by D D Loomis
Next day I’d been on the road a few hours, and closing in on Winston-Salem. Last night I’d decided to bypass all the places I’d been lately, and grab a flight from the closest airport that had direct a flight as possible to Seattle. I eased my butt, wishing I’d taken the time to at least do some stretches before hitting the road this morning.
CHAPTER TEN
“Some more coffee, Sir?”
I smiled at the flight attendant and shook my head, absently watching her move on to the next customer. Three hours to go before we landed in Seattle. I re-focused on the last two sealed letters Phil had given me. They were the most interesting. A coded document that Phil said would lead to where the counterfeit money was hidden, if I could decipher it. Phil hadn’t been able to. Apparently Willie had become spooked by his boss, and decided to stash it for a couple of years until things cooled down. Phil’s ability to come up with this kind of information was legendary. At least in the circles I used to move in.
I sighed. Have to save this one till I had more time to concentrate. Plus get some help from folks with more brain power than me. Also, Willie had raided two of Crosby’s heroin stockpiles that were awaiting shipment to the west coast. Wasn’t expected, so he got away with it. Even managed to switch blame to the gang responsible for moving that shit into the states. So far he’d been able to sell enough to ensure he was funded the next couple of years. Phil hadn’t been sure where Willie had disappeared to, but suspected the Caribbean.
I stuffed the material back in my bag, damning myself for not having read all the documents before I’d left Charlotte. After a minute, I gave a shrug. On second thought, it was probably best to do what I was doing. Ensure the bad guys lose my trail, and going back to protect my friends.
I stared unseeingly out the plane window. Yeah, that was the correct priority. Family first. At least they felt like family. The miles slid by while I continued to stare out the window.
* * *
“You’re gonna have me go where?” Alice’s screech had all of us cringing, even Marty.
He patted the air, trying to calm her. “Now, honey, it’s the safest place you could be. An’ it won’t be for very long…”
She stood, going nose to nose with him. “Y’know I can’t stand your sister. She’s always lookin’ down her nose at me, treatin’ me like a second class citizen.”
Tony walked in, shaking his head. “Marty, you’ve got to learn how to explain things to a woman. Bet you didn’t preface your conversation with ‘hey, dear, my sister’s going to California to visit her in-law’s for a couple weeks,’ did you?”
I waved a hand, getting Alice’s attention. “Plus we’ve got three of the premier female bodyguards in the Northwest to keep you company till this mess is all over with.”
“Oh. That’s not so bad, then.” She gave a sniff of disdain and sat.
I moved back to the large table in the middle of the side conference room, once more studying the large map Dave had placed on it. “This an up-to-date map of the area around Anacortes?”
“A week old according to the shop I got it from,” Dave said.
Marty came straggling in, shaking his head. “Damn, I’ll never understand women.”
Tony, a step behind, slapped him on the back. “Especially if you marry them.”
Alice’s voice drifted through the room, sounding uncomfortably like a cougar’s growl. “I heard that.”
I gave a chuckle. “Doesn’t sound like either of you are in her best graces at the moment.”
Dave glanced at all of us, a smile on his face. “Seems weird to have everyone here at once. Well, almost everyone. Nate’s out gathering more information.” He tapped the map. “Nate and I came up with a security plan. It’s in two parts: Defensive and offensive strategies. First of all we need to scout the target, tomorrow night. Three of us should be enough for that task.”
“Why tomorrow?” Tony asked.
“They’re going to be tied up with one of the outfits who ship drugs to them. From what we’ve been able to find out, these meetings usually take about six hours, from the time they leave the compound till they get back. Only be a skeleton force to deal with.”
“There a reason for three?” I asked, running my finger along the border of the map.
“Two to insert into the target, one to pull security. I thought Nate would be ideal for security, while you and I handled the rest. To do this, we need the following…”
Thirty minutes later the last of the questions had been dealt with, and Dave wrapped it up. “Each of you has a list of equipment to gather, and tasks to complete before we kick this off tomorrow night. I think we broke it up so everything can be easily taken care of by noon tomorrow. Questions?”
Tony looked at Dave, eyebrows lifting. “You’re good at this planning stuff. If you need a full-time job after all this is over, just let us know. We can fire Francis and get you in here. Be a change having someone that knows what they’re doing.”
Nate had come in during Dave’s briefing, and tossed a file on the table. “Awright, if there aren’t any more questions, beat it. Dave and I got some more things to work into the plan.”
* * *
Nate dropped Dave and me off a quarter mile from the target on the south side of the compound. His station would be 200 yards north of there, on a rise that had a clear view of the buildings. Couldn’t see much inside the walled-in yard, but the second floor and entire northern perimeter were visible. Once our watches showed it was 10 p.m., we headed for the waterfront.
A narrow beach ran up to the boundary of Crosby’s place, where a seven foot brick wall with concertina wire along its top awaited our ministrations. The wall curved around and joined with the corner of the house. All underbrush had been cleared back from it for ten yards. Normally there was a continuous patrol conducted by live guards, but not tonight.
The wall itself was a formidable barrier. If the concertina wire was cut it activated a silent alarm according to the company who’d installed the barrier. The one weakness was the gate at the water’s edge, where the wall turned back towards the house. It didn’t have a coil of concertina on top of it, like the rest of the fence. A narrow pressure sensitive plate was in its place. After a careful examination, I slipped a thin wedge under the pressure plate and was over the fence in seconds. Once Dave was over, we held ourselves immobile for sixty seconds, alert for any sign we’d been discovered.
Reassured by the absence of alarms, we crept towards the boat house that ran under the seaward part of the house. A side door that didn’t look like it’d been used very often invited my scrutiny. No lock was evident; must be blocked. I took out my class cutters, applied a sucker to the lower left window pane and made short work of cutting through it. Have to make sure and glue the window pane back when we left. Laying it aside, I reached in and felt around. Like I thought, a metal brace ran from the knob to the floor. Moments later I eased the door open and we moved inside.
Getting into the basement from the dock was easy compared to what we’d done so far. A walkway led to an entrance into the basement, and my lockpick had us through it within seconds.
Dave touched his throat mike. “We’re in. Starting stage two.” We eased up the stairs, all senses alert.
There were three guards, all of whom had settled around the kitchen table for what looked like a serious game of poker. Dave pointed up, then at himself. I nodded, and he disappeared. I prowled the first floor, looking for ideal places to install the hardware I’d brought along. The first room was a large office, which naturally got a voice-activated mike on the underside of the desk. A floor safe next to the desk had the palms of my hands sweaty. One of my favorites, a DeWalt, and with a classic dial face. I caressed it. No time now. “Soon, baby,” I whispered.
Thirty tense minutes later, I joined Dave in the basement. A closet door with a serious looking Yale lock took me five minutes to conquer.
Inside, the space had been converted into an arms locker. Three rifles with night vision scopes on them decorated one wall, while the rest of the area was taken up with several assault rifles and ammo. Bushmaster AR-15s, mostly. An idea percolated in my brain and I headed to a work bench I’d seen in a side room.
It was another fifteen minutes before we joined up with Nate. He maneuvered our way along route 20 and towards I-5. “Did you see all that hardware?” asked Dave. “Those were sniper rifles, weren’t they? And at least ten AR-15s.”
Nate stopped at the light, and made a right turn. “Shit, wouldn’t wanna take them on with all that firepower.”
A smile crept onto my face. “Yep. Not very good ones, though. In fact, all the armament in that closet’s pretty low quality, if you ask me.”
Dave gave me a disbelieving look. “You kidding? That’s a lot of serious firepower, man.”
“Yeah, but they haven’t been very well maintained. Not sure what’ll happen when they’re fired, with all that Gorilla Glue down their spouts.”
“Glue…” Dave’s chuckles turned to laughter. “So that’s what you were doing. Wondered why you were taking so long in that closet.”
Once close to I-5, we stopped at the first fast food joint to coffee up. In this case, a Wendys. “I’m buying, guys,” I said, pushing through the doors.
“Man, if you’re buyin’, why not that fancy restaurant a couple blocks back?” asked Nate, making a beeline for the restroom. “Order me a coffee and two burgers, willya?”
“…So other than the big boats goin’ by in the bay, wasn’t much happening from my perspective,” Nate said.
I refolded the map of the house we’d just visited. “Good. And with listening bugs planted in each of the offices and two conference rooms, we should hear whatever we need to.”
Dave drained his coffee. “You think two spy eyes are enough?”
I shrugged. “The boat shed and garage seemed the logical places to spot comings and goings.” The mini-cameras, both the size of a cigarette pack, were motion-activated and should be able to last a couple weeks if necessary. “Okay, guess that’s it. Anything else we need to…” A sudden memory stopped me cold. Glass window. I hadn’t glued it back.
Dave leaned forward, a concerned look on his face. “What’s wrong? I swear it looks like someone just walked across your grave.”
“We got to get back there,” I said, standing. “I forgot to put the window pane back in.”
* * *
By the time we arrived back at T&M, I’d reluctantly accepted the arguments Dave and Nate hammered home. Don’t go back to a snake pit, unless you want to get bit. The fact it happened to me in the past helped to underline their reasoning. Didn’t mean I had to like it, though. I trudged up the stairs, exhaustion nibbling at my heels. The rest of the team were gathered around Marty’s desk, and looked up when we entered.
“All the sensors you installed work fine,” Tony said. “Plus Marty’s come up with a pretty good defense of our place. How about we give you a quick briefing, and then you can tell us about your visit to the Crosby residence.”
For the next ten minutes Marty held us spellbound with his in-depth defensive plan.
“…Some of my cousins volunteered to help, along with a few of their friends. Long as they don’t have to get involved in any shooting. ‘Less somebody shoots at them, that is.”
“Make sure and brief them on what to do if our plan doesn’t work for the guys they’re keeping an eye on,” I said.
Marty nodded. “No problem. If any of ‘em leave our office, they’ll just follow and let us know where they end up.”
“Let’s go through the whole plan once more,” Tony said. “Wouldn’t want to have a mix-up during the event.”
Marty scratched his nose, a thoughtful look on his face. “Yeah, an’ I’d like to know more about the team that’s so hot after Willie and his crew. Are they really part of Crosby’s group, and if so how’re we gonna get a handle on them?”
“One plan at a time,” Tony said with a headshake. “Once we’re comfortable with this one, we can worry about our next move.” He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. “unless you think they might become a problem?”
I shrugged. “Don’t think they will, unless they are part of Crosby’s gang. We should know for sure if we’re successful at listening in on any meetings Crosby has in the next few days.” I held off on my latest suspicions. Maybe tell them later.
Everyone but Alice headed for bed. We’d converted several rooms below the office into bedrooms for the duration of the emergency, making security easier. It’d been a long day, and Alice volunteered for first watch to listen in on the bugs we’d planted. From now until this was over, someone would have to keep an ear tuned in to make sure Crosby’s gang didn’t pull a fast one on us.
Nate and Tony headed out next morning after breakfast to pick up a couple extra weapons and the special equipment our plan called for. I’d just managed to stagger out of the shower still more asleep than awake, when my cell phone buzzed. “Hlo?”
“Francis, you sound half asleep,” Lenny said. “This a bad time?”
“No, no. Just got out of the shower. What’s up?” I sat on the bed, toweling my hair.
“Thought I’d better update you about a couple things,” she said, sounding pensive. “First off, I’ve been put on medical leave.”
I stopped drying myself at the tension I heard in her voice. “Lenny, you all right?”
There was a pause of several seconds. “Um–I’ve got some medical tests being done over the next several days. Apparently my concussion was worse than they thought.”
My breath quickened. “There anything I can do?”
“Not at this point. Once I’ve had the tests, I’ll let you know how they come out. In the meantime, Mike wanted me to still be your unofficial contact.” Her voice firmed up. “We’ve been hearing rumors that Crosby’s business has taken some hits lately. Seems like someone got brave, or stupid, and raided a couple of her drug caches. Not sure how much was taken, but it was enough to stir up her gang like a nest of hornets. You know anything about this?”
I stood and began pacing. “I’ve heard rumors that it was Willie’s crew. He might be building a stash to help him stay disappeared.” I switched the phone to my other ear. “Meanwhile, we’ve gotten word that Crosby’s planning on wiping us out. Nothing solid on that yet. Soon as we know more, we’ll pass it on.”
“Don’t take any unnecessary chances, Francis,” she said. “Keep your head down. Like I said before, you and all of your friends would be wise to pull a disappearing act. Let things cool down for awhile.”
“Don’t worry about us, hon. You just do as the doctor tells you. And keep me posted on how you’re doing, okay?”
A quiet chuckle echoed from the phone. “Hon? You realize you just called me hon? Man, it’s a good thing you’re thousands of miles away, or I’d ‘hon’ you. Call me tomorrow,
Babe.” The line went dead before I could reply.
I took my time getting dressed, thinking back over the call. The main concern, in my opinion, was Lenny’s physical condition. Would she be all right? Other than the tenseness in her voice, she’d sounded okay. The information about Crosby just verified Phil’s information. It showed a chink in her armor. Might distract her enough at the right time to allow us to take them down. I finished dressing and headed upstairs.
Marty paused before shoveling half a pancake in his mouth. “Well, looky here. Sleepin’ beauty has awoke.”
I gave a half wave and walked into the kitchen where Nate was holding court over a griddle, pancakes browning nicely on it. Time to fuel up before…God, I hoped she was okay. Since Lenny had unloaded the news about her physical problems being a serious issue, my brain had splintered into pieces. Hard to concentrate.
A balled up napkin landed in the middle
of my plate before I got the first bite. I looked up, ready to snarl at whomever had done it, but was stopped cold by the serious look on Alice’s face.
“Okay, what’s up? We’ve been talking to you for the last minute and get nothing back.”
I laid my fork down, and rubbed my temples. “Just got a call from Lenny. She’s not doing so well. Seems she’s had some adverse reactions because of her concussion, and they’ve put her on medical leave.”
Tony’s eyebrows drew together. “How bad is it?”
I pushed my plate away, no longer hungry. “She said the doctor was having her do some tests, and would let me know once the results came back.” I looked around the table. “In the meantime, she’ll still be our unofficial point of contact with the feds.”
Tony looked at Dave. “Didn’t you go through something similar?”
Dave nodded. “Took six months to recover. Still can’t take a blow to the left side of my head, or it’s curtains.”
“Next time she calls tell her we’re pulling for her,” Alice said.
Another day slipped by, with little or no action happening at the Crosby residence, according to what we were overhearing. At least it gave us another 24 hours to prepare. In fact, we were ready as could be. Alice had been sent off with her three guards, spilling a few tears while leaving. I’d been on radio watch for an hour when the listening devices finally paid off.
I picked up several voices engaged in a quiet conversation as they entered the conference room at Crosby’s. I gave a high sign to Marty. “Heads up, sounds like a meeting might be about to start.”
“About time those microphones started pickin’ up something,” he growled, sliding into a chair next to me.
I inadvertently chuckled. An hour ago he’d been worrying about having enough time to get prepped in case they made their move tonight. I turned up the gain on the sound, and settled down to listen.
The noise of several chairs scooting around echoed through the microphones. “Awright, grab a seat,” growled a deep voice. “For the newbies, I’m Art Carlson and in charge of the job we’re gonna be planning.”