CHAPTER 10

AT THE WAREHOUSE

 

A black Kenworth T600 truck with a high-rise sleeper pulling a white trailer rolled to a stop along the curb. Callie and B.J. ran up to the truck quickly. Callie pulled open the driver’s door, climbed up into the cab. Stacks sat behind the wheel.

"Move over Stacks." Callie instructed. Stacks moved out of the driver’s seat and she sat on the bed in the sleeper. Callie climbed in and slid over to the passenger seat. B.J. climbed up and into the driver’s seat. He shut the door behind him.

"B.J. McKay! How have you been?" Stacks questioned.

"Not now, Stacks. B.J.’s truck has been stolen. We have to get to it." Callie told her.

B.J. looked at the dashboard and over at Callie.

"Let’s go B.J." Callie said.

B.J. reached for the yellow toggle switch and pushed it in. The brakes disengaged as he grabbed the shift stick. He pushed the clutch in and eased the stick forward into gear. He eased up the clutch as the black Kenworth moved forward slowly. He started to shift through the gears grinding them as he went.

"Easy on the gear box. You have to shift slowly. This truck almost drives it self." Callie told him as she watched him.

B.J. flipped the small switch on the stick as he worked into the higher gears. He still grinded the gears as he went.

"Do you drive you truck like this?" Callie asked him.

"Give me break will ya?. My gear pattern is more spaced out on my truck." B.J. explained to her. "These gears are closer together."

B.J. looked ahead as the corner came closer.

Callie’s Kenworth made the turn around the corner. Callie seen B.J.’s truck was less than a block away.

"How we going to get Jenna?" Callie asked.

"Let’s follow the truck and we’ll go from there." B.J. explained as he shifted the gears.

"Who is Jenna? Is she B.J.’s wife? Are you married, B.J.?" Stacks asked.

"Jenna is Jennifer Reid. The rich woman who loves art." Callie told Stacks.

"You work for her?" Stacks asked B.J.

B.J. looked at Stacks and Callie quickly. "She hired me to haul three statues to Los Angeles. They are worth a lot of money."

"How much you being paid for this load?" Stacks asked.

"A small lottery of five million." Callie told Stacks.

Stacks looked at B.J. He nodded his head at her.

Callie pulled out a credit card and gave it to B.J. "I picked this up after that tow truck exploded. I’m sure the guy who took your truck dropped it."

B.J. looked at it as he drove the truck. "I may need this. I have an idea."

Callie’s truck drove on following B.J.’s truck.

The passenger door opened on the BMW.

"Get out of the car." The man told Jenna. She climbed out of the car looking at the warehouse.

The warehouse stood two stories high with large steel rafters at the ceiling. The walls were lined with shelves of car parts. In front of the shelves were a two stripped exotic cars sitting on stands. A large bright yellow Hummer sat near the middle of the warehouse beside three long tables. The tables had a large cache of weapons such as hand guns, assault rifles, grenades, missile launchers and boxes of bullets. Four chairs and three laptop computers were at the table. In the middle of the cement floor was B.J.’s truck and trailer sitting there.

She walked away from the BMW slowly.

The man grabbed Jenna by the back of her neck and pushed her over to the table. He brought her over and pulled out a chair. He pushed her down into the chair.

"I want you to plant yourself here. Plants down say a word. Got it?" He told her.

Jenna nodded and looked at B.J.’s truck.

"She’s here!" The man yelled over at the Hummer.

The driver’s side door opened and a tall woman climbed out. She had on a black leather pants, a long leather trench coat, a dark red blouse on that showed her cleavage. Her long black hair was in a high ponytail, her hair went half way down her back. She walked up to the table.

"Get me the statues." The woman told the black man.

He left the table and headed for B.J.’s truck with his friend.

"I finally get to meet the famous Jennifer Reid." She told Jenna as she walked over to her. "I’m sure this heist won’t hurt you financially. You are one of the richest women in the United States."

Jenna asked. "And you are?"

The woman leaned over Jenna’s right shoulder and spoke into her ear. "Electra Summers, I run the largest exotic car dealership on the west coast. I also front weapons for gangs in my spare time. Today I’m taking a small step into petty thieving." She walked back around the table.

"Why the petty thieving?" Jenna asked Electra. "I’m sure with all these guns and cars, you shouldn’t have to be stealing from me. I must be a waste of your time."

" I’m being paid a lot of money for your presence here today and I gave a discount on three cars to the guy who paid me." She said as she sat down at the table across from Jenna. "I win either way."

The two black men came back carrying a large steel chest that had a card slot and keypad on it. They set it on the table and stepped back. Electra looked at the chest as she stood up.

"Do you have the code and the card?" Electra asked Jenna.

Jenna sat there.

Electra looked at the black man. "Does she have a disobedient problem?"

"She sure does." He told Electra.

Electra walked around the table and sat on the edge of it near Jenna. She looked down at Jenna sitting in the chair. Electra ran her index finger over Jenna’s ear and ran her hand slowly down the left side of Jenna’s face caressing it. "Let’s get one thing straight here, precious. When I ask you a question, I would like an answer."

She ran her hand under Jenna’s chin and lifted her head up slowly. Electra looked right into Jenna’s eyes. " Do I make myself clear?"

G came over and tossed a card on the table. "I found it in with some paperwork in the truck."

Electra took the card and passed it in the slot. The number keypad lit up.

"What’s the number?" Electra asked Jenna.

"You’ll never get the code out of me. It’s a four digit number that changes every five hours. There is a billion possibilities for that code." Jenna replied. "The chest won’t open without the number. You type in the wrong set of numbers three times it won’t open at all unless you have the security card for override."

"Where is the security card?" Electra asked.

"It’s in New York." Jenna told her.

Electra rushed Jenna and pushed her over in the chair. Jenna fell over backwards landing on her back on the cement floor.

Electra reached for a handgun off the table and pointed it at Jenna as she lay there on the floor. "Now you are really getting me upset! You didn’t come this far without a security card, I’m not stupid!"

Jenna lay there breathing hard looking up at the gun. "Why don’t you just shoot me?"

Electra’s finger eased around the trigger slowly. Her finger hugged the trigger more. Electra looked down the barrel of the pistol.

On to Page 2 - At the Warehouse

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