Chapter 4

            The decision had been made. BAAM was going to hit the Federal Reserve. They had ironed out the first few steps they needed to take. They were going to meet again in a week to give Aaron cashier checks for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He was in charge of allocating the funds where it was needed.

            Margo had just arrived at Tampa’s premier nightclub, Club Prana, with Anthony and his cousin, Morris, who was the same age as Anthony. They went to the sky bar, which was located on the roof of the club.

            They had just dropped Bobbi off at the airport. She had gotten a job interview under an alias Anthony created for her. She had worn a red-haired wig and contacts that made her eyes look blue. Bobbi was the master of disguise with makeup and was able to angle her cheekbones to looks slimmer than they really were. The interview was at the reserve location in Dallas. Atlanta didn’t have any openings that she had experience doing.

            They sat down and ordered a bottle of Ace of Spades champagne. Once the beverage arrived, Morris poured himself a glass and excused himself to work the room.

            “You think ole home girl will get the secretarial position?” Anthony said.

            “I hope so,” Margo answered. “We don’t have time for her to apply for twenty different positions until she gets one.”

            “Even if she doesn’t get a position, I’m sure Aaron will come up with something else. That cat is smarter than anybody I know,” Anthony stated. “He’ll find a way to get us on the inside to do what we gotta do. Have you started on the bug yet?”

            “I’m piecing together some things. I have to be careful how I lay the language of the foundation of the program. It will be key to making the virus dormant until it’s time for it not to be. I have to program the timing just right.”

            “Hell, I’m glad I got the easy tasks.” He sipped his champagne.

            Margo laughed. “I’m sure your job is as hard as mine. I would find it tedious to create multiple false histories for people. I’m surprised you were able to come out with us tonight.”

            “It can be a chore sometimes,” Anthony remarked.

            “Well, well, look who it is,” Bruce said with a grin. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt and black slacks. A guy who looked to be in his early fifties was with him.

            “Are you kidding me?” she retorted with annoyance. “I need to find another club to hang out at. They are letting anybody in here.”

            Bruce’s friend snorted with amusement.

            “Still spicy, I see,” Bruce commented. “How have you’ve been?”

            It had been almost three weeks since she last saw him. “Fine, thank you.”

            “Bruce, introduce me to your friend,” the older gentleman said.

            “Vic, this is Margo. She was Lana’s bridesmaid at the wedding.”

            “Oh, yeah. I thought you looked familiar,” Vic said. “We didn’t get a proper introduction there.” His dark hair had loose curls with streaks of white, which made him look distinguished. He was average-sized and appeared to be in good shape.

            “Nice to meet you,” she said.

            “And her date? I don’t know him,” Bruce said.

            “I’m Anthony. Nice to meet y’all.”

            “Likewise,” Bruce said, appearing to size Anthony up.

            “Margo, would you like to dance?” Vic asked. “If it’s okay with your date, that is?”

            “I don’t have much say in the matter, man, because I’m not her date. We’re just friends who kick it every now and again,” Anthony said.

            “Oh, good,” Vic said and looked at Margo.

            Anything to get away from Bruce. She placed her glass on the table and stood. “I would love to.”

            Vic escorted her to the dance floor. He lightly placed his hands on her waist. She placed her hands on his shoulders, and they started to sway to the music. She looked over at Anthony. Bruce had sat down in an armchair and was chatting with him.

            “You know he’s a decent guy . . . Bruce, I mean,” Vic said.

            She turned to look at Vic. “Oh?”

            “Yeah, I’ve worked with him for a while—”

            “You’re an FBI agent too?”

            “Yes, Alec, Bruce, and I work for the same division at the Tampa office.”

            Damn, they are coming out of the woodwork.

            “I know Bruce can come off as a bit of a . . . player, a good time boy. But he’s one of the best agents I have ever worked with in the field, and I’ve been with the bureau for over twenty-five years.”

            Margo examined him. He was serious, but she still smelled a rat. “Let me guess. You two came here to find some young half-drunk girls, and Bruce spotted me and said, ‘hey, Vic, I need you to be my wingman for about twenty minutes’.”

            Vic laughed. “Well, you can’t blame the man for trying.”

            Margo chuckled.

            “Whether he asked me to put in a good word for him or not, I would have said the same thing if you had asked me about him yourself.”

            “I have no doubt, but we both know he is what you said, a player . . . playboy . . . and in his mind, God’s gift to women.”

            “He’s all those things, and believe it or not, he has dated women that truly believed that he was God’s gift.”

            “Perhaps, but why would I want to get involved with such a man?”

            Especially, when he’s a federal agent, and I’m a professional thief?

            “For fun?” he suggested.

            She looked at him as though he coughed up something foul. “I can have fun without him – and have.”

            “Yes, but Bruce . . . he can be a different type of fun. I’m not saying you should marry him. Matter of fact, I would advise against those kind of thoughts when it comes to him. He’s not the marrying type. But a little fun here and there wouldn’t hurt.”

            She glanced over at Bruce and Anthony. Morris had made his way back to the area and was chatting with them.

            “So what do you say? Are you willing to give my boy a chance?”

            “I don’t think so,” she said as she turned back to Vic. “I . . . have a lot going on right now. I have several jobs I need to attend to, but I’ll be sure to tell him that you did your best to convince me.”

            Vic gave her a crooked smile. “Well, at least he’ll know I tried.”

            They went back to the sitting area. There was no polite or rude way of getting Bruce to go away and talk up another female. Margo’s saving grace was Morris. He had told them that he got a text from one of his baby’s mommas, and he needed to get back home to see about his daughter’s health.

            Once they were in Anthony’s Cadillac, he spoke. “What’s going on with Adele, Mo?”

            “Nothing. I made it up to get us out of there,” Morris admitted. “The last thing you and I need is to be around federal agents. They’re worse than the cops.” Morris was a drug dealer. He made no bones about it, but he wasn’t arrogant enough to wave it in the face of authority. Plus, he knew Anthony specialized in fake IDs and paperwork. He thought Margo was legit, but she had been known to buy a little weed every now and again from Morris. Margo and Bobbi liked to spark one up from time to time.

            Anthony dropped Morris off at a less than stellar club located in the other part of the city. Anthony had told him that he was going to drop Margo off at home and then attend to some business. Morris nodded and didn’t ask any questions.

            Once they had left the slums, Anthony and Margo chatted about the heist.

            “It might be beneficial to the crew if you cozied up to the big FBI guy that has a hard-on for you,” Anthony said.

            “Why?” she asked with disgust.

            “We are about to pull the biggest robbery of . . . hell, maybe of all time. It wouldn’t hurt to find out what the government knows.”

            “I doubt he knows anything useful to us. Even if he did know something, he probably won’t be able to tell me. I would think it would be classified.”

            “Just think about it. Don’t be so quick to dismiss a good opportunity.”

            Margo snorted.