Tony’s eyebrows drew together. “How bad is it?”
I pushed my plate away, no longer hungry. “She said the doctor was having her do some tests, and would let me know once the results came back.” I looked around the table. “In the meantime, she’ll still be our unofficial point of contact with the feds.”
Tony looked at Dave. “Didn’t you go through something similar?”
Dave nodded. “Took six months to recover. Still can’t take a blow to the left side of my head, or it’s curtains.”
“Next time she calls tell her we’re pulling for her,” Alice said.
Another day slipped by, with little or no action happening at the Crosby residence, according to what we were overhearing. At least it gave us another 24 hours to prepare. In fact, we were ready as could be. Alice had been sent off with her three guards, spilling a few tears while leaving. I’d been on radio watch for an hour when the listening devices finally paid off.
I picked up several voices engaged in a quiet conversation as they entered the conference room at Crosby’s. I gave a high sign to Marty. “Heads up, sounds like a meeting might be about to start.”
“About time those microphones started pickin’ up something,” he growled, sliding into a chair next to me.
I inadvertently chuckled. An hour ago he’d been worrying about having enough time to get prepped in case they made their move tonight. I turned up the gain on the sound, and settled down to listen.
The noise of several chairs scooting around echoed through the microphones. “Awright, grab a seat,” growled a deep voice. “For the newbies, I’m Art Carlson and in charge of the job we’re gonna be planning.”
Within seconds, the scooting and scraping sounds ceased. “A total of eight will be payin’ a visit to the T&M office tomorrow night. Six’ll stay back for security. You’ll leave here in two SUVs at ten, and park here,” a sound of tapping, “two blocks north of T&M. The back door’s usually in shadow at night, so that’s where you’ll break in. Remember, only the Baker guy’s to be kept alive. Here’s his picture.”
A high-pitched nasal voice spoke up. “At night? What makes you think anyone’ll be there after business hours?”
“They been hidin’ out there the past couple days, to include sleepin’. Tryin’ to keep a low profile. Before he disappeared off the map, Willie and his crew tried to get hold of a couple of ‘em. Still a little gun-shy. Now hold the questions til I’m through tellin’ you what we’re doin’ tomorrow.” For the next ten minutes he covered a simple, but effective plan for raiding our office. If we hadn’t had advance intel, it might have worked.
As Art was wrapping up, a shuffle-bump sound brought me alert. “You about done, Art?” The gravelly voice was barely recognizable as a woman’s.
“Uh–Yes, Ma’am. Just a quick review and…”
“You got five minutes, then get your lazy ass upstairs. We got a conference call in thirty minutes, and you haven’t prepped anything for it yet. Move it, or I’ll get someone else who knows what they’re doing.” The shuffling sound repeated, this time fading away a little faster than it arrived.
Everything was dead quiet for a moment. A quiet whisper was barely picked up by the microphone: “Goddamned bitch. Someday…” He cleared his throat. “Tom, would you give a quick summary? And make sure everyone, especially the new guys, know what their job is.” A chair scraped, and someone-probably Art-hurried from the room.
“Jesus,” Marty said in a low voice. “I think we just heard Crosby’s voice. Creepy, man. Sounded like she was talkin’ through a mouthful of mud or something.”
I gave a shake of my shoulders, feeling creeped-out myself. “I felt it too. Interesting, though; seems to be some dissension in the ranks.”
Minutes later the sound of chairs being shoved back once again echoed down the line as the meeting broke up. I looked at Marty with a smile. “Sounds like we’re in business. Shall we get everyone together so we can do a quick update for them?”
* * *
Next evening I’d just finished my last double-check that all the windows were sealed and barred, when Nate stuck his head in the office. “You ready, Francis? We got everything loaded, and Marty’s gang has arrived.” Marty, along with two of his cousins and three of their friends were staying behind to keep an eye on Crosby’s crew when they raided our place. The rest of us would head to Anacortes.
I stopped in my new office and loaded up. Two knives, small Glock pistol with silencer and four clips. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” I trotted down the stairs while tucking knives and gun away.
We piled in the rented SUV, Nate driving and Tony in front with Dave and me in the rear. Once we pulled into traffic, I leaned back in an attempt to look relaxed. I always tensed up before these things. Once started, it wasn’t so bad.
Dave glanced at me. “Man, you look too relaxed. How d’you do it? I always want to jump up and down I get so nervous.”
Tony let loose with a belly laugh. “He just does a better job of covering up his feelings. Ask him to hold out his hands, and you’ll see he’s nervous as us.”
“Except for Tony,” I said. “He really is relaxed. Sometimes I don’t think he has a nerve in his body.”
We arrived in Anacortes half-an-hour early. “Nate, pull into that Burger King ahead, will you? We can kill some time there.”
“An’ get a couple hamburgers,” Nate said. “Gotta make sure I don’t starve before we get back to the office.”
Tony gave a theatrical shudder. “Don’t know which is worse, Nate scarfing that shit down or the fact we’re always stopping at these joints when you’re along, Francis.”
“At
