Money Men

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Book: Read Money Men for Free Online
Authors: Gerald Petievich
waist.
    "I have an appointment with Tony Dio," Red said.
    The man unlatched the chain and ushered him over plush, thick carpet to a small balcony. On the balcony, without a word, the man began to frisk him. Ignoring this, Red sat down at the balcony table. He faced the ocean.
    "Hey, I'm not finished patting you down, pal."
    "Where's Tony?"
    "You ain't going to see him until I see if you are wired up, pal."
    "Tell Tony he can search me himself if he thinks I'm a snitch. Keep your goddamn hands off me." Red stared at the ocean.
    Tony Dio, in a tennis outfit and smoked glasses, walked onto the balcony and flicked his cigar ashes over the rail. He looked as if he had been gaining weight for the past five years-King Farouk in tennis shorts. He did not shake hands.
    The man in the flowered shirt walked back inside.
    Dio turned and looked down at Red.
    "Don't let him bother you. He does that to everybody. You know how things are these days." He stuck the cigar in his mouth.
    "All I need is another couple of months," Red said. "I have a project planned and I just need a little time. I'm trying to get back on my feet. You know that."
    Dio puffed and blew smoke into the breeze. He did not look at Red.
    "Red, in the old days, when we were just little guys, there was no quibbling about a few bucks here or there. It's different now. It's all points, you know, percentages. Everything is points and deadlines."
    The veins on Red's neck stood out. He clenched his fists.
    "I just did a nickel in Terminal Island. I'm fifty-four years old. This is it for me. This is my last shot. I've got a big project planned. When it comes through I'll be able to pay you off with interest for the whole five years. You know I'm good for the twenty-five grand."
    Dio turned to him and took the cigar from his mouth. "I know you are good for it. That's why I let the debt ride while you were in the joint... Now you are out. I placed my bet on the 'come line.'" He stared.
    Red felt sweat begin to run from his armpits to his waist.
    "I wasn't born yesterday," he said. "All I'm asking is more time. I guarantee that...”
    "How much did you bring with you today?" Dio interrupted.
    "Eight grand." Red laid the envelope on the table.
    "Take your time with the rest," Dio said. He gazed at the ocean again. "Take another ten days."
    Red stood up, "How about thirty days? I mean, there's always last-minute problems... "
    "Thanks for stopping by, Red," Dio said.
    As Red walked through the living room to the door the man in the flowered shirt stood behind a portable bar, watching. Red wondered if he would be the one to get the contract if he couldn't come up with the money.
    In the hallway, waiting for the elevator, Red recognized the falling-away feeling, with its concomitant fire in the intestinal tract. He had made notes about the feeling in his cell and had reread them often. The name falling-away feeling was coined by him because "falling away" was the opposite of things "going one's way," that is, goals being reached, predictions of success coming true...big scores.
    Red's notes had reflected that the feeling usually, but not always, was present shortly before a disaster, when things started to get out of control. A sucker screams about his money and calls the cops; shortly thereafter handcuffs bite the wrists. Even psychiatrists, actual doctors of the mind, could not predict human behavior one hundred percent of the time.
    The falling-away feeling was a signal calling for careful planning to find the way out. And Red knew that there was, in every bad situation, a way out. Patience was required. And occasionally (he remembered specifically writing this with an exclamation point in a margin) brute force. In other words, "God helps those who help themselves."
    The elevator doors opened soundlessly for Red Diamond. He stepped in and they closed. "The primary objective is to reduce risk," he said out loud.
    Ronnie Boyce removed the fancy pink package from the attaché case and

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