Sonny the Diplomat was relaxed as he jovially explained why he couldn’t offer more than pennies on the dollar. Can’t say I listened to the whole spiel.

An astronaut’s brain floats in his skull, is the comment I recall from our conversation. It was in a documentary. Those missions in space that last for months change the astronauts. Their brains float. They come home not the same.

Seventy-five thousand apiece. We went in lugging several plastic cartons. In the end, my share of the take was neatly inserted into a large insulated envelope.

“Fuck a duck.” Lionel flung his envelope into the backseat after we were safely on the road. He lit a cigarette and smoked in anger.

“Moving that amount of weight in ancient currency is a bitch. He has to wash it through I don’t want to guess how many third-world embassies and depots. Warlord caves in Pakistan. Iraqi drug dens. He can’t run the entire lump into Japan no matter how many bases we’ve stuck in there since the big war.”

He sighed.

“Ah, well. My bookie’s eyes will gleam when I check in this weekend. I can get a new engine for my jalopy. And some tires. Surprise Delia with some classy swag.”

“Delia already has all the swag,” I said.

“Man swag.”

“Man swag?”

“She doesn’t have man swag.”

“Her boyfriend, the famous rock musician, has that covered too,” I said.

He lit another cigarette.

“Been thinking my cabin could be more secure. Friend of a friend is trying to unload an M2 Browning. He’s got bazookas.”

“Anti-personnel machine guns and anti-tank rockets. That’s man swag.”

“You scoff. Keep playing fuck-fuck with evil corporations, military hardware might become a requirement, not a luxury.”

“Seventy-five K will get the creditors off my case. Put a down payment on a house for Meg with what’s left.” I’d perused a handful of listings with no real sense of commitment. Looking, just looking. “Business is steady. I’m stable.”

“This is a taste. Taste won’t last.”

“Nope.”

We went a while farther.

“Okay,” I said. “You want to go after a bigger score?”

“The rest of the alleged hoard? The Wagner train missing longer than the Ark of the Covenant. How much again?”

“Seven million, plus or minus. Gold, jewels.”

“Our cut would be fat. A fence can move that shit, easy.”

“Yeah,” I said. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is easy. I didn’t say it. Why ruin Lionel’s moment?

“Must be Christmas again already. Santa clue you in where we can find the treasure?”

“I’ve logged hours with the Croatoan’s home videos.”

“Oh, dude.”

“There’s a clip separate from his snuff films. One that didn’t fit with the Anvil Mountain sequence either. We’ll have to dig deeper, ascertain the facts. Going by glimpses of terrain, I believe he filmed where the rest of the money is waiting. In the mountains of Northern California. Won’t be easy to find. Won’t be without peril.”

“One of these days then.”

“One of these days?”