Thank you, Charlie.
Taking a deep breath, she opened a box of bullets on a shelf, filled the openings on her gunbelt until every slot was full, grabbed a smoke cannister and joined her team in the library.
Frank stood with an M16 strapped to his shoulder. On one hip was a .45 caliber Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic and on his other an M7. His arms were full of clothing and all the rest of his choosing. “Is that everything you plan on carrying?” he asked.
She looked down at her gunbelt and pearl-gripped Colt revolvers and nodded. “You all have fifteen minutes to change and gear up. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
Fifteen minutes later, her team was assembled. “Between the Hummer that Fletch showed up in and Troy’s truck, you should all be able to squeeze in.” she said. “Deb, you ride with Tiffany in her jeep. Tiff, before you ask, you’re part of the diversion. You won’t be in harm’s way.” Sin eyed her team and witnessed the resolve in everyone’s expression. “This mission starts now. If anyone needs to use the bathroom, now is the time. We have four hours of ride-time ahead of us and there will be no stopping. I’ll meet everyone outside in five.”
Outside, she and Fletcher tossed the duffle bags full of cash into the rear of the Hummer. “That’s a lot of cash,” he said.
“If everything goes to plan, I don’t expect it to leave your vehicle. When this is over, it’s going back to its rightful owner.” She then opened all of the bags and snapped a picture of the cash before zipping them back up.
Fletcher smirked as he closed the rear hatch of the truck. “You’re such a tease.”
Moments later, with everyone assembled, she saddled up and waited for everyone to get settled in a vehicle. Fletch gave her a thumbs up, she nodded, and jumped on the kickstart.
54
In West Palm Beach, Sin exited I95 on Southern Boulevard and rode west until she passed the entrance to Lion Country Safari. About a mile down the road, she pulled off into a parking lot of an abandoned outdoor market.
Sergeant Maurice Glenn was waiting next to a Ford F150.
Sin pulled her Panhead alongside the big man and cut her engine. “Thank you for meeting with us,” she said.
“Us?”
As if on cue, the Hummer, pickup trucks, and Jeep pulled into the empty lot. Sin watched as doors to the vehicles opened and her team poured out. Sergeant Glenn grinned.
“I recognize a couple of these faces,” he said in a deep baritone. “Care to introduce me to the rest of your squad?”
“To be honest,” Sin said, I’d rather not. “The least you know, the less trouble you can get into. You can’t account for something you don’t know.”
Glenn laughed as he patted her on the shoulder. “That’s one of the qualities I admire about you, O’Malley. You’re always looking out for your men.”
Sin nodded. “We’re a bit short on time, would you mind catching us up on what you know.”
“Follow me.”
Glenn led everyone into the ramshackled wooden structure that used to be a vegetable stand. In the back, where they used to cut up the produce, he pulled some documents out of a cardboard tube. “These are the blueprints from the contractor.” Holding them open, Johnson picked up a few rocks and placed them at the corners. Glenn acknowledged him with a faint head nod and continued speaking. “You’ll notice the external framework of the building is completely built out. It is supposed to be twenty-five floors of luxury condominiums.” He flipped to the next page. “The interior shows a different story. Although all floors have been framed out, only the bottom three floors have been drywalled.”
“That makes no sense,” Marcus said. “There is no sign of wiring or plumbing. Why would the contractor drywall?”
Glenn smirked. “Hell of a question. From what the PBSO has ascertained, all construction stopped before any of the internal wiring, or plumbing began.”
“You think the Black 6 forced the contractor to build out the bottom floors?” Sin asked.
Glenn shrugged. “Contractor or someone else. Doesn’t really matter. All that matters is the bottom three floors have been built out. There is electric and plumbing, all run by illegal wiring and hook up.”
“Why not shut it down?” Wilson said.
“Because you never want to open the cage door to a captured animal,” Sin answered. “By keeping the amenities in place, the Black 6 stay put. If the authorities shut them down, they’d know someone was on to them and they would scatter. Look for another headquarters.”
“Oorah,” Glenn said.
“Can we borrow the prints?” Sin asked.
Glenn moved the stones from the corners, let the blueprints roll back up, and handed them to her. “I have the other drawings you asked for.” He then opened the other cardboard tube, slid out another set of drawings and spread them out in a similar fashion as the last. “This is a bird’s-eye view of the surroundings area including heights of the surrounding buildings and vantage points onto the target.”
“Is it normal to have this sort of document?” Tiffany asked.
Everyone looked at her as if she was the special child.
“If I had to hazard a guess,” Frank said, I’d say the stakeout of the Black 6 gang has been a long-term task force.” “These documents are the result of months, if not years, of recon. That’s why Sergeant Glenn has access to these blueprints and documents.”
Glenn eyed Frank and squinted. “Do I know you? You look familiar.”
“No.” Frank said. “I just have one of those faces.”
While Frank and Glenn were bantering, Sin, Garcia, and Wilson were studying the drawings.
“Here and here,” Garcia said pointing to the top floor of the hospital parking garage and the top of a thirty-story black-glass building. “That gives us sniper
