by Clark Graham
“It’s a deal.” Barry handed him a piece of paper. “Here’s the information.”
Carney read it over. “Battery, huh? Seems like a lot of work for a battery.”
“It’s a very powerful battery, one that can revolutionize the world.”
“I see.”
Chapter 19
The next day, Barry took Eva to lunch again at the country club restaurant. It was not so much that he wanted to be with Eva, but he was hoping to catch Donald there. He wasn’t disappointed. He made sure the hostess sat them at one of Donald’s tables.
When Donald came up with his order pad, he gazed at Barry and said, “Not you, again. Can’t you just leave me alone?”
“I’d like the crab cakes and she would like the smoked turkey sandwich.”
Donald eyed him dubiously. After an awkward silence, he finally said, “Can I bring you anything to drink?”
“Yes, two cokes please. Oh, and I need your help recovering a stolen item.”
Eva’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“He knows.”
Donald folded his arms. “If I help you, I will be destroying all the hopes and dreams of all young men everywhere who ever wanted, or ever will want, a muscle car. A complete destruction to the life that we all once hoped for, but will never achieve.”
Barry wrote $5,000 on a napkin and held it up so only Donald could see it.
“For that much, I can spoil a few dreams. Give me your email address and we can work something out.”
“Great,” Barry replied and wrote the address under the amount and handed it to Donald.
He took it. “I’ll bring those drinks right away.”
“What’s going on?” Eva asked.
“I need him to help me get the girl back. He doesn’t want to, but he’s definitely the man for the job.”
“How’s he going to do that?”
“She lost something very valuable to her. If I get it back for her, she’ll love me again.”
“All this mystery. Still, it’s better than moping around the house. I haven’t seen you this motivated in a long time.”
“Thank you.” Barry smiled. He knew she wouldn’t be so happy with him if she knew what he was up to.
Donald brought them their meal. While Eva and he ate they sat and chatted about the old times growing up and all the trouble they got into as kids. She was always the servants’ daughter, so she served as the scapegoat as far as Barry’s parents were concerned, but they both knew better. When the old cook retired, it was Barry who talked his dad into hiring her.
Donald brought the check and Barry put it on his charge card, including a $500 tip. It was to get Donald’s attention and let him know he was serious. He made sure Eva didn’t see the receipt.
The next afternoon Barry, Carney and Donald met together at the Persian restaurant. They sat down in one of the old booths and Carney pulled out a notebook.
“Here’s what I’ve learned so far,” Carney said as he opened it. “Arizona Interstate Mining is just an empty storefront in Mesa, a town next to Phoenix. I had a friend of mine do a run-by and here’s the picture that he emailed me. From what he found out from the businesses around there, someone comes in and checks the mail twice a week. There is no way they store anything valuable there. The other place that you mention is Vdoom Incorporated. These guys are bad juju. They have a large storage facility in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s right by the airport. We’re talking armed guards and video surveillance. I don’t know if your guy can get in there.”
Barry turned to Donald, but before he could say anything, Donald replied, “You’d be amazed at what I can do for five grand.”
“We need schedules of the guards and camera positions. If possible, we need to find out where they have the battery,” Barry said. He swallowed hard. This was going to be much harder than he thought. Still, if Donald was willing, he would let him go in.
“I’m on it. I need to be on site for a week or two, though.”
Barry nodded, “I’ll come with you. We’ll send for Donald here when we are sure we can do this.”
“It’s settled, then.” Carney replied.
“You need to carry on with your normal schedule, Donald, until we send for you. Not a word to anyone about what we’re doing, not even Anna.”
“She’d be the last person I’d tell. She’s barely talking to me as it is.”
Chapter 20
The Vdoom office was a one story building with a flat roof. There were lights on every corner. Twenty feet from the walls was a ten foot high chain link fence with barbwire on top. It surrounded the entire building. Guards with guns could be seen walking around the grounds.
Barry and Carney lay prone on a small rising above the facility, looking down on it, through the darkness, with binoculars.
“It seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a battery,” Carney said. “I see five guards in front and I don’t know how many are on the other side.”
“Why on earth would they have that much security?”
“It doesn’t look like a friendly place. Should we call Donald and abort the mission?”
“No, the future of mankind is at stake.”
Carney swung his head over towards Barry. “Really?”
“No, but I want that battery. I’m not ready to give up yet. What can we do?”
Carney shook his head. “I suppose every secured area has its weak spot, Achilles heel, so to speak. We’ll have to find it, but is it worth it?”
“Up to a certain point. Let’s at least try to find a way in.”
“It’s your dime.”
They both crawled down the backside of the hill and then stood up, walking to the rental car. They drove without the lights on until they were out of the area, then headed down the road into town.
It was late. Barry told Carney goodnight and went to his hotel room. After changing out of his dirty clothes, he headed to the shower.
A knocking on the door woke up Barry. He grabbed some clothes and then opened up. Carney was standing there. “I’m going to meet with the contractor that worked on the Vdoom building. Do you want to come?”
“Of course. Let me finish getting dressed.”
When he was finished, he hopped in the car with Carney.
They arrived at a brick front office and made their way in. Norm Giles was behind his desk when the two approached.
Norm looked up from his paperwork. “Hello, Carney. It’s good to see you again. What can I do for you?”
“I heard you were one of the contractors for the Vdoom building by the airport.”
Norm’s eyes darkened. “I don’t ever want anything to do with those people again.”
“We’re just hoping to get a floor plan of the building.” Carney replied.
“Why would you need a floor plan?”
“I’m investigating them for illegal activity.”
Norm smiled. “You’re going to break in, aren’t you?”
Both Carney and Barry held their collective breaths.
“I will assist you in any way I can.” Norm stood up and went to the file cabinet. “Those people demanded all of our plans back after we finished the work. Of course, we didn’t comply. They still haven’t paid our last two payments and it’s been over a year. They are all creepy-like. The ones that work there, that is.” Flipping through the files, he said, “Ah, number 93.” He then went over to a set of skinny drawers, he found the one labeled 93 and opened it. He pulled out a set of plans.
Barry was still a little upset at being figured out. He wished he would have thought it through and had a reasonable explanation ready for why they wanted the plans. He thought Carney, who did this sort of thing for a living, would have been ready. He’d been just as surprised as Barry had been by Norm’s sudden accusation.
“The place is built like a box. Four sides with the halls along the edge of the building and a vault in the middle. It’s like one big safe, extremely well guarded. They
have two guards per corner, inside and outside. At least, that’s what they had when I was doing the work for them. Those guards watched my every move like a hawk.”
“Say that we just wanted to peek in and look around. How we would go about that?”
“Not that you would break in, of course. If I were going to do it, and I wouldn’t, because it’s too well guarded, but if I were insane and tried, I would go through the wiring access tunnel. All the wiring is underground. There is a tunnel that leads up to the building. That would be the only way in. The problem there is, the wires go into a six-inch conduit when it enters the building. There is an access hatch for personnel near that, but you would come up in the middle of that hallway and you would be exposed to at least four guards, not to mention a multitude of security cameras.”
Barry was looking at the blueprints. “What if we cut power?”
“Two problems, it would be very dark, and the vault is activated by an electric thumbprint device that requires power.”
“In other words, it can’t be done.” Carney cut to the point.
“I didn’t say that, and I’d love to see someone try. All I’m saying is that it would be a very hard egg to crack.”
“Can we borrow the plans for a couple of days?”
“No, but I can make you your own set. Come back in a couple of hours and I’ll have them all done up for you.”
Chapter 21
Carney and Barry pored over the floor plan for several days. They bounced ideas off each other and finally thought they had the whole thing figured out. It was time to phone Donald. Barry chartered a private plane to bring him in to Santa Fe. The airport was not easy to get to, as most commercial flights stop in Albuquerque.
Waiting at the airport for the plane to arrive, Barry was in the passenger seat looking over the plan one more time. They would let Donald rest from the trip and then go in the next night at two in the morning. He wanted to make sure that Donald would have an easy time of it, so he checked and double-checked everything. Smiling to himself, he knew it could work. The only unknown was the safe room. They didn’t know if their plan to bypass the lock would work. If worse came to worst, Donald could pick it. If anyone could, it was him.
The two of them watched as the plane landed and taxied over to the terminal. The door opened and they climbed out of the car and made their way to the base of the stairs as they rolled out.
Donald was the first one out. Dragging his suitcase, he descended the stairs. When he passed Barry, he said, “Sorry.”
Barry was about to ask him what he was sorry for, but then Anna came out and ran down the stairs, giving Barry a huge hug. “You’re getting my battery back. I love you.” She smacked him right on the lips.
“What’s she doing here? I thought we told you not to tell anyone?” Carney was red faced.
“She yelled at me every day for losing her battery. I finally told her to stop and that we were going to steal it back. She demanded to come along, and I figured, why not? It’s her battery.”
“Don’t try to figure out anything anymore. You’re not qualified to do that. Leave the thinking to those who can.” Turning to Barry, Carney said. “Disentangle yourself, we have work to do.”
Barry was enjoying the hug, but he didn’t like the fact that she had said she had linked her feelings for him with his getting the battery back. He thought back to his ill conceived plan, get the battery, get the girl. “We’ve got to go,” he finally said.
“Wait, I’ve got to get my bag.” She ran up the stairs into the plane and brought back a red suitcase.
They packed the luggage in the trunk of the car and headed to the hotel.
“So what’s the plan? When are we going in?” she asked. Her voice was higher pitched than usual, because of the excitement.
“You’re not going in,” Carney said flatly.
“What do you mean, I’m not going in? Who are you, anyway?”
“I’m the one running this operation, and I say, we go as originally planned. That means, you’re not going in.”
“We’ll see about that.” She folded her arms and sat back in the seat.
Barry kept quiet. He was plotting in his mind what the next step was. When they arrived at the motel, he walked over to the office. Coming back, he announced, “I just got a room for you, Anna. It’s on the first floor and the rest of us are on the second. Donald, your room is upstairs, between Carney’s and mine. We need to meet to go over the plan. Tonight we rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”
As Donald and Anna hauled their suitcases to their rooms, she stopped to ask, “Can I listen in on the plan at least? Please?” The question was directed at Carney. He looked over at Barry, but Barry just shrugged, so Carney said. “I guess, but don’t think for one second that you’re going to participate in any way, shape, or form.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
Carney shook his head, “So now it all makes sense, the reason we are risking life and liberty to retrieve a battery. It’s all about a girl. I have half a mind to pull the plug on this project right now.”
“I can make your restaurant a reality. You won’t have to do anymore jobs. We can partner up. What do you say?”
Carney thought about it for a minute. “My recipes? I run it how I want?”
“I’m just the financier. The day-to-day operations will be all you.”
A big grin crossed Carney’s lips. “I suddenly love batteries. It’s a deal.”
They shook on it.
Chapter 22
It was the middle of the night when the vehicle pulled up to the electrical vault. This time Barry was able to rent a white van and Carney had managed to acquire some stickers with a utility logo on it. When Carney parked the van, everyone hopped out. Barry and Carney were in yellow vests with the utility logo on it, but Donald and Anna were dressed in black clothes, with their faces darkened.
Donald and Barry pulled the cover off the box and Donald climbed down. Barry handed him a long black electrical cord as wide as his wrist.
Anna crawled over the hill and up next to the fence.
It was up to Donald to push the cord in as far down the tunnel as he could. It was narrow, not big enough to crawl through. Barry watched as he threaded the cord through the opening. When he had it as far as it would go, he gave Barry the thumbs up and then climbed back out of the vault. Putting on a pack he said, “Ready.”
“Step two,” Barry said. “Get to the fence.”
Donald crawled over the hill and was soon sitting next to Anna. They both had wire cutters.
“Here goes,” Carney said and he pushed a button on the other end of the long black cord. There was a low rumble. The lights of the Vdoom building went out. Wasting no time, Donald and Anna started cutting the fence. When they had a small hole, they both crawled through.
“That wasn’t the plan. She’s not supposed to go, just Donald.” Carney put his hands on his hips.
Barry watched helplessly as the two of them neared the building. There was a flash, followed by lots of smoke which billowed up around the walls.
“Nothing to do but wait,” Barry sighed.
“She’s not supposed to be in there.” It was pointless to repeat, but Carney did anyway.
It was a complex plan. Shut off the power, then Donald goes in, lights off the smoke bomb and picks the lock on the front door in the confusion. Figuring out what type of safe was in the building was the hard part, but they had found out what type of thumb print device the building had. All Donald had to do was unhook the wires and then hook them up to a battery powered thumb print device with his hand programmed into it. That would open the door to the safe. Finding the Rex battery and getting back out would be the hard part.
They stared at the billowing smoke. They didn’t notice the men coming up behind them until it was too late.
“Hands up.”
Turning, they saw three guns pointing at them and both shot up their hands. Barry sighed. Things were not going
to plan.
“You guys work late,” one of the gun holders said.
“Emergency power outage, priority one.” Barry tried to sound convincing.
“I don’t think so. Follow us.” The man motioned him towards the building.
“My boss isn’t going to be happy about this,” Carney said. It sounded lame. They both started walking. As they neared the building, the lights came back on.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Carney whispered to Barry.
“Stop talking and walk,” the man with the gun yelled.
The gate opened to let the group of five in, and then closed behind them. Other guards came out of the smoke to see who was there, they motioned them forward. They were ushered into the building, in a side room. It was next to the safe. That’s where they found Donald and Anna. Donald just shrugged as the newcomers were sat down in chairs next to them.
Nobody said anything as the men with the guns didn’t look too friendly.
An hour later, a man in a cheap suit walked in. On a table, in front of him, sat all the wallets of Barry’s group with the ID’s pulled out and set on the table. The man looked at one of them and said, “Well, Anna Thomas, we meet at last. You’re a hard person to dissuade. I do love that battery of yours. I tried to buy it from your father, but he seemed to think it was worth billions more than the twenty thousand I offered him. Who are your friends?”
“I don’t know. I was just taking a walk, trying to figure out how to steal my battery back. I found this guy in here. The other two, well, they look like utility workers to me.”
The man shook his head. “If only I could trust you. What am I going to do with all of you?”
“You can let us two go. We have to get back to work. We’re on overtime you know,” Carney said.
Anna turned to glare at him.
“I don’t think that’s true. It was an elaborate plan, one that almost worked. Too bad your battery isn’t here. You spent too much time looking for it to make your escape. You foiled all of our systems, though. An amazing job. You have my compliments.”
