“Why me?”
“Can I level with you?”
“Don’t gotta dance around shit with me.”
“Alright. In that case, I need you because everyone else is busy with Christmas shit. Family shit. And you—”
“Don’t got nobody,” I filled in when he hesitated.
“I wasn’t going to put it that way, but, yeah, essentially. Between holiday parties, shopping, wrapping, Christmas concerts at school, all that shit, everyone is swamped from now until Christmas.”
“I got time. What do you need?”
“The Family have been long-time donors to a local charity that provides presents to shelter kids and their families.”
Honestly, the charitableness of the mob was probably the most surprising thing to me when I’d been brought on to work with them. The cynical part of me wanted to think it was a tax write-off thing, but it seemed like everyone had a cause they took up for: the homeless, women’s shelters, animals.
“Something tells me that you ain’t just doing it out of the goodness of your heart.”
“Well, we were for years. Until someone got an idea that helped us move some product into the city without suspicion.”
“What are you moving in?”
“A little bit of everything from all our connections: counterfeit goods, weapons, tech, some diamonds. Enough shit to keep a bunch of the capos and their associates busy for the first quarter of the year.”
“This the reason I was out fencing fucking fake red-bottoms until Easter a few years back?”
“Yeah,” Lorenzo said, smirking.
“Made a lot of money on those.”
“Yeah, we did. Anyway, we had an in at the charity itself: a director who was willing to look the other way, thanks to a generous cash donation on top of all the toys.”
“Sensing a but coming up.”
“But he dropped dead the day after Thanksgiving. They’ve got a new director now and we have no idea who she is, see if she’s someone we can finesse. I need eyes and ears at the charity.”
“You want me to get my do-gooder hat on?” I asked, looking down at myself. I didn’t exactly look like someone who spent their time cataloging fucking teddy bears and wrapping baby dolls.
“Yeah. I need someone inside that building, listening, getting a feel for shit. Especially this new director.”
“And if we don’t think she can be bought?”
“Then that’s when the job gets more complicated. But still doable.”
“Alright. And do I say who I am? Do we want her to know I’m connected to the family and their donations?”
“For now, no. But depending on what you learn about her, maybe. At the beginning, I just want you to be a guy caught up with the spirit of Christmas and wanting to spread some cheer.”
He had no idea what a tall order that was going to be for someone like me.
That said, I’d done harder shit over the years. I could fake a feeling I’d never experienced before if it meant more money coming my way in the new year.
That was why I was in this gig, after all. Money. Security. A chance to move up and no longer be hustling on the streets like I’d been doing my whole life.
I had a feeling that if I aced this job, I’d be getting called back to the boss’s house in the new year and going through whatever super-secret ritual they used to swear someone in as a capo.
“How long is the job for?”
