Chapter 25
Lily arched her back to stretch her stiff muscles as her thoughts drifted to the night before. Friday night had been uneventful. When they arrived at the warehouse, all the team members were involved in various tasks. The van men, who Lily finally found out were the drivers and the tech guys who took care of all the communication and any other technical aspects of the assignment, were working in the computer section of the large room. The street men, who physically executed the assignment, were busy working out in the gym area. Others were practicing their aim on an electronic shooting range simulator.
“This place is surrounded by sound proofing material, but we don’t like to take any chances,” Shazzi had told her. “There’s a shooting range that we drive to outside the city to practice on real guns whenever we want.”
“So what am I? A van man, or a street man?”
“You will be a considered a van man to begin with,” Mr. Turner had said joining their conversation. “And you will only be out in the open if it becomes necessary.”
“If I can’t hear anything from that distance, you mean.”
“Yes,” he had responded. “Everyone will be wearing civilian clothing to blend in. You will look just like an ordinary teenager out for a stroll.”
“Right past a mobster’s warehouse,” Lily added not entirely convinced.
“You will be fine,” Mr. Turner had told her. “Trust me.”
Lily rolled over on the thin mattress. She had slept better than she thought she would, but certainly not as good as she had at the hotel. She knew this wasn’t a five star hotel, but with all the money they spent on everything else she thought they would have at least splurged a little on the mattresses. That was something she would have to bring up if she decided to join the team. No one works well with a crick in their back.
Lily stared at the wooden underside of the top bunk. Malaya slept soundly above her. She had taken the bottom bunk willingly, because she knew how much Malaya would want to sleep on the top. The enclosed space hadn’t bothered her one bit the night before, in fact she had almost found it comforting, but now she was suddenly beginning to feel claustrophobic. The head, foot, side, and ceiling all seemed to be closing in on her. It was the morning of the assignment, and her nerves were beginning to twist themselves into knots. She knew Mr. Turner wanted her safe, and would do everything in his power to accomplish that, but she still didn’t trust him entirely. She would be on her guard, and she knew Landon would be too. Although once she was out on the assignment Landon would no longer be by her side. She would have to rely on people she hardly knew.
Malaya snored in the bunk above her. She was dreaming. Malaya only snored when she was dreaming. Lily stretched again, slid silently out of the bed escaping the claustrophobic feeling, and crept out of the bunk room to the main room which was already bustling with people. Today was the day.
***
“Alright team,” Mr. Turner said in a booming voice. “It looks like we’re about ready.”
It was almost eight-thirty a.m. and everyone was dressed, loaded with gear and weapons, and ready to go. The van men had already set up all their gear and gadgets in the two black vans waiting in the warehouse’s garage. The street men were pumped and had their game faces on, which Lily found somewhat scary. For the first time, Mr. Turner wasn’t wearing a suit and tie. He was dressed in black slacks and a black polo shirt. For most people that would have been their best clothes, but for him, it was casual.
“Shazzi,” he said, nodding in the woman’s direction. Shazzi strode forward and clasped her hands together exactly like she had for Thanksgiving dinner. Words flowed out of her mouth into a prayer asking for safety and guidance. When the prayer was over, everyone immediately walked to the garage and each member got inside their assigned vehicle. The van men divided between the two black vans, and the street men were dispersed among six other cars and motorcycles. Lily was about to climb into the van she had been assigned to when she felt arms pulling her back.
“You didn’t think you were gonna get away without a hug, did you?” Landon pulled her into his comforting arms, and she felt her tangled nerves begin to smooth out. Lily wished he and Malaya could come with her. Even if there was nothing they could do to help her, she always felt more at ease when they were near.
“Be careful,” Landon told her tenderly.
“I will,” she said finally pulling out of his arms. As soon as she left his embrace, she was being pulled by Malaya into another one.
“I’ll be biting my nails the whole time you’re gone,” Malaya declared.
“You promised in fifth grade never to do that again,” Lily reminded her, pushing Malaya away. “And I don’t want you to do it ever, not even if you knew I was locked in a dungeon and tortured by ancient Chinese water torture. Promise me you won’t start again.”
“Promise,” she agreed reluctantly, crossing her heart with her fingertips.
“Good,” Lily said. “I’ll be back before you know it.” She smiled at Malaya reassuringly. One last quick hug and Lily was in her seat with the belt buckled. Equipment filled the walls where windows would have been. Lily’s three guards were seated in the back with her, but didn’t bother with the seat belts that hung beside them. Two of the van men were seated up front and ready to go. The two doors at the back of the van swung shut. She was trapped. They were moving, slowly rolling out of the garage into the unknown. There was no getting out of it now.
***
Vincent Gambino was not a nice man. If you got in his way, he wouldn’t hesitate to trample you. While he wasn’t a mob boss, he was high ranking and very influential among mafia families. He had started out with a little family money from his father and had turned what had been thousands into millions. He was very wealthy but didn’t like to part with his wealth. He wasn’t a big spender, and preferred to take what he wanted rather than pay for it. He owned a warehouse to store all his stolen belongings. One of his newest procurements was a small, black and white cardboard file box belonging to a New York senator. The files within the box contained evidence against several mafia families. The papers inside the file box were needed for a certain case about to come to trial, and without the evidence it was very likely that a murderer would walk free.
The warehouse was loosely guarded by lower ranking mafia members, who were not always the smartest, but often the strongest and the most likely to shoot anything that came their way. Although there were only two men on guard at all times, back up was always minutes away. The key was to take care of the guards before they had the chance to call for help. Once the guards were taken out of the picture, the search for the box would begin.
Everyone was silent as they bumped along inside the van. Lily found herself mulling over every detail of the assignment as they rode to the warehouse. The ride wasn’t long, but it felt like an eternity to Lily. She imagined that Anne Boleyn must have felt a similar way as she was being led to the chopping block to have her head cut off. Although she wasn’t going to be executed, she still felt the apprehension that something big was going to happen. Bigger than anything in her entire life. Something that would change everything.
The van pulled to a stop, but Lily wasn’t sure where they were or how close they actually were to Gambino’s warehouse. The first thing she noticed was the silence.
“Do you hear anything,” one of her guards asked tentatively. Lily slowly shook her head. She wasn’t sure what she had expected to hear or how soon, but she expected something. These were the bad guys after all.
The plan had been for Lily to hear what the guards were up to before anyone even approached the warehouse. That way they would have an idea of where they were. Then some of the street men would go in and knock out the guards then tie and gag them. Everyone but Shazzi and Mark, who were the lookouts, would then search the warehouse for the file box. That was the plan, but they had been sitting in the van for the last half hour waiting for Lily to hear some hint at where the guards might be. They were waiting on her. She began to wonder if she was losing her gift, when something occurred to her.
“Is there any reason for the guards to think what we want them to?”
“What do you mean,” one of the tech guys in the front seat asked. Everyone in the van was looking at her inquisitively.
“Well, I may hate oh, say, prune juice, but I’m not necessarily going to think about it unless I’ve been reminded about it in some way.”
“Oh,” the tech in the driver seat said as a light bulb went off in his head. “We’ve been going about this all wrong. We need to agitate them somehow in a way that they will be aware of their surroundings and be thinking a bad thought at the same time.”
“Yes,” Lily responded. “But I have no idea what that would be.”
“Just leave that to us.”
***
“I think it would be best to create two different disturbances,” the tech explained as each team member listened in through their ear pieces. “Each disturbance will need four people. There will be one person as bait and the others to overtake the guard. One team of four will go in the south entrance and the other go in the north. The bait will break in any way they can and make a lot of noise. Then run and hide in an area that will lead the guard to a position that will be ideal for the others to come in from behind and grab him. Lily will be listening for info on location and anything else that might be valuable.”
“It sounds like you have everything planned out,” Mr. Turner said over the earpieces everyone was wearing.
“Lily was the one who knew what we were doing wrong to begin with sir.”
“Well done, Lily,” Mr. Turner said proudly. Lily couldn’t help but beam from her seat in the van. What made it even better was that everyone else in the van was just as happy for her.
“Alright,” Mr. Turner said. “Let’s do this.” The street men divided up quickly into the two teams and casually made their way towards the warehouse. Once everyone was in position, the two people chosen as bait forced their way inside. One was able to pull the lock off of the door with the small set of tools he had on hand, and the other ended up breaking in through a window. Both made enough noise to wake the dead.
Finally after an hour on the job, Lily heard the buzz in her head she had been expecting.
“What the,” a man’s voice said surprised. “Must be Johnny, he always said he would get in here someday. He won’t last a minute against my glock.” The voice laughed sadistically. “I’ll send the little idiot to the south entrance. The sound was smaller, probably Johnny’s dumb mutt diggin’ around outside. He better be able to handle it. Surely the squid can actually shoot if he needs to. He better, or I’m gonna wring his neck.”
“What’s a glock,” Lily asked.
“A handgun,” a guard said alarmed.
“Well, one of the guards has one,” Lily declared. “And he plans on using it. It’s the one going to the north entrance. He’s sent the smaller guy to the south entrance. I think he is also armed, but it sounds like he isn’t as confident in his shooting skills.” Everyone in the van sat staring at her in awe. Then one of the van men pulled himself together and relayed the information on to the street men. Lily listened as another buzzing voice entered her mind.
“I can’t believe I have to do this,” it said annoyed. “I’m better than this run down dump. Uncle Vince only put me here to test me. I’m sure of it. This is so dumb. It was probably just some punk kid. I think I’ll just see if I can scare the punk away. If uncle Vince keeps me in this dump any longer then I’m gonna bash that precious Van Gogh of his over in the corner.”
“It looks like the one to the south is going to try to scare the intruder somehow,” Lily said wishing he had given her more.
“If you can find out what he will do, it would be really helpful,” a guard said.
“Sorry,” Lily apologized. “Listening is all I have power over. Everything I get is from what they happen to think in the moment. I will keep listening, but there’s not much I can do beyond that.”
“It’s okay,” another guard said consolingly. “You’re doing great. We’ve never had this much to go on before. Everything you have already given us has been very helpful. Keep up the good work.” The other guards nodded in agreement. Lily smiled at them, but still wished there was more she could do.
“Ha,” it was the first man’s voice again. “If I can just get my foot in this hole, I’ll be steady. Johnny won’t be expecting me to shoot from above, will ya Johnny boy.”
“Wait,” Lily said almost jumping out of her seat. “The first one, he’s already somewhere near the north entrance, but he’s climbed something so he can shoot from above them.” The words tumbled out of her mouth faster than she thought was possible. So fast that she had to repeat herself more slowly so the people around her could understand what she was saying. As soon as they had heard her, the street men were told. After that Lily didn’t hear much other than a few select words she didn’t care to repeat. Then a single thought popped into her mind from someone she recognized.
“They got what was coming to them.” It was one of the team members. She wondered why she had heard it. She felt the same way to an extent. Bad people were bad, so it made sense that they should be treated badly. They didn’t seem to deserve any better. Maybe she was wrong about that. Maybe people weren’t supposed to place judgment on anyone, regardless of how rotten they were.
“I think it might be over,” Lily said after a minute of silence.
“We’ve got both the guards tied and gagged,” one of the street men confirmed over the speakers.
“Excellent,” Mr. Turner said. “Great work everyone. Now search for the file box. It should be black and white, but it might be wise to check any file box you come across.” The street men got to work sorting through the shelves of boxes. Luckily for them the warehouse was fairly well organized. All the file boxes were stored on black metal shelves along the western wall. After an hour of searching, the correct box was found. The street men got out of the warehouse safe and sound, and headed back to their own warehouse bunker to celebrate.