LITMIR.BIZ

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floor. He needn’t have bothered. It was almost a minute before Pan-Head regained consciousness. When he did, his two friends were lying sprawled face-down on the floor beside him.

      While Danny provided cover, Jack plastered strips of duct tape tightly across Dragon’s and Pan-Head’s noses and the tender skin around their eyes. He then bound their hands behind their backs.

      Jack pointed at Silent Sam and said in a loud voice, “Okay, I’m gonna tape you up real good, and then you’re gonna be goin’ for a ride.”

      Jack peeled off a strip of pre-cut tape from the roll. All but the ends of the strip had been taped face to face with another strip of tape. The end result was a cover over Silent Sam’s eyes that was twice as thick but not sticky. He then bound Silent Sam’s arms behind his back, wrapping the tape around the shirtsleeves covering his wrists.

      With the three bikers trundled up on the floor, Jack turned to Danny and said, “Okay, check out the truck.”

      Danny did so, noting that the keys were still in the ignition. He went to the rear of the truck and returned with two kilos of cocaine and set them down at Jack’s feet.

      “Good,” said Jack. “Now go get the device. Be fuckin’ careful you don’t drop it!”

      “You’re tellin’ me!” replied Danny, disappearing out the door.

      Moments later Danny returned and set two plastic pails upside down a short distance from each other on the floor. On the outside bottom of each plastic pail was a bed spring. A short section of the spring protruded inside the pail through a small hole that had been drilled in the bottom. Holes cut in the sides of the pails allowed a short stick to be used as a cross-bar to provide a base for the springs to maintain pressure.

      Danny then placed a kilo of cocaine under each pail.

      Jack set a walkie-talkie on the floor halfway between the two pails, then carefully helped Pan-Head to his feet and guided him over to a pail. He taped his ankles together and then sat him down on the spring.

      Pan-Head tried to speak but his broken jaw told him that wasn’t such a good idea. His question was answered seconds later, when Dragon’s ankles were bound and he was placed sitting on the other pail.

      “What the fuck is that under my ass?” asked Dragon. “What are you guys doin’ to us? What am I sittin’ on?”

      Both Pan-Head and Dragon quit squirming when they heard Jack’s voice from the other side of the room.

      “I suggest you sit still. The bombs have been activated. They have both a spring and mercury switch. I strongly suggest that neither of you move — in fact, I wouldn’t even fart.”

      Pan-Head was the first to break out into a sweat. Then again, he was in a lot of pain.

      Jack trundled Silent Sam into the front of the truck and made him squat on the floor under the dash before taking off his balaclava.

      Danny closed the door after Jack pulled out and then crept back into their own unit to monitor Pan-Head and Dragon.

      “They’re fuckin’ gone,” said Dragon. “They took Silent Sam with ’em. Jesus fuck, man! What the fuck should we do?”

      Pan-Head’s panicked response was unintelligible to Danny, but apparently Dragon understood, as he said, “For sure I won’t fuckin’ move! You quit yappin’ too!”

      Jack pulled over and parked the van a short distance away from the gate to Damien’s house. He put his balaclava back on and removed the tape from Silent Sam.

      “I left a walkie-talkie with your two buddies back at the locker. It’s short range so the cops can’t pick it up. Tell Damien to go and get the walkie-talkie. When he does, he’ll receive a personal message. He’ll also be told how to defuse the bombs. If he doesn’t show up in exactly ninety minutes, your two friends become hamburger.”

      Silent Sam hurried toward Damien’s house as Jack drove away.

      Danny’s earphone crackled a few minutes later and he whispered a reply. “Yeah, Curly and Moe are still sweating it out. Both look like they took a dip in my pool. You deliver Larry?”

      “It’s done. Wish I was a fly on a wall when he explains this.”

      Jack parked the van in a prearranged spot and quickly got in his own car, drove back, and parked a few blocks away from the storage lockers. He walked the remaining distance.

      Danny smiled and gave Jack the thumbs-up sign when he quietly entered their unit.

      Damien used the full ninety-minute allotment before he showed. When he did, he had Lance, Rellik, and Silent Sam with him.

      “Damn it, our friend is with them,” whispered Danny.

      “I was afraid he might show up,” replied Jack. “Try and disguise your voice, but if it doesn’t work, we’ll have to come clean with him later.”

      Rellik was first to gingerly open the side door and peek inside. “Jesus fuck! I don’t believe it!” He pushed the door all the way open and gestured to the rest of the group that it was okay to enter.

      Jack suppressed a snicker when he saw Damien look at the tire tracks leading to the empty place the van had been parked, then at his two men sitting on plastic pails.

      Damien shook his head in disgust as he walked over to Dragon’s pail. The holes holding the sticks were large enough that Damien was able to peer inside and see that the springs were tied to the sticks with pieces of wire.

      “Who’s there?” Dragon nervously asked.

      “I’ll tell you who’s here!” roared Damien, grabbing Dragon by the front of his shirt and jerking him off the pail.

      Jack looked at Danny and whispered, “Get ready.”

      Danny quietly got in the car and picked up the walkie-talkie while a din could still be heard coming from the unit next door.

      Jack watched as Lance peeled the tape off Pan-Head, who held his jaw and moaned. Dragon was freed next as Damien picked up the walkie-talkie, then paced back and forth, angrily stating that he could not believe this.

      Danny waited for Jack’s signal. He wished Jack would use the walkie-talkie but agreed that Damien might recognize his voice. He saw Jack wave to him and squeezed the transmit button and said, “Damien, are you there? Anyone copy?”

      “Yeah, this is Damien! Who am I talking to?”

      “One of the people who relieved you of something heavy.”

      “You think you can get away with this?”

      “Please don’t interrupt. It’s not as bad as you think. We’re willing to sell it back to you if you are interested.”

      Damien lowered the walkie-talkie and looked at his men. “Whoever ripped us wants to sell it back to us! Our own fucking coke!”

      His walkie-talkie spoke again: “As a gesture of good faith, I’ve left a kilo under each pail. You can check to see that I am sincere and honest.”

      “Honest!” yelled Damien, gripping the transmit button. He took a couple of deep breaths, then said, “Just a minute,” and released the button. Seconds later, Damien picked up one of the kilos of cocaine.

      “So,” crackled the voice that Damien so badly wanted to identify, “I’ll give you a sale price — $10 million. I’ll be in touch soon.”

      “How? When will you contact me?” asked Damien. There was no response.

      Damien’s face was menacing as he gripped the kilo in one hand and looked at Rellik and said, “Whoever did this is dead! These fucking guys think they can rip us off and then sell it back to us! They are fucking dead!”

      He looked at Lance and said, “Who fucked us? Who knew about the stash?”

      Lance

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