Double Doublecross (33 page)

“Now, I have to pack some clothes and get ready to leave. I want to get there in daylight. Roads can be tricky this time of year. Book the rooms now and don't forget to use my name. It'll be difficult to get a room at this time of year. There's a lot of snow up there, and the skiers will be making their way to the slopes as we speak.”

“What if Carl can't get a room?”

“Not my problem,” Rick smiled at her. “If he wants the stuff, he'll be there, even if he has to sleep in his car. Now, I'd better start getting ready.”

Rick packed a small suitcase with a few winter clothes, put it in the Land Rover and did the same with his skiing equipment. He returned to his den and grabbed the bag with the mixture of counterfeit and authentic bills.

Reaching into his floor safe, he took hold of the gun and gingerly placed it in a bag on top of the bundles of money. Finally, he made sure he had Carl's cell phone number. Now he was ready to go.

Checking to make sure that Sara had successfully made the reservations, he kissed her goodbye and started on the trip he would remember for the rest of his life.

Sara picked up the phone and made the sequence of calls to get in touch with Carl Regis. After several minutes her phone rang.

“Hello, Carl. I've just finished talking to Rick and he's ready to hand it over.”

“Christ! At last! When can I get it?” Carl said with an excited tone.

“There are some instructions you have to follow.”

“I knew there would be a fucking catch,” he moaned.

“There's no need to use that language with me. Either you speak to me in a civil tone or not at all. Is that quite clear?”

“Yes, yes. I'm sorry. What do I have to do?”

“Go to the north end of Lake Tahoe, book into a motel or someplace where you can get a room. Rick said emphatically—you must come alone. I guess he means
without Phil
.”

“Okay! What else?”

“Use cell phones only and wait for him to call you.”

“Okay!” Carl said impatiently. “Where's he staying?”

Sara was ready for this. Rick was right. Carl would want to know where he was staying.

“Let me see,” she said casually.

There was a pause. She could imagine Carl fidgeting impatiently on the other end of the line, eagerly waiting for her to finish the sentence.

“I think he said the Park Hotel on the Nevada side.”

“Thanks,” Carl said slamming the phone down. Now he had to call Phil Speed without delay. There were some details to be taken care of before they left for Lake Tahoe.

Inspired by the conversation he had just finished with Sara, Carl Regis called Phil Speed. Within a few seconds, Speed's cell phone tunefully rang out.

He instantly answered his phone.

“I've been in contact with Sara not more than a couple of minutes ago. He's ready to hand it over. What should we do now?” Carl asked.

“How the hell should I know? Give me the details. Where?
When? How?”

Carl repeated the distinctive directions Sara had passed on to him. Phil Speed took notes on a piece of motel paper and instructed Carl to wait a few seconds while he digested all the information.

“We should make tracks for Tahoe right away,” he said finally.

“What about my tail? How do we get rid of him? He sticks to me like glue. Real close all the time now.”

“I've given it some thought. We'll lose him at the Sunshine Mall. It'll be packed with late afternoon shoppers. We'll do it together. Now go pack some warm clothes and anything else you want to bring with you. We're not coming back after we've made the pickup. It'll be too risky. We'll want to get as far away as possible. We don't want Fennel and his buddy on our tail, do we? Now pack up and call me when you're ready?” Speed said.

“But Sara told me I had to be alone,” Carl said shakily. He didn't like the thought of Speed coming along with him.

“Screw him! Do you want help or not?” Speed said angrily. “Now get moving and call me when you're set to go.” The line went dead.

Carl looked around. He had very few personal possessions: a photograph or two from the past, some masculine jewelry, toilet articles and a small handgun. The largest item he had was his expensive wardrobe of clothing. When he was done packing, he had two suitcases full of clothes and a small carryall of personal and cosmetic items.

He glanced at his watch. It was five o'clock. Dusk was falling and the rush hour traffic was in full swing. Carl called Phil Speed, his hands were trembling with excitement and high hopes of financial freedom.

“Ready?” he cried.

“Not yet. Wait another hour for darkness. It'll be more difficult to spot us then. As I said, we don't want to accidentally run into Fennel,” said Speed using the name of Fennel to control Carl.

“No, no. Of course not.”

“Call me in an hour and then follow my instructions without question. Have you got that?”

“Yes. I'll call you in an hour.”

Phil Speed continued packing his belongings. It didn't take him long at all.

Soon, he would have plenty of money to buy anything he wanted. After the pickup was made, money would be no object.

Searching through his wallet, Speed took out enough cash to pay his hotel bill. Using a credit card would give law enforcement a fix on him, and that was the last thing he wanted.

He waited patiently for Carl's call while sitting in his car. It had been over an hour since he had last spoken to Carl.

“Where the hell is he? It's dark already!” Speed muttered to himself.

Finally the call came through.

“Now listen carefully to me. Don't talk—just listen. First, give me a fifteen minute start. Second, drive to the mall, enter on the south side and park close to my car, which will be as far away from other parked cars as possible. When I see you, I'll flash my lights. My car is a white Ford sedan. Okay so far?” said Speed. “Now don't screw up, this is very important, okay?”

“Yes,” said Carl.

“Then drive slowly so that your tail is close behind you.
Park your car, quickly get out and pop your trunk. Take a case from it and pretend you're making a mad dash to get away. Your tail will think you've got the cash. Understood?”

“Yes,” said Carl feebly.

“Repeat it back to me.”

Carl repeated the instructions.

“Good. I'm leaving now. Remember, give me fifteen minutes then drive slowly out of your complex, making sure your tail is right behind you.” Phil Speed rang off and started on his way.

Phil Speed quickly made his way to the mall parking lot, entered on the south side and waited for Carl Regis to arrive. After a ten minute wait, Speed saw Carl drive slowly into the parking lot with his tail in close pursuit. Phil Speed flashed his lights, carefully took the semi-automatic out of his parka pocket and fitted the silencer.

Carl Regis parked close to Speed, abruptly opened the car door and strode quickly towards the mall entrance, swinging a briefcase as he went. Phil Speed braced himself, opened the door of his car and moved swiftly to the driver side door of the tail. The door gradually opened, Speed grabbed the handle and gave it a sudden jerk, half-dragging the driver onto the asphalt.

He pressed the semi-automatic into the chest of the driver and fired two inaudible shots into his upper body. The torso was flung back against the front driver's seat and came to rest half in and half out of the car.

Phil Speed grabbed the body. He estimated it was in excess of two hundred and twenty pounds. Turning, he called for Carl Regis to give him a helping hand.

“Jesus Christ!” exclaimed Regis, looking at the body slumped across the seat. “You've killed him!”

“So what! Nobody lives forever. Give me a hand.”

“You said you would find a way to get rid of him without violence,” Carl said, his eyes transfixed at the sight of the body.

“That's right! I thought about it and came to the conclusion this was the only way. Now go round the other side and help me lift this chunk of flesh into the seat. Hurry! This guy is heavy.”

Carl Regis moved quickly to the passenger side door, opened it, grabbed the shoulders of the corpse and gave a heave. Nothing happened.

“I've got his feet. Now pull hard.”

Carl pulled hard; the body still didn't budge an inch.

“For God's sake, come round here and get hold of his feet! I'll grab his shoulders. Sometimes I wonder about you Carl. You're about as much use as tits on a bull. How you managed to steal the money, I'll never know.”

Trembling and sweating profusely, Carl took up his position at the feet of the corpse and lifted them off the ground. Speed pulled from the other side and placed the body in an upright position looking out of the windshield. Moving around to the driver's side, he put the seat in a reclined position, pulled the collar of the victim's coat up, reached inside the coat for the wallet and placed the hands in the lap position. Reaching inside the glove compartment, he seized the documents that were bundled in there, stuffed them in his pocket, slammed the door and threw the keys under the car.

“Get in your car and follow me,” he ordered Carl.

Wide-eyed and anxious, Carl followed Phil Speed to the top floor of the parking structure adjacent to the mall and parked alongside him. Speed jumped out of his car and beckoned to Carl.

“Get your bags and put them in the trunk of my car.”

Looking inside of the trunk, Carl realized there was no space for his luggage.

“There's no room for—”

“Put them on the back seat and get in the car!” Speed said, interrupting Carl.

He reached inside the glove compartment and retrieved the mass of papers wedged in there, put them in his other pocket, locked the door and turned to Carl.

“Gimme the keys!” he commanded.

“What for?”

“Don't argue—hand over the keys.”

He threw the keys over the wall to the pavement below.

“What did you do that for?”

“You won't need your car anymore. We're going to hire another one for you. We've gotta leave a path of confusion to cover our trail if we want to get away with this. They won't discover your car for quite a while, and when they do, it will take some more time for them to identify it as yours.”

With Carl Regis as a frightened and startled passenger, they headed for the closest car rental office.

As usual Rick Jacob's trip to Lake Tahoe via Interstate Highway 80 was smooth and picturesque. The snow level was down to three thousand feet and a covering of snow across the Sierra Nevada range was a skiing paradise, offering a brilliant contrast to the clear blue sky. As he climbed to the top of the last incline, the town of Truckee came into sight. He glanced over to his left and caught sight of a few puffy clouds gathering to the northwest.

He reached the Park hotel, registered and, taking possession of his keys, he left the hotel and proceeded to the Sunshine
Motor Inn. There he checked in and carried his bags to the room. Once there, he took out his disguise equipment and placed it on the bed ready for use. He would wait an hour or two before calling the Park Hotel to see if anybody had asked about him.

Phil Speed hired another car for Carl. Carl was then instructed to follow Phil and stay close as they made the three hour journey to the north shore of Lake Tahoe.

After seeing several
no vacancy
signs, they finally found a motel room not too far from the Park Hotel. Speed called the Park Hotel reception and inquired as to whether Mr. Jacobs had checked in yet. He was pleased to hear he had.

Speed said, “No, I don't want to disturb Mr. Jacobs, but is he in his room?”

“Not at the moment,” the receptionist replied. “He's probably out skiing or having dinner somewhere. He shouldn't be too late. Shall I tell him you called?” the receptionist said sweetly.

“No, we'll come back later,” said Speed.

“Why do we want to see him now, Phil?” Carl Regis asked.

“Maybe a friendly chat would persuade him to give us the goods
now
. It might save all of us a lot of trouble.”

“He said I was to contact him alone. He won't like that approach. He's no pansy, Phil. He means what he says.”

“We'll just have to see about that, won't we?”

Again Carl Regis felt uncomfortable. Phil Speed seemed to be taking control, and there was the feeling the handling of the operation might go awry. At the back of his mind, he thought Phil Speed might have a point. They outnumbered Rick Jacobs, and they both had weapons.

Leaving their motel, they went in search of Rick Jacobs at the Park Hotel.

Rick looked at his watch. It was nine-thirty, time to move. He put on his disguise then covered his hairpiece with a ski hat complete with goggles. After a brisk, short walk, he ambled into the Park Hotel lobby, pulled a handful of quarters from his pocket and started playing the slot machines. Casually he looked around at the crowd of people, humanity of all ages, gender and size feeding money into the slots, dice, blackjack and roulette tables. Slowly he wandered around from machine to machine, keeping a wary eye open for Regis and Speed.

After about fifteen minutes, they appeared, acting in the same nonchalant way as Rick, looking furtively around at the crowd and feeding the ever-hungry slot machines. Rick approached them cautiously, getting within earshot of their voices. This posed a problem. The constant
‘ting
,
ting'
of the slots and the babble of the swarming multitude of players drowned out their voices from where Rick was standing. He edged a little closer until he could hear their raised voices above the noise.

“Can't see him, can you?” said Carl Regis.

“Not yet. Keep looking,” Speed replied.

Rick was now shoulder to shoulder with Speed and Carl Regis. He could hear every word they said.