“We don’t have to shut off the car and the AC while we broil, do we?”
“I’m a psycho, not stupid. I don’t underestimate my enemies and I don’t project abnormal intelligence into common thugs doing a boring job. There’s a spot.”
Nick drove in a semicircle, parking with the front of their rented Buick pointed at an angle toward the front of SunTrust Bank’s main branch. He took out his spotting scope and checked the scene around the bank’s front entrance. Rachel used the mounted transmitter with digital zoom to scan the area on Nick’s notebook computer.
“I’m good. How about you?”
“We have only limited vision on the cars on our side,” Rachel answered.
“These guys won’t be sitting in a hot car all day,” Nick explained. “For one thing, the cops would be called in by bank security. One of the reasons you see a bank’s security guard walk around in front of the bank has nothing to do with getting a breath of fresh air. They look for cars parked too long in front of the bank with idling motors-or double parked cars.”
“That’s the reason you had me film so far down the street in both directions.”
“There are plenty of little shops on Main Street. They’ll be watching the bank with at least one of each team within grabbing distance. The other one will hover close to the car in case the grabber misses. We have a number of objectives. We need to ID our two teams and their vehicles. It will be important if we can determine whether they’re aware of each other. I’m betting Tanus doesn’t know where Javier went, so they’ll be flying blind. They’ll suspect Javier went rogue on them, but they won’t know with whom. Fletcher’s people will know Tanus has a team here. By the way, this is an inexact science.”
“Why is this starting to sound very familiar to me?” Rachel looked up at Nick from the notebook computer questioningly.
“Ever see any of Clint Eastwood’s ‘Spaghetti’ Westerns?”
“I knew it!” Rachel laughed, pointing her finger at Nick. “This is the plot from A Fistful of Dollars. The man with no name comes to town and plays off the evil Rojo brothers against the equally evil Baxter clan. You’re not playing by some assassin’s rulebook, you’re following the script from a 1960’s Italian Western.”
“I don’t plan on being caught and tortured by the two sides. Damn,” Nick complained. “I never figured you saw those movies.”
“I was a tomboy and I loved Clint Eastwood.” Rachel reached over to grasp Nick’s hand. “Maybe that’s why I love you.”
“I’m Brad Pitt, remember?” A chill ran through Nick from where she grasped his hand.
“You’re a cold-blooded killer with no conscience. The man with no name saved a Mother and her child in A Fistful of Dollars, too, on a whim.”
“Maybe I love you because I can’t think of anyone else who would have made the connection.” Nick brought Rachel’s hand up to his lips. Flashes of her in his arms the night before, muffling her screams of pleasure with both hands, romped through his head.
“So, how do we play Tanus off against Fletcher?”
“We find out first if those two guys from the mug shots I showed you are down here for Fletcher Exports.”
“And…and we turn them over to the cops,” Rachel added excitedly.
“After the cops drag those two away we’ll only have the Tanus team to deal with for a few days. I’ll give Fletcher’s people a call and tell them Javier tipped off the cops. That will cause some excitement. We’ll hit the bank the moment we only have Tanus waiting for you. I’ll take them beforehand.”
“Gus drives up. You get out, dressed like a model, with red hair and all your accessories. Gus will back your play if you need help. As we discussed, you can bet Tanus owns a couple people inside the bank. The moment you access the safety deposit box, their team outside will know it. Since I found out Javier switched sides, I’ve decided against having you bludgeon your way through. Hopefully, with Fletcher and Tanus at each other’s throat, we can get far away from Sarasota before they know we’re gone. I’ll get the flash drives copied and then we’ll begin negotiating.”
“What if they have more people than you think and they follow Gus away?”
“Let me worry about pursuit. We want -”
“There, Nick.” Rachel paused the video taken while cruising earlier, pointing to a blue Ford Five Hundred parked across the street from the bank. It had Louisiana plates.
“I’ll take a stroll first and see if I have any luck. There are little shops along this side of the street for me to saunter past.” Nick took two photos from the folder, along with their rap sheets. “Vertinski here was busted in Baton Rouge for drugs and assault.”
Nick turned the computer toward him for a moment. He hacked into the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles, querying their database for a stolen Ford Five Hundred with license plate matching the one across the street from the bank. Nick started laughing.
“Dum…da dum dum,” Nick intoned the popular opening to the TV series ‘Dragnet’. “He’s a genius, Rach. The dummy didn’t even have sense enough to switch plates. Oh man, if he’s around the car, this could be our lucky day.”
Chapter Eighteen
Stakeout
“Nick, be careful. Don’t let a little positive stuff screw up your bad karma.”
“Ha ha, very funny.” Nick gave Rachel’s hair a tug before exiting the Buick with ball cap and sunglasses on. He had dressed in khaki shorts, gray t-shirt and tennis shoes with no socks before leaving the condo with Rachel. The heat after being inside the air conditioned Buick nearly dropped him to his knees. He pointed at the throwaway cell-phone near Rachel. “I’ll have mine at my ear like all the other cell-junkies do so we can stay in constant contact.”
Taking a few deep breaths and feeling droplets of sweat forming everywhere, he closed the Buick door. He walked briskly toward Main Street while phoning Rachel’s cellphone.
“Rachel on the run, Rachel speaking.”
“Oh, you are just too cute for words.” Nick rounded the parking lot in front of a Spanish-style building. He stepped up on the sidewalk, glancing at the cars parked diagonally near a line of shops with awnings. “I see it and the genius.”
Vertinski stood, arms folded across chest, in front of the second shop, leaning against the building. He wore mirror type sunglasses, a sleeveless white t-shirt, loafers and tan shorts. Nick stopped in front of him, smiling up at the heavily built man.
“Excuse me, Sir, do you know what time it is?” Nick asked politely, pointing at Vertinski’s Rolex watch.
“I don’t know,” Vertinski growled, not making any move to turn his wrist. “Go ask inside, meatball.”
“Sure, sure.” Nick scurried back as if frightened, and then walked away up the street. He lifted his phone up again. “It’s Vertinski.”
“I heard you playing with him, dummy.”
“I’m going across the street to the bank to start up a savings account. When I get done taking pictures in there with my really good digital camera, I’ll leave and take a picture of the gorilla posing right in front of his stolen car. We’ll post the picture to the Sarasota police department and kick back to watch the fireworks.”
“Showoff.”
Nick took his hand-held digital camera out as he walked into the air conditioned bank with an audible sigh of relief, clicking away with his camera, while talking to Rachel. While he waited in a seat near the desks for his turn to talk with a consultant, he snapped pictures without being obvious. His mouth tightened when he saw one of the security guards come out of the rear.
“We have a tiny problem.”
“What, you can’t walk from the bank to the car because of the heat?”
Nick smiled. “No, Vertinski’s partner works as a bank guard.”
“Oh joy.”
“We’re going to really cause a stir when I get out of here. I shouldn’t even start up an account now, considering their hiring practices.”
Thirty minutes later, Nick h
ad a savings account with five hundred dollars in it under his Roscoe Weatherby name. He also had pictures of Vertinski’s partner. As Nick walked from the bank, he fiddled with his papers, zooming in on the immobile Vertinski and the stolen Ford. Nick crossed the street down from Vertinski, almost directly in front of the rented Buick. Vertinski did not glance his way, so Nick moved quickly to the Buick. He entered with a sigh as the cool air hit him.
“C’mon, Geeks R Us, get busy with the pictures,” Rachel ordered, turning the notebook computer toward him.
Nick popped the memory chip out and plugged it into his computer. The pictures were automatically downloaded into a file. Nick looked at each one of them with satisfaction.
“Not bad for off the hip shots. Look at the one for Vega, the security guard. Oh boy are the cops going to love this stuff. They have one wanted felon out casing the bank and an inside-man felon as a security guard. Nice setup.”
He looked up the Web address for the Sarasota police department and uploaded the pictures with date stamp and explanatory note. He included Vertinski's and Vega’s mug shots with partial rap sheets. Next, he had Rachel call in on her throw away cell-phone, explaining to the police how she had spotted the two. Until she talked them into checking their computer for the pictures, they were less than enthused. When they suddenly wanted to know everything about her, she ended the call. Twenty minutes later, police squad cars ringed Vertinski and his Ford. A second team carefully entered the bank. They emerged with Vega five minutes after they went in.
“Dum…da dum dum…daaaaaa…” Nick crooned.
* * * *
“Tell Gus why we couldn’t have hit the bank right after the police took Vertinski and Vega away,” Rachel directed. She brought refreshments over and set them down on the condo's dining room table.
“I don’t need to tell him,” Nick replied, exchanging grins with Gus as the two sat across from each other. “He trusts my judgment. Come to think of it, Danger and Deke trust my judgment too. Why, oh why, can’t you?”
“We had the advantage, Nick.” Rachel ignored the laughter at Nick’s rhyme.
“Rachel, you didn’t know all the players,” Gus told her gently. “If Tanus has someone working the safety deposit boxes, or notes which ones get accessed, they could have tipped off a Tanus team not right outside the bank. Fletcher Exports screwed up with their two picks, leading to a nice first day. Predicting actions by Tanus on the heels of the police action may have led to disaster.”
“I wasn’t making fun of you, Rachel. I’m tired. We had a busy, hot day. Sit back and relax. While you were catching up with Danger’s day, I sent a note into Tanus headquarters, letting them know Javier Martine ended up at Fletcher Exports. I then put a note into Fletcher Exports, warning them not to send anyone else to Florida if they know what’s good for them, as if it came from Tanus. Now, we need to find out who the hell is down here from Tanus.”
“Other than scripting your plan like an old western, what’s the purpose of all this?” Rachel asked, not at all mollified by his explanation.
“To make your walk in the bank like a day at the beach,” Gus answered for Nick. “Nick shows up at the bank every day, doing something different inside, including getting a safety deposit box. How am I doing, brother?”
“Too damn good,” Nick muttered. “Either you’ve known me too long, or I’ve known you too long.”
“They won’t have a clue, Nick,” Gus reassured him.
“Jesus…that is good.” Rachel smiled for the first time since she sat down. “I go get the flash drives and pass them to you inside the bank. You take the drives and put them in your own safety deposit box. Then, even if something goes wrong outside, they don’t get the flash drives.”
“First, we have to stir the pot between Tanus and Fletcher. I want them watching each other with the same enthusiasm they’re watching for you. In the meantime, I’ll spend the next three days adding a checking account, money market account, and a safety deposit box. I want everyone around to believe I’m just some new local businessman.”
“Did you have any luck spotting what vehicles might be owned by Tanus?” Gus asked.
“We didn’t find any out of state license plates, but I still have to check for rentals,” Nick answered. “Vega was a surprise. I need to examine the SunTrust employee records more closely. I checked, and he used an alias to get the job. Fletcher found out about the drives recently. Tanus has had time to establish people at the bank we may not be able to spot.”
“This is getting complicated again,” Rachel pointed out.
“We’re not getting the flash drives at any cost. Our side will not take casualties. Today was only our first day, Rach, and we had a good one. Let’s not piss on our good fortune by hurrying fate. Moving on, how was your day with Danger, Gus?”
“Between Miss Outgoing, Deke, and the damn Frisbee, I nearly had the whole beach crowd checking us out.”
“Jean told me she had a great time with you,” Rachel said.
“We have to go to the beach again tomorrow to meet up with her new friends vacationing from Pennsylvania. I told her as long as she cleans up the dog dung, I’m fine.”
“She was out like a light at eight o’clock.”
“Her birthday’s coming up in a few days, isn’t it?” Nick asked.
“Yes, and you’ve already spoiled her rotten on this trip, so I don’t have a clue what to get her.”
“I have to go. Thanks to Danger, the chick magnet, I have a date tonight,” Gus announced, standing up.
“You Philistine, using Danger and Deke to troll for women. How could you?” Nick asked, already shaking his head in fake disappointment.
“They were an attraction today,” Gus acknowledged. “How was the Buick?”
“Perfect. Anything you can get similar to it would be a help. I’d be able to mount the transmitter easily again. The windows were just right too. It should be nice on your date.”
“No use wasting a beautiful new car rental.” Gus shrugged, waving on the way out. “See you two tomorrow.”
“Bye, Gus.” When the door closed behind him, Rachel turned to Nick, who was at the refrigerator for more refreshments. “How do you do it, Nick? I figured we’d storm the bank without a second thought when the cops left today.”
“Patience and a healthy survival instinct, Rach. There are too many variables right now to do anything hasty. I thought you liked the idea of switching safety deposit boxes.”
“I do. I’ll be less pessimistic tomorrow morning.”
“Do you think Deke needs a walk?”
“He’s out cold next to Jean. I went out with him for a while before Jean went to bed. Want to try out your patient approach in some other endeavor?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
* * * *
“Damn, no rentals around, and no suspicious out of state license plates.”
They were parked in the same spot as the day before in a Pontiac 6, this time with Rachel behind the wheel. Nick worked the computer, while Rachel watched the bank and surrounding area with Nick’s digital spotting scope.
“I guess it was too much to hope for, that they’d be as obvious as those two yesterday.” Rachel held up two sheets of pictures. “Like you said last night, they’ve been down here waiting for a long time. I haven’t seen anyone resembling the men or women on these photo sheets you made up.”
“I didn’t spot any Tanus people inside either. I guess it’s time for me to make another appearance in the bank. I’ll set up a safety deposit box today. I’m hoping the bank has someone in particular who handles the area where the boxes are.”
“You’ll be a lot less comfortable, but I like your outfit better.” Rachel gestured at Nick’s gray slacks and light blue short sleeved pullover shirt. “You’ll look a lot more presentable today.”
Nick pulled his notebook computer case from the backseat. “This will be what I’ll have with me every day. You’ll go in with a large black purse w
ith blank flash drives already in it when we decide it’s time. After taking the real drives out and putting them into a small zip lock bag, you’ll lock your box back up and come out. I’ll be holding the case in such a way you will be able to brush by me in the bank and drop the drives in. Then, you take a seat and mess around filling out something while I copy the drives. I’ll put the originals into my own safety deposit box. I want you to then look around nervously while I complete the transfer and leave the bank ahead of you. With any luck, the bad guys will have gathered by then, waiting for their moment.”
“If I didn’t trust you -”
“Yeah, this plan would be awkward. I could ditch you right then and there, leaving you to take the heat. Instead of that traitorous scenario, I’ll get my bag somewhere safe and cue Gus. I should have a good idea who the grabbers will be. I’ll take them out and give you the word to hurry the hell out of the bank and into the car with Gus. I don’t want you exposed for even ten seconds, so once the Tanus guys hit the deck, you run for the car. I’ll meet up with you at the condo. We’ll have all the poker chips then: original flash drives still in a safety deposit box, us with copies, you and Jean out of danger.”
“Wow, it sounds so simple when you put it like that.”
“Off I go.” Nick opened the door to a furnace blast of humid hot air. “Good Lord in heaven! I’ll keep you on the cell while I’m playing businessman inside. Watch for guys paying attention to me.”
“Okay. Just shut the damn door.”
Nick closed the door and adjusted his sunglasses. He hurried diagonally across the street so as to end up at the SunTrust bank entrance. He called Rachel while walking across the threshold.
“Nick, bring me back a Diet Pepsi.”
“Sure thing, Princess.” He walked to one of the people at a desk, asking about opening a safety deposit box. Fifteen minutes later, the man who had helped him fill out the paperwork guided Nick to the safety deposit box area, cautioning him on what would happen if the keys were lost. He buzzed the rear section. A pleasant faced blonde in her mid-thirties came to the window. Nick recognized her immediately.
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