9. The Fence
The Fence
Lester rushed to the door as soon as the detective was out of sight.
His heavy footsteps shook the very ground like a stampede of bulls in Spain.
His breath, hoarse and wet, dampened the glass top of it.
He locked the door quickly. And turned the sign from OPEN to CLOSED.
The lights were the last to go. Lester remained by the door, watching and waiting.
He couldn’t shake the feeling he was being set up.
The planned meet would have to be scrapped; he had no choice.
Lester reached into his pants, pulled out an old flip phone, and quickly dialed a number labeled Jason.
“Hey, man! I was just about to call you,” Jason said, his voice echoing from the cheap speaker.
“Change of plans. We can’t meet tonight!” Lester whispered. He scurried to the back of the store and closed the bullet proof glass door behind him.
“What?! You can’t be serious. I thought you was legit! A professional,” Jason replied. “You ain’t got the cash you promised?”
“No, no! I have what we agreed,” Lester said, plopping down on an old chair behind the register.
“Then what’s the problem? I got the goods,” Jason said. “And you got the cash.”
“The problem is this cop,” Lester replied, glancing at the entrance door. “He’s sniffing around. Asked me about your score.”
“What?! The pigs are onto us?” Jason replied. “Kevin! Cameron! Listen to this shit.”
“I don’t know that.”
“You said?—.”
“I said they’re looking into it. Not you!
I don’t think they’ve identified you guys yet,” Lester said.
He got up from the chair and went into the back office.
“We have a long history working together Jason. You know I appreciate you guys and the work that you do, but I can’t do this right now.
We’ll have to postpone the deal. Wait until things cool down. ”
“You want to wait?” Jason said.
“Give me that!” Cameron said, his voice coming through the speaker. “Say that again! You holding out on us, Lester? After all the money we’ve made you?”
“No, no. Boys. Come on. It’s just too hot right now. You’ve got to lay low. I got the money. You know I do, but I can’t move the product to my buyers overseas with the cops breathing down my neck,” Lester said.
“So, what do you expect us to do? Go on a vacation?” Cameron quipped.
“Ha! That doesn’t sound too bad,” Jason replied. “You on speaker by the way.”
“Is Kevin there?” Lester said.
“I’m listening,” Kevin replied.
“I need you guys to get out of town. Head north to see some family and I’ll call you guys in a couple of days.
We can set up a meeting then. Somewhere far from here,” Lester said.
He reached down into an old safe and pulled open the door; inside bundles of cash were neatly packed and bundled with hundred-dollar markings around them.
“I’ll throw in a little bonus; consider it gas money. ”
“You got jokes, Lester,” Jason said. “Fine. We’ll do what you want. But only because we consider you a friend.”
“Friend? He’s practically family,” Kevin joked.
“With the amount of money I’ve paid you three, I guess you can say that,” Lester said.
“It’s for that college tuition,” Cameron quipped. The four broke out into laughter. Lester’s tension soon wore off and he relaxed his sore muscles against the soft leather chair.
“So, when can we meet? Next Friday?” Lester said.
“Yeah, that’ll be sweet. We should be done with this other thing we’re working on by then,” Jason said. “I’ll keep your stuff safe until then.”
“Good. Good. Say, this other deal?” Lester said, his interest piqued. “It’s not jewels, is it?”
“Naw. It’s tech stuff. A job we pulled for a new client,” Jason said.
“Tech? What sort of tech?”
“Weapons technology from APOLLO,” Kevin said. Lester went quiet. “Hello?”
“I-I’m here!” Lester replied, nervously.
“What’s inside? Who’s it for?”
“We don’t know much about the device or what’s inside; or the guy paying us for the job,” Kevin said. “Only his name.”
“Where’d you meet them? Can you trust them?” Lester said.
“Probably not,” Cameron replied. “We ran into the guy at a restaurant. Said he needed some help with something and thought we’d be interested. Paid us part of it upfront too.”
“That sounds too good to be true.”
“Yeah, we know. But half a million is a lot of money,” Jason replied.
“It sure is. You boys be careful out there,” Lester said. “And if things don’t pan out with them folks bring the device to me. I’ll take it off your hands.”
“Really? Man, we should’ve just gone straight to you then,” Kevin said.
“I can’t pay you that much, though. I could scrape together about two hundred thousand,” Lester said.
“Come on, now. Don’t you pull that pawn shop lowball trick on us,” Cameron said. “We family.”
The four men broke into laughter once more.
Lester finalized his plans with the men and was soon on his way out of the shop.
He closed up quickly and walked spiritedly towards his car.
He would look around nervously for any sign of that meddlesome cop; he had ruined his business dealings on more than one occasion and it appeared he would try to do so again.
Lester reached his old Buick sedan and squeezed himself inside.
But he didn’t start the car. He just stayed there looking out into the empty lots beyond him as if in a trance.
Then a car passed, suddenly; it broke the spell.
Lester pulled out the same phone and dialed a number feverishly.
He remembered an old friend back home. A man with connections and funds to see things through; he might be interested in the APOLLO tech and reward him and his crew greatly for it.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” Lester said, softly. “Yuri!”
“Yes! Yes! Why the hell are you calling me at this hour?” Yuri said. “It’s four in the morning in Tel Aviv Lester!”
“I think I found something. Something incredible!” Lester replied.
“Well, go on. What is it? I haven’t got all day!”
“APOLLO Tech. Stolen APOLLO Tech,” Lester said.
“What? Weapon’s technology?” Yuri said. “Absolutely not! Are you insane?”
“I didn’t steal it.”
“Doesn’t matter. Stay the hell away from it before you find yourself in some deep dark hole never to see daylight again,” Yuri replied. “You know this all too well. You understand what our government has done in the past to thieves; they are involved in this company. Heavily involved.”
“I understand but I was thinking about setting up a deal with the current government. Offer them the chance to buy it first,” Lester replied.
“This is dangerous. If the wrong people learn about it, we’ll pay dearly,” Yuri said. “What type of weapons technology are you talking about? Tanks? Planes? Artillery?”
“I don’t know. I have a crew. They do small time stuff, you know, jewels and such. But they came upon this technology and are trying to sell it,” Lester said.
“To who?” Yuri asked.
“They couldn’t say. Or rather they don’t know. A stranger they met. And who paid upfront,” Lester said.
“It sounds like your crew was set up. Do they still breathe?”
“I don’t think,” Lester said, stopping himself short. “I hope so.”
Suddenly, a chill came upon Lester as he watched the mustard yellow lamps flicker above him.
A quiet dread crossed his mind as he thought back to what his crew said to him hours before.
The details around the deal were too good to be true.
A chance meeting with a strange man. Money up front and large payment upon delivery.
And an unknown foreign buyer who they’d never met.