The Millionaires - Brad Meltzer [166]
“When it all comes down, Oliver, this was your choice,” Shep says. “If you weren’t on your revenge fantasy with Lapidus, me and Gallo and DeSanctis would’ve walked away just fine. Besides, if you wanna start calling spades, you’re the ones who worked one over on me.”
“What’re you—?”
“I checked that Antigua bank Charlie showed me on the Red Sheet. The cash was never there.”
“That’s the only thing that saved our lives. If Charlie didn’t do that, we wouldn’t even be standing right now.”
“No, you wouldn’t be standing if I didn’t save your ass back at Duckworth’s,” Gillian once again interrupts.
“You only did that to help yourself,” I shoot back.
Once again, Shep quiets her with an angry glance. “I’m not saying I blame you, Oliver. In fact, I kinda respect it. We all take our opportunities where we find ’em,” he explains, his eyes still on Gillian. “Especially when money’s involved.”
“So you were never going to share it with anyone, were you?” I ask. “Not us… not Gallo… nobody.”
“Let me tell you something, Oliver—Gallo may’ve gotten his mitts on the best idea in the world, but without a bank to put it in, Duckworth might as well’ve reinvented Pong.”
“Then I guess that makes it okay to kill everyone along the way.”
“Like I said at the start—there’re only two perfect crimes: the crime that never took place, and the job where the criminal dies. It’s a pretty good trick if you can pull it off. But if I was gonna be the body they blamed it on… well, to the martyr go the spoils. The only splinter in the eye was when they let you walk out of that train station.”
“And that hatched your great plan? Follow us to Florida, screw over Gallo, and bring in your wife?”
“She fooled you, didn’t she?”
I look at Gillian; she stares right back. She has no hesitation facing me. Like Lapidus always taught—business is business. I just can’t believe I didn’t see it before.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Shep says. “You’ve still got the goose and the golden eggs. Now it’s time to decide what to do with them.”
There’s a brand-new pitch in his voice—like the moment he first offered to split the money with us at the bank. He’s back to Big Brother Shep. Sure, he’ll show us how to hide the money… then, the instant he gets what he wants, he’ll slice us at the kneecaps. It’s the same tone Gallo used two minutes ago. I’m sick of hearing it.
“Don’t say no yet, Oliver. You haven’t even heard the offer.”
“Oh, I haven’t? Let me guess—you’ll wave your gun in my face, and in the process, become the fifth person this week to threaten to kill me unless I tell you where the money is.”
“Just hear him out,” Gillian says, her gun still on me. “We can all get what we want.”
“I already know what I want—and I’m not getting it from you.”
“Then who’re you getting it from?” Shep asks. “The police? Lapidus? All your friends at work? This is bigger than you and Char—” He cuts himself off and quickly glances around. “Where’s your brother?” he asks me.
There’s no way I’ll give him an answer.
“Next door,” Gillian says.
“Go get him,” Shep orders.
“You go get him,” she challenges.
“Did you hear what I said?” Like before, the argument’s over. Hiding her gun in the back of her pants, Gillian heads for the passageway that leads next door.
The instant the door opens, I scream the warning as loud as I can. “Charlie, she’s a li—!”
Shep grabs me by the jaw and clamps his hand over my mouth. I fight to break free, but he’s too strong. Gillian stares me down and shakes her head. “You really are a wuss,” she says, turning away and entering the closet. She slams the door in my face, and the boom bounces against my chest.
Gripping my mouth, Shep holds tight until I finally stop struggling. “Just listen for once, Oliver. If you don’t calm down, none of us’ll get out of here. We’ve got three hundred million to deal with—we might as well—”
“Do I look that stupid?” I ask as I pull his hand from my jaw. He latches on to the shoulder of my shirt. He’s not letting me get far. “You really think we’ll help you?” I ask. “It’s over, Shep.