Chapter 9
"This is the executive airport," he remarked,
"where our friends' plane is waiting. This is where the
truck is at the civics center. Look what's right in between...an
industrial park with a dozen or more warehouses. Anybody in there
you've been suspicious of?"
Alex and Cordell came over. "Overnight Express," Alex
muttered.
Cordell's eyes widened. "Morgan!" he agreed. "Yes!
This is just his kind of thing! We've suspected he might be
dealing in contraband!"
William thought for several moments. "We need
somebody!" he snapped, "Somebody they don't know, to
ship a package."
He looked to his wife. "Here we go again!" she
muttered. "I've got to take Mouse again, don't I?" Her
husband only smiled. "I'll go get it! I'll address it to my
aunt."
"Let's go!" he told Cordell.
"Mouse?" Cordell asked as they climbed into the
unmarked van. William gave the driver an address and as they sped
away he opened the compartment and took out a small six wheeled
vehicle not much bigger than a mouse. "Remote surviellance
mobile transmitter," he explained. "Camera, microphone,
transmitter...it's color and tail...if somebody sees it they
could easily mistake it for a mouse. The military have had this
little guy for quite a while. I convinced them to let us borrow
some for field work. They've been invaluable!"
A few minutes later the van stopped in a parking lot, just across
from the delivery company. Moments later William's wife appeared,
had her package weighed and paid for its delivery. It was put on
a conveyor belt and rolled into the sorting room. It sat on a
shelf for some time. A few minutes later the side popped open.
The little vehicle came out and the box shut. The vehicle rolled
to the end of the shelf, attached a cable to it, lowered itself
to the floor, released the cable, drew it in, then whizzed off
across the floor. Fifteen minutes later those in the van knew the
entire layout of the warehouse!
"They're not going to deal up here," the marshall
remarked, "in this empty room, here. There's stairs that go
up to the roof. I bet a helicopter could land up there. Somebody
could fly in, pick up a couple of good sized packages, whiz to
the airport, and be gone in a manner of minutes! Look! On that
shelf, two pods that look like they're designed to be attached to
a helicopter's skids! I'm going to call in the team. Everything
tells me this is the place! If we're wrong, we can move to
another location pretty quick. But I'd lay odds, HEAVY odds our
missing artifacts will soon be packed in those containers."
"Wait!" Walker remarked. "Look, an armed guard
with a pump action shotgun, probably making sure nobody tries to
pick up the cargo early. They may already have some stuff on
hand."
They watched as the guard went over and opened one of the
containers. He took out a large white package, hefted it, put it
back in and shut the container.
"Ooops!" William remarked. "Wrong! Something else
in those containers. But I'll STILL bet our boys are coming here!
Just their kind of place. Let's set our trap. I figure about 7
o'clock tonight, well after regular business hours, to keep any
civilians from showing up."
Cordell agreed. By 6 o'clock that night there was a small army
around the warehouse. At exactly 6:45 a helicopter began to
circle, came to light on the roof, and three oriental women
emerged, making their way down the stairs into the warehouse.
They were greeted by a tall, heavy set gray haired man, and ten
of his men. A few minutes later a U Haul arrived, backed into the
warehouse and the moment after that a cargo van arrived, and
backed in, its driver and passenger got out and approached the
shortest of the oriental women. "You have my goods?"
she asked.
The two men motioned to the U Haul. It was open. Two cargo
containers were dragged out, and they were opened. The oriental
woman examined the contents and seemed pleased.
"Excellent!" she cooed, "Take these to the
helicopter and attach them."
Four of the men approached. The woman motioned to one of her
companions who opened her purse and took out a large sum of money
and handed it to one of the men. "Good doing business with
you," the man remarked. "Wait one minute. Got something
else you might be interested in, just acquired it this
afternoon." He opened the back of the van . Inside were two
children tied hand and foot and gagged, their feet tied to the
wall. The man ignored them and opened the box to the side.
"A real Aztec ceremonial flint knife," he remarked,
"totally authenticated. The collector that owned it really
didn't want to part with it."
The Japanese woman came over, examined the piece, and nodded.
"How much?" she asked.
"$100,000!" the man offered.
"I'll have to send it," the woman remarked. "Will
you trust me for it?" The man wrapped the knife back up and
handed it to her. The Japanese woman looked to the two children.
"What's this?" she asked.
"A little entertainment," the man answered, "for
me and my brother to celebrate our transaction."
The woman smiled. "Sorry I'm in such a hurry!" she
remarked. "I might pay you quite a bit to join you."
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