Time: 1 PM
At about 1 pm Friday afternoon, a long low slung beer delivery truck squeaks to a halt in a narrow, deserted alley behind a small bar a few blocks from Mo Rún. The old anonymous brick buildings on either side of the alley are largely windowless except for a few frosted glass metal framed openings high above street level. Various conduits and pipes creep up the sides and electrical wires connect to a motley assortment of poles running down one side of the alley. Soot covered snow is pushed in random piles up against the walls on both sides. The main streets are a hundred yards or more away in both directions.
The driver jumps out. He's in his late thirties, balding, somewhat heavy set, wearing a thick parka with a fur rimed hood, worn jeans and heavy, laced, high-top rubber soled boots. He normally drives a package delivery truck but, since the holidays are over, there's not much delivery work this time of year so he fills in as a temp wherever he can find work. The package delivery pays a lot of overtime around Christmas but in the early months of the new year, things are lean, especially with a wife and two kids to support.
He reaches behind the seat and pulls out a clipboard. He checks the order and then the address. He gets out and tosses the clipboard onto the seat of the idling diesel and walks around to the rear where he unhitches a two-wheeler attached to one of the back doors. Unlocking the doors with a key on a long chain, the other end of which is clipped to his belt, he opens up and climbs in.
As he begins to unstrap a keg from its mooring, Tom backs the van up the alley to within about twenty few feet of the rear of the beer truck. The driver notices the van but thinks nothing of it. Probably just another delivery.
The driver wrestles two kegs onto the two wheeler, one on top of the other, then realizes he's forgotten the invoice sheets that he needs to have signed. He goes back to the cab and picks up the clipboard of papers from the seat. Returning to the two-wheeler, he places the clipboard on the top keg and shoves the heavy two-wheeler with the kegs up the ramp and into the bar.
"He's right on schedule," says Sean while he, Tom and Bob wait quietly in the van watching through the large side mirrors. A few minutes later the driver returns and re-attaches the two-wheeler to its door mounting then climbs back into the rear of the truck to secure the lose straps.
"I don't see anyone around, let's go," says Bob.
Tom and Bob pull on ski masks and hoods and hop out. Tom darts for the beer truck only a few feet away while Bob opens the sliding right side door of the van.
Tom jumps into the back of the truck and pulls out a gun with a silencer. The startled driver turns quickly. He sees Tom's gun and freezes, holding his hands up slightly, the strap he's holding dropping to the floor, its buckle making a metallic clang.
"Hey, what's this? Ohh, no, man, I don't want no trouble. There's no money on this truck," says the frightened driver.
"Don't lose your head and you won't get hurt. You see that van with my friend? You're going over there and getting in. We want your truck, that's all, you got that?" says Tom.
The frightened driver edges nervously past Tom. Tom follows closely behind him as they move towards the open van door.
Bob, a few feet away, points to the open door. The terrified driver gets in while Tom continues to hold the gun on him. Bob hops in behind the driver and binds his hands and feet with nylon cable ties then puts duct tape over his mouth. He pulls a stocking cap down over the driver's eyes and runs duct tape around it to blindfold him.
As Bob detaches the key chain from the driver's belt, he leans over and says to the driver, "Just lay still, man, this is all about your truck. You'll be okay, I guarantee it, you understand?"
The driver nods and assumes a fetal position on the cold metal floor of the van. He wants to believe Tom but knows things don't always work out. He hopes his wife and kids will be okay and he silently begins praying and shivering.
The side door slides shut with a metallic thud. Bob gets in the passenger side of the van as Tom swaps places with Sean in the driver's seat and tosses him the truck keys. The van drives off while Sean jogs back to the beer truck, shuts the rear doors and locks them with the large padlock. He gets in the driver's seat, puts it in gear, and the cab wobbles a bit left and right and the truck slowly drives off. Sean drives the beer truck to Mack's Grill.
Pulling out onto the main street, Tom calls out to the driver curled up on the van floor behind, "Hey? You doing okay back there, buddy?"
He hears a muffled set of noises that he takes to be affirmative and says, "I'll take that as a yes. Don't worry, this will be over soon enough. Well, by later tonight, anyway. Just take it easy, you're gonna be okay. You'll be fine."
The driver bouncing on the hard metal floor, lets out a deep sigh. Life is crap, he thinks, then someone ties you up like an animal and tosses you into the back of a van. You're born naked wet and hungry, then things get worse. He thinks about his kids and wife, they're all he has now. He hopes what Tom said is true, but at the moment, things could be better.
Tom takes out his cell phone and dials Lance at Mo Rún. Lance answers, "Yo? Tom? Everything go okay?"
"Went off with no problem. We got the driver."
"Good, I'll call you later once they make the delivery."
About fifteen minutes later, Tom pulls into David's garage, now bright from the sunlight streaming through the dirt streaked windows high in the walls but still sub-zero. He pulls the van to a squeaky stop and turns off the ignition. Bob hops out and slides the side door open.
Tom phones Lance and tells him they've arrived. He gets out, still wearing his ski mask, looks through the open van door and says, "Sit up man, I'm gonna remove that duct tape from your mouth. He carefully pulls the duct tape off his face and says, "You okay? Hope that didn't hurt too much. We're gonna be here a while. It's best you don't look around too much so I'm leaving the blindfold on for a while. You'll want to forget most of this, if ya'know what I mean?"
The driver says, "Yeah. I'll be happy to forget the entire day."
"I know. Here, turn around and I'll cut the cable ties," He cuts the restraints around the driver's wrists and ankles and says, "Don't worry, it'll get better."
The driver retrieves his arms and begins rubbing his wrists. "Come'on, let's get into the office where there's some heat," says Bob as he helps the blind driver get out of the van and leads him to the office enclosure.
Once inside, Bob closes the door. Tom flips on an electric heater with a noisy fan. It soon glows bright red. Bob leads the driver to a faded blue plastic upholstered couch. The office has been sterilized of all identifying marks so Tom says, "Okay, now I'm gonna remove your blindfold. Just don't get too interested in your surroundings." Once it's removed he says, "Do'ya want some coffee?"
The driver says, "Yeah, thanks." Bob offers him a cigarette which the driver gratefully accepts. After taking a deep drag, he looks at his two masked captors and thinks to himself that maybe he might get out of this alive, just maybe. After all, they wouldn't be wearing masks if they were going to eliminate the witness.
At the club, Lance walks over to Todd and says, "Tom and Bob are at the warehouse and Sean's in the truck. He should be at Mack's pretty soon."
"Yep, I'm listening in on his mic. Here, I'll put it on speaker."
Sean drives the beer truck down a nondescript alley and cuts the motor. The truck shudders to a halt just forward of the rear entrance of a small bar. Sean picks up the clipboard and goes in the bar then re-emerges a few minutes later. He sees the white van back in about thirty feet behind him. He opens the rear doors of the truck, pulls out the dolly then unfastens a keg. He rolls the keg to the end of the truck then hefts it onto the dolly and pushes it up the ramp and into the bar.
At the club they listen as Sean speaks softly, "I just came out of the bar and there's a white van about thirty feet away. I'm putting the empty keg on board now. I expect they'll make their move any time now."
Mark and Sid have pulled on their ski masks and are waiting. The
y watch Sean come out, toss the empty keg onto the rear deck of the truck, climb in and start stowing the keg. Mark jumps into the back of the truck, gun drawn and says, "Okay, drop it." Sid backs the van up close to the rear door of the beer truck.
Sean says, "Hey, what is this?"
"Keep your mouth shut and go get in that van."
Sid has come around the side of the van and opened the side door. Sean jumps down off the truck and walks towards Sid. Sid says, "Turn around and put your hands behind your back." As he does, Sid quickly cuffs his hands with some nylon cable ties then he slaps a piece of duct tape across Sean's mouth.
Mark says, "Okay, in the van and lie on the floor." Then he ties Sean's feet with cable ties as well. Mark grabs the beer truck keys then slides the door shut.
Mark and Sid open the rear doors, pull off the tarp and carefully transfer the three RDX kegs, one by one, from the van to the beer truck.
When done, Mark shuts beer truck doors and locks them with the large padlock while Sid closes up the rear of the van. They spot Ed and Jim walking quickly down the alley towards them.
Ed says, "Everything go Okay?"
"Fine, piece of cake. Here are the keys. This one is for the rear door padlock. The kegs are near the door so they can be off loaded first. Here's the clipboard of invoices you'll need to get signed at Mo Rún. The driver's in the van. Where's your car?"
"It's back on the street up there. Here's the keys," says Jim as he hands them to Mark.
"Good, I'll have it in the parking lot across from Joe's warehouse waiting for you."
"Good luck," says Sid as he heads back for the van. Ed and Jim get in the cab of the beer truck as Mark jogs up the alley to Ed and Jim's car. Behind him he hears the beer truck's diesel engine grind as the truck lurches forward. He steps aside as they pass him and turn onto the main street beyond. Mark finds their car and drives off to the warehouse.
Sid gets in the van and drives to Joe's garage. Once inside, he parks the van off to one side. He slides open the van door and checks the bindings on Sean then slams the door shut and heads for Joe's office.
Joe says, "Everything go okay?"
"Yep, no problem."
A moment later they hear footsteps and Mark arrives and says, "I put their car across the street. I guess we just wait around until Ed and Jim show up," says Mark.
Joe says, "I'm guessing they won't be here for at least an hour. In the meantime, let's go up the street and get some coffee."
They get up and head for the diner.
Time: 2 pm
At the club, they wait for Ed and Jim to arrive with the RDX kegs. "Here they are now," says Lance as he sees the beer truck pull up to the loading dock and squeak to a halt. Todd retreats across the club to the computer displays near the main door. From there he watches the security camera views of the loading dock. Lance will handle the delivery.
Jim jumps out of the truck and hits the buzzer on the door while Ed unlocks the back of the truck. Lance slides open the door as Jim says, "Hey man! We're from Arrowhead and I got twelve kegs for you guys right?"
"Right, is Billy still in Florida?"
"Yeah, lucky dog. Sure beats this fucking weather. Where do you want'em?"
Lance slides the door all the way open and gestures to where the incoming kegs go and says, "There's the empties over there," pointing to a group of ten kegs on the other side of the room.
"You got it," says Jim as he heads back to help Ed move the first of the RDX kegs. Lance watches as the first, then the second, then the third of the red dotted kegs are neatly arranged in a triangle with a slot in the middle where he knows the fuse will go. He heads back into the bar but watches on the closed circuit TV as the rest of the kegs are delivered and placed so that the RDX kegs are furthest away. Then he spots Jim slip the detonator out from his heavy coat and place it in the opening.
When all the empty kegs have been loaded, Lance goes back to the dock and says, "All done?"
Jim, with the clipboard, says, "Yeah, I think that's about it. I just need a signature here and we'll be on our way."
Lance says, "Don't lock up just yet. Come on inside for a minute. I need to make a quick check of the computer inventory. I think I might need an extra keg or two."
They enter Mo Rún and Lance goes behind the bar to a terminal. He looks down and says to one of the bar tenders, "Give these guys what they want. Take a seat guys, I'll be just a minute."
Jim and Ed take off their coats and put them on an empty stool as they sit next to one another. Outside in the storage area, Chris and Tony begin shifting the kegs back onto the truck in place of three of the empties.
A curious canary lights on Mike's shoulder as he watches from the balcony high above. The bartender walks up, drying his hands on a towel and says to Jim and Ed, "What'll it be, guys?"
Ed says. "A whiskey and soda."
Jim says, "Same here."
The bartender tosses a few packs of beer nuts across the bar and places a clean ashtray in front of Jim.
A small bird descends on the bar and skips happily towards the bag of nuts. Ed swats it away.
The bartender pours the whiskey generously and squirts the soda from the head of the multi-buttoned dispensing hose. He adds in a couple of plastic swizzle sticks and places the drinks in front of Ed and Jim then attends the discarded small bird and feeds it seeds and nuts.
Ed lights up a cigarette. He turns on the bar stool, drink in one hand, cigarette in the other and looks around the empty club, now illuminated by shafts of light from the skylights high above. In the bright sunlight, the balconies at each level are clearly visible. He nudges Jim and points to them.
Finally, Lance says, "Looks okay guys. I think we can get by on what we got," as he takes the clipboard and signs the invoice, taking one copy for himself.
Jim and Ed quickly finish their drinks and stub out their cigarettes. Jim takes the clipboard, pretends to look at the signature and says, "Thanks, see ya next week," as they put their coats back on and head out through the loading dock door.
Jim steals a quick glance at the RDX kegs with the red dots visible and sees they are just as he left them. Ed locks the back doors of the truck then joins Jim in the cab, the motor chugs to life and the truck lurches away.
Jim says, "Well, that was easy."
"Well, what'ya expect? Unless they actually put a tap into one of those kegs, there ain't no way anyone could know."
David joins Lance and they watch on the monitor at the bar the GPS locator signal that was planted in the truck. The truck turns towards the warehouse where Mark has brought their car.
David says, "Well, what now?"
"The interesting part is yet to come. Just keep calm," says Lance.
"Oh, yeah, man, real interesting. That's one shitload of RDX we've got. I sure hope you know what you're doing."
"Now don't get you shorts all in a knot. I'll handle it." says Lance.
"So you're still not telling what you've got planned?"
"Nope, it's a surprise. You'll know when the time comes."
David shrugs his shoulders and heads back to his apartment wondering what Lance is going to do with the kegs. Probably move them to his apartment and keep'em for souvenirs, he muses.
When Ed and Jim get to the warehouse, Mark and Sid are waiting for them. Mark hits the button that opens the large motorized garage door and the truck rolls in. As the door closes, Jim cuts the motor. He and Ed hop out.
"Everything go okay?" Mark asks.
"No problemo. We got the kegs delivered, placed the detonator. Bunch of dumb asses, no one suspected a thing," says Jim as he tosses the keys to the truck to Mark, including the key to the padlock on the rear doors.
"Good. Here's your keys. You guys better get going," says Mark.
Jim says, "Yeah, we want to get into a motel in time to see the news bulletins. You do think it will make the news?"
"Oh yeah! It will make the news. Big time. That's gonna be one fucking big b
last," says Mark.
"Well then, see'ya. We don't want to miss it," says Ed as he and Jim leave the warehouse and jog across the street to their car. Mark watches for a moment from the side door. Jim and Ed head for the I80 westbound on-ramp bound for Salt Lake.
Mark shuts and bolts the side door while Sid checks on Sean tied up in the back of the van. They then go to Joe's office. As they enter, Joe says, "Everything go okay?"
"Every thing's fine. We got the truck, the kegs have been delivered, the driver's safely tied up in the back of the van. All we do now is wait until after the blast."
"Think anyone saw the truck pull in here?"
"Nah, they came in real quick and that door faces the railroad yards. No one out there except a passing freight train. Anyway, one more truck driving in here is no big deal."
"Driver secure?"
"Very, he'll be no problem," says Sid.
"Good. I'm heading home. I'll meet you both back here at nine-thirty then we'll watch the show," says Joe as he gets up, puts out his cigarette and reaches for his coat.
"Okay, see you then," says Mark as he and Sid walk out the door and down the hallway with Joe.
"I'll be glad when this business is over," says Joe.
"Ditto, man. But it won't be long now," says Mark.
They both leave the warehouse, walk to their cars across the street and drive off. Joe goes home, Mark and Sid go to their motel to wait.
As Jim and Ed's car pulls onto I80, Jim guns the motor and says, "We need to get to a motel before 10 o'clock so we can watch the blast coverage. Most of cable systems in Nebraska carry the Omaha TV stations so we should be able to see what happens right away. The cable news networks will probably cut in pretty quick too."
"Yeah, man, we'll be famous, too bad no one will know it was us."
"Oh, word will get around, man. This will be the biggest fucking blast in history. All ours."
"Right on, this is our ticket, dude, we'll really be in demand. No more small time hits, we're in the big time now. This is our big night, I sure don't want to miss it." says Ed as the car gets up to highway speed, heading west towards the low winter sun.
"You are so right, Ed, this is our big night. We'll never forget this night, that's for sure."
Lance and Tony arrive at David's garage in Lance's SUV. They wait while the motorized door opens then Lance pulls in and parks. Tony puts on his ski mask and walks over to the small office where Tom, Bob, and the driver are sitting around eating potato chips and watching TV.
"Looks like you got kidnapped by a potato chip company," laughs Tony looking at the driver. Then, turning to Tom, he says, "I take it he's not been any trouble?"
"Hell no, we've just been watching TV and eating, mostly," says Tom.
"Where'd the food come from?"
"Tom went out and got it."
"Geez, give me some of those chips."
Tony leans over and grabs a handful of chips. Then he says, "I'll take over for you. Your ride's waiting."
Tom says, "Okay, catch you guys later." Tom heads out and over to Lance's SUV, gets in and they drive off.
The driver looks up at Tony and asks, "How long are you gonna keep me?"
Tony says, "Until about 10 o'clock tonight, I guess. Then we'll drop you off and you can call your wife to come get you."
"Yeah, but what's this all about, really?"
"Probably better you don't know too much," says Bob.
"Ohh, right, okay," says the driver.
"Where do you live?"
"Council Bluffs."
"We'll drop you over there. When you get home, you can call the cops and tell them what you know. By the way, you do know your truck was hijacked?"
"I kind'a figured that part out on my own."
"When you talk to the cops, leave out the part about the coffee, chips and cigarettes. Just say you were held blindfolded and tied up in a storage room of some kind and that you know nothing. Okay?"
"Works for me. I don't fucking know anything anyway."
"Good, let's keep it that way."
Tony gets a cup of coffee and some more chips and sits on one of the old couches. Bob gets up and walks to the old TV in the corner and flips the channels until he gets one with a re-run of some sitcom. Thus they spend the evening watching TV and waiting for the kegs to explode.