Free Ace in the Hole by J. R. Roberts

have to come back,” Calhoun said, “or they’ll know you were in on it. You have to come back and stay awhile.”
    â€œBut…ain’t they gonna see our faces?”
    â€œI hope not,” Calhoun said. “We’re gonna wear masks. I figured you knew that.”
    â€œOh, yeah…What about you?” Kent asked, to hide the fact that he hadn’t known about the masks. “What are you gonna do after?”
    â€œMe? I’m just gonna take off with my share.”
    â€œAnd what about my share?”
    â€œI assumed your partner would hold it for you.”
    â€œMy partner?”
    â€œYou said somebody else was involved,” Calhoun said with a shrug. “Somebody who was givin’ you the inside information. I assumed they’d hold it.”
    â€œOh, yeah, right.”
    â€œDon’t you trust them?”
    â€œSure I do.”
    â€œThen there’s no problem, right?” Calhoun asked. “You should probably come back, stay six months and then resign.”
    â€œSix months!”
    â€œOr three, or nine,” Calhoun said. “It’s up to you. Now, about the players’ names…”
    â€œThat was the only piece of information I couldn’t come up with,” Kent said. “Nobody knows. They won’t know until they get there.”
    â€œThat’s gonna make things a little harder.”
    â€œBut not impossible.”
    â€œNo,” Calhoun said. “We’ll just have to go in fast and hit them hard, before anybody can make a move. To m…we’ll have to kill them all. You got a problem with that?”
    â€œKill them? But why?” Kent asked. “You just said we’d be wearin’ masks.”
    â€œThat was when I thought we’d know who and what we were up against,” Calhoun said. “If we don’t know who’s in that room, we’re gonna have to go in with guns blazin’. When I identify the players, I want them to be dead.”
    â€œYou…got men in mind who’ll do that?” Kent asked.
    â€œYeah, I do,” Calhoun said. “We’re gonna need maybe six good men. With us that’ll make eight.”
    â€œYou ain’t thinkin’ about an eight-way split, are you?” Kent asked. Diane wouldn’t stand for that.
    â€œNo, no,” Calhoun said. “Me and you are the only ones gettin’ an even split.”
    â€œAnd my partner.”
    â€œRight, right,” Calhoun said, “and your partner. The others will just be guns for hire. We’ll pay them before we split the take three ways.”
    â€œWhy before?”
    â€œThat way it don’t all come out of one person’s cut.”
    â€œYou’ve got this all thought out, don’t you?”
    â€œMost of it,” Calhoun said. “Some of it’s just the way things are done when you’re dealin’ with a gang.”
    â€œA gang…”
    â€œYour gang, Tom,” Calhoun said. “The Kent Gang.”

TWENTY-THREE
    Diane rolled over in bed and looked at the naked man lying next to her. He was lying on his back with his hands behind his head, and his impressive erection was pointing at the ceiling. She reached over and took it in one hand, began to stroke it. She was amazed at the hardness of it, since she had just finished riding it only ten minutes ago.
    â€œYou’re an amazing man,” she said.
    â€œBecause of that?” he asked, looking down at his own penis. “Lady, I tol’ you, I been in prison.”
    â€œI know what you told me, Mr. Calhoun,” she said.
    â€œYou got hold of my tallywhacker, Mrs. Morgan. I think you can call me Tito.”
    â€œMmm, yes, I do have a hold on you,” she said, pumping harder with her hand. “I think it was a lucky thing for both of us that you followed Tom when he met with me today.”
    â€œAnd then invited you to my room?”
    â€œYes,” she said.