“Delicious,” Dawn stated.
“You are worth it, my love. And if we pull off this caper of yours, you can drink bottles of this every night.” Jack swirled the French wine in his glass. They had decided to jump right into the roles they were playing without waiting. Neither of them knew all the Santorini players, and they could be watching right now. Anyone could be listening and reporting their conversation.
“Mmm, that would be divine. My mother hates it when we spend too much money at the casino acting like we own the place. I mean, if we can afford to splurge once in a while, why not?”
“Kitten, we will splurge every night.” He winked at her, and though he was acting, it still did things to her. She batted her eyes at him, making his smile wider.
While they waited for their meal to be served, they continued the ruse and talked about her family and how they denied her the opportunities to enjoy life.
“I’m so glad I met you,” Dawn purred truthfully, but laid it on thick. “You’ve given me a taste of the good life. The exciting life I have always wanted to have but wasn’t allowed to.”
“It is exciting, isn’t it?”
“I’ve always wanted to see the world. And, hopefully, soon we can.”
“Baby, you’ll love Europe. Morocco, Venice, Athens, there is so much to see and do.”
“I can’t wait.”
“So, you think you can do this thing, pull off this scam?”
“I told you it will be easy. It’s been done before. Two years ago, a council man bribed one of the accountants, and they got tens of millions of dollars. Any of the accountants can do it. The only thing I need is the account to siphon it to. If the Santorinis can’t help us, I think I can figure out that part. The only thing I don’t know if I can manage is finding someone who can give us new identities.”
“That is tricky. I hope they can help us. I can ask some other men I’ve gambled with, but I’d rather not. You never know who you are dealing with, and I would hate to risk getting caught.”
“We won’t. I can make the transfer from my laptop anywhere. We can transfer the money while we are in another country, but we need our identification for that.”
“Really?” he asked, playing the naïve gambler.
“Yes. As long as I have the access codes to our system at Mystic, it won’t be a problem.”
“Eyes on you.” The statement was made softly. Jack stayed focused on Dawn and didn’t look around. Jack had noticed two men sit behind him five minutes earlier. It had to be members of the Santorini crew. They were well-dressed, but younger than what you would expect for the suits they wore.
Jack delivered the code he and Dawn had chosen to alert her that they were being watched; she didn’t have her own ear piece. “I love you in green, Dawn. Emerald suits you; and when we have the money sitting nicely in an overseas bank account, I want to see you in nothing but jewels.”
“I’d love that,” she purred, taking another sip of her delicious wine. She tried to keep her nerves in check wondering when her mom would approach. She had seen her sitting across the room with Chief Daniels who looked elegant and proud in a suit.
The waiter arrived with their food, and Jack dug into his prime rib. Agent Johnson told him to continue talking and that he would have Tawny interrupt them a bit later. They wanted to make sure the Santorini men got enough information to deliver to their bosses.
Dawn picked at her salad while Jack continued to chatter about the tour of Europe he wanted to take her on. The places they would go and the things they would do.
He was a pro at this, and she did her part to keep up, occasionally chiming in with things she wanted to do as well. “I’d love to sail around the world on a yacht.”
“That would be heaven. We can hire a small crew and see the world.”
Dawn lifted her glass of wine and toasted Jack. “To you Jack. I’m so glad I met you.”
“How cozy is this?” her mother interrupted loudly enough for a few tables nearby to hear and turn in their direction.
“Mom!” Dawn acted surprised and shocked.
“I thought I told you to stop seeing this…gambler, Dawn. Seeing you here with him has come as quite the shock. I expected better from you.”
“Mom, I said…”
“I know what you said, and frankly, I don’t care anymore.” She raised her voice and now several tables were listening. “Sneaking here so that I wouldn’t find out you are still involved with this playboy.” Tawny spat the words venomously. “It’s disgusting. I will not have my daughter dating a gambler. I gave you a chance. I’ve had my own people look into him, and he’s notorious. Gambles everywhere, a different girl on his arm in each city. He is using you. I want him out of your life, and out of your suite in forty-eight hours.”
“Mom?” Dawn begged.
“No. I won’t hear it. No more excuses. Chief Daniels and our security team at the Mystic will escort him out personally if you don’t send him packing. And if you don’t end it, I can’t have you working at the casino any longer. I mean, what would people say and think? My own daughter dating a gambler. The rumors would hurt us badly. Hurt the casino. No, it’s over, Dawnie. Forty-eight hours, and he is gone. If not, you can pack up your office and go with him.”
With those final words, Tawny turned on her heel and left, followed by an apologetic Chief of Police, who added in parting, “It’s Tawny’s rules, chitsa.” The native word for “little fair one.”
Dawn put her face in her hands to hide her emotions. She didn’t know whether to cry or be angry at the moment. Her mother had done an incredible acting job and Dawn was shocked. It rendered her speechless. She felt Jack come to her side. “I’m sorry, kitten. What should we do?” he asked.
Instinctively, Dawn turned to Jack and buried her head in his chest. “I don’t know! She, she. . .,” she murmured as she felt him patting her back. He held her for a moment longer before parting from her enough to see her face.
“Do you want to go?” he asked, wondering if this was all too much for her. Tawny had been brilliant, but the two men were still watching, and Dawn needed to carry on. He hoped she could do it.
“No, I’m okay. I’ll be fine,” she stated, sniffling and pushing her hair back out of her face. Her voice grew louder as he made his way back to his seat. “Oh, my God! The nerve of that woman. See, Jack? See what I mean? She’s like a dictator. Go to school. Study this. Do that. You can’t date so and so. I am sick and tired of it. I am doing this with or without help from anyone. I want out.”
“I have that game tomorrow night. I’ll see if Leo or Marcus is there. I’ll ask him if he is in or out.”
“Okay, do that. But we’ve only got forty-eight hours. If you don’t leave, my mom will throw us out. I know you have money; I would just feel better if I had some of my own. I’ll lose the access codes to the accounts I manage. Maybe we can find someone else to get us the new identification. But whatever we do, it’ll have to happen fast.”
“I wouldn’t know where to look. Let me talk to Marcus or Leo. If not, you could still get the money, and maybe we could find someone later to get us new IDs.”
“I know, but I’d feel safer if we were out of the country with new names already,” she stressed. “If we try to leave with our identifications, we might get caught or stopped at the border.”
“I would feel safer if we had new IDs, too,” he agreed as the waiter came to clear their uneaten food. Most of the patrons who had heard Tawny’s outburst had resumed eating.
Dawn sipped her glass of wine and hoped the waiter would bring the check soon. She needed fresh air, away from these prying eyes. “I need some air,” she confessed to Jack who saw the look in her eyes. He signaled for the waiter who brought the check right away. Jack signed the slip of paper inside the bill cover and left a hefty tip. He was known at Foxwoods and already had a running tab there. When the waiter slipped away, Jack returned to Dawn’s side and helped her to her feet.
“Can we
just head home?” she asked, wondering if they had done enough.
“Yes,” came Jack’s quick reply without waiting for confirmation from the field agents and his boss. He could tell Dawn was frazzled, and he wanted to get her back to her suite where she could relax and unwind. It had been a fruitful evening. Productive, and they had done what they set out to do. The ball was now in someone else’s court. He was sure the two goons behind them had heard enough to make the Santorinis act. He would find out tomorrow night if they were in or not. He hoped in. Because if they were, the investigation would be over, and the bad guys would be behind bars where they belonged. Then his girl wouldn’t be in danger anymore.
Chapter 18
‡
It wasn’t very late when Jack pulled into the massive parking lot of the Mystic Casino, but he could tell Dawn was tired. The lies and the deceptions were obviously not her thing; and although she did well, the rush of adrenaline when it was over had fatigued her. He was anxious to get her upstairs.
But as the fates determined, that was not to happen. Walking toward him were Marcus and Leo.
“Fancy meeting you here!” Leo quipped, his wolfish smile looking very much like the notorious gangster he was.
“Yes, it is.” Jack returned the smile and held onto Dawn’s arm to give her any support she might need. He felt her stiffen as she stepped closer to him with the arrival of the two unwanted men.
“Boss wants to meet you. Tonight.”
“Really? Wow, that was fast. Has he made a decision about our request or is this about the game tomorrow night? I can still come, right?” Jack kept his tone light.
“I’m just the messenger tonight. Frank and Anthony would like a word.” The big guns wanted to see him. Leo came to get him. This was big.
“Okay, well, let me take Dawn to her room, and I’ll meet you outside in ten minutes.”
“Nope, sorry. The invitation is for the little princess, too.”
“She’s not feeling well. She had a run-in with her mother tonight, and she just wants to go to bed.”
“Sorry about that, Jack. She’s coming.” Leo offered Dawn his arm.
“That’s fine, Jack. Let’s just go. I’m so done with my mother’s rules. I’m over it and her. This is our ticket out.” He felt her pull away from him as she took a step toward the gangsters and allowed Leo to take her arm. He was so damn proud of her, yet at the same time, once more, hated having her in this predicament.
“See, the lady understands.” Marcus waved his hand in the direction they were to walk, and Jack had no choice but to follow. He was right on Dawn and Leo’s heels.
It seemed their early evening was about to get a whole lot longer.
*
Jack did not recognize the route they were taking. When Marcus drove off the highway via an exit that led them to Middletown, Jack knew this was where the heart of the Santorini gang operated. Frank and Anthony had several known properties where business was done such as the Old Saybrooke property off the water where shipments were brought in on small boats. But Middletown, where both men owned several properties, is where they preferred to do their business.
Off Main Street, Marcus turned into a parking lot behind a restaurant that was known to be frequented by the Santorini family. It was on the FBI’s watch list as properties where money was laundered. In fact, half of the street paid protection money to the Santorinis. They were truly in dangerous territory.
Jack still had his earpiece in and mentioned the name of the restaurant so the agents listening knew his whereabouts. “The Boffa, I heard the food is exquisite here. Family style, right?” Then he scratched his ear and turned off his wire. It was a security precaution. This place had to be equipped with bugging detection equipment. The Santorinis used the place too frequently not to.
Whatever was said that evening would be told on the witness stand by him or Dawn. It was the way it had to be. The agents would understand why he had turned off the microphone. If anything went down here, he would use his body as a shield and get Dawn out, taking bullets if need be. He knew the FBI would send in cars and agents to locations nearby to get them out if anything happened.
Marcus led the way to a rear entrance. He tapped on the door, and a monster of a man opened it. His arms were twice the size of Jack’s. He let them pass into the back of the restaurant through the delivery door, where another man stood and put a hand up to stop them. He patted Jack down first, for weapons, and then seeing Jack’s face contorted with anger at the prospect of the guy manhandling Dawn, the gangster thought better of it. Instead, he ordered, “Miss Sassacus, remove your coat.”
Dawn complied and twirled for the man so he could she wasn’t hiding any weapons on her person. Then, as Jack suspected, he took out a wand of some sort that would detect any electronic devices on them. The only beep came from Dawn’s small hand bag that had her phone, and Jack’s front pocket of his jacket that contained his. Her earrings, though, containing small tracking devices, were undetectable until Jack turned them on with the application hidden on his phone. “You’ll need to leave your phones here.”
Jack and Dawn nodded, and once they handed their phones over, they were led through the kitchen and into a private dining room. Both Anthony and Frank were there.
“Thank you both for coming,” Anthony stated, getting up from his seat and greeting them, shaking first Jack’s hand and then Dawn’s.
As if we had a choice, Dawn thought as the older man, whose voice made her skin want to crawl, stooped over her hand for a kiss. His lips were wet.
“Sit, please,” Frank encouraged from his seated position on the other side of the oval table. Two other men were with them. Jack recognized them from photos. Both made men, captains in the Santorini family. Having them there would mean indictments for both of them. Gotcha, Jack thought, pleased at being able to put two more deadly bad guys away.
Jack pulled a chair out for Dawn as Anthony waddled back to his seat and then he sat beside her.
“Thank you for inviting us,” Jack stated. Acting the naïve gambler, he added, “But I’m not sure why you did.”
“Oh, Mr. Black, we of course wanted to personally invite you to Paul’s game.” He introduced Paul Galluso, aka the Finger. He’d had one of his fingers cut off as a young collector by a rival gang. “Paul wanted to meet you in person.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Galluso. I have the buy in, 50k, for tomorrow night. I am greatly looking forward to the game. Exciting.” He widened his eyes at the prospect of the game to show his excitement.
“We will be happy to have you. The game will be at the Old Saybrooke barn. You’ve been there before, I understand.”
Jack had. He was referring to the place where he and Dawn had been taken a few evenings before. Jack nodded. “Yes. I have. We have,” he corrected.
“Yes, Marcus will be picking you up. Please do bring Dawn to the game. There will be other ladies present and music and refreshments.”
“It’s not exactly her thing,” Jack stated.
“But we insist.” Frank spoke again and Jack gave the older man a questioning look. “Your lady friend made a request of us, and we have decided to help with her little predicament.”
There was a tap on the door of the private dining room, and a frisson of fear trickled down Jack’s back. He glanced at the door. “Wait outside,” Anthony called, not even asking who it was.
Jack refocused his attention on Frank, while Dawn spoke. “Thank you. It couldn’t have come at a better time. My mother has given me two days to either throw Jack out or leave the casino myself.”
“Such a shame. Family problems. We would not allow such a thing.” Several people in the room laughed.
Jack added, “Yes, that is what we hear. Italian families are very close.”
“We are. We treat our friends and family well. We like to have good friends, too. We want you both to consider us your friends.”
“Of course,” Jack replied smoothly. “We are looking f
orward to a long friendship.”
“Very good, Jackson. And Dawn, tomorrow night after the game, our friendship will be sealed. We will procure for you two new safe identifications and you will have them tomorrow.”
Dawn clapped her hands. “That will be perfect. I can then transfer the money the next morning.”
“No, I’m sorry. You will have to do that tomorrow night.”
“What? Why? How?” she asked without thinking. The two older men’s brows furrowed.
“We exchange a service with you, then payment must be immediate.” Frank looked offended.
Dawn looked to Jack and he asked, “How would you like this to be done? And what about the account numbers for an overseas account? That was part of the deal.”
Frank smiled. “Well, the identifications will be taken care of tomorrow, and when we hand those over, after the game tomorrow night, we want Miss Sassacus to make the transfer. We will give her two account numbers. One for us, and one we have created for her. She will transfer half the funds into our account and half into hers. Didn’t you say you could abscond with ten million?”
“Half? I thought you asked for thirty percent.” Dawn feigned anger until Jack elbowed her.
Jack reassured the gangsters who weren’t smiling at this point. “Half seems fair.” Slowly, all the men smiled.
Dawn muttered under her breath, “It doesn’t seem fair to me.”
“Kitten, I have money, too, please don’t forget.” She crossed her arms in mock anger.
“Now, dear. Don’t be angry. We are helping you out of a difficult situation in a very timely manner.” Anthony commented. A piece of manicotti dribbled down his suit jacket.
“Fine.”
He smiled at her. “There now. It is all settled. We will have a computer for you to use. I assume you are able to do it remotely with codes.”
Dawn looked to Jack and he nodded his head. He didn’t want to have her do the transfer surrounded by a bunch of gun-toting mobsters, but it seemed like they wouldn’t do the deal any other way. His boss would have the cavalry waiting to storm the place the moment the deal was made.
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