By the time I was in my chair, the floor plans of the furniture warehouse were on my screen. Looked as if the only offices in the building were the ones we’d visited, so that was good. Same for computer and phone outlets. I continued looking over the floor plans, concentrating on all the ways in and out, other than normal doors.
It was mid-morning the next day before I’d finished a rough draft of what I had in mind. A couple taps of my fingers sent the material to Tony and Marty. I’d always gotten their input on jobs we’d planned, whether they were involved or not. Over the years, it had saved me a ton of grief.
Ten minutes went by before Tony let loose with a holler. “Looks good to me, Francis.”
“Me too,” bellowed Marty.
I stood and waved at Alice who had an annoyed look on her face. “Sorry, Alice. Once we get walls up for private offices instead of these cubicles, we won’t have to listen to these kids screaming.”
She gave a shrug. “That’s all right, Francis. They’re just trying to get a rise outta me, ever since I hollered at Tony the other day that he had a phone call.”
I strolled to her desk. “On another note, any other phone calls of interest from the Warehouse gang?”
“Nope. Probably started using emails if they’re still conversing with that Lance character.”
“All the more reason to get back in there and bug their entire system,” I said, continuing on to Wilbur’s desk. “Hey, do you still have that flash drive with the program…”
“Yeah, you mean the one that puts an eavesdropper program in their computer. How many computers you need to bug?”
I thought a moment. “Three, probably.”
“Okay; I’ll give you four. Each will have the same program on it, which will automatically move from the flash drive into the computer. Make sure and bring them back, will you? Don’t want to leave any evidence around.”
“Nice thinking.” I raised an eyebrow. “Keep it up, and next thing you know you’ll be breaking in to these places instead of me.”
“Sure hope not,” he said, face serious. “I don’t see how you can take risks like that, myself. But each to his own, I guess.”
I headed for my desk. “You’re right about that.” Damn, he was correct. It was a risk, each time I broke into a place or picked a pocket. A little shiver ran up my spine. But it was so much fun.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Alice appeared at my cubicle entrance. “Looks like tonight’s gonna be clear,” she said. “The warehouse is closing early. Got a meeting with a supplier, so decided to leave one guard and head out.”
I checked my watch. Closing in on five o’clock. “Thanks, Alice. Gives us time to get a bite to eat before the action starts.”
Nate poked his head around the corner. “Yeah, dinner sounds good. Do I get to pick the place tonight?”
“Long as it’s not too far from where we’re going,” I said. “Why don’t we plan on leaving in an hour? That should give us a cushion of time before dark sets in.” I opened the floor plan of tonight’s target, losing myself in its diagrams one more time.
We stopped in front of Bell’s Deli, Nate’s latest idea of a gourmet restaurant. I stepped out of the vehicle slowly, eyeballing the sky. God, it was gorgeous. Moments ago the sun had sunk below the horizon, and large cumulus clouds were basking in their orange and gold glory. “Nice choice, Nate. Looks like we’ve got a beaut of a sunset to watch while we eat.”
He gave a glance at the sky. “Yeh, and best of all the roast beef and ham sandwiches are huge, man.”
By nine p.m. I was on my third cup of coffee. Nate had been fidgeting the last half-hour, reminding me of a little kid. I took a last swallow. “I think we’ve stalled long enough. It’s dark as it’s going to get.”
Nate was up and walking before I finished my sentence. “Great. Why don’t you pay for the meal. I gotta hit the head.”
I dropped some bills on the counter and waved at the waitress on my way out the door. Jeez, he’d gotten good at dodging the bill. Been watching Marty too much. I pushed through the exit, bumping into a slim, dark-haired man coming in. “Oh! Sorry, wasn’t watching.”
The man nodded. “Quite all right, sir.” He continued inside, another guy following. Both were in jeans and dark shirt, almost twins. I watched them for a second, trying to remember where…
Nate came hurrying out, and shooed me towards our car. “C’mon, man. Let’s get moving.”
I shrugged, brain moving to the present while I slipped into the passenger’s seat of his Chevy sedan. “Yeah, right. Hope you left enough room in that gut to ingest a hamburger.”
“O’course I did. Now let’s vamoose, man!”
It was only a couple minutes before Nate steered us into the strip mall’s lot. We made a loop around the front of all the stores. A Wendy’s fast food joint at the entrance and a small tavern at the other end were the only things showing life. We drove slowly by Wholesale Furniture, my target for tonight. Only thing lighting the place up was the street lights from this side. Hopefully the same in the rear.
Once we’d made the loop, Nate parked at the rear of Wendy’s. “Okay, I’ll give you fifteen minutes to get to the back of the warehouse. Then I’ll pull outta here and squirrel around the parking lot a couple times, drawin’ attention towards me. Once you’re done I’ll be inside the tavern, like we discussed.”
“Right. Careful about overdoing the fancy stuff in the parking lot, don’t want the police to show up and arrest my ride home.”
He chuckled, opening his door. “Not me.” Once we were out, he gave me a
