“Thought you said there would be three guys with it?” asked Jack.
“Yeah, to ride shotgun and sit in the locker overnight. But two of ’em won’t know the location until they get there.”
“What about Damien?” asked Jack. “When will he pop his face in for a look?”
Lance shook his head and said, “Not a chance. He’s paid his dues. He won’t be anywhere near the money or the coke. When it’s done, I’m supposed to drop by his house and let him know.”
“This much coke and he doesn’t even want to see it!” said Jack. “He has to! The club will clear about $15 mil on this! You telling me he doesn’t even want to see it?”
“That’s what I’m tellin’ ya. There is no way he’ll be around any part of the action.”
“Then see to it somehow! I want him nailed!”
Lance’s voice revealed his exasperation. “You tell me, then. How do I do it? You want me to hog-tie him and throw him in the van with the dope?”
Jack’s silence told Lance that he knew involving Damien wasn’t possible.
Danny was feeling slightly euphoric as he and Jack walked back to their car. “This is great,” he said. “Don’t think we’ve ever taken down this much blow before. At least not in B.C. Wait til the narcs hear about this! We just have to figure out a way to protect our friend. Maybe do the ship as soon as it docks.”
“We’re not telling the narcs,” said Jack.
“Christ, you’re right. There’s a leak...”
“Not the leak. Damien.”
“Damien?”
“I want him.”
“Can’t be done. You heard what our friend said.”
“We have to!” yelled Jack. “I can’t go on with this hanging over my —” Jack caught himself and didn’t finish.
Danny looked silently at Jack, then said, “Go on. What is hanging over your head?”
Jack stopped walking. He stood with his head hanging down for a moment, then whispered, “I owe Damien a favour. One get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Danny’s face slowly grew redder as he realized what the favour was.
“God damn you! You found Bishop! Damien told you ... then you...” Danny didn’t finish the statement. He didn’t want to hear an admission of murder.
Jack stared at Danny for a moment and then said, “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I just wasn’t thinking about the consequences. Damien did me a favour and I promised I would do one for him someday. I’m keeping my word.”
“How? By tipping him off to something?” yelled Danny. “That won’t solve anything!”
“No. I’m going to catch him and then let him go. It’s what the courts do anyway.”
“Well, la-de-da! That’s just great, isn’t it?”
Jack didn’t respond.
Danny’s frustration was still evident in his voice. “Tell me how you plan on getting evidence on Damien, seizing a tonne of coke, and then letting him go without the brass freaking out? If you did pull it off, the brass sure as hell wouldn’t let you drop any of the charges!”
“It’s simple. Only you and I take the dope. We get the evidence to connect Damien, then I let Damien off and say we’re even.”
Danny wondered if he was supposed to laugh, but the look on Jack’s face said he wasn’t joking. “You’re bloody insane! Damn it, Jack! I can’t sleep at night as it is. I’m still having nightmares about bikers trying to ambush us ... people dying! There’s no way. You’ll get us both killed!”
“There’s a way,” said Jack. “A way to protect our friend, too.”
Danny knew that he would be sorry if he asked how. Jack will only sucker me in to helping. He turned his back and walked toward the car.
Jack trudged silently behind.
After several steps, Danny spun around and said, “So what do you have in mind?”
chapter thirteen
On Saturday at noon, Jack and Danny followed Silent Sam and watched him rent a large storage unit that was three-quarters of the way down a row of similar units. When he left, Jack rented the unit next to it. Moments later, Jack and Danny went inside their unit to look at it more thoroughly.
The storage unit was made to accommodate a truck and had a garage door at the entrance, along with a normal-sized door beside it. The inside walls were constructed of cement blocks that went from the floor to the ceiling. There were no windows but there was an overhead light.
“Perfect,” said Jack. “They have an electrical outlet.”
“Now what?” grumbled Danny.
“To the Spy Store. Now you get a lesson on video and audio installation and recording. We’ll also need bolt-cutters, a couple of short-range walkie-talkies, a drill, and a masonry bit.”
“And balaclavas,” said Danny.
“Right.”
“Shotguns too.”
“Of course. I’ll also pick up a couple of industrialsize plastic pails, some springs, and duct tape. That should be it.”
“One more thing you forgot.”
“What’s that?” asked Jack.
“Extra life insurance.”
It was nine o’clock on Tuesday night when Silent Sam opened the overhead door to the storage locker. Jack and Danny watched and recorded the event through their camera set up in the adjacent unit. Silent Sam held something inside his jacket. When he stepped inside, they saw that it was a Mac-10 machine pistol.
Dragon then backed an Econoline van into the unit. Silent Sam closed the overhead door before Dragon stepped out, along with another biker nicknamed Pan-Head. All three men carried Mac-10s. They walked to the back of the truck and opened the door, out of sight of the surveillance camera.
Jack and Danny looked at each other.
“This won’t work if they stay in the truck,” whispered Danny.
Danny was right. They needed the element of surprise. The Brushmaster shotguns with the folding stocks that they carried were deadly weapons in a close situation, but the spray of bullets from three Mac-10s would easily outgun the pump-action of the shotguns.
They both breathed a sigh of relief when the bikers brought out a folding card table with chairs and set them up in front of the truck. Luck was on their side.
Jack waited until after the storage locker was closed for the night, then crept out and used bolt-cutters to take the padlock off the front gate to the facility. Minutes later, he rejoined Danny and quietly said, “It’s time. Grab the balaclavas.”
Jack and Danny crept up to the door leading into the biker’s unit. They held their shotguns at the ready.
“On the count of three,” whispered Jack.
The noise and sight of two masked men bursting through the door with shotguns panicked everyone.
“Move and you’re dead!” yelled Jack.
Silent Sam lurched backwards, toppling his chair over as he crashed to the floor, while Dragon remained where he was, with his mouth and eyes opened wide. Pan-Head paused, then scooped his weapon from beside the table and tried to bring the barrel around to fire.
He was too late.