Page 115 of Goose

She got on the elevator and returned in a few minutes with a slide hammer. She situated the twelve boxes so the locks were all facing her. Five minutes later, she was done.

She tossed the last lock onto the table. “That, gentlemen, is how a locksmith pulls a lock.”

“I’m still waiting for one of these to have a bomb in it.” Baker’s eyes darted between the boxes. “Something’s going to happen, I know it. Red getaway car. Thirteen boxes. Dropped wallet. That’s not the end of it, I’m sure.”

Ally shielded her eyes with her hand, jokingly protecting herself from the potential bomb blast Baker spoke of. She flipped the lids of the boxes open.

“There,” she said. “I’m not superstitious.”

The five of us stared at the boxes in disbelief.

The twelve identical boxes were filled with equal amounts of banded hundred-dollar bills.

“Holy. Shit.” Baker gawked. “What did we stumble onto?”

“Looks like a Federal Reserve withdrawal,” Ally said.

“Someone’s going to be pissed,” Baker said.

“How much you think it is?” Cash asked.

“We’ll know in a few minutes,” Baker said. “It’ll be easy to count.”

Half an hour later, there was a mountain of bills stacked in front of us. Based on the staggering amount, we knew the investigation regarding its whereabouts wasn’t going to end any time soon.

“I feel like we should count it again,” Baker said.

“No need,” Ally retorted. “They’re stacked twenty-five high, that’s two hundred and fifty grand. Three wide is seven fifty, and they’re fourteen deep. It’s ten million, five hundred. Plus the drawer.”

“Drawer was sixteen grand and change,” Reno said.

“Just shy of two million each, after the club’s cut,” Baker said. “Damned nice.”

“I can’t believe we stumbled onto this,” Tito said. “The odds of encountering a Federal Reserve withdrawal are staggering.”

“I can’t believe we got away,” Reno said. “That fucking cop came out of nowhere.”

“I can’t believe Ally still got virgin skin,” Cash said.

We all looked at him like he was crazy.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked.

Cash gestured to Ally. “Need to get our sister a tattoo. She’s a member of this fuckin’ club. We need to start treating her like one.”

I struggled not to smile.

Baker nodded. “We’ll need to have a vote, and—”

“All in favor of Ally being a full-fledged member of the Devil’s Disciples respond with an aye,” Cash said, “All opposed, nay.”

“Aye.”

“Aye.”

“Aye.”

“Aye.”

Cash looked at Baker and raised his brows. “Well?”

“Aye, motherfucker,” Baker said with a smile. “You’d have heard me say it the first time if all you prick’s weren’t talking at once.”

Cash looked at Ally. “Looks like you’re in, shorty.”