Chapter 34

Alex knew his dad had prepared a plan to rob the precious gem shipment for the jewelry show in Tulsa at the end of the month. Knowing his dad, Alex expected the heist would occur en route and not at the venue. The reason was that once the gem shipment arrived at the convention center, too many variables, security-wise, would be in play. Attempting it there would make the job ten times harder to pull off successfully.

Alex quickly wrote down what he didn’t know so he could question Saul Goodman when he and Grace talked to him later.

His dad had taught him to always assume the worst when creating a plan. If you took that into account, then when the worst happened, you would have a solution ready. In this case, Alex had to assume his dad’s plan would be successful.

With that in mind, Alex went looking for Lyric. He found her in the office’s kitchen, heating up some coffee cake Grace had brought.

“You want some?” Lyric asked when she saw him.

“Of course.”

“Grace said you were going to talk to Mr. Goodman today. Is there some way I can help with that?”

“You getting tired of helping Mandy track down bent cops and the like?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, I think we know who they all are. Now it’s a waiting game until Sheriff Conly gets off his butt and arrests them. Mandy keeps prattling on that they need more proof.”

Alex scoffed.

“Believe me when I say cops are the worst when it comes to stuff like that. I would—” Alex began his rant when Grace walked in.

“You would what?” Grace asked with an amused expression.

Alex threw up his hands and said, “I wouldn’t be sitting around with my thumb up my bottom.”

Lyric and Grace couldn’t help but chuckle at his outburst. It wasn’t the first time Alex had suggested they let him handle it. What he would actually do, no one had asked. It was probably best they didn’t know, Alex decided. While he didn’t particularly like cops, the crooked kind had a special place in hell reserved for them.

What he couldn’t get over was that sheriff’s departments were now teaming up with the FBI to rip off people, and it was all supposedly legal. It was a process called civil forfeiture. They didn’t even have to charge anyone with a crime. All they had to do was grab someone with cash on them and claim they suspected the funds came from something illegal.

The sad part was it was unlike if you were arrested, where they had to prove you did something against the law. Under civil forfeiture, it was up to the person the cops took the money from to prove they hadn’t done anything illegal.

Police were grabbing the money because if the person couldn’t prove the funds came from a legitimate source, the police got to keep it and spend it on their department. Alex could only imagine the training requiring the department to go to Maui or Las Vegas for a week.

Their latest gambit was to go after more significant scores. The legal marijuana stores were being robbed when they took money to the bank. That was where the FBI came in. The locals would seize the cash and turn it over to the feds. The reason was that the sale of marijuana was illegal as far as the federal government was concerned, even though it was legal in Oklahoma and a bunch of other states.

The FBI would then return the money to the locals once it was determined that the funds were suspected to have been illegally earned.

Honestly, Alex was a bit jealous he hadn’t thought of the scam. It was easy money, and it was legal, so you didn’t have to launder it.

Alex guessed the marijuana stores would somehow figure out a way to move their cash safely. In the meantime, they must have safes full of money on the premises. He might have to figure out how to relieve them of that burden. That was, if he were still in the game, so to speak.

“Alex?” Lyric said, snapping her fingers in his face. “Are you listening to me?”

“Uhm...”

“We were talking about Mr. Goodman,” Grace prompted.

“Oh, yeah,” Alex said. “I need Lyric to help.”

“How so?” Grace asked.

“We need to devise multiple ways to track the gems once my dad helps the ex-sheriff steal them. It must be done in a way my dad would never suspect. I’m hoping you can research that while we figure out the actual logistics of how they plan to move them,” Alex said.

“Okay. This is going to be fun,” Grace said.

“What is?” Alex asked.

“Seeing you go head-to-head with your dad.”

Alex shrugged.

“I’m a much better planner than he ever was.”

Grace and Lyric each tried to keep a straight face but failed. Alex scowled at the two of them.

’They’ll see. Junior will get the best of Stretch.’

Alex also knew his dad wanted to see Steve and his crew go down, so even if his dad stole the gems cleanly, he had no doubt Stretch would somehow tip off Sheriff Conly.

Alex checked the security system they’d set up for Mr. Goodman while Grace questioned the man about the upcoming jewelry show.

When Alex had walked in, he saw the lady who’d been out front when he and Rusty first visited wasn’t working. Grace had said that the jeweler had made some personnel changes. Instead, a nice older lady was out front, waiting on a customer. At least she only pulled out one item at a time and then relocked the display case.

Alex had no doubt that after a few months, that routine would seem like a waste of time, and she would leave it unlocked. He was glad they’d replaced the plate glass with something that couldn’t easily be broken.

“Where are the gems coming from for the show?”

“They’re being shipped from Australia and will arrive in LA next week. Corval Security is picking the gems up and storing them until it’s time for them to ship. They’ve been hired by the Jewelers’ Association to transport all the gems and gold to the expo,” Mr. Goodman said.

“What kind of security does the armored car have?” Grace asked.

“The trucks, in addition to the obvious armor and bulletproof glass, have satellite tracking systems, external and interior cameras, and automatic locking. There will be two drivers and two men in the back for the cross-country trip.”

“How will the valuables be secured?”

“They’ll be put into high-security lockboxes. I’ve been told they each weigh over a hundred pounds empty. Corval has a system where the lockers are put into a cage on rollers. Once they arrive at the Cox Business Convention Center in Tulsa, Corval will use the cages to move the gems into a secure area where I can pick mine up. I’ll be bringing jewelry from the store with me and have rented an on-site lockbox for when my stuff isn’t on display.”

Alex joined them with a notebook.

“How’s the system?” Mr. Goodman asked.

“Some updates needed to be downloaded for your router and software. We can come in periodically and do that, or I can teach you how to do it yourself,” Alex said.

“Do I really need to worry about that?” Mr. Goodman asked.

Alex kept his surprise off his face at the question. Then he remembered that Mr. Goodman was older.

Installing updates was among the top three things most people messed up with their security systems. The other two were going cheap and failing to replace the default password.

“Updates make your devices better by giving you improved features and usability. More significantly, they include bug fixes and make everything more secure. I’ve turned on automatic updates, but you should check now and then to ensure you’re protected,” Alex said.