The Heist

around their wrists with a knife.
    “You are being watched,” Char said. “Do not remove your hoods for five minutes after I have driven off or you will be shot.”
    “Understood,” Burnside said.
    Char got into the truck and they heard him drive away. Burnside began to count off the five minutes, sixty seconds at a time, in his head. The relief that Griffin felt at not being executed gave way to worry as the enormity of his bad situation hit him full force. He was stuck in the middle of Mexico without even a peso in his pocket.
    “How are we supposed to get home?” Griffin asked.
    “Shut up, or I’ll lose count.”
    “You can just walk through the nearest U.S. border crossing and go back to your life, but what about me? I’m a wanted fugitive. I’ll have to stay here and live like a peasant.”
    That was true, but Burnside didn’t care what happened to Griffin now that the man was penniless. “Would you rather be dead?”
    “I might as well be.”
    “Where there’s life, there’s hope.”
    Griffin yanked off his hood. He didn’t give a damn if the five minutes were up or not. Let the bastards shoot him. He squinted, temporarily blinded by the harsh sunlight, before he was able to see the large sign directly in front of him. It read:
El Pollo Loco coming soon to this location
. Just past the sign a dirt road cut across a vast expanse of graded desert and the foundations for future structures mapped out with wooden stakes. And beyond the staked property was a broad boulevard lined with several big box stores and scores of fast food franchises. Palm trees dotted the sand-and-asphalt commercial landscape.
    Two patrol cars raced up the road toward them, lights flashing, sirens silent. Behind the cars, there was a sprawl of housing developments, green grass, and more palm trees. Rising above it all, just a few blocks away, was the tower of the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, the tallest building for miles.
    Burnside pulled off his hood and turned around, taking all of this in just as the two Indio Police Department cruisers slid to a stop. “We aren’t in Mexico and we were never prisoners of the Viboras,” he said.
    “We’ve been conned,” Griffin said. “I was played from the first moment Eunice Huffnagle showed up on my island.” He gave his head a very small shake. “It was brilliant.”
    Nick, Kate, and their crew watched it all unfold from the window of the presidential suite at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. The only thing they couldn’t see from this distance were the expressions on the faces of Derek Griffin and Neal Burnside as they were taken into custody by the police, following an anonymous call from Kate.
    Kate knew that by the time the two men reached the Indio police station, agents from the local FBI field office would be there waiting for them. Griffin would definitely go to prison, perhaps for the rest of his life. As for Burnside, she supposed there was a chance that he might avoid prison for aiding and abetting Griffin’s flight from justice, but he’d almost surely lose his license to practice law. So Burnside was finished, too.
    “We did it,” Nick said, passing out glasses of champagne to his crew. “We got back half a billion dollars in stolen money and nailed the guys responsible, all as a result of your unique skills and hard work.”
    Kate clinked his glass. “And on behalf of all the victims of Derek Griffin’s crimes, we thank you.”
    “It was the best role of my career,” Boyd said. “My one regret is that I don’t have anything for my reel.”
    “My regret is that I didn’t get to be the honey trap,” Willie said.“I would have gotten some mileage out of Griffin before he got carted off.”
    “I don’t have any regrets,” Tom said.
    Chet nodded. “Me neither. You can call me anytime.”
    “So what’s next?” Willie asked.
    “That’s up to you,” Kate said. “Our job’s done.”
    Nick checked the time. “We need to leave. You guys better get going. The two of us will finish covering our tracks.”
    Tom, Chet, and Willie left, and Kate and Nick stayed behind.
    “You did good,” Kate said. “It was an amazing con. And so far as I know, you didn’t steal anything.”
    “Yeah, it doesn’t feel right. It’s like something’s missing.”
    Kate pulled a small gift-wrapped package out of her tote bag, and handed the package to Nick. “A memento.”
    Nick tore the paper off the package and grinned. He was holding a first edition