the driver. Big guy who had a specially adapted seat to accommodate his stomach. He wore his hair in a tousled mop, and a leather jacket stretched over his frame tight as a super-hero suit.
His name was Anthony Lombardi – a cousin of Jimmy’s. Everyone was a cousin of Jimmy’s. I knew him only by his nickname – Tony Two Fucks.
‘EddiefuckinFly, hey, how the fuck you doin’ ?’
Whatever Tony said, there were at least two fucks in every sentence, no matter how short. He could get two fucks out of buying a pack of cigarettes ; ordering a cheeseburger ; or picking up his dry cleaning. Even when he went on a long rant, you might think the ‘fuck’ you got at the beginning would be it, but sure enough, another surprise ‘fuck’ would come along when you least expected it.
‘Tony, I’m good. You ready ?’
‘Fuckin A, motherfuck.’
He floored the accelerator, and we all took off in different directions. I could almost hear the FBI surveillance team on their radios now. They would be rivaling Tony for the sheer volume of fucks on that channel.
The veneziana is a traditional Italian folk dance. Couples part at the beginning of the dance. The men and women forming groups, and they come together and rotate. But there’s one thing that is special about the dance – before it’s finished, they swap partners.
‘Okay, so we got the fuckin’ Crown Vic and the fuckin’ panel van on us. The fucks.’
I checked the side mirror. Tony was right. There were two other pursuit cars – a Chevy Sedan and a Honda pick-up. The Chevy had gone after Harry and the pick-up was still in a U-turn, no doubt it was going after Bloch. Lake was free. Like I expected. They would focus on the core legal team.
