Chapter 36

Organizing everything for the big day, as Alex was calling it, had been almost worse than dealing with the FBI. Alex and Lyric had set up several monitors to track the jewelry shipment’s delivery from Oklahoma City to Tulsa.

Only Alex, Lyric, Grace, and Mandy were present in the CIS office. Janice had rightly pointed out that the state guys would have too many questions about how CIS could monitor Corval Security’s video feeds and all the trackers. That was why Sheriff Conly had set up shop for all the police in the church basement.

Fortunately for the sheriff and Janice, the state guys were much more receptive than the FBI. The troopers had brought in a SWAT team to execute the takedown once the robbery was confirmed.

Alex had wanted to call his dad several times over the past few weeks but restrained himself because they were on opposite sides of this. Alex had no doubt his dad’s plan for the heist considered that Stretch would not only have to evade the police but also Alex’s plan to protect Saul Goodman’s merchandise.

Alex was worried his dad would figure out how to get away with it. To be honest, Alex sort of hoped his dad would be successful because it would reveal some of the tricks his dad kept in his bag and had never shared with Alex.

“They’ve left the depot,” Grace called out.

Now, all the CIS team had to do was wait. The travel time between the two locations was between an hour and a half and two hours. Corval had decided to leave Oklahoma City when there was minimal traffic, which was why it was midnight.

It was going to be a long night.

Stretch and Steve sat in a car at a truck stop outside Tulsa.

“Tell me again what’s going to happen,” Steve said, clearly nervous.

“The truck driver will stop here to grab a bite to eat. He said they normally all get out of the truck and join him.”

“You mean there’s a chance a guard will remain in the back of the armored car?”

“There could be, but I trust you have enough people to handle them if one remains,” Stretch said.

“I’m just playing devil’s advocate here,” Steve said.

“I understand, but the driver said his guys always go with him to eat.”

“Okay.”

“The extra keys will be in the left rear wheel well. Your guys will drive the truck to the garage a quarter mile away, where you’ll transfer the rolling carts to waiting trucks,” Stretch said.

“And we’ll leave lockbox 932 in the armored car.”

“If Alex has placed a tracker on anything, it’ll be the box with his client’s gems.

“From the time we park the truck in the garage until we finish unloading it, we should be gone in under ten minutes,” Stretch said.

“Then, the three getaway trucks will go to three different storage facilities and park inside the units. That’ll give us the rest of the night to unload everything,” Steve said, reciting the plan back to Stretch.

He anticipated that one or two of the getaway trucks would be caught. Stretch figured that taking the loot to multiple locations would give them better odds of at least getting away with something.

Steve seemed satisfied with everything and looked at his phone. He tapped out a message and looked up. Stretch saw a car pull in next to them, and Rusty Scruggs got out, opened the back door, and sat down behind Stretch.

“What’s going on?” Stretch asked.

“Just insurance. I’m sure you understand,” Steve said.

“Whatever puts your mind at ease.”

Stretch knew it was a bad idea to keep working with Steve; cops could never be trusted. Stretch would go along with the plan for now, but he’d planned for this contingency. He always suspected that Steve would double-cross him.

Stretch had only gone along this far because of the unspoken threat to Alex. That was why Lev, Alexei Mikhailov’s right-hand man, sat outside the CIS office. If this heist went off the rails, Steve might try to take Alex to force Stretch to do as he wanted.

Steve looked pleased with himself, as if he’d outsmarted Stretch.

Alex spotted Lev sitting in his car, so he went out. The big man was snoozing, so Alex slapped his palm against the driver’s side window. Alex nearly shit when Lev had a large forty-five gripped in his hand as he jerked awake.

Alex made a motion for Lev to roll down the window.

“We have a comfy recliner in the break room if you want to nap.”

“Bite me,” Lev grumped.

“We also have pizza, sodas, and coffee. Granted, the sodas are all diet, but if you’re nice to me, I have a stash of the good stuff in my office.”

“I probably should come inside. At least your screams would wake me up when they come to get you.”

Alex had no idea Lev had a sense of humor.

When they got to the back door, Snickers had it blocked.

“He’s with me,” Alex told the overprotective pit bull.

She sniffed Lev, turned around, and raced up the stairs.

“That’s my forty-five,” Alex said, nodding at Snickers.

“Honestly, I would rather get shot than torn up by one of those,” Lev said.

Alex remembered he’d had a neighbor back in Philly who went to the pound and picked up an ‘American Terrier,’ not realizing what the dog was. It was the sweetest dog—until it wasn’t. The lady took it for a walk, and it spotted Mrs. Donald, who was pushing 80, walking her little terrier, which was probably that old in dog years.

The pound puppy went full-on Tasmanian Devil and lunged to end the little terrier’s life. The neighbor lady luckily held onto its leash, which pissed the pit bull off. Next thing she knew, it had sunk its teeth into her bicep and was shaking its head like a great white shark mauling a seal.

Her husband ran out and tried to pull the dog off. Stretch and Alex heard the screaming, so Stretch grabbed a metal bat they kept by the front door in case someone had the balls to break in. Alex still had nightmares from hearing the metal ‘ting’ the bat made when it connected with the beast’s snout.

That was enough to knock the dog loose, but it wasn’t down. Stretch had to pummel it three more times before the ‘sweet’ puppy went to heaven.

Later, Alex saw the scars on the neighbor lady’s arm. He had to agree a forty-five would ruin your day, but that pit bull had done a serious number on her.