"City of Thieves", Prologue

'City of Thieves' by Cyrus Moore
Published by Sphere, 2 July 2009
Prologue

16 November 2007

‘What does your gut tell you?’
‘My gut tells me I’m right. The problem is I don’t have Larry’s support.’
‘Larry doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’
‘Maybe. But he’s my boss.’
Charlie took a sip of wine and placed his glass down firmly on the table. ‘Hold your ground and Larry will respect you. You won’t last a minute without his respect.’
‘I’m just scared that if I go out on a limb with this one, then I’m fucked.’
‘You’re fucked anyway, kiddo. Look, anyone who tries to predict the future is going to screw up at some point. But right or wrong is not what’s important in this business. If you want to be a winner in this game, you need to follow my three little rules.’
A waitress glided over to take their order. Charlie dismissed her with a wave of his hand. ‘Rule number one: stand up for what you believe in – your reputation is all you’ve got,’ he declared. ‘Rule number two: don’t follow the crowd – if you can’t think of anything original to say, keep your mouth shut. And rule number three …’ He looked furtively right and left, leaned forward and eyed Niccolo with steely precision. ‘… never trust anyone in this business. They’re all a bunch of dirty, lying motherfuckers.’