I pulled out into traffic. “Hopefully that’d be Crosby. Maybe even her location.”
Marty laughed. “Dream on, man. She’s got herself covered better that that. But worth the chance. If nothin’ else, we could get in good with the cops if we showed ‘em a nest of vipers to play with.”
A day later, Tony and Nate were in Bellevue Square Mall, and able to easily follow the pusher when he left. Marty had them miked up and kept us following along with the action. “Guy showed up at six, and will probably leave when the mall closes or he runs outta shit.”
Nate’s tinny voice came over the speaker. “Musta run out of merchandise. Only eight, and he’s heading out already.”
“Don’t let him spot you,” Marty said. “We need to know who his supplier is.”
“Yes, Mommy,” Tony said, causing a muffled burst of laughter from the direction of Alice’s cubicle.
It took three more days of cautious creeping and peeking before we found the third layer of bosses for this particular pusher.
“Damn it,” groused Nate. “Just phone calls to get the shit delivered. And from an untraceable phone number.”
I shrugged. “Further than I thought we’d get. But now we can up the ante. While Wilbur works on finding the location with the information we got, does anyone want to go on a visit the next time this turkey leaves his place?”
Marty and I only had to wait an hour the next afternoon before the pusher left his condo. A twenty minute wait to make sure he didn’t return right away and we moved in, wearing Puget Sound Energy uniforms. I was through the front entrance within seconds, since I had a master key for the lock. Inside, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Marty made a face, holding his nose as we picked our way through the place, moving silently until we were sure no one else was at home.
I carefully searched the second bedroom that had been turned into an office, while Marty prowled the rest of the place. Surprisingly enough, the office was neat as a pin. As were his paper files, which made it easy to inspect them. Nothing of interest, so it was on to the computer. Wilbur had given me a thumb drive to plug into it. I turned it on and downloaded the contents of the computer onto the flash drive. Now, supposedly, Wilbur could search through his entire set of computer files, as well as any new ones he added. All without being detected.
Marty appeared, giving me a high sign.
I stood, moving towards the front door. “How much did you find?” I murmured.
“Couple ounces of cocaine,” he whispered.
“Anything else?”
At his headshake, I pointed to the door. “Then let’s boogie.”
* * *
It was almost eight and darkening up nicely when we piled out of my vehicle and headed inside. “Have to see if Wilbur’s getting anything from the program we just planted,” I said.
Marty nodded. “You do that while I see if anyone ordered anything for dinner yet. I’m hungry.” He veered towards Wilbur’s desk. “Hey, anyone thought to call in for a pizza or anything?”
Wilbur looked up with a glazed expression that rapidly cleared. “Hm? Oh-no, not me.” He looked at his watch. “Jeez, where’s the time gone? You might check with Alice. She should be back by now.”
Marty stopped in mid-turn. “Whatcha mean, be back? Did she go somewhere?”
Wilbur blinked rapidly, a worried look crossing his face. “Yeah, she said she had to go back to the old office to pick up some IRS files. Told me not to go with her, she’d just be a minute.”
I stepped forward. “How long ago was that?”
He looked at his watch again. “Uh–hour and a half ago.”
Just then the other three came through the door, talking and laughing. They quickly shut up when they saw our serious expressions. “What’s up?” Tony asked, concern leaking into his voice.
“It’s Alice. Been out of touch for over an hour,” I said. “She went back to our old office to get some records she’d forgot.” While I was talking, Marty had been fruitlessly trying to raise Alice on the phone.
“Nothin’ yet,” he said. “Maybe she got stuck in traffic or something.” His phone chirped, causing him to jump. “Damn it! Hate that text signal.” He looked at his screen, face turning into stone. “Trouble,” he said, thrusting his cell phone towards me while striding towards the door.
A message had appeared on his screen: “They’re here.”
“Hold it!” I barked at Marty, bringing him to a halt. “We need to go into this with our heads screwed on right, or we’ll all end up dead. She’s probably in hiding.” Reluctantly, he nodded and headed back towards me.
“What’s up?” Nate’s face had gone from concern to fear.
Marty looked at him. “The bad guys are at the old office, and Alice is there as well.”
I pointed at Marty and Tony. “Weapon up. We leave in two minutes.” I turned to Dave and Nate. “You two, secure this place and wait for our call before heading our way. You get any word back from Alice, let us know. Have Wilbur call or text Tony’s phone.”
“What about me?” Wilbur asked, rising to his feet.
“You’re our commo guy. Make sure we can all talk to each other. In fact, did you pick up those ear-piece phones we talked about when you went on your latest shopping spree?”
He dipped into a drawer, coming up with several small devices. “All set. Just put ‘em in your ear, clip this remote mike to your collar and talk. It’s got two channels on it.”
I grabbed three of them and headed for the door, just as Tony and Marty reappeared. “Okay, let’s go. Tony, you drive.”
I had a death grip on the dash as Tony pushed his vehicle over 100 when we entered the freeway. I’d
