‘He should have stuck to drugs,’ Parker said.
7
‘What now?’ Mackey asked. ‘Do we get the Honda and drive out of here?’
‘We move to the Honda,’ Parker said. ‘We don’t want to be in this thing.’
‘That’s right,’ Williams said. ‘They’ll be looking for these wheels everywhere around here.’
They left the Land Rover, Williams locking it and taking the keys, and walked down the ramp to the Honda. Mackey had the keys for that; he unlocked it and took the wheel, Williams beside him, Parker in back. Putting the key in the ignition, Mackey said, ‘So now what? Drive out of here?’
‘Too early,’ Parker told him. ‘We’d be the only car on the street.’
‘And with three guys in it,’ Williams said.
‘But we should be above the Land Rover,’ Parker said.
‘Right,’ Mackey said, and drove them up the ramp, past the Land Rover and one level more to an area that was no more than half full. He tucked the Honda in between two other vehicles, both larger, then opened his window, shut off the engine, and said, ‘What do they do after they find it, that’s the question.’
Williams said, ‘Do they search the whole building?’
‘No,’ Parker said. ‘They’ve got too much to do. This is a big place, a lot of cars, and pretty soon they’ll be thinking about the jewelry place.’
Mackey laughed. ‘Pretty soon they’ll have a lot to think about,’ he said.
Williams said, ‘But they’ve at least got to look around in here.’
‘Sure,’ Parker agreed. ‘They ask the cashier if any car went out since four o’clock, he says no. They make a pass up to the top and back down. We duck down below window level while they go by. There’s no car alarms going off, nothing looks wrong, that’s it.’
‘But,’ Williams said, ‘they leave somebody at the exit.’
‘Both exits,’ Mackey said. ‘Car, and pedestrian.’
‘They probably will,’ Parker said. ‘They’re looking for three guys. When traffic starts, around six o’clock, I’ll get in the trunk, Williams lies on the floor here in back, it’s just one guy in the car.’
‘Or maybe,’ Williams said, ‘I just walk down and out, meet you two around the corner.’
Parker said, ‘You got any useful ID on you?’
Williams grinned and shook his head. ‘I see what you mean. I’ll lie down there on the floor.’
‘Wait,’ Mackey said. ‘I hear something.’
‘That was fast,’ Williams said. ‘Suppose somebody saw me turn in here?’
‘Let’s hope not,’ Mackey said. ‘Because then they’d search every car.’
Parker said, ‘Could you be hearing a civilian?’
‘I don’t think so.’ Mackey leaned leftward, listening at his open window, then shook his head. ‘I think it’s two cars. They’re just easing along, coming slow up the ramp, taking their time. They’re searching.’
They all listened. Parker could now hear it, too, the low grumble of two cars throttled back, spiraling very slowly up the ramp.
Williams said, ‘This job was fucked up from the beginning, wasn’t it?’
‘It felt wrong,’ Parker agreed, ‘but we were stuck in it.’
‘Stuck in the job or stuck in the jail.’ Williams grinned back at Parker. ‘Some choice.’
‘They stopped,’ Mackey said. ‘So they’re at the Rover. I’m closing the window now.’ And he did.
Parker said, ‘If they do like we thought at first, loop up, turn around, loop back down, we’re all right. If they go up and they don’tcome back down, that means they’re searching everything.’
Mackey said, ‘Do we have a Plan B?’
Parker shrugged. ‘Only leave the car, go down the stairs, see how hard it is to get through whatever they’ve got to guard the exit.’
‘And be on foot,’ Williams added.
‘I like Plan A better,’ Mackey said.
Parker looked out his window to the right. Being in the backseat, he had the better view of the ramp curling up from below. It was gray concrete, flanked by the rears of cars. He kept watching it.
They had nothing left to say, and with the window closed nothing to hear. They stayed in silence, Parker watching the ramp, the other two watching Parker, and then the black-and-white cruiser nosed around the curve and Parker said, ‘Down.’
They all ducked low, Williams folding himself into the footwell, Mackey doing a kind of slow-motion limbo, squeezing himself under the steering wheel. In back, Parker lay on the floor, looking now upward and out of the left window, where he could see the double row of car roofs coiling away and up. After a minute, he saw the black roof of the cruiser move among the other roofs, gliding up and out of sight. He watched, and then said, ‘Only one went up.’
‘Other one with the Rover,’ Mackey said. ‘Calling in.’ He sounded compressed.
