This time, more people were gathered in the loading bay; the recent jacking had brought them, which Ed Cox didn't mind. Neither Ben not Jay could believe what they were hearing from him. “A truck?”
Pender had told his men that they would be going in a “different vehicle,” but he had left it to Cox to specify. Despite his love of security, that kind of subterfuge had bothered him because it left his men in the dark. In order for the plan to succeed, however, they had to be.
“Yep, a company truck. Someone else is picking up your own vehicle and taking it to the shop,” Cox replied firmly.
“Here’s what you need to know,” he added: “that gizmo of yours is conspicuous around here. Since it was found last time, we’ve decided to go with camouflage.”
Yes, but… Ben’s voice failed him when he saw Cox had very much made up his mind. The question about how it would help foil an inside job died in his head. It was replaced by a thought, which calmed him. They were part of a track-and-detect.
The truck they were to drive, both had already noticed; they thought it was there for a more quotidian pickup. It had a cap on its bed; Ben and Jay walked over to the back to see how to put the new box inside. What they saw, after Ben lifted the window, was some camping equipment that probably was from the exploration department. No box was visible, but the bed wasn’t empty.
“Already loaded, isn’t it.”
“That’s right,” Cox confirmed from just behind them. “I loaded it myself.
“As it turns out, we had enough to make another bar and we need the money.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Ben said, his tone reflecting a bit of admiration. It was pretty slick. Old Ed was probably here last night making it look like he was assembling another bar from production backup. There was no rule saying that the gold’s gotta go the day after it was smelted, so there probably was enough backup to make it look like there were a real bar there. Ben was sure they were carrying nothing except the camp gear.
“Okay, Jay, we might as well get going. Mr. Cox here has everything looked after.”
Jay had figured it out too, but both were too tempted to not stop and check. So, just before the highway exit, they pulled over and riffled through the bed. Both were surprised to see a Styrofoam package that concealed the same amount of heaviness.
It was Jay who was the first to speak this time. “Son of a gun…he’s really going for it.”
Ben turned his torso and head around, gazing at the empty road. Based upon Cox’ lacunae, he had assumed the mine manager had been dissimulating to the crowd. That assumption, he revised.
“We’re being tailed.” This time, the action was starting sooner. Ben deliberately slowed down the truck once they had hit a long stretch of straight road that allowed for passing in the opposite lane. If the fellow in the SUV was innocent, he or she would be motoring past them and moving ahead.
Sure enough, the vehicle did pass. A he was behind the wheel; he took as close a look at Ben as Ben did at him. Sandy hair, light eyes, look about average height based upon sitting height and position of the driving chair. It passed, but slowed down to his speed soon afterwards.
That got the men looking at each other. First Ben, then Jay: each pulled out their hand cannons. Both had fourth-generation Glocks with ample magazines filled with twenty-two .40 ammunition cartridges. The Internal Locking Systems were still on, but both men flicked theirs off when a car began tailing them. They also took off their seat belts.
It wasn’t long in coming. The SUV – a recent-model, gray “Trailplower” built by Michigan Motors – hit the brakes on a sharp curve; so did Ben. As soon as the car stopped, Ben jumped out; his feet managed to hit the asphalt a split second before the robber’s did. But the robber had beat him with the gun manoeuvring.
The next thing Jay knew, his partner was belting out the howl of the wounded and limping in a pain-stupor to the other side of the road. Automatically, Jay’s gun hand came up and fired right through the safety glass. The armed assailant went down.
That made him realize how vulnerable he was; Jay ducked down before a shot came though the back window. But only one, which exited through a different part of the windshield. Instead, the unseen gang were rifling through the contents of the truck bed while Jay lost his shock. Had he looked, he would have seen the cop-impersonator.
He had managed to ease open his door when the largely unseen car belted away without a parting shot. Rather than being reassured, Jay was worried. For thugs, they had been in an awful hurry.…
Having gotten the door fully open, he slipped out when he heard the highway horn. Panicked, he ran headlong into the field in front of him as a fully-loaded transport truck – unable to stop in the tight cornered turn that hid the two remaining vehicles from sight – knocked them into a lethal agglomeration of ceramic, metal and glass. Jay had gotten out just in time.
The truck driver got to Ben first. Although the accident was not his fault, he was still stricken as the man was a pro. After losing his much deeper shock, Jay went over to see if his partner was still breathing. He explained in short bursts to the trucker that they had been jacked.
This time, Pender had shown up in person after seeing to what needed to be seen to at the office. It was the first time in his business life that one of his boys had been wounded. Had Ben been wounded to unconsciousness, Pender would have been up right away. Each man's family had beaten him to it.
Thankfully, the now-dead assailant – the pile-up had seen to it if Jay’s bullet hadn’t – had missed Ben’s knee. He needed surgery, but chances were good that he’d walk again. They were both in the same hospital room, as Jay was held for observation.
As their worried-up boss got into the four-bed room, seeing the two men beside each other with thankfully empty beds on the other side, he smiled with the best cheer-up for the situation. He had received the news on the way up to the local hospital.
“I’ve got some great news for you. The others were caught and the gang’s been busted!”
Jay’s eyes lit up. Ben’s didn’t because they were blurry with morphine-induced disconnect. He needed every drop, which made him feel dopey and passively edgy.
“Great, boss!” Jay replied for both of them. “So who was it?”
It had been two people, both with the same pressing need. Cox’s assistant and a secretary had both bought Northeaster stock on margin just before the price of gold had taken a tumble. Anticipating a huge gain at the start of production, they had not realized production had already been discounted – in fact, overly discounted. Their life savings plus more had been put in that one company, one whose top management encouraged share ownership by employees like them. They had come to the conclusion that the company “owed” them when their accounts were liquidated to meet margin calls. Their cut was going towards buying back in to make up for their losses once the bad news faded.
“So I guess we were being tailed by friendlies too,” Ben added leadenly as he shifted around. The narcotics weren’t bringing him any joy; that was for sure.
Pender shook a nugatory Ben's way as his grin widened. Walking over between their beds, he sprung the surprise:
“No, it wasn’t that. The bar Ed Cox used was from his home.”
Jay’s eyebrows arced. “You mean, he had a tracker in it?” Not very feasible, maybe, but who knew these days?
Still grinning, Pender supplied the answer. “Nope; it was made special for a party he threw a year ago. It’s gold-plated tungsten.”
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