“Hey Nick,” Jerry answered sleepily. “It’s eleven on a Sunday night. Some of us blue collar guys go to bed early when they have to work. What’s up?
“I have a beautiful limousine which will have to be completely revamped electronically, and interior cleaning. I wiped up most of the unfortunate mess, but it will need detailed, carpets and all. No broken glass.”
“Hollow points, huh? We’ll have to scrub it electronically though, which will be a bit tougher than the dry cleaning bill. Who do I call after it’s finished?”
“No one. It’s yours, and it comes with twenty-five large for taking it on short notice.”
“Good God, man… why are we talking on the phone. I’ll have the door open for you to roll in with my new car in half an hour.”
“Perfect.” Nick disconnected, and finished dressing with clothes he kept in his other property’s closet. “Man, that shower felt good. I told you Jerry wouldn’t mind. I thought I’d have to go home with Rachel, and chance taking the limo over to Jerry in the morning. Instead, Jerry’s hopping right out of bed to open for me. How about that?”
John handed him a small bag with the twenty-five thousand from Nick’s safe. “I’m sure the money had nothing to do with it.”
“A small part perhaps.”
“Shall I call your lovely wife, and tell her to pick you up at Jerry’s in a half hour?”
“Yep.” Nick entered the limo, making sure the seat cover stayed in place. John opened the door. “See you tomorrow at the beach, John. We’ll need to talk again, but after Gus and I walk Jean to school with Deke. We must have everything natural for a couple days because of our freezer deposits.”
“I cannot wait, Muerto.”
Chapter Four
Alterations
Jerry opened his end bay door as Nick drove into his parking area. Nick continued into the open repair bay. Jerry closed the door, and waited for Nick to exit. The two men shook hands. Nick gave him the bag. “How do you like my ride?”
Jerry walked around it slowly, contemplating it from every angle. He opened every door to peek in with mini-flashlight in hand. “It’s gorgeous. I’m glad you load your own hollow points. At this range with the cannon you pack, I would have had to part this puppy out piece by piece. This can be sanitized perfectly. “I’ll rework the electronics and tracking tonight before I go home. Damn… this is nice, Nick. I wouldn’t have needed the money to take this beauty.”
“A deal’s a deal, and I know this sucker won’t show on anyone’s radar ever again. The girls will be by for me in a few moments, so I’ll wait outside while you get started. Enjoy, my friend, and thank you.”
“Anytime, Nick. Should I ask if they were all bad?”
“How should I know?” Nick waited for Jerry to quit enjoying his answer before going on. “They interrupted my dinner on the Wharf. They were up to no good.”
“Well, brother, they won’t do that again. Say hello to the girls for me.”
“Will do, Jer. Goodnight.” Nick walked out Jerry’s small door exit in time to see Rachel drive into the parking lot. He jogged to the rear door as he saw Jean in the front next to her Mom, and Deke the dog with his head poking out the rear passenger side window. Nick shoved in next to Deke, taking his happy canine friend immediately over his lap. “You could at least let me get belted in, Deke. Hi girls. You should have slept in the safe-room, kid. Tomorrow’s school.”
“I know,” Jean answered with a sigh. “I wanted to see you. That was scary tonight. They knew where to find us. That hasn’t happened since we were on the run.”
“I have the CIA Director on the case, so we’ll do what we can on our end. It may be no one will be looking around for at least a few days. The people who may look after that will run into a wall. The bad guy head was in the limo, so his employees may assume he’s gone into hiding, because he was in legal trouble. I can’t answer for secretaries, assistants, or computer logs of appointments. I would think he’d keep his meeting with me mostly secret. Paul’s taking care of the video log of my escorting Smith and Jones to the limo. There’s one suspicious guy way up the food chain I have to wait on.”
“It’s laughable you’re the one man sanction wing of the CIA,” Rachel commented.
“Did you just insult me?” Nick used Gilbrech’s earlier line.
Jean giggled.
“You’re like the CIA’s ‘Dirty Harry’, the detective in San Francisco, Clint Eastwood played long ago in the movies. Every dirty job gets funneled to you through your buddy, Paul.”
“He had nothing to do with this, except the limo guy wanted to hire me to kill him.”
“No way! He wanted you to blitz the CIA Director of the United States? Good Lord.”
“That’s not all, Rach. He was going to pay me twenty-five million to do it.”
Rachel held silence for a moment. “Are you sure you’re really all that friendly with Mr. Gilbrech?”
“You’re getting to be quite the comedian, Mrs. McCarty. Paul claimed he would have killed himself for twenty-five mill.”