The Bad Beat by Tod Goldberg Read Free Book Online Page B

InterMacron?” I asked.
    “A couple of days ago, I guess,” he said. “After I didn’t deliver the specs, I guess they started to investigate things a little further and that’s when they said they would be at my dad’s office to either get their money or get their information and that’s when I called Sugar. He’s the baddest guy I know, so, you know, I thought he could help me with this.”
    “Except you lied to him,” Fiona said.
    “You know Sugar,” Brent said. “I didn’t want him knowing all that stuff.”
    The kid had a valid point.
    “What time are you supposed to meet Big Lumpy?” I asked.
    “Noon,” he said. “At someplace called the Hair of the Dog. I’ve never been there, because I’m not twenty-one.”
    “You defraud Russian gangsters but you’ve never been to a bar?” Fiona said.
    “This is the first time I’ve broken the law,” Brent said. “I mean, other than buying stuff from Sugar. But that’s just because I have a hard time sleeping.”
    It was no wonder.
    “Tomorrow I’ll go meet with Big Lumpy. I’ll explain the situation to him and I’m sure he’ll understand,” I said. “And then we’ll get to work on the Russians.”
    “What about my father?”
    “We’ll find him, too,” I said.
    “I can pay you with whatever is left after you pay off Big Lumpy,” he said.
    “I’m not going to pay Big Lumpy. And you’re not going to touch the money in that account. Got it?”
    Brent didn’t say anything. Not good.
    “How much have you spent, Brent?”
    “I lent a girl I know some money,” he said. “She wanted a boob job and her parents wouldn’t pay for it.”
    “Noble,” Fiona said.
    “How much?” I said.
    “Five grand,” he said. “And I bought a scooter. To get around campus.”
    “How much?”
    “Another five grand.”
    “Anything else?”
    “I had a small party,” he said. “And I bought another computer.”
    “Why don’t you tell me how much of that $75K is left?”
    “$45K.”
    “Must have been some party,” I said.
    “It was off the chain,” he said. “So, yeah, I can pay you with whatever is left.”
    “You’re not going to pay me,” I said. “Don’t lose any sleep over it. What I need from you is every single piece of information that went back and forth between you and the Russians. Do you have that?”
    “It’s all on my computers,” he said.
    “Good,” I said. “All right. Why don’t you try to take another nap while Fiona and I step outside. Okay?”
    There was a sweetness in my voice that I found nauseating. I made a note to myself never to have children. Or at least not helpless children.
    “I’m not tired.”
    “Then just sit here quietly,” I said.
    Fiona and I got up to walk outside but Brent stopped us. “Look, out of all of this? I just want to find my dad and know he’s okay. He’s made a lot of mistakes in his life, but he’s still my father and I love him. I did this all for him.”
    “I know,” I said. “And I’ll find him. I promise.”
    We left Brent and walked down the stairs and out onto the street in front of my building. It was almost five o’clock and I was still alive. Not bad.
    “What do you make of it, Michael?” Fiona asked.
    “I don’t see Yuri Drubich coming after him that big for $150K,” I said. “That’s a lot of money, but not enough to send ten guys with explosives to Miami.”
    “You think he’s lying?”
    “No,” I said. “I think Drubich probably resold the information he had and now he’s in a serious pinch. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to kidnap Brent so that Brent could stand in front of some very angry men to explain his deception.”
    “And then what?” Fiona said.
    “And then they’d kill him.”
    “Do you believe his father is still alive?”
    “I don’t know,” I said. “It’s a classic shakedown the bookies are doing on him. If they got access to the bank accounts to make Brent think his father is still alive, well, that’s pretty