The Exit Strategy

Johnny walked off campus without telling anyone where he was headed; not his coach, fiancée, family or friends.Seven years later, and he hadn’t looked back. His new life was full of cons and scraping to get by, but he didn’t regret it. He kept himself at arm’s length with everyone. One-night-stands and three-night-stands, all served as diversions for Johnny. But now he stood, naked in the mirror, wondering what it all meant? Would his life continue like this or would he ever settle down? He didn’t want to be alone forever, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to assume some boring old life and wait to die. Johnny was good at conning people. He enjoyed it way more than he should, but the big score had eluded him. He eventually wanted a shack on the beach with plenty of money and few bills, but without that big score, he knew he would always feel the itch. He needed to quit all this petty shit. The score tomorrow would be fun, though. He was curious to see if Delilah could pull it off. Johnny liked her, a lot. Her crooked smile tugged at his heart, and that mop of unruly hair that framed her face was like a cloud of black smoke that followed her around. It was soft and billowy and he wanted to touch it. He wanted her. If he played his cards right, he could have it all.Six Months Earlier...For Bradley Thatcher, Sunday mornings in New York meant two things: lounging with the Sunday Times while enjoying a fresh cup of java, and getting the girl from the night before out of his bed before his mother’s phone call came in promptly at nine. Weekly, Brad listened to his mother prattle on as his mind wandered to the things that mattered. His job as a private stock broker for one of New York’s top Fortune 500 companies topped the list. He earned the company dividends hand over foot because he knew when to buy and sell. It was simple to understand: Bradley cared about Bradley. He bought and sold fearlessly because he didn’t give a shit. It wasn’t his future, his 401K, his pension or his bonus. Merely numbers on a page for Bradley. Everything was about to change. The numbers for the fiscal year were in: everything declined. The market hadn’t tanked completely, but for the first time even Brad’s clients failed to show an upswing in profits. Brad waited for the timing to be perfect. He didn’t have patience for many things, but for money he could wait. Brad couldn’t have planned the events that led up to his sudden departure from his life any better if he had written a script for everyone involved. Thanks to his ability to deceive his clients without raising suspicions, Brad padded his retirement nicely over the years. Recently, with the market downturn, his retirement grew by leaps and bounds. It wasn’t hard to steal money from a man if he was already losing thousands. With a few hundred thousand tucked away, Brad decided it was time for a bigger score. He wanted to make enough money to disappear into the sunset with Marisol by his side. Brad had nursed the perfect client for years. The DeMarco Family littered the streets of New York with second-rate hoods and two-bit cons. They had a hand in every petty crime that occurred within the city’s borders, as well as the big money cons that brought in thousands of dollars on the sly. The head of the family, Gino DeMarco, boasted a resume that included the titles of crime boss, pimp, thief, arsonist, murderer and all-around great guy. Gino turned to Brad when he wanted money reinvested into legitimate dollars. Gino moved the big money, trusted Brad implicitly, and lacked the knowledge to keep up with him, all in all, the perfect patsy for the big scam. Unbeknownst to each other, Johnny and Brad were about to cross paths as they each endeavored to get away with one final score. In the end, one of them would regret ever hearing the other man’s name.