Skill

Stephen Long is a high school teacher at the start of summer vacation. He's out for a jog trying to better himself--middle age has brought with it a paunch and high cholesterol--when he finds a discarded duffel bag full of money. A lot of money. 1.2 million dollars to be exact. Game-changing money. Life changing money. So much money that Stephen knows it will better his life and the lives of his wife and kids. He takes the money, ignoring the fact that the duffel bag he's found it in is bloodied and bullet pocked.What Stephen hasn't noticed out in the woods where he found the money is the bag man lying mortally wounded some distance off. But the dying man has seen Stephen, and when two out-of-town gun men arrive looking for the cash owed their boss, the last thing the bag man does before he expires is to tell them everything he knows. Including what Stephen's description.The out-of-towners--who refer to themselves as Bandit and Snowman--are stone cold killers from down in New York City, sent to retrieve their boss' money. What they quickly piece together is the crew that owed their boss the money was robbed by the dead bag man. They hook up with the crew, which is led by a young thug named Antoine. Sure, 'twan is a gangster, but he has ambition and skill. He wants to parlay the money he makes hustling into his career as a magician for children's parties. Snowman and Bandit tool around town with 'twan and his boys, hunting down leads that will show them the way to their money.Meanwhile, Stephen is already dreaming of the ways he'll spend the fortune he's come into. He'll buy a new car, hire a personal trainer, and leave his wife for Ming, the younger woman at work he's infatuated with. He's bubbling over with excitement and tempted to tell someone, but who's he going to tell? His neighbor, Allen? No. Allen is distraught over the disappearance of his drug-addled youngest daughter, Trina, who appears to have run away again. His other neighbor, Kyle? No. Kyle is beset by PTSD from a war in the desert and often stands around outside by himself outside at night on the lawns. Stephen won't be deterred. Brimming with optimism, and feeling that, for the first time in his life, things are going his way, he calls Ming and asks her if she'd like to meet him for a cup of coffee downtown. Surprisingly, she agrees. Things definitely are going his way.Until they aren't. Stephen meets Ming at the coffee house and does his best to woo her. Unbeknownst to our high school teachers, one of 'twan's boys spots Stephen, recognizing him from a detail the bag man let on to Snowman and Bandit. Whne he follows Stephen to his house, he reports the information. Now the out of town killers know where Stephen lives. They know where their money is. And things are about to get crazy. Tony Monchinski, PhD, is a high school teacher and college professor. The author of 20 books, Tony lives in Peekskill, New York.