Around eleven Friday morning, Mark and Sid arrive at Joe's and park their car across the street. They jog over to the warehouse. Mark pulls out a set of keys and unlocks the door. Normally it would be open but today, Joe's given everyone the day off so it's locked. Joe does not want any witnesses, even his own guys.
Once inside, they walk through the garage area towards Joe's office, their footsteps echoing in the cavernous empty central open space. Before them they see a large, white, windowless commercial van parked in the main garage area with a large sliding door on one side and a pair of doors at the back. The roof is translucent permitting light but obscuring the contents.
"That looks like our ride," says Sid.
"Kind'a looks that way," says Mark.
They leave the garage area and walk down the wood floored corridor to Joe's office. Joe is there waiting for them reading the paper, smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee. "Hey guys, I though I heard you come in. Did'ya see the van?"
"You bet, looks good," says Mark.
"So let's get the goods loaded then we can get some lunch," says Joe.
Mark and Sid take off their coats and Joe leads them to the storage room where the kegs are. He unlocks the door and Mark and Sid carefully put the first of the bombs on a two-wheeler and push it slowly to the van. Sid opens the back doors as Mark steadies the two-wheeler. Inside the van are some heavy padded quilts like moving companies use, along with some heavy woven fabric straps with buckles and a tarp.
Sid spreads out a couple of layers of the quilts then they lift the first keg in and place it on its side with its top facing the rear. They get the two other kegs and place them similarly but with a quilt between each keg and between the side kegs and the walls of the van.
Mark says, "No sense irritating the merchandise."
"No, I wouldn't want to do that!" says Sid.
"But I hear it's pretty stable unless detonated," says Joe.
"I'd just as soon rather not find out the hard way?" says Mark as he runs one of the straps from the floor on one side across the tops of the kegs to a fitting on the floor on the other and then securely tightens the strap. Next he threads another strap through the kegs' handles and through fittings on both walls of the van and tightens again.
Sid successively grabs each of the keg's handles and checks if they're secure then pronounces, "Looks okay."
Sid closes the van doors while Mark pushes the two-wheeler over to one side of the garage area alongside some others.
Sid says, "When I get back here with the driver, where do you want the van?"
"Park it inside but be sure to leave room for the beer truck."
"Okay, will do."
Joe says, "So, how about lunch?"
"Sure," says Mark.
They go back to Joe's office, grab their coats and leave the building. Joe bolts the door behind them. They lean against the wind and walk quickly to the diner up the street. At the diner they sit in a small booth at the end. Joe orders a hamburger, Mark wants a grilled cheese and Sid opts for a bowl of beef stew.
Joe leans back and says, "At about 10 pm Jack says he'll make the call. He wants to wait until the place is the most crowded so the death toll will be impressive. And he wants to pull the trigger."
"Geez, at 10 pm? There might be 300 or more people there. That building's gonna come down on them, isn't it?" asks Sid.
"Yep, there's enough RDX there to take down three buildings that size. It'll make Oklahoma City look like a dry run," answers Joe.
"So why does he want that kind of kill count? It's just Mike he wants," asks Mark.
"I dunno, probably to make a statement. Don't fuck with the mob, I guess. Maybe to impress the other bosses around the country that he can take care of things himself. You know, he's a laughing stock right now. One more screwup and, bang, no more Jack. His colleagues don't like mistakes. So, where you gonna be when the ball drops?"
"Gee, I dunno, I guess we should find someplace with a good view. What do you think it'll look like?" asks Sid.
"Like Baghdad. Mushroom cloud, the works. The flames will be huge, I'm told."
"Then I guess we won't watch from across the street. How about you?"
"Jack wants a blow by blow description so I'll be back at the warehouse and watch from an old office on the top floor. I should see the whole show perfectly."
"Yeah, I'll bet that'll be the best view in town," says Sid.
"That's for sure," agrees Mark.
"You two wanna watch?"
"Yeah, sure do!" says Mark as Sid nods in agreement.
"Okay, be here about 9:30."
They finish their lunch and hurry back to the warehouse. It's a little after noon and time to get started. Mark and Sid get in the van. Joe says as they leave, "Call me if anything goes wrong." He heads back to his office to nervously wait.