Page 98 of In the Line of Ire

"Theyjust passed the employee area," came Delgado's voice.

Fiveminutes later, all my muscles were asleep, and the pair returnedwith a just-as-full dolly. Joan and Oliver passed the boxes toCarrie and she loaded them into the trunk before slamming thelid.

"I'llcall you later to schedule the next shipment," said Joan,exploiting her ruse of planning a next time.

"Seeyou," said Carrie, all smiles before she jumped into the car andwaved. She peeled out of the parking lot, aiming for the exitbefore I lost sight.

"Targetone is leaving. Pick her up as soon as she's in the clear," saidMaddox. "Everyone, standby."

Oliverturned to Joan and looked down at her. "When can you get my money?"he asked.

"Whydon't I go get it now?" she suggested. "I can go to the ATM at thebank and be back even before my shift starts."

"I'llcome with you. We can take my car."

"No needto. I'll just run over and get it. My Prius is parkedoutside."

"No,we'll take my car," said Oliver.

"Why?Don't you trust me or something?"

"Orsomething," said Oliver. "I don't want you to get any ideas aboutdouble-crossing me."

"I wouldnever. You're crucial to this endeavor," she said, cajoling him."You know I need you."

"Exactly. Without me, you would have been caught long ago anddon't forget I expanded your operations so we could all make moremoney."

"And youalso increased the risk of everyone getting caught," saidJoan.

Olivergrabbed her arm, steering her towards the doors.

Something crashed amongst the pallets and I held my breathuntil they stopped. "Who's there?" called Oliver. "Have you gotsomeone in here?" he asked Joan.

Sheshook her head quickly. "No! Why would I do that?"

"'Causeyou're always up to something. I knew it." He pushed her away,pulling a gun out of his waistband and holding it to her head."Come out, come out, whoever you are or I'll shoot her."

"Go, go,go!" said Maddox.

I pulledout my gun and hurried forwards on my stiff legs, ignoring the pinsand needles, and emerging from my hiding place. Solomon, Maddox andDelgado also surfaced from theirs with their gunsraised.

"Putdown the gun," said Maddox.

"You!He's your inside man?" yelped Oliver. "Were you planning to replaceme with him? Was that it?"

"He'sgot nothing to do with me," said Joan. She looked around inconfusion until her eyes landed on me and widened. Iwaved.

"Youbrought them here!" yelled Oliver.

"Helpme! He's gone crazy!" screamed Joan. Her face crumpled into one ofpanic. "He forced me into helping him steal things and said hewould kill me if I didn’t cooperate!"

"I didnot! I caught you stealing. Joan is behind all of this!" railedOliver. He waved his gun at us and we all ducked when he targetedJoan again.

"Don'tlisten to him. He's got a gun. He threatened to kill me this wholetime and I've been so scared. Please help me," she whimpered,looking more than terrified. Then she raised her knee and broughther foot hard down on top of his. He let go of her arm and hoppedaround in a circle. The gun went off and everyone ducked again.Joan scrambled away, aiming for the open loading bay but Maddoxstopped her in her tracks and she skidded to a halt.

I gotback on my feet, using the pallets as partial cover and aiming mygun in front of me while the men shouted at Oliver to "lower hisweapon." I thought about joining them but figured they already hadit pretty much covered.

From thefloor, Joan called out, "He killed Alison and now he's trying tokill me too! He forced us both to steal bags for him and replacethem with counterfeits. Alison wanted out and he killedher!"

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