The Art of Being a Con: A Guide by the Lion and the Fox | COMPLETE

Chapter Ten: The Flight

When Nate woke up, he was hungover. But thankfully, Vinícius had set out some pain medication and a plastic cup of water for him.

Riley was up and changing when he sat up.

"Have a fun night?" the woman asked, pulling a shirt over her head.

"Not really, no."

"What happened?" She went over and sat beside him, rubbing gentle circles on his back as he took the medication and downed the water.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to check in on the new recruits," he explained, leaning into her side. "I overheard them talking about us—our money."

"Oh..."

"Vinícius came out and I confronted him about it and he explained they were just curious about some shit and—he seemed genuine, don't worry. I'm not that dumb. I offered to buy him a drink. So we went and we both started drinking. I don't remember anything after that."

Riley frowned a little and ran her fingers through his hair. "You're just hungover, baby. You know your tolerance isn't that high."

There was a knock on the door and Riley looked over as Nate groaned loudly.

"My head is going to implode," he said.

"Don't be so dramatic," Riley said as she stood up and went over to open the door. "We'll get you some coffee in a bit to help with that migraine."

"I don't like coffee."

"We have to leave in ten minutes in we're going to make it with time to spare if you're planning on that." The new trio was standing in the doorway.

"We'll be right down," the woman said. "You three go ahead and go on. We'll be right behind you."

"You sure? We can take some of your stuff to the van."

The woman glanced at her hungover boyfriend.

"Just take it all," he whined.

The three entered the room and gathered up the few bags and headed back out.

Riley moved over to the bed again and sat on her knees on the mattress. "Come on," she said. "We have to go if we're gonna make it in time."

"Okay," the man sighed. "Let's do this."

***

They managed to board the flight without a hitch. Nate and Riley and Abraham and Mason were seated beside each other, Vinícius seated in the row between the groups of two.

Abraham had his laptop out, playing a movie that Mason was very engrossed in.

Nate and Riley had a word search book they were completing.

Vinícius was asleep, snoring away.

It was an uneventful trip, to say the least.

***

"I ordered us an Uber," Riley informed, looking up from her phone. Yes, another new one. She and Nate get new phones and new numbers every time they finish a con. It's so they can't be tracked.

"We're going to stay a few nights at a hotel, to get everything in order and plan this out perfectly," Nate informed. "Okay?"

He got mumbled and eager agreements from the remaining three.

***

"Mrs. Julian," a young intern knocked on the door. The woman at the desk looked up.

"Mr. Tavin!" she smiled. "Come on in."

The teenager entered the office and fiddled with his access tag on the lanyard around his neck nervously.

"What can I help you with?" the strawberry blonde woman asked, folding her hands in front of her. "Tony didn't pass out in his lab again, did he?"

"No, no," Thomas Tavin shook his head. "He went on a coffee run... all for himself, I'm guessing. Anyway, no. That's not why- why I came in. Miss Angela said to tell you she received an email from a security company located in San Francisco. They're apparently extending to New York and wanted to possibly talk to you and Mr. Winter about... About working with you? Like, installing security systems for you here? Apparently they already have a team that flew out here for location siting."

"Really?" Amanda typed on her computer and scrolled for a moment. "She forwarded it to me," she said. She turned back to the intern and smiled. "Thank you for passing the message along to me, Thomas. I'll look over this and talk with Mr. Winter about it."

"Oh. You're– You're welcome, ma'am."

The boy left and Amanda turned back to her computer. She looked over the email again. It looked legit, and there was even a link to a website for the company.

She pressed the link and the page came up. Omni-Con Security Firms. Originating in San Francisco, extending to New York. She picked up her phone and called down to her husband in his lab.

***

"Omni-Con?" Nate said. "Really?"

"What? It sounds cool and believable!" Vinícius exclaimed.

"Let's hope they fall for it," Riley sighed and settled herself behind Nate, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Someone opened website," Abraham announced. "IP address say Julian."

"Oh Miss Julian," Riley fake-pouted. "I expected you to be smarter than this, falling for a scam email."

***

"It's been five days," Jameson grouched. "Why haven't they done anything?"

"You want someone to get conned?" Detective Johnny Yonder asked. "Wow, Sergeant. You've certainly–"

"I want new leads, a slip up. Something!"

"What if they left the state?" Greer offered as an explanation.

"That'd– Oh my god... That's actually a good hypothesis."

Greer smiled, accomplished.

"Have you found anything on Cooper?" Jameson asked both detectives.

"Not yet," Johnny shook his head. "He fell off the face of the earth it seems about eight years ago."

"You're serious?" Jameson hurried over and looked at the file Johnny had been referring to. "That's the year after he left Evie with no warning or explanation..." he noted aloud.

"I mean, it could be nothing? Maybe he moved or something?" Johnny suggested.

"I don't know," Jameson shook his head. "It's a probability."

"What do you want me to do?" the detective asked.

"Go to all his past addresses in the city. See if you can learn anything." He turned to Greer. "Greer, you do the same for Swanston."

"Yes, sir!" The woman began typing immediately and her printer activated.