The Devil’s Share Read Online Free PDF Page A

too.”
    â€œHe ever do anything like this before?”
    â€œRobbing himself? No, this is a one-off. Like he said, he ended up in a jam, and this was the plan he came up with to get himself out. You have to give him credit for even thinking of it. After all, it’s a victimless crime, isn’t it?”
    â€œMaybe not. It depends on how things play out.”
    â€œYou’re right. But you can’t work out every possibility in advance, can you? You just plan the best you can, and improvise if things start going south.”
    â€œThat’s true. But you can always plan better.”
    He sat back, laced his fingers behind his head. “I’m guessing you know all about that. But I gotta say, I never expected to find a woman like you in this line of work.”
    â€œLike me?”
    â€œThat didn’t come out right. I mean, someone like you putting this kind of thing together, running a team.”
    She didn’t respond, drank wine, waiting to see where he’d take it.
    â€œOh, hell, forget I said it. I’m feeling the liquor, I guess. That’s why you came along anyway, right?”
    She put her glass down. “What do you mean?”
    â€œGet a few drinks in me, hope I’ll run off at the mouth, tell you something you don’t know. It wasn’t my charm got us up here, was it?”
    â€œIt was your idea.”
    â€œYou’re all business. I appreciate that.”
    â€œNot always.” Surprised she’d said it, wondering why she had.
    â€œAnd I’m guessing you’re not even staying in this hotel, are you?”
    â€œWhy do you say that?”
    â€œBecause you wouldn’t have brought me here if you were. You keep your distance. That’s smart.”
    A breeze came in from the hills, the scent of eucalyptus. The torches fluttered.
    â€œTell me more about your employer,” she said.
    â€œHow much do you know?”
    â€œMostly what’s common knowledge. Where’s he from originally? I’ve read different versions.”
    â€œCzechoslovakia. His family fled during the war. They moved around a lot, but I think he grew up mostly in England. Worked at a couple newspapers there, made his way up the ladder. Ended up buying the papers, then a publishing house.”
    â€œWhere did his money come from?”
    â€œHe earned it, I guess. Eventually he sold off the properties he owned in England, moved to the States, started doing the same thing here.”
    â€œFrom what I read, mostly what he did was buy companies and put them out of business, after skimming bonuses for himself.”
    â€œHe knows when to drop a losing proposition, is all. He’s smart that way. If he gets stuck in a place he doesn’t like, gets dealt a bad hand, whatever, he figures a way out of it.”
    â€œThey used to call that a bust-out,” she said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œA mob thing, back in the day. They’d buy into a legitimate business, one that was struggling, needed some cash. They’d borrow money with the business as collateral, sell off all its assets, then shut it down, leave someone else holding the bill. Or torch it for the insurance money.”
    He scratched his elbow. “I wouldn’t know anything about that. I admire him, though. He knows what he wants, and he goes out and gets it. He didn’t let the world fuck him over. He started out with nothing, and look where he is now.”
    â€œLiving alone in a house filled with millions of dollars in art he doesn’t even notice anymore?”
    â€œIt’s his art, and that’s what counts. He may not notice it, but trust me, if some of it went missing, he’d do whatever he had to do to get it back. Just on principle.”
    â€œNot my line,” she said. “He’s got nothing to worry about.”
    The waitress came over. She was in her twenties, blue-eyed and blond, in tight black slacks and a white blouse with a man’s