Caught Stealing - Charlie Huston [95]
Ed looks at his brother and Paris nods.
—Thing is, people out of the life, they always talk about “honor among thieves.” But it ain’t really like that. See, honor ain’t much of an issue, but trust is. Trust is definitely an issue. Now, all this that just happened, this whole mess, it went down because of misplaced trust. Now, we never trusted Roman or his cronies, an’ least of all the fucking Russians. But Russ? Known him since we were kids. You bet we trusted him. When he went south on us? Well, color us shocked. But more than that, color us hurt. Deeply. Something like that happens an’ a man is likely to question things, things he thinks he can believe in. Question his own judgment. That’s bad. Lose trust in yourself, that’s the final blow. You follow?
—Sure.
I scratch Bud some more. I want to keep him mellow. I want to keep him mellow because I don’t want him to jump up. Because then Ed and Paris would see the gun tucked in my waistband. The gun my right hand is resting on.
—What I told you before, about having no past, no connections. No family. That’s all well and good, as far as it goes. But the truth is that it only goes so far. Me an’ Paris, we beat the odds more than our fair share. Know why?
—No.
—Because we are greater than the sum of our parts. That greatness comes out of three things: faith, love and trust.
He offers his hand to Paris.
—I love you, brother.
Paris takes the hand.
—I love you, Ed.
They unclasp hands and look at me.
—Roman, Bolo, Russ? Truth is, you didn’t kill those guys. They killed themselves. Them, the Russians, the Chink? They’d be alive an’ have the money, if only they could have trusted each other. Trust is a feeling, Hank. It’s something you feel for another person, like love or hate. It comes about because you see what a man does, who he is. A man does what he says he’s gonna do, values his friends, his family, an’ tries to do right by them? You can’t help but trust a man like that. You can’t help but feel trust for that man. A man like you.
He quits playing with his hat and puts it on.
—So your call. We can dump you here with a couple hundred grand for a job well done, you can make a run, try to start over someplace. Take your chances with the Russians that way, cuz they’ll be lookin’ for all of us. Maybe you can go to the cops, try to spell it all out, take your chances with the truth. Get to see your mom an’ dad again that way. Or, come with us. Have a new life. A new family. Be trusted. An’ I think that maybe, that’s what might be best for you. Cuz the truth is, Hank, whoever you were a week ago, you’re not him anymore.
Really, it’s not as hard a choice to make as you might think. Because after all, he’s right, I’m not the man I was a week ago. I’m not half that man. I stop scratching Bud and uncurl the fingers of my right hand from around the pistol.
—I’m in.
They smile. Beautiful smiles, just beautiful. Ed reaches down and pats me on the knee.
—Cool, very cool. Paris?
—Cool.
—All right. Hank, stay down on the floor in case they got something set up at the tunnel entrance. Once we get into Jersey it should be cool. We’ll head south, got something set up at a county airport down by A.C. Gonna take a trip. Sound good?
—Yeah. Yeah, that all sounds great.
—All right, let’s roll.
Paris starts the Caddie. Ed leans back in his seat.
—You know, Hank, we’re pretty fuckin’ sorry about the way we did your girl like that. Truth is, we went a little hard. Roman did such a good job messin’ you up and gettin’ you scared, we felt we had to send a strong message so you wouldn’t miss the point. Fact is, when you didn’t call us right away, I thought we might not have gone hard enough. Anyway, we’ll make it up. An’ we appreciate you takin’ it like a pro. It’s always best not to let a twist get in the way of friendship. Cherchez la femme. Women always fuckin’ up a good thing.
I take Bud by the scruff of his neck and pull him off to the side. This is a fucked angle to be shooting from and the first bullet takes Ed high in his right shoulder, instead of his