“This might be that guy who was at the diner,” Piper said. “Maybe he’s with Luna.”
When Vic asked what they should do next, Piper realized the time and told them to head to the armored car company. He had already spent more time in town than he’d intended and needed to get out with the money before someone alerted the authorities. It was easy enough to disable the phone lines and take out the cell tower, but there was always a chance someone would get help by using a computer somehow. Piper hated the damn things. Every time technology advanced it made things more difficult for crooks like himself.
He smiled. He wouldn’t be a crook much longer, not with the millions he was stealing. He’d settle down somewhere, likely Mexico, with Sofia, find another wife—one who wasn’t a backstabber—and play lord of the manor. No more heists, no more risking prison, just live the good life.
Piper paced about Callie’s front porch while wondering what had happened to Luna and his daughter. When he checked his watch, he saw that the hour of the heist was approaching fast. If he couldn’t locate Luna soon, he’d have to leave her and try again. That would be too risky after robbing millions, and he might never see Luna or his daughter again.
Piper stopped walking as he realized how much he wanted to see Luna. He hated her for betraying him, yes, but Mike had been right, he still loved her.
Conleth and Julio had traveled to the north end of town and moved on foot toward the beginning of Main Street, where the exit off the highway was. They saw no one but the barricade was still in place. When a pair of headlights lit up the off-ramp, they ducked and watched the car go by and enter town. Inside the vehicle were four teens, two boys and two girls. They looked to be enjoying their Thursday night as they all wore smiles and the girls were laughing.
Julio whispered to Conleth. “It doesn’t look like anyone is still watching the road.”
“I’ll walk along the ramp and check it out,” Conleth said.
When he was halfway up the ramp and out of Julio’s sight, a man emerged from the darkness of the bordering desert. The guy was wearing a leather vest like the others Conleth had seen, but he was armed with a shotgun and was pulling on a ski mask.
“Why are you walking around out here dressed like G.I. Joe?” the man asked him. It was one of Piper’s mercenaries. He was black and standing on a mound; Conleth had to crane his neck to look him in the eye.
“I’m just out for a walk. I get insomnia sometimes. What’s with the shotgun?”
The man eyed him. “I heard there was trouble at the diner; that must have been you.” The mercenary gestured with his head, tossing it to his right to indicate the desert. “Start walking that way or I’ll cut you down right here.”
Conleth looked over at the darkness covering the desert. If he hiked in there with the man at his back, he knew he’d never come out alive. The mercenary knew what he was thinking and raised the rifle.
“I can kill you right now if you’d like.”
Conleth began walking. Maybe once he reached the darkness, he could escape into it and hide from the man. Hiding from the shotgun pellets he’d be firing at him was another thing.
He was still a few feet shy from where the night swallowed up the land when the shot came. It wasn’t the boom of a shotgun, but the crack of a pistol. The mercenary grunted and went down. When Conleth turned to look at him, he saw the exit wound in the center of the dead man’s chest.
“Are you all right?” Julio asked.
Conleth grinned at him. “I’m doing better than this asshole. Thanks, man, you saved my life. I didn’t think you heard him.”
“It looks like they’re letting people enter the town, but no one leaves it.”
“There must be another guy guarding the other road. Let’s go take care of his ass too, after we move this barricade.”
“I hope my shot didn’t carry to the other man. If so, he might wonder about it.”
Conleth reached down and claimed the shotgun. “We’ll handle him, and we have more firepower now.”
“I wish the damn cell phones worked. We should let Brandt know what’s going on; I also wonder how he and Sal are doing at the depot.”
“We’ll find out once we handle the other guy guarding the road. If we keep taking out their guys, we’ll outnumber them.”
Julio grinned. “And then that depot money will be ours.”
At the armored car depot, Vic and Roxana were arriving on their motorcycles when Vic spotted a female figure in a corner of the parking lot. The rear gate had been left open by their inside man, McHugh, and it seemed they weren’t the only intruders to enter the property.
Earlier in the day, an underground water pipe had burst, and a repair crew had set-up there to handle the problem. They had time to fix the ruptured pipe before the work day ended but would have to come back to fill in the dirt and clean up. They had left behind some equipment, including an excavator and pieces of the damaged two-inch-wide pipe they’d removed.
There was also a portable toilet, and Daisy had needed to use the bathroom. As she was headed back to where Brandt waited for her, she was spotted by Vic.
“Shit. I think that’s Luna!” Vic shouted over the sound of their bikes.
“I’ll get the bitch!” Roxana yelled.
Vic was about to follow her when he saw Brandt step out from the side of a gray van. The vehicle belonged to one of the guards inside the depot. Vic rushed toward Brandt and realized too late that the man was armed. Knowing he’d never get his own weapon out in time, he went faster, hoping to frighten Brandt into lowering the weapon and jumping out of the way. The plan worked. Brandt dropped his arm and dove left in front of the van. Unfortunately for both him and Vic, Vic decided to turn that way at the same time.
Vic’s motorcycle crashed into Brandt and sent the man sprawling, while at the same time Vic flipped over the handlebars. The bike skidded along the ground and Brandt and Vic were knocked unconscious.
Daisy winced in sympathy when she saw the motorcycle collide with Brandt. She began running toward him to check his condition when Roxana blocked her path. After turning off her bike, Roxana hopped off and studied Daisy.
“You look like Luna, but you’re not her. Who are you, sweet stuff?”
Daisy moved around her. “I want to check on my friend.”
Roxana reached out and grabbed Daisy’s hair, to yank her back. “I asked you who you were, bitch.”
“Who the hell are you?” Daisy said, as she freed herself from Roxana’s grip.
Roxana smiled. “Aw, we have a southern belle here. I like girls from the south, you’re all soft and cuddly.”
Daisy looked Roxana up and down. “You’re a lesbian?”
Roxana grinned. “That’s right.”
Daisy rested her hands on her hips. “Don’t get any ideas; I don’t swing that way.”
Roxana shrugged. “Fine, then I’ll just kick your ass.”
Daisy never saw the punch coming. It struck her on the side of the head, and she staggered back toward the portable toilet. Roxana delivered another blow. This one was a punch to the stomach. Daisy freed the knife hanging from her belt and Roxana kicked it from her hand.
“You were gonna cut me? I’ll make you pay for that.”
Another punch landed on Daisy’s lower lip and she tasted blood. This time when she staggered, she lost her balance and fell.
Roxana picked up Daisy’s knife and sauntered over to stand astride her. Daisy lay on her stomach as her head swam. When Roxana gripped her hair and jerked her head backward to expose her neck, it brought back memories of the times she’d done the same to junkies, right before she slit their throats.
On the other side of the parking lot, Sal was keeping watch on a side door. There was a sign above it that read: Employees Only.
He was hoping to see a guard step out to take a cigarette break. If that happened, they would have a way into the building.
He heard the motorcycles approach and it made him more certain th
at the gang wearing the leather vests were targeting the depot. Once they stole the money, he, Brandt, and the others could take it away from them.
A figure stepped into view for a moment near a corner of the building where there was light, then it melded back into the shadows. It was a guy wearing a vest, but he had intense eyes like the man Daisy had described.
Sal eased out his gun and moved toward the last place he’d seen the guy. It would be nice to put him down and end a threat. Moving around a corner of the building, Sal saw him again. The guy was moving between two old armored cars sitting up on blocks while tugging at the front of his pants. Next came the sound of a zipper unfastening.
Sal grinned. I’ll catch him while he’s taking a leak.
He moved up swiftly while staying silent and went between the two trucks with his gun raised up. There was no one there. A second later, Sal felt pressure at the back of his neck, as a gun barrel was pushed against it.
“Drop the weapon, then turn around,” Tanner said.
Sal did both and found Tanner pointing a gun at his face from four feet away. If he hadn’t stepped back, Sal had planned to take a swipe at the gun. Whoever the guy was, he was no amateur. He had killed Ippolito when others had failed and fooled Sal easily.
“Who are you?” Sal asked.
“I’m the one you and your friends have been looking for. You found me.”
“You killed Ippolito, but we don’t care about that anymore. Listen, there’s a robbery going down here tonight, and it must be worth millions. Why don’t we let the past be and work together?”
“You’re only in this town because you followed me here to kill me.”
“Yeah, but like I said, now all we want is the money.”
“You’re not killing me and you’re not getting the money.”
Tanner moved swiftly as he leapt toward Sal and slammed the butt of his gun down on the bridge of Sal’s nose. Sal cried out from the pain as he reflexively clenched his eyes shut.
Tanner moved behind him, placed one arm around his neck and the other locked in a grip around his head. When he snapped Sal’s neck, there was an audible crack.
Tanner opened his arms to let Sal drop to the ground. The body was still twitching in its death throes as he moved away, looking for another victim.
Vic moaned as he recovered from the collision with Brandt. His head hurt but the helmet he wore had cushioned his skull’s impact with the ground. Brandt was nowhere to be seen. Vic puzzled over that and wondered how long he’d been out. Maybe the other man had stayed conscious and left. Movement flickered in the corner of his eye and Vic turned his head to see what he believed was Roxana fighting Luna. Roxana landed a punch to the other woman’s face, then moved in to finish her off.
“Get her, Roxana!” Vic called out.
Roxana had been about to run a blade across Daisy’s throat when she heard Vic’s shout of encouragement come from behind her. She paused to look back at him and smile.
Beneath her, Daisy reached out to grip a piece of pipe left behind by the work crew. Its edges were rusty, and better yet, as sharp as a knife. Roxana turned her head back around as Daisy thrust the pipe over her shoulder. A jagged point of metal jammed itself into Roxana’s right eye.
Roxana’s scream filled the night as she straightened up and backpedaled away from Daisy. Daisy went after her, used the pipe to knock the blade out of Roxana’s hand, then thrust the pipe at her bare stomach, as the leather top Roxana wore exposed her flat midriff. The sharp edge of the pipe pierced Roxana’s flesh and went inches deep. The intense pain dropped her to her knees.
“Do you still think I’m soft and cuddly?” Daisy asked. After withdrawing the pipe from Roxana’s abdomen, she jammed it in her throat.
Vic was horrified by what he was seeing, as Daisy killed Roxana. He still believed it was Luna he was watching.
His gun had fallen out of his holster when he’d collided with Brandt and he had also lost his radio, but he had a smaller weapon in an ankle holster, which was a Kel-Tec P32 with seven rounds. With Roxana on the ground bleeding out, Vic drew his pistol and fired at Daisy.
Daisy heard the first shot as the round struck the door on the portable toilet. She ducked down and ran for cover behind the excavator, then fearful of being cornered inside the fence, she took a chance and headed for the gate. Six more rounds were fired, with one nipping the right cuff of her jeans and another searing the lobe of her left ear.
With his gun empty, the man firing at her bellowed with rage. Daisy made it to the gate and kept going, as she ran back to where she and Brandt had left the motorcycle.
Vic was crying so much that he had trouble seeing as he staggered over to check on Roxana. He found her dead and staring up sightlessly at the moon.
After touching her cheek tenderly, he straddled Roxana’s bike and went after Daisy. If it was his last act on earth, he was going to kill her.
19
Omen Of Death
Tanner heard Roxana’s scream and Vic’s shots from the rear of the depot and headed that way to investigate. When he found the leather-clad body of Roxana, he assumed she was one of Piper’s group. Whoever had killed her had been savage about it. After finding Vic’s motorcycle, Tanner assumed it belonged to Roxana. He had taken Roxana’s gun off her body and it hadn’t been fired. He also claimed her radio. When Piper’s people talked to each other, Tanner could listen in and gather information.
Whoever left behind the seven spent shell casings he found must have been shooting at Roxana’s killer. That was good. It meant that Brandt’s group and Piper’s gang were fighting. In a perfect world, they would kill each other off. That was unlikely, so Tanner planned to help things along.
He moved back around to the front of the depot. Brandt’s people and Piper’s gang would show up at the depot eventually, since they were both after the money inside. He would await their arrival and then kill them. Good things came to those who waited, so Tanner settled in and waited for an opportunity to strike.
Steve Piper was mad as hell. Luna was in the wind, Vic and Roxana weren’t answering their radios, and now Justen had found one of the mercs guarding the roads dead near the highway off-ramp.
“How was he killed?”
“Somebody shot his ass from behind, and Steve, they took his shotgun too.”
“Radio the guy watching the other road and tell him to be ready for trouble.”
“I did that, now I was headed to the diner to meet up with Bernard.”
“Yeah, go there and check on things. And keep an eye out for my wife. She’s a hot blonde, and she’ll have a little girl with her. If you see her, call me.”
Julio and Conleth were unaware that Justen had warned the man guarding the other road. It was a two-lane street that led to a tree-lined thoroughfare that went on for miles in a meandering manner. Since the state put in the off-ramp on the freeway, the road saw use only by locals and those who were lost.
They left their bikes a fair distance away and traveled in on foot, while keeping to the trees. Conleth had taken the right side of the road, while Julio was on the left. They assumed the guard would be found hidden among the trees, waiting and watching for vehicles to approach.
After they had gone nearly a mile down the road, Conleth wondered if there was a guard. When the sound of the shotgun boomed, his heart fluttered as he heard Julio’s scream. Julio had taken pellets to the chest. He staggered out of the trees and Conleth saw his eyes roll back in his head before he pitched forward, as limp as a rag.
Another boom, but it went unheard by Conleth. The blast had been aimed at his head, and he died instantly.
Keith McHugh had been preparing for his role in the robbery for months.
He had begun talking about a fictitious girlfriend whom he had a tumultuous relationship with. Every few weeks they would have a fight and she would toss McHugh out of the apartment they shared. When that happened, McHugh would show up at the depot and spend the night there playing cards wit
h the two guards on duty.
Since he was their boss, more or less, the guards figured it was okay. McHugh eventually took over the chore of walking the fence, on the pretense of using his phone to call and leave a message for his girlfriend. He hadn’t walked the fence on this night. Instead, he’d headed to the back gate and swung it open for Piper and his crew. Since then, he had been waiting for the guard’s wife to make her habitual call to her husband.
McHugh checked his watch and was shocked to see how late it was. Any other night and the guard’s wife, who was named Gladys, would have phoned him by now. If she didn’t call soon, Piper and his people would be at the door looking to get inside.
They were in the security office sipping on cups of coffee. McHugh was seated behind a desk as the two guards sat in front of the bank of security cameras.
“That’s funny,” said the younger guard. His name was Jerry; he was single and going to school to be a chiropractor.
“What’s funny?” asked the other guard. He was Gladys’ husband and a retired teacher. He worked as a guard to supplement his pension.
“An owl just landed on camera six and blocked the view. Do you remember the same thing happened on Monday night?”
“Yeah, I do, and it was camera six then too.”
McHugh swallowed hard as his palms grew moist. The monitors were showing recorded video from Monday night. He had rigged the security system that way so that Piper’s arrival wouldn’t be seen or recorded on camera. The cameras outside weren’t even on.
“I’d swear that was the same owl. He has a ring of white on his breast just like the one on Monday night had.”
Tanner- Year Two Page 9
