Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Hunter shut off the headlights and pulled Nolan’s car into the small drive on the neighbor’s property. It was an access driveway specifically for workers, surrounded by bushes and trees and not visible from any of the surrounding houses. The drive belonged to the Brodericks’ neighbors, a wealthy family whose last name was Weber. They’d allowed the landscaping company to use it when they installed Dana’s statuary garden. When they were planning how they’d pick up the money, Pete and Hunter knew it would be perfect for their purposes.
Hunter turned off the engine, and they both sat there for a moment. “Are you ready?” Pete asked. He looked in the direction of the Weber house, relieved to see that all of the windows appeared to be dark.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Go time!”
Pete got out of the car and went to the trunk, where he took out the drone and their laptop. Playing with the drone always filled both of them with joy, and this was the best one yet. Top-of-the-line and quieter than most, by a lot. Pete often thought they’d have made outstanding drone operators in the military. That was the dream until the military discriminated against them because they hadn’t graduated from high school.
Rat bastards and their impossibly high standards. Their loss, really.
Hunter came back and carried the drone to the front of the car, setting it on the hood. Pete came up beside him and started up the laptop. Once he could see the drone’s camera images on the screen, he used the controller to put it in flight. They’d had numerous drones over the years, and it was always a thrill, but this one was the biggest and best. X-shaped with propellers at the end of each of the four protrusions, it had capabilities beyond the earlier models, including a detachable hook on the underside that could lift up to twenty pounds.
Hunter said, “If you want me to do it, I will.”
Pete was prepared for Hunter trying to take over the controls. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. He’d won the coin toss fair and square, and this was his mission. Hunter was his second self, and usually they kept things even between them, but this time around it was Pete’s turn. “Thanks, but I’ve got it,” he said. Hunter would have to be content with counting the money. Pete was planning on sitting back with a cold drink and being a spectator for that event.
The drone rose higher and higher, matching Pete’s excitement. This was so much better than stupid Ian Broderick’s original plan to meet at a park and do the tradeoff there. As if they’d show their faces in a public place. When Pete came up with this idea, Hunter had called him a genius. Even Nolan was impressed, and that took some doing. That guy always had some objection to even their best ideas. He was such a downer.
They both watched the screen as the drone soared over the tree line, heading directly to the back of the Brodericks’ property. When the statuary garden was in sight and they spotted a bag hanging off the arm of the naked guy, Pete said, “Hell yeah!” under his breath.
All he had to do was pick it up, bring it back to the car, and then the two of them could drive off a whole lot richer than they’d started out.
Couldn’t get much simpler than that.