Sunday Funday

by Annalise Wells

  I pick up the radio. “Anything happening team one?” I ask.

  “Nothing,” Susan replies.

  “Where is that other truck?”

  “It hasn’t come here,” Susan says.

  Ty’s voice comes over the radio. In a whisper he says, “It’s headed toward the houses by their club. I'll follow.”

  “Roger.”

  “Team three. A truck is moving in front of the precinct,” Susan says.

  “What can you see?”

  “A truck with a driver. I think they’ve made the door fit around the trucks. No in or out while that’s parked there,” Susan says.

  “Where is Owen?” I ask.

  “He was in the store with the shopkeeper. I can’t see him from here.”

  “Okay, just let us know if they move,” I say.

  I turn to face Mikey, he looks like some ridiculous robotic throwback with his goggles on. Damn he looks stupid…

  “Team two come in,” I hear Susan say.

  “Yeah, we’re here,” I hear Orlando reply.

  “Truck one moving. No light at all from in the precinct,” Susan explains.

  “Okay. Team two on standby,” Orlando replies.

  The radios fall silent again. All we can hear is a crackle of faint interference.

  “Team four come in.”

  “Go team two,” Ty says.

  “Truck one heading toward you,” Orlando says. “I think.”

  “I'm on foot now,” Ty replies.

  “Truck two pulling to the precinct,” Susan presses.

  “Team two understood,” Orlando says from the speaker.

  “Team one come in,” I say.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Still just two more trucks?” I ask.

  “They’re there. If they move, that’s a different question,” Susan replies.

  “Keep us updated.”

  “Fuck,” Susan cries into the radio.

  “What?” I say.

  “Owen is outside, he is creeping toward the precinct,” Susan says.

  “You can’t get him back,” I say. “You will have to leave him.”

  “Whoa, he just looked at me. He looks fucking weird with his eyes shining,” Susan says. “Spooky.”

  “Just watch,” I say plainly.

  “Hey, I see something coming up the road now,” Mikey says as he pulls on my jacket.

  “Is it a truck?” I ask.

  “No. It's that big SUV of the gay councilor.”

  “Obviously he doesn’t take any chances then,” I say.

  “Team two, say again.”

  I call out, “Black SUV heading your way.”

  “Roger,” Orlando replies.

  “Ty, SUV approaching as well as the truck,” I say.

  “Got it. SUV pulling to the club. Armored vehicle also pulling into the club.”

  “Hmm, keep an eye on them.”

  “Two guys from the SUV and the truck opening. The garage door is lifting up, and there are guys ins…” Ty starts saying.

  “Ty?” says Orlando.

  “Ty?” I ask.

  “Shush. They’re unloading into the garage, I think they have a separate stash,” Ty says.

  “Team two come in,” Susan says. “Truck two on the move.”

  “Fuck, these guys work quickly,” I mumble.

  “Team three, truck two coming your way,” Orlando says to me.

  Mikey turns to me. “I can see it coming up the road now.”

  “Team three and four. Truck two moving toward you.”

  “Team three. Club truck unloaded and out of view,” Ty says.

  “Team five and six, hang fire. Nothing for you,” I say.

  I hear the responses from teams five and six. It seems Drake might have been right after all. Right about the movements.

  “Team three. Second truck stopping at the house next door,” Ty says. “Same thing. Garage open.”

  Susan’s voice crackles over the radio. “Truck three on the move. And that is all of them.”

  “What time is it?” I ask Mikey.

  “How can I see with these goggles on?”

  “Sorry, habit,” I reply.

  Mikey holds his arm close to the lighter I’ve just lit. “Seven forty.”

  “Team three and four. Final truck on route.”

  “Twenty minutes and power will be on. Get ready to move,” I say into the radio.

  “Last truck in sight. Stopping at house two next to the club.” Ty says.

  “You might as well get rid of your goggles now,” I say to Mikey.

  “Everyone get ready and pull out as soon as the power is on,” I say. “Five and six, head home. You're safe. Ty, any sign of the SUV?” I ask.

  “Still here. I think they’re in the club.”

  I look at Mikey and talk, “Roger. Get ready to move.”

  “I'll give it thirty minutes and see if anything happens.”

  “Just be careful if you're on foot,” I say.

  “I'm in the bushes opposite. It doesn’t smell very nice in here.”

  We sit and wait as the lights all come back on together. Mikey blinks his eyes as the streetlight shines directly into his face.

  “Jesus, that nearly blinded me,” he says.

  “Just give it a few moments, and you will adjust,” I say as I start the engine.

  “Susan, come in.” I wait. “Susan, Susan. Owen, are you there?”

  “Shit, that was close,” Susan says finally.

  “Where were you?” I ask.

  “Two guards came back and were shining a flashlight through the windows. I had to hide under some empty sacks.”

  “Where is Owen?” I ask.

  “I'm hoping he got back to the store in time,” Susan says.

  I hear Owen’s voice as he opens the door to the truck. “Put him on the radio please, Susan.”

  “She wants you,” Susan says to Owen.

  “Yeah?” he asks.

  “What sort of fucking crazy stunt have you been pulling?” I ask.

  “I couldn’t see, so I told the old guy I would have a walk around,” Owen replies.

  “It was plain fucking stupid, you do know that, don’t you?” I scream.

  “The old guy is sound, he hates these cops,” Owen explains.

  “That isn’t the point, you could have been caught or hurt,” I say.

  “We'll talk about it later when we get home,” Owen says.

  “Damn right we will,” I say angrily.

  “Sir, yes Sir, I hear everyone else call from the radio.” Mikey begins to chuckle as we pull back toward the freeway.

  “Now we know what they do. They split the trucks. One to the club and three to the house next door,” I say.

  “You do know what this means?” Mikey says.

  “I do, we have to get back into the club and the house next door,” I reply.

  “Same old, same old. This is how it started.”

  “And we only have this week. Is the club open, all the time?” I ask.

  “We can find out, but I'm not sure they’ll be open on a Sunday. Or not before nine o’clock, they won’t be.”

  We head back to the club. It wasn’t as extreme as we expected and the vehicles hadn’t moved much during the whole operation. Only Ty had been mobile, and he had changed to being on foot.

  Bob swings open the large black steel gate as we drive inside. I see him shrugging his shoulders. “What’s up Bob?” I ask as I step from the car.

  “Radio blackout for me I'm afraid,” Bob says. “I think I was out of reach.”

  “It wasn’t as exciting as it could have been, apart from Owen sneaking around in the grass,” I say. “Like a freakin’ black ops guy.”

  “I had to get closer,” he says as he approaches us.

  I shake my head. “No, it was a fucking stupid thing to do,” I reply.

  “It's done now, and I don’t have to do it again,” he replies. He gives me a sexy grin. “Plus, it’s Sunday fun da
y every day, remember?’

  I ignore his Sunday comment. “So, did you find anything out?”

  “Nothing. The trucks are solid against the building. The driver waits and then drives off. That’s it,” he explains. “All the doors open inward, so they’re as safe as anything.”

  “Mikey and I have come up with a solution, but we have to act quickly,” I say to Owen.

  “What’s that?”

  “We have to go into the swingers party and see if we can get to the garage,” I say.

  “And the house next door?” Ty asks as he steps from his bike.

  “Jesus, you weren’t wrong about those bushes stinking,” Owen says. “God!”

  “Did anything else happen?” I ask.

  “The guards in the second house never came out from there, they came out from the club,” Ty explains.

  “They must have walked from one garden to the next.”

  “Or underground. I think they have a larger vault under the two houses,” Ty says.

  “Why unload to two separate places?” Owen asks.

  “He must be skimming off the top. Or they have the vault divided in two as a security measure,” Ty explains.

  “That makes a lot more sense. It's only like the clubs of ours, a secret door here, and a secret door there.”

  “How do we get downstairs?” I ask.

  “I think we need to see some building plans. And I know just the person who has some.” Ty turns to Bob.

  “I do, I have all the construction plans for those houses. Just not tonight.”

  “In the morning, first thing. We have to get into the club for a night and then find out how we can get out with the cash,” I say.

  “A job well done,” Bob says.

  “Now we all need to get some rest,” Owen says. “Cally, can you make sure Ty has a good shower?”

  “Why are you going to watch?” asks Ty.

  Bob erupts with laughter, and then everyone else does, too. Owen is unimpressed by their joviality and he turns and walks away, very quickly.

  “Make sure you use the fire escape,” adds Bob. The laughter gets louder as I walk more quickly to catch up to him. My jaw hurts from smiling and laughing so much.

  “It’s Sunday fun day,” I call.

  “Yes, apparently for everyone else, it is!”

  “Sometimes shit happens. Other times it's just there.”

  Owen

  “As far as I’m concerned, being any gender is a real drag.”

  Bob had printed off all the building documents for the swinger club and the house next door. From what we could see, they had been built as one unit at the foundation level.

  “How can we find the door there? It has to be secret, right?” I say.

  “When we were there, I was told the councilors don’t mix, and the two of them go through some other doors. Um, so maybe, the entrance is in there?” Bell says.

  “If there’s only the two who go into there, how the hell can we get them there?” I ask.

  “There must be some way,” Bell says.

  I turn to see Janey and Susan coming from the bottom of the staircase. “Why are you all looking so puzzled?” Janey asks.

  “Bell has explained that the two councilors that are having a relationship go into another part of the house. Or the club, or whatever it is,” I explain. “This is off-limits to everyone.”

  “We have to somehow convince them to let us in there,” Janey says.

  “The feminine one is all mouth; his partner is really on the ball. Any form of manipulation and he'll see it,” Bell adds. “We have to somehow convince them both together, but we have one man in the relationship, and the other is really feminine. So, it might be awkward because they are smart.”

  “Drugs,” I say. “We can drug them.”

  “They drink different things. It's not as if we can pop something into their drink,” Bell says.

  Susan coughs. “I know how we can do it,” she says.

  “How?” asks Bell.

  “Janey, do you want to lay it out plainly?” Susan asks.

  Janey laughs. “Susan’s old sleeping pills and the ones to quit smoking. They worked on me almost immediately. Nearly as soon as I touched the glass.”

  “They were prescription meds, we won’t be able to get any,” I say.

  “I still have an old prescription upstairs. I can easily get a supply.” Susan smiles.

  “It's risky, how can you get close to two glasses?” I ask.

  “I can do it,” Brent says as he walks through the door. “Slight of hand.”

  “That is one glass, what about the other?” Bell says.

  “He took a real shine to you when we went before, and he isn’t going to forget your tattoo, is he?” Brent says to Bell.

  “What about if they don’t go to the club on the night we’re there?” Bell asks.

  I look at everyone. “We have to somehow make them be there.”

  “And how the hell can we do that?” Bell asks.

  “If it was all going to be done on Sunday, we could have just told them we were going to rob their money. Then drugged the fuckers and walked out with it,” Janey says.

  “Wishful thinking,” I reply smiling.

  “We'll have to give it some thought, but first we have to go back to the swingers club and do another recon mission,” Bell says.

  “I have a thought about the second glass,” Janey says. “Or at least a very good distraction.”

  “What is it?” Bell asks.

  “Well, the councilor who is uptight… apparently likes men who are really camp and dress up as women,” Janey explains. “So, we dress someone up like a really camp woman.”

  I look at Ty and Brent. “They won’t pass as a woman, look at the size of them,” I say. “And I'm not much different.”

  “I wasn’t thinking about any of you doing it,” Janey says. “Look out of the window.”

  We stand and look out of the window. I begin to laugh first, then it’s followed by everyone else’s.

  “You can’t be serious? I ask.

  “I'm deadly serious. Who would look at that and think there was anything suspicious going on?” Janey says.

  “Mikey isn’t going to go for that, no way.”

  “He has a large bonus hanging over his head at the moment. I think he might be swayed,” Janey says.

  “I'm not going to ask him,” I say.

  “I'll ask him, I'm not worried,” Janey replies.

  “You better do it quick. It looks as if he is going to vanish,” Brent says.

  Janey opens the door and calls Mikey. He enters Bob's office and stares at everyone looking at him. “Why are you all staring at me strangely?”

  “We have one final job, and we think it's the make or break of the whole episode, but it’s in the swingers club,” Janey says.

  “No problem, just tell me what it is, and I'll do it,” he replies smiling. He is obviously thinking it has something to do with women.

  Janey looks around. “You all heard that, Mikey is offering to do it.”

  “I witness that,” Bob says smiling. The room nods in agreement.

  “What do I have to do?” Mikey asks.

  “We need you to become a woman for the evening,” Janey says with a smile.

  Mikey stands and looks at everyone in the office. His bemused face is glaring at everyone. “What gives you the impression I would be good as a woman?” Mikey asks.

  Janey looks at everyone and then back at Mikey. “These guys are just a little too masculine,” she says.

  “I’m not exactly feminine, am I?” Mikey says. “I’m not the tallest guy in the world, or the slimmest.”

  “That’s what makes it seem a little more realistic, that it’s you,” Janey says. “A beautiful version of you.”

  “I’m not overly enthralled with the idea, but I know nothing is going to happen, so I better agree to it,” Mikey says looking unimpressed.

  “The girls will look after you w
hen they do your facial and makeup.”

  “A facial, is that needed? This is the last thing, or it should damn well be,” Mikey says laughing. “Why the woman disguise, anyway?”

  “The two councilors have to be drugged so we can get into the back room. Then we can find out how to get into the place where they’re keeping the money underground,” Janey explains.

  “I’m not going to the club by myself though, am I?” Mikey asks.

  “Of course not, we’ll need several of us to go in, and maybe twice.”

  Mikey looks at Janey. “Twice, I have to do it twice?”

  “We don’t know. We have to find the area and then see how we can get the cash out next Sunday,” Janey explains.

  “Unbelievable, that’s what it is,” Mikey says with a huge frown.

  Janey laughs. “It might be kind of funny, really.”

  Mikey looks at Janey plainly before glaring at the rest of us. “That’s easy for you lot to say.”

  “The only other thing is, we have to make sure that the councilors go there at the same time as us. We don’t know how to do that,” Janey adds.

  “Let me think on that, I might be able to come up with a solution,” Mikey says. “When do we need to go in?”

  Janey shrugs her shoulders. “As soon as possible, really.”

  Mikey sits on the arm of the couch. “It’s a shame we couldn’t just drug everyone, then we could do as we please.”

  “That would be an ideal solution. If we had a way of doing that it could make things a whole lot easier,” Janey says.

  Mikey looks to Janey and sighs. “So, just tell me, these drugs you have, what are they and what do they do?”

  “Susan had them for quitting smoking and sleeping problems, I only used the same glass she had, and they must have been on the rim of the glass. I fell asleep and had one of the most lifelike dreams I have ever had,” Janey explains.

  Mikey furrows his brow as he frowns. “I have to somehow add drugs to the glasses of the councilors?”

  “Maybe just one. Bell got on really well with the other one, so she is going to take care of him. It’s the stern one we have to get to, this is where you come in.”

  “A loveable klutz.”

  “What?” Janey asks.

  “I have to be a loveable klutz, you know, clumsy but charming,” Mikey says.

  “Mikey you’re a charm really,” Janey says. Everyone laughs.