Double Doublecross (18 page)

“Don't these bastards ever sleep?” he hissed out loud to himself.

He now realized they must be watching at all hours of the day. ‘Maybe I'll test them in the early hours,' he thought.

Reaching his condo, Carl switched on his DVD player and decided to watch a movie for a couple of hours. It was now nearly midnight.

At one o'clock in the morning he kept the lights on in the apartment, left the movie on and crept down to his car, leaving his apartment door slightly open to avoid any sound the door might make if it closed. Slipping behind the wheel, he started the car and moved slowly out of the complex. Nobody followed him. He felt ecstatic.

Now he knew their weak link. Turning around, he went back to his apartment, feeling free from the constant observation he had endured over the last few weeks.

Confidently pleased with himself, he watched the end of the movie and made up his mind to give Sara the thumbs up signal for his retrieval of the money. He started to plan his route for the getaway.

Sara heard the coded ring of the phone. Realizing Rick had left for the office, she picked it up wondering what Carl had in mind.

“Yes, Carl. What is it?” she said hastily for it was only nine o'clock in the morning.

“Sara, I'm in the restroom in the lobby. I can't be too long. I've found a way to avoid the tail. Set up the transfer of the money as soon as you like.”

“Good! I'll give you a call when I'm ready. Bye for now,” she said. At last she was going to get rid of the money and the worry of having it in her possession. All she had to do now was to approach Rick and arrange for another long weekend in the mountains.

Rick arrived home both pleased and disappointed with the day's work. The Hughes contract was in preparation, and apart from the timeframe, everything seemed to be going well. But business was slow and, except for a few inquiries, there was nothing on the horizon.

Looking at Rick as he came through the door, Sara couldn't make up her mind whether to ask him now about another skiing trip or wait until after dinner. She decided to wait until they were more relaxed.

Rick had finished his dinner and sat in his favorite chair with his feet up, sipping a beer and watching an ice hockey game.

“I love this game,” he said. “It's fast, skillful and exciting. Talk about fit. These guys must be the fittest athletes on earth.”

“Which team do you like?”

“The local team—the San Jose Sharks. I've seen them quite a few times at their new stadium. We should go there some time. It's great fun.”

“It can't be as exciting as skiing. Now, that I could do every weekend,” she said seizing the opportunity to broach the subject.

Rick was preoccupied with the game and muttered his approval with little conviction.

“I'll pay for the room this time,” she said quietly.

Rick turned and looked at her thoughtfully. Did he hear right? Did she say
room
and not
rooms
?'

“No, that's okay. I'll pay for them. As soon as the intermission comes on, I'll give one of the hotels a call and book the rooms,” he said choosing his words cautiously.

“There's only a need for one room, Rick. It's so costly otherwise. Let me pay for it. You can buy the drinks and dinner. Is that fair enough for you?” she murmured quietly.

Rick couldn't believe his ears. Was she thawing in her attitude toward him or was she playing games? He decided to string her along and see what was on her agenda. She had lied to him on many occasions and he didn't know whether she was on the level this time or not. ‘What the hell,' he thought, 'I've got nothing to lose.'

“Okay. Have it your way. But I'll do the booking. As for skiing, the snow might be a little slushy. Anyway, we can always take in a show or two. When do you want to go?”

Sara thought for a second or two. She had to give Carl some space for him to make his own arrangements.

“How about the weekend after next?” she said hopefully.

“Great!” he said. “If you want to ski, just pray for snow.”

Now all Sara had to do was contact Carl and set the game plan in motion.

“I'm going to bed now. No, don't get up, Rick. Keep watching your hockey. See you in the morning.”

“Sure,” he said. “Goodnight Sara. Pleasant dreams.”

He thought about following her into the bedroom but changed his mind. He would be ready when the time came. Anyway, she hadn't invited him tonight. Better not push his luck.

The following day Rick went to the office early. He hadn't slept too well. He didn't know what to think of Sara's comment about booking one room for the weekend. She usually insisted on having separate rooms. All the same he felt good. The sun was shining in his world even though it was foggy and damp that morning.

“Morning all,” he said with a smile as he entered the office.

“Don't tell me!” said Pat James. “You've won the lottery! You've got a new girlfriend! You're growing more hair! I give up. What's the story Rick? It's a bit early for you to be so joyful. Have a donut.”

“Don't you give anybody a chance to breathe, Pat?” he said with a grin. “Nothing's up. I just feel good, that's all. So pass me one of those cream donuts and find something to do.”

“Okay, Your Majesty.”

Stan looked up from his paperwork, smiled at the office banter and went over to Rick's desk.

“Everything okay, Rick? What's cooking?”

“Well, actually Stan, Sara wants me to take her skiing again. I'll need to leave early the Friday after next. Think we can arrange it?”

“I can't see a problem there. This is getting to be a habit—quite a nice habit. I'm happy for you, Rick. Am I right? Is this becoming an affair?”

“You said that before, or something like it,” said Rick with a grin. “You know, you might be right. She seems to be getting soft on me. She's thawing out.”

“Good for you. You've had this relationship going for some time now. I don't mean to be inquisitive, but how's the action?”

“Believe it or not, Stan, there's been nothing up to
this moment.” Rick hesitated for a second, and looking thoughtful, he said. “I'm going to tell you something strictly in confidence so don't breathe a word to anyone. Last night she told me to book a
single room
instead of the usual two rooms. What do you think of that?”

Stan Turner looked seriously at Rick.

“So you pushed the boat out last night did you?”

“No, nothing like that, Stan,” Rick said.

“She's saving herself for you, is that it?”

“Don't be a jerk, Stan. I think she's just taking things slowly,” Rick said. “Anyway, I'm happy about the way things are working out.”

“That's good news, Rick. Now, we'd better get some work done. I'm pulling the financials together for Jake James to go over for our annual tax merry-go-round. See you later.”

Sara looked at her watch, it was now eleven o'clock. She figured it was time to call Carl to get his reaction to her plan. She didn't like calling Carl under these circumstances. She dreaded the thought of being implicated in this type of clandestine activity. It was dangerous and nerve wracking. Also, she had lost any feeling she once had for him.

He had put her life in jeopardy without giving it a second thought. All he thought about was
making the big time
and
being on easy street
. He didn't seem to worry about the fact that if anything went wrong, they would both wind up with wooden overcoats, and shoved into a furnace.

She dialed the code and waited for him to answer. There was no reply. She figured he was probably in his apartment and unable to speak. She waited for him to call her back when he was free to talk. After a few minutes Carl called.

“What is it?” he growled.

“I've arranged for the house to be empty the weekend after next. Is that okay with you?”

Carl perked up. “It sounds good to me. I just want to test out the procedure for slipping my tail again. Let me get back to you—let's say the day after tomorrow.”

“What time will you contact me?”

Carl thought for a moment. “How about ten thirty in the morning,” he said hurriedly.

“I'll be waiting for your call.”

“Okay, Sara. I've got to go now. They might get uptight if they don't hear me in the apartment or see me drive out of this place.”

With that he rang off. Tomorrow night he would try the same trick again just to make sure it would work. There seemed to be no doubt about it, they didn't seem to monitor him at night as long as he appeared to be in his apartment.

Meanwhile Sara stepped outside the front door and looked for a spot to hide the latchkey. Outside on the spacious porch there were two large, decorative containers. One of them contained geraniums; the larger housed a small shrub with small flowers around its base. She decided that the larger container would be the one to hide the key in.

She would wrap it in plastic and bury it just beneath the surface of the soil. From there, all Carl would have to do was open the door, turn to the left, open her bedroom door and take the bag containing the money.

Next, she sat down at the kitchen table and made a rough but neat sketch of the house plan with accurate, explicit directions of where the money would be. Her next problem was how to get the house plan, instructions and directions to Carl.

Two evenings later, Carl tried the same routine to ditch his tail again at two o'clock in the morning and it worked. In the morning he would call Sara and let her know everything was looking good. All systems were go!

Sara had just finished her breakfast when her cell phone chirped.

“Hello,” she said.

“It's me, Carl. Can you talk?”

“Yes, I'm on my own.”

“Things look good. Nobody watches after one o'clock in the morning. Now, what's the rest of the plan?”

“The front door key will be under the surface of the soil in a large container on the porch. It will be in clear plastic wrapping. Go into the house, turn left and you'll see my bedroom door. The moneybag will be on the bed waiting for you. Is that clear?”

“No problem.”

“Now, I've drawn a plan of the house and the directions on how to get there. Somehow I have to get them to you. I suggest we use the supermarket routine we used before. Is that okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Hurry up! I don't have all day. I'm in the lobby restroom. They'll be here in a minute to see where I am.”

“I'll see you in the same supermarket at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning. Go to the frozen food section and I'll leave it there for you in a plain white envelope. Keep an eye open for me. I'll be keeping close to you, watching for your companion. Is there anything else you can think of?”

“No. Sounds good, sweetie. Thanks a bunch.”

She rang off feeling pleased with herself. This couldn't fail. She went over the arrangements again and couldn't see a
flaw. They must get clear of the house by four o'clock next Friday afternoon. This would give Carl two shots at getting the money and make his getaway.

‘Funny,' she thought, ‘Carl had said nothing about where he would be going.'

Not that she was interested. He was only big trouble. ‘Sooner or later they would catch up with him and then he would be cannon fodder,' she thought. As long as there was no traceable connection to her, she didn't care what happened to him.

Two days later Sara pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket at 10:57 a.m. She got slowly out of her car and sauntered to the doors of the store. She anticipated that Carl would be there any minute. Sure enough, he drove in and parked his car a short distance from hers and waited for a second or two. His shadow followed seconds later.

This time it was not a woman but a burly-looking character that let Carl know he would be right there with him. As Carl went through the automated doors, the character followed immediately behind him with a mean-looking smile on his face..

“You bastard,” Carl whispered to himself. How was he going to get his hands on the envelope without being spotted?

Sara saw what was happening. Although the follower wasn't right on Carl's tail, he was close enough to be aware of every move Carl made and every product Carl placed in his shopping cart.

Sara moved around the store gathering a few items when she had an idea. Placing a bottle of wine in her cart, she
proceeded to the frozen food section. Carl followed right behind her with a nervous look on his face. Opening the section displaying the frozen TV dinners, she palmed the small envelope, took two dinners and laid it under the next dinner. She then picked up the bottle of wine and pretended to read the label. Drawing close to the burly character she dropped the wine bottle with a crash at his feet.

Immediately he jumped backward to avoid the glass which was scattered in fragments all across the aisle. Taking advantage of the diversion, Carl picked up the next frozen meal with the envelope underneath it and placed it in the cart, putting the envelope swiftly in his pocket.

“Sorry about that,” Sara cried in an astonished voice.

“That's okay, lady. No harm done,” the tail said.

Sara fussed around, pushing her cart into Carl's back, creating a further diversion.

“Sorry,” she said. “I'm in everybody's way today.”

“Everything's okay,” said Carl with a smile.

Sara went to the checkout without looking to see if Carl had finished his shopping. Going straight to her car, she waited until Carl and his follower moved out of the parking lot and trailed them both to his apartment complex. She gave Carl five minutes and called him on his cell phone. After the third ring he answered.

“Nice going. I'll check everything out and give you a call in an hour or so. If you don't hear from me, everything's a go,” he said.