Chapter 17 – Busted
Burke started his Monday early. He woke before dawn, dressed and drew a comb through his hair, and joined Hannah for breakfast at the diner across the street just as it opened.
“All our investments are paying out,” he reported to her while piling scrambled eggs onto his toast. “The deputy of city planning we paid to get elected has pushed through the rest of the building permits. Within the next few years we’ll be able to overhaul the entire waterfront.”
“Uh-huh,” said Hannah, and she took a long sip of her coffee.
Burke raised an eyebrow, waiting to see if more would follow. Sometimes she had plenty to say, sometimes hardly anything. Today, not so much, it seemed. “The Morey rented out its last unit yesterday, then,” he continued. “Building’s full up. Hardy any complaints from tenants. The penthouse operation has slowed down but we’re making up for it in other ways.”
Hannah took another long sip. “So. Business is good?”
“Going real steady.” Burke took a few bites of his breakfast, still thinking she might offer more than that. At last he had little choice but to broach the subject. “How’s the boss?”
“He’s satisfied with the growth we’ve had,” said Hannah, and at last she began to poke at her own breakfast. “But Barney’s getting restless again, and they’re both still fixated on Manhattan.” She sighed. “Barney’s eager to try out that revolver.”
Burke snorted. “Did he figure out that if he keeps testing it out in the quarry, he’ll run out of bullets before getting to use it on a job?” Hannah didn’t have anything to say about that, either, so he pressed his luck a little. “Wasn’t it a mistake, letting him keep it?”
“What’s the use of telling me that?” Hannah retorted. “You think I can just walk up and take it from him?” She drowned a mouthful of eggs with her coffee. “I know we fucked up, but I can’t do anything about that now. I don’t need to hear it from you, too.”
Burke pulled a face. “Danowicz still pissed?”
“He’s avoiding me,” Hannah admitted. “I know I should have told him what I knew up front, but…” She sighed and shook her head, then went back to eating. “It’s over now. If only we could deal with Manhattan once and for all, things could go back to normal.”
“’Normal’ being relative,” muttered Burke. “But I know what you mean.”
The bell over the door jingled, and both glanced up to see Jakub heading in their direction, dressed in his jacket. Hannah straightened up. “Jakub.”
“Hannah,” Jakub greeted, and though he was never much for charisma, even Burke noted the lack of warmth in his tone. He quickly shifted focus to Burke. “If you’re headed for the Morey, I’ll ride with you.”
“Oh, sure.” Burke managed not to pull another face.
“You gonna have some breakfast first, then?”
“I’ll wait for you at the car,” said Jakub, and with a curt nod to them he strode back out of the diner.
“I see what you mean,” said Burke, and he herded the rest of his eggs together for quicker eating. “Downright surly, isn’t he?”
Hannah leaned back in her seat. Burke wasn’t typically one for sympathy, but watching her struggle quickly squashed the rest of his appetite. “Guess I shouldn’t keep him waiting,” he said, and he gulped down the remaining eggs, toast, and coffee. He set out cash for the meal, but as he climbed out of the booth, he hesitated.
“Hey, Zak,” he said. “I know ye’re doing yer best.” He tipped his chin up, refusing to allow any mushy sentiment into the words. “It’s a crime, isn’t it? The way they treat you. And I’m a Grade A criminal—I’d know.”
Hannah blinked up at him, seemingly uncertain how she was meant to react. At last she decided on a quiet snort of amusement. “Thanks, Burke.” Burke smiled back and headed outside.
Jakub was waiting for him, cigarette between his lips.
Burke jogged over. “Ready, Danno?”
Jakub shot him a cool glare. “Danowicz,” Burke corrected himself, gulping. The pair of them climbed into the Model A and headed across town.
“Hey,” Burke ventured, even though he was well convinced it wouldn’t lead to much. “Can I ask you something?”
Jakub puffed on his cigarette. “What?”
“Where’s yer head at?” Burke asked bluntly, and he told himself not to back down even when Jakub turned his steel gaze on him. “I know ye’re right pissed at Barney with every reason to be. But it ain’t Zak’s fault. Makes the kids restless when mama and papa are fighting.”
“I’m not fighting with Hannah,” said Jakub, though his tone failed to reassure.
“Might want to let her know that, then.” Burke chewed his lip as he turned onto Kent. “Everyone’s on edge and they wanna know ye’re still on board. Kozlow won’t run like it has without you.”
Jakub frowned as he flicked ash out the window. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Burke pulled a doubtful face. “Yeah. Good.”
When they arrived at the Morey, Jakub followed Burke up to the penthouse. They had scaled back on their fraud operations in the past weeks, and it was a little early for Gertie and her sisters to have started, but Cheshire was there, dividing up rent payments like a proper landlord. His usually cheerful manners had been subdued somewhat ever since the masquerade heist, visible to everyone despite his efforts to hide it.
“Eggy! Jakub.” Cheshire motioned them into the office, his full, fake grin on display as he showed off his ledger. “Did you hear? The whole building is full up. We have a waiting list. Exciting, isn’t it?”
“That’s great news,” said Jakub, though with his usual deadpan inflection. “The new building permits went through, so the boss says they’ll start clearing the new land by summer.”
“Oh! Great.” Cheshire moved around the desk, flattening wrinkles out of his striped shirt and tie. Unusual not to see him in a vest or jacket. “We’ll be needing more book-keepers, then.
You’d better train them up good, Eggy.”
“The hell do you think I’ve been doing all this time?” Burke retorted, hoping to goad Cheshire into better spirits, by force if necessary. “I’m not here just to be charming, y’know.”
That got a laugh out of Cheshire, at least. “A lucky bonus, that,” he replied, and he mussed Burke’s hair.
“Bloom,” said Jakub, and both men flinched at the sudden gravity in his voice. He cleared his throat. “I need to talk to you.”
“In private?” Cheshire asked, and when Jakub nodded, he bobbed his head in reply, flustered. “Yeah, sure. Let’s head back to my place. I’ve, uh. There’s something I’ve got to show you, too.”
“All right.”
Jakub headed for the door. Cheshire lingered a moment to cast Burke a helpless look and a shrug. Burke raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “You need a chaperone?”
Cheshire laughed nervously. “We’ll be fine,” he said, and he hurried after Jakub, out of the penthouse.
Burke shook his head. “Good luck, kid,” he muttered, and he sank behind the desk to make sure Cheshire hadn’t made a mess of his ledger.
He hadn’t been at it for more than half an hour when the phone rang. He tucked his pen behind his ear and answered. “Burke here.”
“It’s Hannah,” she said, and Burke straightened up in his seat. “Is Jakub still there with you?”
“Somewhere.” Burke leaned forward to see out the office door. Gertie and the rest had shown up and he could hear them throughout the penthouse, but he hadn’t heard Jakub or Cheshire return from…wherever they’d run off to. Maybe I should check the ditches for Bloom, he thought. Or the alley below his balcony. Danowicz being in a mood and all. “What’s the matter?”
“Barney’s calling in the boys for a meeting,” said Hannah, with suitable apprehension. “I think he’s decided on the next job, and I wanted him to know as soon as I did.”
“Not making that mistake again, huh?” Burke replied, though he then immediately regretted it. “Sorry. What I mean is, I’ll grab Danowicz. Where is it?”
“In Maspeth, the usual spot. But come here first.” Hannah sighed. “I want to be able to talk to him before then.”
“Sure.” Burke drummed his fingers on the desk. “Bloom, too?”
“…Bloom, too.”
“Roger that. We’ll see you soon.”
Burke hung up and headed into the living room to let
Gertie know she was in charge. Better get on it straight away, he thought as he rode the elevator down to the ground floor. Don’t want to give Danowicz any reason to think we’re keeping things from him, after the last time.
Burke crossed the street to Cheshire’s building and hopped up the steps to his floor. He was still debating on how to best relay the information as he reached Cheshire’s door and rapped with his knuckles. “Bloom? Been murdered yet?”
He heard voices inside the apartment, but nothing that was meant for him. It sounded like an argument, and when pressing his ear to the wood didn’t make it any clearer, he tried the knob and found it unlocked. Burke to the rescue, he thought, twisting the door open. “Bloom?”
“Just stop,” Jakub was saying angrily. Burke followed his voice toward the bedroom. “Stop it, you’re making it worse!”
“Then you stop!” Cheshire retorted. “I can’t see what you’re doing!”
The hell? Burke frowned as he pushed at the partially open bedroom door. “Hey, Bloom?”
Burke got a good look at the room and stopped dead. Of all the things he had expected to find, he never would have predicted that.
They were in bed together, Cheshire on his back and Jakub leaning over him, naked—one hundred percent buck naked, sweat in their hair, limbs tangled, dicks out. Jakub whipped toward him, eyes bulging in shock; the movement yanked Cheshire’s head along, and he cursed loudly. Burke was so overcome with surprise that it took him a while to realize what they had been arguing about: Cheshire’s long hair was clogged up in the wrist of Jakub’s prosthetic.
“Who’s there?” Cheshire called, squinting and panicked. The sound of his voice startled Burke out of his stupor; he retreated, slamming the door shut behind him.
They ’re fucking. Burke steepled both hands over his mouth and nose as the realization flooded over him. Oh fuck, they ’re fucking. And of all the crazy extrapolations and unwanted images that fact could have inspired, the first thought to dominate his whirling mind was, Kozlow is fucked.
It suddenly made a lot of sense, despite the utter insanity of it. All those times Jakub left the building “to keep an eye on Bloom.” The overly exuberant grins Cheshire plastered all over his face that Burke had been attributing to nerves around the perpetually murder-ready Jakub. Finding them drunkenly spooning in the penthouse after the Manhattan dinner party— Burke could have boxed his own ears for being so stupid, how had he ever missed it? Who knew? Not Barney, certainly, or there would have been blood by then, or would be if he ever found out.
Why didn’t that piece of shit tell me? Burke thought, and his chest grew tight and hot.
He could hear hissing voices and a series of clumsy thumps within the bedroom. Bloody hell, he thought, rubbing his face. He took three steps forward, turned around, and faced the door with his arms crossed.
The door opened and Cheshire appeared. He looked utterly ridiculous: dressed in a robe and his glasses at least, sheepish and concerned, and disturbingly enough carrying Jakub’s disconnected arm still attached to a lock of his hair. His thin, bashful smile which used to be so charming filled Burke with irritation. “H…Hey, Eggy.”
Arms still crossed, Burke gave a sharp shrug. “What the fuck, Bloom?”
“Don’t…” Cheshire stepped out of the room and tugged the door quickly shut behind him. Burke caught only a glimpse of Jakub shoving his arm into a shirt further inside. “Now, don’t blow a valve,” Cheshire said, gesturing for calm with his free hand. He maneuvered around Burke and motioned toward the kitchen. “Come sit down.”
“Seriously, though,” Burke insisted, though he followed Cheshire to the table. “What the fuck, Bloom! What did I just walk in on?”
“Uh…birds and bees?” Cheshire herded Burke into a chair and then moved around the kitchen, searching his drawers. “I know what you’re thinking: Barney would kill me.”
“Ye’re damn right that’s what I’m thinking!” Burke exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “What would possess you to—” He screwed his face up and he gave it a rub before trying again. “Let me guess: that night at the Morey? All that booze?”
“Uh…” Cheshire gathered a collection of tools—a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, a knife—and joined Burke at the kitchen table. “Actually…longer than that,” he confessed, and he had the decency to let some of his false humor peel off.
Burke eyed him. “How long?”
“Well…” Cheshire gulped and hesitantly met his gaze. “Since his accident.”
Burke blinked at him, and that tightness returned, hard and angry and…hurt. “You…you asshole, that was more than two years ago!”
The bedroom door opened, and both men startled. Jakub emerged, dressed in an undershirt and slacks, suspenders hanging loose. His face was devil-red and eyes dark as he moved stiffly to the kitchen table and sat down next to Cheshire.
Burke held still, watching Jakub like a hawk. Half of him really believed Jakub might cut his throat like a stray witness, and he gulped. “So,” he said, gaze darting between them. “Who knows?”
“Just you, now,” said Cheshire as he tried to get the prosthetic to lay flat. He had to lean forward and looked ridiculous for it. “Well, no, Grace knows.”
“Miklos,” Jakub muttered, and he turned the arm so the inside of its forearm was straight up.
“Right! Grace and Miklos. That’s…pretty much it.”
Burke waited a few beats, convinced that more names would pour out of them. “So,” he said slowly. “Not Hannah.”
Jakub tensed, but he refused to look in Burke’s direction. He devoted himself only to holding the arm steady as Cheshire unscrewed the arm plate. “Not Hannah,” Cheshire said, worry overtaking the rest of his embarrassment. “I guess it’s too much to ask that you won’t tell her, huh?”
Burke glared at him in exasperation. “Tell her?” he repeated, temper rising again. “Tell her what? That you’re fooling around behind everyone’s back, willing to risk busting up this entire operation for some quick fucks?”
Jakub sank deeper into his shoulders as he began the slow process of trying to untangle Cheshire’s hair from the gears in his wrist one-handed. His jaws were clenched so hard Burke wouldn’t have been surprised to see cracks form in his cheeks. More disturbing than that was how quiet Cheshire fell. “It’s not about that,” Cheshire said, and God help them, he looked sincere. “This is serious.”
Burke leaned back and glared at the both of them together. Cheshire stared back, imploring, but Jakub still wouldn’t lift his head; though focused entirely on the tedious work in front of him, he was all but bristling.
His hand is shaking, Burke realized, and he suddenly had no idea what to think or even who to trust. Watching Cheshire’s concerned, affectionate gaze slide to Jakub made everything fall out of sense. How did I not know? he thought, gulping. No—how could anyone have guessed? His eyes narrowed on Cheshire. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think it would do anyone any good,” replied Cheshire. “And I didn’t want you to have to lie for me.”
“But lying to me, that’s all fine and dandy, is it?”
Cheshire sighed. “Eggy—”
“No—no more ‘but Eggy.’” Burke pushed out of his chair. “How long were you planning on keeping it a secret, then? Until Barney himself walked in on ya? He thinks Danowicz is his right hand and that ye’re in cahoots with Masterson trying to oust him.”
“That’s ridiculous,” said Cheshire, frustrated. “If I wanted that, I would have done it by now—you know that.”
“So I’ll just tell him that, yeah?” Burke shot back. “He’ll listen to me? I’m telling you, if he finds out the two of ye’re bacon’n eggs, Brooklyn is gonna explode.”
“Then he won’t find out,” Cheshire insisted. He put his hand to the table as if ready to stand, only to remember Jakub’s arm was still dangling from his scalp. “We’ll be more careful.”
“You ought to just end it. There’s no telling—”
“No,” said Jakub, and Cheshire and Burke both stopped to stare. He was gripping the lock of Cheshire’s hair tight, his fist trembling.
Burke swallowed again, and his stomach clenched. “Fuck this,” he muttered at last, and he rubbed his face with both hands. “Fuck me.” He turned away. “Eggy—Burke—wait!” Cheshire tried to follow, only to stop short at the yank on his hair. “Wait—I’m sorry, all right? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
Burke shook his head, but he did pause to look over his shoulder. “Barney’s called a meeting in Maspeth. He wants you both there. It’s probably a job.”
“Any idea what?” asked Cheshire.
“No.” Burke ran his hand through his hair and then continued on. “I’ll see you there.”
“Eggy—” Cheshire tried again, but Burke didn’t stop that time. He left the apartment and slammed the door behind him harder than he’d meant to. The sound of it startled him, and he rushed to the elevator, not allowing himself even one meaningful thought until he had retreated back to his office in the Morey penthouse.
They ’re really fucking, Burke thought, leaning over his desk as he tried to scratch the image out of his skull. Are they really steady? Have been all this time? He glared at the papers in front of him in confusion. Since the accident? When Bloom almost killed him? Christ, how does that even make sense?
Burke glanced away, and his attention sharpened on the phone. If Barney thinks Bloom is trying to jump ship to Manhattan and taking Danowicz with him, that won’t be the end of it. He’ll be looking my way next. He licked his lips. My neck is on the line here, too. He should have told me.
Burke snatched up the receiver and dialed before he could talk himself out of it. He thumped his fingers on the desk while he waited for Hannah to pick up. Finally, she did. “Zak here.”
“It’s Burke,” he said, and he squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m heading back there. There’s something you should know.”
***
Jakub pulled his hand back; it was shaking too hard for him to make much progress, and he had no choice but to abandon the rest of the untangling to Cheshire. “He’s going to tell everyone,” he said.
“He’s not going to tell everyone,” replied Cheshire immediately. He followed each remaining strand down to the springs and unwound them as quickly but carefully as possible. “Try to calm down.”
Jakub scraped the back of his palm across his mouth. He’s going to tell everyone, he thought, shuddering. He’s right; Barney will have a fit. “Chesh—”
“It’s all right,” Cheshire reassured him. He diverted one hand from his work to give Jakub’s a quick squeeze. “He’s not going to tell. I’m almost done here and then I’ll go talk to him some more.”
Jakub shook his head, but he didn’t know what else to say. Having been caught in such a compromising position was already mortifying enough that he was light-headed—knowing that he might soon have to go over the same conversation with Hannah or worse was nauseating. All the questions they would ask—all the assumptions and accusations—
“I shouldn’t have come here today,” Jakub mumbled, still shaking as he drew his suspenders up. “This was stupid.”
“Calm down,” Cheshire said again. He reached for the scissors and then decided against them, continuing with his fingers instead. “You don’t have to jump to conclusions.”
“But what if Barney finds out?” Jakub pressed. “What about the boss—what about Masterson? What do you think they’ll do, knowing we’re…”
“I have no idea!” Cheshire gave his face a rub, getting grease on his chin, and then chuckled in a desperate attempt to cover up his own anxiety. “Never let us hear the end of it, probably. Stop worrying so much.”
He freed the last of his hair and sat back with a long, relieved sigh. “Ow, shit.” He rubbed his neck and combed his hair back with his fingers. “Careful with that thing next time.”
Jakub tensed defensively as he dragged the arm over to him. “You should be more worried,” he retorted. “Things are bad enough right now, and they’re about to get worse.”
“I don’t see how.” Cheshire laughed again as he pushed to his feet, but it was less and less convincing. For the first time, Jakub couldn’t stand the sound of it. “I’m already as far out of the loop as it gets.”
He headed toward the bedroom; Jakub hastily reattached his prosthetic and gave chase. “It can get worse,” Jakub insisted. “Now that Barney’s got that fancy revolver of his, he thinks you’re replaceable. And Masterson doesn’t like the idea of anything he can’t control.”
“I know!” Cheshire hurried ahead as if trying to escape, not that Jakub would allow it. He tossed his robe on the bed and began picking up his discarded clothing. “I know, I get it—Barney hates me. But he’s always hated me! And nothing I’ve done has helped, so I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it.”
Jakub stood back as he watched Cheshire yank his shirt and pants on. I don’t know, either, he realized, and it frightened him enough that he wished he was wearing a gun. “What if there isn’t anything you can do?”
“Then, hell, I don’t know that either, Jake.” He tossed Jakub’s turtleneck to him. “What am I supposed to say?”
Jakub caught it and put it on, but the stall didn’t help as much as he’d hoped. As he bent down to lace his boots, he found himself saying, “Burke said we should just stop.”
Cheshire stopped midway through knotting his tie. After a pause he continued. “Is that what you want?”
“No.” Jakub straightened back up, but he was afraid to look at whatever face Cheshire might have been making. “Unless, you…?”
“No,” Cheshire said quickly, but then he sighed. “I’ll talk to him. We can worry about the rest later.”
That’s what you always say, Jakub thought, but he kept it to himself, too ill to risk an argument. He waited for Cheshire to finish dressing and then followed him out of the apartment without another word.
Burke wasn’t in the penthouse. According to Gertie he had been in the office only a few minutes before rushing out again. Cheshire had no more words of reassurance and encouragement as he and Jakub made their way out of the building.
“Should I take you home?” he offered, at a loss. “If he’s gone back to tell Hannah…”
“I don’t want to talk to her,” Jakub said quickly. “Either she’ll tell Barney or she won’t.” He shifted back and forth on the sidewalk. “Let’s just go to Maspeth.”
“All right.”
They took Cheshire’s car and drove the way in near silence. Jakub spent the time stretching his imagination: he tried to envision the different possible scenarios, from dreadful to disastrous, and the many ways he might be called upon to defend himself and Cheshire. If they had accepted Cheshire, from the start, I wouldn’t have needed to lie, he told himself, not that he could imagine ever confessing the truth of his feelings to the rest of Kozlow under any circumstances. If they accuse us of siding with Manhattan, I’ll kill Masterson if I have to. Whatever it takes. He glanced to Cheshire as they sped across town. No one hurts him.
Cheshire was equally lost in thought, but his gaze was so blank and distant, Jakub felt his confidence waver. What if he’s thinking about what Burke said? he wondered. What if we just…stopped? But the thought left him cold and distraught and he couldn’t follow that line of logic to any useful conclusion.
They reached Barney’s building in Maspeth and found a trio of his new “henchmen,” courtesy of O’Shea in Chicago, rolling dice on the stoop. They looked up and fixed the approaching pair with looks of distrust; a harder glare from Jakub convinced them to gather up their dice and winnings.
“Where’s the boss?” asked Jakub, and one of them gave him a thumb’s down. He and Cheshire stepped past them into the building and descended the stairs into the basement.
Barney was already in the cellar beneath a collection of bare bulbs, chatting excitedly with Leon. “Of course it’s going to work,” he was saying as the pair of them leaned over a map spread out on the table at the room’s center. “What do you think I did all that testing for?” He glanced up as Jakub and Cheshire entered. “Jakub! Bloom! Get over here and tell me what you think.”
He doesn’t know yet, Jakub thought, and a quick glance around the cellar showed that they had beaten Hannah and Burke. He couldn’t bring himself to relax even an inch knowing they could arrive at any minute, but he heeded Barney’s gesturing and approached the table.
“Déjà vu,” Cheshire teased as he followed a step behind. “What’s the great plan this time, Barney?”
Barney wrangled in a bitter scowl. “Don’t be a dick, Bloom, you’re gonna love this.” He pointed to the map.
Jakub leaned over the map and followed Barney’s finger to a building in Staten Island, which had dollar signs scrawled over top it.
Cheshire started laughing. He sounded a little manic and it made Jakub’s skin crawl. “A bank,” said Cheshire, all out of incredulity. “You’re gonna rob a bank.”
“We are gonna rob a bank,” Barney declared, so absurdly proud of himself that Jakub wanted to slap the smug off his face. “I want you there for this one, Bloom. No more sidelines.”
Cheshire shoved his hands in his pockets. Whatever he might have been thinking, he was still smiling. “Well, sure,” he said. “What’s a bank vault if not a very big safe? Makes perfect sense.”
“Isn’t that a little much, even for us?” asked Jakub. “You’ll bring down every cop in New York on us.”
“We have a plan,” Leon chipped in, which drew another chuckle from Cheshire. He made a face at him. “We do! When everyone gets here, we’ll tell you.”
“What does Manhattan say about it?” Jakub pressed, and just as he’d feared, Barney smirked.
“Why should they have anything to say about it?” replied Barney. “We won’t go anywhere near their turf.”
Here it comes. Jakub heard the door at the top of the stairs creak open and gulped. We go to war.
Before he could voice further concerns, Cheshire started laughing again, and Jakub cast him a glare. What the hell is the matter with him? “It’s not funny,” he said. “The deal was ‘anything outside Brooklyn’ they get a say in. If we go through with this Lucky won’t stay quiet.”
“So what if she doesn’t?” said Barney. “I’m not scared of them. I know for a fact they still have their share of the Hallorran take at the Thrones.” He puffed himself up. “If they try anything, I’ll just sneak a tip to that marshal and have her take care of it.”
“Did you forget that they already have leverage over the marshal?” Jakub turned on Cheshire, who was still entirely too amused for his liking. “Cheshire, say something.”
Cheshire shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it ‘leverage’,” he said. “All they did was pay off a witness and then paid them more to recant.” Jakub glared, but by then there were footsteps reaching the bottom stairs, and he couldn’t help but divert his attention.
Hannah entered. Her face was already hard as if she were bracing herself, and she immediately sought Jakub’s eye. He turned back toward the map. This isn’t the time for that, he thought determinedly. She wouldn’t really tell him in these circumstances, would she?
Burke entered a step behind. He stayed close to Hannah as they joined Barney at the table, followed by the rest of their best Kozlow and Szpliman men, and a few of the new recruits. Barney gathered himself up as everyone’s attention turned on him. “This is going to be our most ambitious job yet,” he declared. “Real outlaws, like those assholes down south, or the cowboys out west. No one will question what we’re capable of after this.”
Hannah cast another long look at Jakub before wrangling her attention to Barney. “What’s the plan?”
“The job is the Staten Island branch of the First National Bank.” Barney pointed it out on the map, and the newcomers leaned in for a closer look. A mix of excited and wary expressions watched Barney continue. “We’ll hit it before closing, before they’ve had time to move all the money from the tellers to the vault. Take the truck and two cars. The truck will be a decoy—we’ll load it up with vegetable crates, and drive it across the bridge into Jersey once we have the money. If the cops try to road block us, we’ll have them busy for an hour opening them up.”
Jakub glanced to Cheshire, who was listening with a flat smile in place. Is that what Barney wants him for? he wondered. Cheshire Bloom leaving the site of a robbery with a truck full of sealed crates would be too much of a temptation for any cop. “As for the actual money,” Barney continued, “we’ll split it up between the cars and take two routes to the river. There’ll be a boat there that can take the goods up the river— slowly. It’ll be dark by the time it arrives in Brooklyn and we can unload without anyone the wiser.”
Barney straightened up and looked over the assembly. “Unless someone has a better idea?” he challenged. His eyes narrowed. “Burke?”
Burke, showing uncharacteristic restraint, shrugged. “All seems straightforward to me.”
Barney waited a moment as if suspecting an actual complaint would follow, and when none did, he shifted focus. “Bloom?”
“No, it sounds good,” said Cheshire. “Honestly, I’m impressed.”
“…Good.” Barney cleared his throat and carried on. “Since this is a bigger job than usual, in a new place, we’ll be masked up. The last thing we need is someone being identified. That goes double for Bloom.”
“I can be subtle, don’t worry.”
Jakub frowned at the rest of the room. Everyone seemed far too all right with the plan, and following Barney into their most dangerous job to date. The lack of any meaningful critique from Hannah, Cheshire, or especially Burke, set him on edge. He took a deep breath. “The plan is sound but I don’t see how this is necessary in the first place. What do we need the money for?”
“For our new buildings, of course,” Barney replied. “But it’s not just about the money.” His brow furrowed with determination. “Everyone has to know they can’t fuck with us.” Jakub leaned back. He looked to the map, then to each attentive face; though he couldn’t point to any particular aspect of Barney’s intended plan as a fatal flaw, he couldn’t quell his ill ease. Am I just worried about Burke and Hannah? he thought, forcing himself to look at them. Both seemed determined not to meet his gaze. If they tell Barney about us, what will he do?
“When do we hit?” asked Hannah.
“Tomorrow.” Realizing that no one was going to question him after all, Barney regained his earlier bravado. “Stas and I have already timed the route by boat, but we’ll take it out again tonight to be sure.”
“Who’s going to be where?” asked Jakub, thinking there might be one more detail he was missing that would illuminate Barney’s motives.
Barney nodded. “Bloom will drive the truck,” he said. “Leon will go with him.” He pointed to two of the Szpilman boys. “Stas will stay with the boat, while Nowak and Gorski will drive the getaway cars. Hannah, Jakub, Bloom and I will handle the heist itself.” He eyed Burke across the table. “Burke, too.”
Burke stiffened, but then Barney laughed shortly. “Lighten up—I’m kidding. Edith’s daughters will man our pier for when the boat comes in. Burke can stay here and count the money.” He snorted. “That’s what you do best, right?”
“…Sure.” Burke thumbed his nose, but it was clear his usual bite was lacking. Barney almost looked disappointed.
“Then we’ll meet tomorrow to prepare,” said Hannah, pushing the meeting past it. “Unless anyone has questions, we should all get back to work for now.”
No one had anything else to offer, so Barney dismissed them. Cheshire took the chance to head out first, chatting to no one in particular about how disappointing it would be to have to hide his identity. Jakub quickly followed, goosebumps on his skin. He felt Hannah fall into step behind him, but it wasn’t until they reached the upper floor that she caught up and took him by the elbow.
“Jakub,” she said, her tone unmistakably serious. “Can I talk—”
Jakub yanked his arm free and kept walking without looking back. “Not now.”
But she wouldn’t be deterred that easily; she continued after him, catching up again just inside the door leading out. Jakub didn’t mean to stop, but Cheshire did, leaving the three of them to cluster awkwardly. “Let me give you a ride home,” she said. “We need to talk.”
“We don’t need to talk,” Jakub insisted, though he couldn’t bring himself to look her in the face. “And I have things to do.”
“I can drop him off later,” said Cheshire, trying so hard to sound casual that it came out extra guilty.
Hannah shot him a glare so hard he flinched. “I need to talk to you, too.”
“No, you don’t,” said Jakub. He took a step closer to Cheshire and rallied his courage enough to meet Hannah’s stare. “Either you need to talk to Barney, or we don’t talk about it at all.”
Hannah leaned back, her severity easing down in favor of hurt. Behind her, Burke and the rest of the boys started to emerge, and she cast them a quick, anxious look. “Later, then,” she said, meaning it for both of them, and then she stepped back.
Jakub pushed past Cheshire and out of the building. The rush of morning sunlight wasn’t as much of a comfort as he’d hoped. His hands were shaking. With a deep breath he headed straight for Cheshire’s car and let himself into the passenger seat, determined not to say another word to anyone.
***
Cheshire followed Jakub out, but at a much slower pace. He made it out of the building but not much further; Hannah and Burke were lingering just behind, and unlike Jakub, he couldn’t just walk away. Out on the sidewalk he turned to face them.
“Hey, Hannah,” he said. He looked pointedly at Burke. “Thanks, Eggy.”
Burke puffed up indignantly. “Ye’ve got something to say to me now, have you?” he shot back, though he was squirming. “We tell each other things?”
“Bloom,” Hannah interrupted them, and as much as Cheshire tried not to be affected by her disapproval, her hard stare had his stomach in knots. “Please. Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
“I dunno,” Cheshire admitted. “I kinda did until this morning.”
“I’m being serious.” With the rest of Barney’s men making their way outside, she moved right up to him so she could lower her voice. “Please don’t make everything worse. You know what would happen if everyone else knew.”
“So don’t tell anyone,” said Cheshire. “It’s that easy.”
Hannah sighed. “It’s not, and you of all people should know that.”
“I don’t know what that means, but it really is.” If they lingered any longer they were going to start drawing attention, so Cheshire took a step back and shrugged. “If you tell him and he shoots me for it, I’ll be back to haunt you.”
“Bloom,” Hannah said crossly, but Cheshire turned and headed quickly to his car. By the time Barney himself had emerged from the building, Cheshire and Jakub were speeding away.
Jakub hunkered down in the passenger side and was very still, as if attempting to make himself disappear. “What did Hannah say?”
“Nothing important.” Cheshire pushed down the accelerator and then had to warn himself not to get carried away, however quickly his heart was pounding for escape. “Try to relax—she’s not going to tell anyone.”
“What if she doesn’t have to?” Jakub asked, though Cheshire wasn’t sure what he meant until he continued. “I’m worried about this job. Why is Barney suddenly so interested in you being there?”
Cheshire shrugged. He still wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it himself. “It’s a bank vault. Even he has to admit he’ll need the extra firepower if he wants in.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Me, neither, but it’s not as if…” Cheshire pushed his bangs back. The stresses of the morning were already piling up and he couldn’t lose his cool, not in front of Jakub. “You worry too much. We’ve had a lot of jobs go sideways but they always right themselves in the end. It’ll be fine.”
“And Manhattan?” Jakub pressed. “You’ve always said we can’t go behind Lucky’s back.”
“And I still believe that, but it’s not really our call. I’m not about to run out and tattle on Barney now.” Cheshire snorted. “If he wants a war, maybe it’s time he got one. I won’t shed any tears over Herb if he catches one of Barney’s fancy bullets.”
Jakub went quiet for a moment, and as usual, Cheshire had a hard time interpreting his steady expression. “What?”
“You saved Masterson’s life,” Jakub reminded him. He sounded like he was waiting for something; it dug under Cheshire’s skin. “You could have had a place in their gang at one point.”
“Yeah, and it turns out he’s a dirtbag, so what?” Cheshire scrubbed at his mouth, reminded of the heat of the sigil flashing across his face. “He’s a back-stabber, Barney’s a jerk who hates me—it’s almost like I can’t win!” He laughed, though he stopped when he caught a glimpse of the suddenly easy-to-translate concern on Jakub’s face. “Well, what does it matter? I’m just going to keep my head down and follow orders from now on. A good little soldier.”
“Right…” Jakub sighed and shook his head. “How did you ever end up with Kozlow in the first place?”
Cheshire hummed. “Is that rhetorical?” he asked. “Honestly, I just kind of fell into it, same as you. It’s been pretty rough at times, but…that’s the business, right? We’re criminals.” He shrugged. “It’s, you know, it keeps me on my toes. They wouldn’t be making talkies about us if everything went right all the time.”
“This isn’t Chicago Smoke,” Jakub retorted. “I’m really worried that…” He trailed off, his eye having caught on the name of the cross streets they had stopped at. “Are you taking me back to the Kozlow building?”
“Yes? I said I would.”
Jakub shifted in his seat. “Let’s just go to your place,” he said. “I’d rather avoid everyone if I can.”
For once, the idea made Cheshire anxious rather than excited. “Is that really a good idea? If they go looking for you and you’re with me? Seems kind of like…throwing salt on a wound.” He didn’t like the look Jakub was fixing on him, so he added, “There’s something I have to do today.”
Jakub didn’t blink. “What?”
Cheshire came close to lying; guilt course corrected him to a half truth. “It’s in Manhattan.”
“Oh.” At last Jakub faced forward again. “Fine.”
Shit. Cheshire rubbed the back of his neck, but they were nearly at the building anyway. Coward, he thought as he pulled up to the curb. You just don’t want to have to face Hannah again if she comes looking for him.
Jakub climbed out of the car; he shut the door behind him and didn’t look back as he marched up to the steps. “I’ll call you later!” Cheshire called after him, but Jakub spared only a short glance before continuing inside.
Cheshire sighed and put the car back in drive. Coward, he chided himself again, and he headed west.
The Manhattan streets were fairly quiet that morning; it was late enough that the reputable businesses were up and running, not late enough for lunches to be served. Cheshire parked in a side street and walked to a small café he had visited several times over the last three years. He was early, so he ordered a coffee and picked a table in the corner that offered the most amount of privacy. After about an hour of chatting up the waitress, the door jingled with an incoming guest.
Grace entered the café in a bright, spring sundress, and with her came another pair of women: Thea Hallorran in a lighter version of her usual pants suit, along with red-haired, stony-faced Millie Tighe.
Cheshire stood. Even after hearing Jakub’s account of the masquerade heist, he hadn’t been able to wrap his mind around the thought of seeing Millie Tighe again: stocky, angry Millie, who he had last seen swallowed up by a fireball of his own making. She was wearing a long sleeved, collared shirt, gloves on her hands, but he had spent enough time with Jakub to recognize the prosthetic replacing her right arm.
The three women approached, and Cheshire kept his expression as humble and neutral as possible. None of them looked particularly happy to see him, even if Grace displayed some sympathy. She reached the table first and allowed Cheshire to kiss her cheek in greeting. “Hi, Cheshire. I got them here for you.”
“Thanks.” He frowned when he realized. “You’re not gonna stay?”
“No, not this time,” said Grace apologetically. “I have a real date.”
More like, Emma doesn’t want her near me, Cheshire assumed, not that he could blame her. “All right. See you later.”
He suddenly didn’t feel like he would, and Grace must have felt it, too, because her smile became a wince. “Good luck,” she said, and she showed herself off.
Cheshire took a deep breath as he faced his remaining guests. “Ms. Hallorran,” he said, and he held her chair for her. “Thank you for coming even after hearing it was me.”
Hallorran snorted quietly as she took her seat. “It’s a little late for apologies,” she said, “but I’ll hear what you have to say.”
“I appreciate it.” Cheshire glanced to Millie, but she sat down before he could consider offering her the same courtesy. Gulping, he took his seat. “Ms. Tighe.”
“Bloom,” Millie replied icily. She settled in with her arms crossed.
“When Millie heard who I was meeting, she insisted on coming,” Hallorran explained. “She’s been with us for a few years now, working to pay off the operation we performed for her. I knew a few of the particulars about her accident, but not the most important one.” She raised an eyebrow at Cheshire. “I understand you haven’t seen each other in a long time.”
“About five years,” Cheshire confirmed. It might not have been wise, but he added, “You probably won’t believe me, but I’m glad to see you, Millie. I didn’t know you were still alive.”
Millie scoffed mightily. “Because I was weighing on your conscience, huh? You’re right—I don’t believe that.” She fixed him with a hateful glare. “I’m sure you didn’t feel bad about killing my brother, either.”
Cheshire grimaced as the waitress headed their way with a coffee pot. “If it makes you feel any better, he gave me this,” he said, tracing the scar that ran up his left cheek to his ear.
“It doesn’t,” said Millie. “But good.”
The waitress poured coffee for each of them, eyebrows raised at the tense atmosphere. Cheshire tried to reassure her with a smile that lasted only until her back was turned. “You were right, Thea,” he said, and though she made a face at him, he continued. “It’s a little late for apologies. I know you’ve got no good reason to trust a word out of my mouth, but I wanted you to know.” He faced them seriously. “That robbery on the docks wasn’t our idea. Jakub and I didn’t know you were involved at all until the middle of it.”
“Danowicz was there,” Millie insisted while Hallorran watched him, thoughtful. “He almost shot me.”
“I know! I know, but it wasn’t us.” Cheshire turned his full focus to Hallorran herself. “You know how much we value our cooperation. Neither of us would have taken part if we’d known who we were stealing from.”
“I want to believe that,” Hallorran said, and her anger seemed more and more like a strained front she was putting on. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you and your gang did steal from me. And you’re not the first one to try and pass off responsibility.”
Cheshire leaned back, baffled. “What?”
“I met with Camila Reynoso not long after that night,” said Hallorran, and Cheshire felt himself grow pale. “She returned three of our stolen items and insisted they had no idea that we were the target of Kozlow’s robbery.”
“That’s…” Cheshire stared back at her, too flabbergasted even to be angry at first. “Masterson knew from the beginning— he told me so himself.”
Hallorran and Millie both were quiet for a long moment, watching and judging him—long enough that Cheshire felt the color return to his cheeks with a rush of heat. But it wouldn’t do him any good to let his temper show in front of them; he took a breath to force calm. “I understand how it must look,” he said carefully. “But I hope you’re not going to take their word over mine. We have a history.”
“We do,” said Hallorran, and her brow knit with what seemed like sincere regret. “We did.”
“But you’re not here to return our stolen merchandise, are you?” challenged Millie.
“…No.” Cheshire couldn’t help but cringe at the thought of Barney packing up his new guns for the promised heist. “That’s not my call to make.”
Hallorran nodded, disappointed but unsurprised. “I can’t say we don’t deserve it,” she admitted, and when Millie started to protest, she set a hand on her shoulder to quiet her. “We were smuggling those guns instead of selling them for a reason, after all. You could say we played with fire and got burned.”
Millie snorted loudly, but then she doused further complaints in a long gulp of coffee. “However,” Hallorran continued, and Cheshire’s shoulders fell, “if that’s the case, I’m sure you can understand why I can’t risk continuing any kind of relationship with you and your friends. You obviously have no protection to offer. If your own people don’t trust you enough to keep you informed, how can I trust you?”
“I understand, but…” Cheshire licked his lips. “I’m sorry to lose that, I truly am,” he tried again. “But it’s Jakub that matters to me more. If something happens to his arm, you’re the only one he can go to.”
“If he breaks it, he’s welcome to purchase a replacement like anyone else,” said Hallorran. “With cash.”
Cheshire relaxed with a bittersweet smile. “Thank you,” he said, meaning it so completely that Hallorran seemed taken aback. “That’s all I ask.”
Hallorran cleared her throat. “Then I suppose that’s all there is to discuss,” she said, and she pushed to her feet with Millie close behind. “Take care of yourself, Mr. Bloom.” She allowed a bit of levity back into her tone. “And if you can possibly help it, stay out of my business from now on?”
“If I possibly can,” Cheshire agreed, and when they shook hands, he gave hers a gentle squeeze. “And you be careful, too. If Camila really said she didn’t know about the river, she lied.”
Hallorran’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded. “You don’t have to worry about us,” she reassured him. “We’re not as green as we seem.”
She turned to go, but Millie wasn’t so easily dismissed; she glared at Cheshire down her nose. “If I ever see you again, I’m gonna pay you back for Charlie,” she said. “So watch yourself.”
Cheshire held his hands up in surrender. “I get it. I really don’t want any more trouble for you, Millie.” Millie eyed him a moment longer, and with one final snort she turned on her heel and left.
Cheshire sank back in his chair with a sigh. I guess that went as well as it could have, he thought. He drank the rest of his coffee, then Hallorran’s untouched mug, and left a generous tip before finally showing himself out.
By the time Cheshire returned to the car, he had lost all inkling of where he intended to go. He sat behind the wheel for a while, sick from too much coffee and wishing he hadn’t dismissed Jakub so quickly.
Burke’s pissed now, but he’ll get over it, Cheshire told himself as he sank deeper and deeper into his seat. He’ll realize why we had to keep it secret. Grace… Maybe Emma will keep her away, but I can’t blame either of them for that. Most people aren’t friends with their ex-lovers anyway. Hallorran will still take care of Jakub if he needs it, that’s all that matters. Herb and Lucky are both sellouts trying to drive a wedge between me and Barney, but…I knew that. I knew that was how this would go from the start. Right? Maybe if I was better at this, I’d be trying to do the same thing. Barney has to see that, too. Right?
Cheshire took his glasses off so he could rub his eyes. He was tired, bone tired, small and sorry for himself. Coward, he thought. With a deep breath he forced himself to put the car in drive. You’re a famous outlaw, just like you always wanted. People know and fear you enough to be your enemy. Isn’t that what infamy is? He pulled out of the side street and started driving without any particular destination in mind. Even if they don’t like you, they ’ll remember you.
At long last, Cheshire turned down the next street that would take him back toward the bridge to Brooklyn. This job will settle it, he thought with determination. I’ll just play ball and everything will work out.
***
Jakub managed to avoid Hannah and Burke for the rest of the day. He stopped in his apartment only long enough to call Miklos, giving him a brief summary of the events of the morning. He then promptly ignored Miklos’ advice of talking to Hannah and wandered the sidewalks, smoking down what remained of his cigarettes, ducking into small shops and diners when paranoia got the better of him.
Outside himself, he knew there were smarter and likely necessary ways to deal with the revelations of the morning. He didn’t return home until after sunset and went straight to bed without knowing if Cheshire had tried to call him.
In the morning, Jakub roused early and left out the fire escape. Afterward he felt like a fool, so he went to the diner across the street for breakfast. If a conversation was meant to happen, someone would find him, he told himself. He would leave it to fate.
The bell over the door jingled when Jakub was nearing the end of his breakfast. He held his breath but didn’t look up. They have until the coffee is gone, he thought, but when someone did slide into the booth opposite him, he was startled to see a gnarled hand gripping the end of a cane. At last he lifted his head.
Kasper Kozlow sat across from him. Jakub glanced to the door and out the window, expecting to see Hannah or even Barney hovering nearby, but other than a pair of sleepy customers and the diner staff, they were alone. Jakub took a long sip of his coffee. Even if Hannah wouldn’t have told Barney, would she have told the boss? he thought, aching and anxious. Kasper didn’t look disappointed or cross enough for that, but Jakub was hard-pressed to keep from retreating out of the diner entirely.
“Jakub,” said Kasper by way of greeting, and he lifted a hand toward the waitress. She headed over with a fresh mug and the coffee pot. “I trust you have a moment?”
Jakub nudged his mug toward the edge of the table in hopes of a refill as well. “Yes, sir. Can I help you?”
“I wanted to talk to you about the job tonight,” said Kasper, seemingly unconcerned about the waitress overhearing as she poured their drinks. “This is an important step for us, and one not likely to be repeated anytime soon. It needs to go smoothly.”
The waitress moved on, and Jakub took another long sip of the fresh coffee. “Everything Barney described sounds on the level,” he said diplomatically. “If we can follow the route down to the river once or twice before the job, that should be fine.” He watched Kasper over the lip of his mug, judging. He can’t know. This can’t be about Cheshire and I. “Though if you’ll excuse me for saying so…I’m surprised you gave your consent for this job at all. We don’t need this payout.”
“It’s about the statement as much as the reward,” Kasper admitted. “With this job, we’ll have the clout necessary to take a final stand against Manhattan. Then things can go back to normal for a while.”
“Normal,” Jakub repeated doubtfully. “If Barney is able to rob a bank, I can’t imagine he’ll stop at one.”
“He will if I tell him to,” Kasper replied, leaving no room for argument. “And I say we stop after this one.”
“…Of course.” Rather than risk betraying more of his concern, Jakub cleared his throat. “I’m relieved to hear that.”
Kasper nodded as if they had reached an understanding. “I wanted to talk to you specifically,” he admitted, and Jakub grew tense again. “I heard you had some disagreement with Barney after the Hallorran robbery.”
“I did,” Jakub admitted, though he was still deeply uncertain of how much was safe to share with Kasper. “He didn’t tell me who we were stealing from. I want to know the whole score before going into something, that’s all.”
Kasper nodded again. Was he so willing to forgive all slights? Though Jakub had only ever shown and felt as much respect for the man as was absolutely necessary, what little he held decreased. “That won’t be a problem going forward,” Kasper reassured him. “I’ve spoken to Hannah about it as well. I don’t want to hear any more about infighting or insecurity.”
“I understand, sir,” said Jakub, and he was surprised and disappointed by how oblivious Kasper was to his contempt. As if his leadership has ever amounted to anything, he thought bitterly. He has no idea what goes on in Kozlow.
“You know,” Kasper carried on thoughtfully, “I especially don’t want to see any tension between you and Hannah.” Jakub hid behind another sip of coffee. “I always hoped that the two of you might get closer with time. It would give me a lot of comfort to have you as family officially.”
Jakub choked and had to set his mug down. “You want me to marry Hannah?”
“Don’t look so embarrassed,” Kasper scolded him. “It would be a good match, if for no other reason than the convenience of it.” He paused a beat, waiting to read Jakub’s reaction. For once his feelings must have come through, as Kasper then sighed quietly through his nose. “But not all of this old man’s dreams can come true. As long as you can provide a good example to the rest of the family, that will do.”
Jakub leaned back; the rest of his appetite was finished.
“I’ll do my best, sir.”
“Good, good.” Kasper tugged out his wallet and counted out a few bills, enough to cover both of them. “Go on, then,” he said, motioning for Jakub to leave. “You’d better start getting ready for tonight.”
“…Yes, sir. Thank you.”
Jakub hurried out. It wasn’t until he was crossing the street that he finally spotted Hannah in the entranceway of the Kozlow building, waiting for him. As much as he wanted to ask what exactly she had told Kasper for him to feel his minor lecture necessary, he didn’t want to open the door to any further conversations.
“Good morning,” he greeted succinctly.
Hannah got the hint. “Good morning,” she said, and she motioned for them to move away from the building again. “I’m heading over to Staten Island to case the bank. We should go over the route.”
“All right,” said Jakub, and he followed her to her car.
They talked a bit about the job on the way over, but only that. The route Barney had laid out for the heist made sense; from the bank there were only a few turns to get onto the boulevard that would take them to a small, waterfront park. A few upscale homes had a more than decent view along the boulevard, but it would take a very dedicated river-watcher to glean any details of a troupe of robbers, given the distance, if anyone even cared to look. Jakub tucked a cigarette in his mouth and moved to the shore to look out over the water. The breeze from the northwest nudged him toward the bank and cooled the back of his neck. It was an eerie sensation.
“I haven’t been on a boat since I came over,” said Hannah. “Have you?”
“Not really.” Jakub struck a match and cupped his hand around it as he lit his cigarette. “I’d rather just drive one of the cars back.”
“That’s fine.” Hannah stepped closer, and Jakub braced himself. There was nowhere to run this time. “I remember when you first joined up,” she said. “Skin and bones, barely spoke, practically feral.” She smiled at him, but Jakub was too wary of the point she was going to make to think it sincere. “You haven’t changed a whole lot, but you have changed.”
“And?” asked Jakub. “You’re not going to propose, are you?”
Hannah sighed and rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe he said something. I want you to know I have nothing to do with that.”
“You’re sure?” Jakub pressed. He had the sudden thought that he couldn’t be sure of anything; he’d kept his torch for Cheshire hidden against all odds for nearly a decade, and he had no idea if anyone was capable of hiding the same.
“I’m very sure,” Hannah said, still trying to be serious and light at the same time. “Please, Jakub, you’re like a brother to me.” Some of the humor melted off. “You know I want you to have someone who makes you happy.”
Jakub tensed all over again, but before he could get any words out, Hannah continued. “I had a feeling you liked him, back when you were kids. I just thought…you grew out of it.”
Grew out of it? Jakub thought, sucking hard on his cigarette. The words gnawed at him more than he ever would have expected: grew out of it, as if Cheshire were a childish fantasy, or a bad habit that needed to be overcome. An inconvenient right of passage to take part in and then discard, like Leon had.
“I didn’t,” Jakub said coldly.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Hannah said quickly. Her shoes scraped on the sidewalk. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize, but I really wish you would have just told me.”
Jakub frowned as he was forced to remember the many times Miklos had advised him of the same. “I’m…sorry,” he said, uncertain if he really meant it. Even then he couldn’t imagine having ever told her by choice. “But it’s not like it would have made a difference. Barney’s never going to accept him.”
Hannah started to answer. Jakub could see the words in the pinch of her eyebrows, something like, he might have, if he’d known about you sooner. Or maybe, he would if Bloom wasn’t the way he is. Some kind of instinctual defense of her family she’d been using as armor for too long. Then she closed her mouth, let that go, and tried again. “Probably not,” she admitted. “Maybe it would be better if he just went over to Manhattan.”
Jakub flinched. “Burke told you that, too?”
“It’s not that I’m out to get him,” Hannah continued, taking a step closer. “I don’t want to see him get hurt any more than you do. Hell, he’s doing a fine job of managing the Downs; maybe he can just focus on that from now on. But he’s never really been one of us—if that hasn’t changed by now, I’m not sure it ever will.” She took Jakub’s shoulder; he held very still. “He’ll be fine on his own whatever he does, but we are family. We need to always remember what’s really important.”
Jakub stared straight ahead, once again taking in the Brooklyn skyline. Despite many trips across the river, he hardly ever spared a moment on the view of his home of many years. From this distance he couldn’t hear the clunk, clunk, clunk of machinery, the cars blaring and muffled gunshots, but each was so familiar he could taste them in his throat. Fourteen years he’d lived there, longer than he’d lived back in Krepieç, and in that moment all he wanted to do was turn and run. Run and not look back, because nothing there really mattered anyway: not old man Kozlow skulking around the dingy apartment that he pretended was his fortress; not Barney and his back-alley soldiers who had more loyalty than sense; not even poor Hannah, the only bucket on a sinking ship.
In fact there was really only one thing that mattered, and Hannah was right: Cheshire would never belong there. Jakub took one last, long breath on his cigarette and tossed it into the water.
“You’re right, Hannah,” he said. “I know what’s important.”
Hannah eyed him as she let him go. Maybe she realized they meant different things, or maybe she didn’t; Jakub didn’t give her the chance to ask. “Let’s drive the route one more time and then find somewhere to hole up until tonight,” he said. “It’s a long drive back, so no use making it now when we’ll just be turning around.”
“Sure,” said Hannah. They started back up the bank toward the car.
***
By the time Cheshire arrived at the Kozlow building that morning, it was only to learn that Jakub had already left for the job. He didn’t have much choice but to catch a ride with Leon in the truck.
God was it awkward. Cheshire spent the entire hour-long drive fussing with his jacket; he had chosen a bulky workman’s coat for the heist, uninspired as far as disguises went and not a great fit. His hair he had swept up under a cap and he was even wearing a cheaper pair of spare glasses. At a glance anyone would have mistaken him for a blue collar warehouse worker, his physique earned after years of heavy labor. He didn’t like the thought much, but at least it distracted him from Leon.
“I know it seems like this came out of nowhere, but Barney’s been working on this for weeks,” Leon rattled on as they took the bridge out of Brooklyn. “He’s thought it through, he’s cased the bank. It’s going to work.”
“Oh, no, I believe it,” said Cheshire, at a loss as to how else he could respond. “It would have been nice if he filled in all of us on this plan of his, but no, I’m excited. It’s gonna be quite a headline!”
“Well,” said Leon, and Cheshire cringed at his diplomatic tone which promised nothing he wanted to hear, “to be fair, the more people know about a plan, the higher chance there is of it leaking. Which has happened before.”
Cheshire’s first instinct was to rush to Burke’s defense, but the reminder that they hadn’t properly spoken since the day before held him back. “Yeah, I get it.” He rolled down his passenger side window for some fresh air. “As long as it goes well, it’s fine.”
Leon squirmed behind the wheel. “Barney is the boss, you know,” he carried on. “Everything will go smoothly if we stay in line.”
“No, yeah, I understand that.” Cheshire hunkered down, uninterested in any further conversation. “I’m a good little soldier.”
“Bloom,” Leon started, but then he sighed and shook his head. “You never change.”
Cheshire pulled a face, but he wasn’t in the mood to pass barbs. “How’s Wanda?”
“Huh? Oh. She’s good.” Leon then filled the rest of the drive rambling on about his sister and nephew, allowing Cheshire to supply the bare minimum of interested responses. The thought that he would at least get to blow up a bank vault was a welcome one.
The entire crew met up at the parking lot of a local community center. Jakub and Hannah were waiting for them, leaning against the side of her car. She was talking and Jakub nodding along, which might have been a good sign, but it made Cheshire nervous all over again anyway. He climbed down from the truck and needed a bit more effort than usual to call up a grin.
“Jakub! Hannah.” He tugged on his lapels. “What do you think? Will the locals recognize me?”
Hannah looked unamused, and Jakub looked…well, like he usually did, stoic and unreadable. As Cheshire drew closer, though, he thought he detected an extra intensity to Jakub’s usual stare, one he was at a loss to interpret. He could only assume it was some kind of warning to keep his mouth shut.
“You look fine,” said Jakub, and he definitely looked then like there was more on his mind he was holding back. “Have you been over the plan?”
“Of course.” It wasn’t his first robbery by a long shot after all—how hard could it be? Cheshire shrugged and tried not to make a face when Barney joined them with two of his new boys. “The boss has got the whole thing figured out, right? We’re just following his lead.”
“Damn right,” Barney said sharply, as if trying to correct him for sarcasm. He pulled a folded paper out of his work jacket. “Now come have a look.”
He spread out over the hood of Hannah’s car a crude, hand-drawn map of the bank’s interior, showing the positions of the exits, the tellers, and the way back to the vault. Everyone else nodded along as if they’d seen it already, so Cheshire committed as much as he could to memory and nodded, too. They each accepted a large, dark handkerchief from Barney without question, but when he offered Cheshire a revolver, that prompted some doubt.
“You know I don’t need that,” Cheshire said, eyeing it.
“You don’t have to use it,” Barney said, pushing it at him insistently. “But you’re supposed to be in disguise, so you need to wave something at the tellers.” Cheshire frowned at the image, but he accepted the gun and tucked it into his belt.
After killing a bit more of the time until dusk—which was spent mostly listening to Barney brag about how bewildered Manhattan would be—they split up to their vehicles again, steeled and ready for the heist.
“Chesh,” said Jakub, catching him just as he was about to climb back up into the truck with Leon. His eyebrows were drawn tight and he lowered his voice ominously. “You’re bringing the truck back to the Kozlow building after we’re done, right?”
“Yeah?” Cheshire turned toward him, one hand still on the open door and his pulse suddenly in his ears. “That’s the plan.”
“Stick around after, okay?” Jakub held his gaze gravely. “We should talk.”
“Oh.” Cheshire managed to smile instead of gulp, barely. “Sure thing.” He tipped his chin past him. “But you’d better get back before Hannah hears that.”
Jakub snorted, but he took the warning seriously; Hannah really was still watching them as she tugged open her own car door. “Good luck in there,” Jakub said, and he turned to jog back to her. Cheshire breathed a sigh and continued into the truck.