Read Omaha Page 9

11. Thursday January 18

  Time: 3 PM

  Around 3 pm on Thursday Joe, Mark, Sid, Ed and Jim converge in pairs on Joe's office. Joe looks forward to when Ed and Jim will be out of Omaha, the sooner the better.

  Once they've all arrived and taken their coats off, he says, "Okay, let's go take a look at the kegs." He gets up and walks down the hall. The others follow.

  "We hid the kegs in one of the storage rooms. Mark, Sid and I moved them here ourselves when they arrived an hour ago."

  Joe takes out his keys, opens the door and flips on the light.

  "So far as I can see, the kegs look completely normal except, if you look closely, for the small red dot on the top of each. See?"

  Jim says, "Yep, I see them. You're right, they sure do look like regular beer kegs. Here, let me see how much they weigh." Jim and Ed take turns moving the kegs around a bit to get a feel for their weight and bulk.

  "They feel pretty normal too," says Ed. "I doubt anyone would notice the difference."

  "Not weight-wise. They weigh the same as a standard keg and the weight is distributed pretty evenly. Be sure off-load them first and get them put furthest back so they won't be used right away. With the number of kegs you'll be delivering, it shouldn't be a problem," says Joe.

  "No problem."

  They leave the storage room and Joe flicks out the light then locks the door. They walk to the main receiving area of the warehouse. Joe says, "Call us if you have any questions. Here's my number," handing Ed a slip of paper.

  "When you get back here with the beer truck, just pull in the west entrance, you can see it down there, park it, and then get out'a Dodge. We'll take care of it from there."