Coop shook his head. “Sorry. Tell me something. Who’s the biggest rat bastard you know?”

“Like someone I don’t particularly like or someone who should get run down by a bus?”

“A bus.”

Morty’s face went blank. Coop was starting to think that maybe he’d given the poor guy a stroke when Morty smiled. “Fast Eddie Lansdale,” he said.

“Fast Eddie. The Flasher from Detroit? He’s the guy who stole a couple of your jobs out from under you, isn’t he?”

“And left me holding the bag when one of his people ran off with the goods.”

“How much did that cost you?” said Coop.

“A lot,” said Morty. “Among other things, my Mercedes. It wasn’t even hot. I bought that thing with real money like a regular person.”

“And he took that from you.”

“Yeah. He did.”

“Good. I want you to picture your missing Mercedes when I tell you the next part,” said Coop.

“I’m listening.”

“See, the only way I can figure this working out is if we can get Babylon to pull two jobs at the same time.”

Morty squinted at Coop. “You lost me around that last curve. Two jobs?”

Coop held up two fingers. “It doesn’t have to be a real job. But the other team has to think it’s a real job. They’d have to go in looking for one thing and then a little while later we go looking for the real thing.”

“Why?”

“Cause there’s a slight, and I mean really minuscule, chance they’re going to get caught.”

“What?” said Morty, his eyes opening wider.

Coop held out his hands hoping to calm Morty down. “Not caught caught. Not if they’re any good, but they have to screw up enough to set off a lot of alarms and get the guards’ attention.”

“We can’t throw someone to the wolves like that,” said Morty.

“Sure we can,” said Coop. “We get Babylon to hire Fast Eddie.”

Morty rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know.”

“Do you know anyone who deserves it more? Who would everybody in town like to see sweat?”

“I get it,” said Morty. “But it’s unethical, setting up another crew like that.”

“It’s not like we’re talking about people. We’re talking about Fast Eddie and his crew of creeps,” said Coop. “And we’re not doing it so they get caught. Just noticed. Then, while the guards are dealing with Eddie, we slip in the back and do the Babylon job.”

Morty drank his coffee. “Still,” he said.

Coop leaned on the table. “Do you think Eddie would hesitate for one second setting you up if it would help him out?”

Morty considered it and said, “Eddie is a dark person.”

“The worst,” said Coop. “While I was inside I heard he dropped a dime on Lazlo the Mole.”

“The old guy with the droopy eye?”