James O. Born - Walking Money

MONEY

JAMES O. BORN

b

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

PRAISE FOR

WALKING MONEY

Jim Born is the real thing: a South Florida lawman with an authentic sound that puts you at the scene. WalkingMoney is a winner.

Elmore Leonard

Both enormously entertaining and enormously authentic.

John Sandford

Briskly paced... a first-rate hero... Walking Money soars as Born mixes believable characters, a fast-moving story, crisp dialogue, and a nice blend of humor. WalkingMoney strides confidently into Donald Westlake and Elmore Leonard territory as Born creates a novel that works as a police procedural and caper.

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

Born knows how the tropical heavies and Caribbean bad boys operate, and proves it in Walking Money.

Randy Wayne White

Swirling suspicion and startling plot twists keep readers

heads spinning as Borns direct, no-nonsense prose (complete with plenty of off-color remarks) propel this novel to its bullet-ridden conclusion. This is a terrific debut.

Publishers Weekly

This is the kind of book that, to be credible, needs to be written by someone familiar with scam artists on both sides of the law. Born, a seventeen-year law-enforcement veteran, is now a special agent supervisor with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, overseeing investigations into organized crime, economic crimes, drug cartels, violent crimes, and public corruption. This background lends authority not only to the plot but also to the dialogue, the edgy cop humor, and the glitzy-grotesque South Florida setting... A sleek and slick caper.

Booklist

continued...

Walking Money could have been written only by someone with years of South Florida law enforcement experience.

Jim Born is the genuine article. He talks the talk because hes walked the walk. His lean, fast-moving style captures the unique atmosphere of crime-fighting in our region. The events in Walking Money may seem strangebut in South Florida, theyre just another day in the office.

James A. Cobb, deputy assistant statewide prosecutor, South Florida office

James O. Born uses his experience to capture the attitude and flow of investigations and puts it together in a funny and exciting package. This is not your ordinary police story. Once I started reading, I couldnt put it down.

Lloyd Bud Wilson, inspector (ret.), New York State Police

An amusing comic crime novel... An enjoyable and entertaining read; fans of Randy Wayne White, Carl Hiaasen, and other Florida crime writers will snap it up.

Library Journal

A writer who knows police work... a riveting plot... He drives the story forward with sharp dialogue, strong detective work, great plot twists, and lots of action.

The Vancouver Sun

He knows Miami: the neighborhoods, the language, the culture of the diverse population. And [he] knows cops

their gallows humor, their politically incorrect statements, and their sometimes gruff manner.

The Miami Herald

Only a cop could know this stuffonly a natural writer could put it down in a novel thats so smart and suspense-ful. Jim Born is a new star.

W.E.B. Griffin

WALKING

MONEY

JAMES O. BORN

b

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

Published by the Penguin GroupPenguin Group (USA) Inc.

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4V 3B2, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr. Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

WALKING MONEY

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author Copyright 2004 by James O. Born.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

ISBN: 1-4362-7232-7

BERKLEY

Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

BERKLEY is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

The B design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

FOR DONNA, JOHN, AND EMILY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Several people made this book possible: Thanks to Dutch for his guidance and critiques. Gregg Sutter for his unending support. Neil Nyren and Peter Rubie for seeing the value in this effort. James O.

Wade for everything.

I want to thank Tom Colgan, my editor at Berkley for his fine effort in creating the paperback version of Walking Money.

This is a work of fiction. It is the type of thing a cop thinks about on surveillance late at night. I am proud of the profession I have chosen and particularly proud of my agency, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. No events or characters in this book are real.

WALKING

MONEY

ONE

BILL Tasker massaged the cramp in his thigh as he peered out the small rectangular window cut into the door of the walk-in freezer. His leg pain took his mind off the black eye hed gotten a few hours before. His breath formed clouds on the thick, pockmarked glass that looked out on the main floor of Remys Quick Stop. The thirty-degree air kept the others quiet, waiting for the FBIs information to pan out. Tasker thought, Some big-time task force on robbery. Four grown men spending the past two hours waiting for someone to rob a convenience store. This sucked. As the only state cop on the task force, he fell somewhere in the middle of the natural friction between the locals and the Feds.

Tell us about your eye, Billy, said Tom Dooley, the FBI representative on the task force.

Just an accident, Tasker said, not turning from the window.

2 JAMES O. BORN

Dooley laughed. Yeah, I had an accident like that once.

My wife accidentally caught me with my girlfriend.

Even Tasker laughed at that one.

Dooley tapped him on the shoulder and asked, How old was she?

Ten.

Ten, thats not right.

It was my daughter.

I guess thats all right in Florida, but we find it unac-ceptable.

Tasker waited for the other cops to stop laughing and said, I was showing her how to fast-pitch a softball and she caught on quick.

Dooley said, Or you cant catch for shit.

Tasker nodded, chuckling a little as he kept his watch.

A minute later, Tasker saw a young white gangbanger, wearing a ripped, hooded sweatshirt, stride in through the front door. Wearing something like this in Miamis eighty-degree night air meant you were either on a serious weight-loss program or an armed robber hiding your Smith & Wesson ATM card.