Chapter Twenty-three
That afternoon, while working close to the stairs that led to the offices above, Noel saw the Jones brothers heading his way. He kept his head lowered; hoping his scruffy face, bald head and glasses would deter recognition.
They strutted past him and took the stairs with Bart, heading for the office he’d been warned to stay away from. After they’d spent a short period behind closed doors, one of the forklift drivers near where he worked stepped off his machine and walked away.
Shockingly, either he’d forgotten to turn it off or it malfunctioned because it started driving by itself.
Noel watched in silent horror as the crazed machine began spinning uncontrollably. As if a mist cleared, the vision of an old man appeared behind the controls, his bearded face lit with glee, laughing out loud and having a whale of a time scaring the dickens out of anyone who came near.
Clarence!
Noel recognized the angel and a laugh spilled over when his friend threw him a wink, clapped his hands and pointed him in the direction he’d been yearning to go.
Regaining possession of the pumping levers, Clarence played with them like a small child trying this, that, and the other with no idea what he was doing.
Spinning in a wild circle, the machine’s engine screamed. The forks, ripping through the space, knocked over bundles, drove into loads and created such havoc that everyone came running, even the three men who’d been closeted in the upstairs office.
With his heart accelerating and his palms damp, Noel took the opportunity to sneak behind the pillar and make his way up the stairs. He went through the open door directly to the computer that sat unprotected on the messy desk.
While the pandemonium continued below, he quickly withdrew the memory stick he’d been carrying since he’d been hired, installed it in the open slot of the PC and began downloading as many files as he could, starting first with the financial documents and working his way through the rest.
He spied a small laptop buried under a pile of folders, snatched it up and stuck it under his shirt in the front of his pants.
Suddenly, the noise below eased off and he knew he only had moments to escape. He couldn’t be found here, not by the killers who would stop at nothing to hide their criminal activities.
A bell started to ring, not the gentle tinkle he’d heard before but louder and louder… a warning. He pulled the memory stick from the side of the computer, shut down the files he’d opened and quickly went to slide through the open doorway.
Too late…