Chapter 7
926 Words
It was just after two in the morning when he crept out of his motorhome and climbed into his truck, then winced at the roar of the motor echoing through the still night air.
Can't be helped. Get going.
He eased his battered Ford forward through the night, pleasantly surprised that the beast's rumbling hadn't seemed to awaken anyone else in the group. Once he got to the main road, he glanced at his cell phone's screen to confirm his route, then turned left.
He let his truck coast to a stop two blocks from his destination ten minutes later. A glance ahead of him, then in his rear-view mirror, confirmed his hunch.
Just as I suspected. This side of town pretty much rolls up Main Street after dark.
He turned off the ignition key and settled in to wait.
Once he’d satisfied himself that he wasn’t likely to be intercepted, he pulled his baseball cap down low, stepped down out of the cab and gently closed the driver’s side door behind him.
Glancing skyward, he noticed the moon partially obscured by cloud cover.
Nice, he thought. Just enough light to see my way.
He strolled casually, his long legs covering the distance with little effort. As he walked, he recalled what he’d read about the chemical compound that he’d come to liberate from its licensed owner.
The smell should be masked well enough once I’m done mixing things together, he noted. And the emetic should be neutralized too. I just need this last piece and I can get started.
And then, Toby my boy, then you and I are gonna have some fun.
He turned the corner and traveled along the pitifully easy to breach chain link fencing until he was at the southeastern edge of the lot. The panels were tall, eight feet high, but strangely not fortified in any manner that he could readily see.
Still, better safe than sorry, he decided as he moved the bandanna around his neck up to mask the lower half of his face. He carefully scrutinized the length of chain link to confirm his assumptions as he pulled on his gloves.
Not electrified, and no razors. That's a bonus.
But the sarcastic common-sense side of his brain piped up loud and clear.
Electrified? Razor wire? Seriously? What were you expecting, exactly, guards in towers? It's a mom-and-pop place, not Area 51. Now focus.
As he chuckled at himself for a brief moment, he also thought about simply scaling the fence.
Not as young as I used to be, though. And the posts don't seem all that sturdy, either. Climbing it will shake the whole fence and make a hell of a lot of noise. Easier to go through it rather than over it.
He slipped the wire cutters out of his pocket and went to work, carving an inverted L-shaped entry point. Within ninety seconds, he was through the flimsy barrier and headed toward the back of the squat gray brick building.
Another twenty minutes elapsed as he bypassed the business's antiquated alarm system, then turned on his tiny flashlight and began to search for their supply of the compound that was so crucial to his plans.
He rubbed his hands together gleefully when he realized the company that he'd chosen to steal from actually possessed both forms in their inventory - the premixed ready-to-use blue liquid, and the less commonly available white crystalline solid.
From the fine layer of dust on the tops of the two containers, he could tell that the solid form wasn't the favored choice in the facility's day-to-day operations.
He immediately reached past the liquid to pick up a six-ounce canister of the crystallized version. He rotated the package in his hands, read the front label by flashlight, and smiled wolfishly into the dark.
Whoever bought this opted to cross the border, too.
He slowly turned the package until he found the section with technical data, then did some quick calculations in his head since he had zero intentions of using the compound as designed.
This should do nicely.
He reached forward and grabbed the second canister, tucked one in each of his jacket's oversized inside pockets, then made his way back out of the building.
Once he restored the interior security system, he hustled back through the fence, where he worked the section that he'd cut away and lifted up back down into place. Several small lengths of fine wire snipped from the slender spool he'd brought with him was enough to stitch together the L-shape he'd previously made. Unless someone walked the fence and looked closely, he was confident that the sabotage and subsequent repair job would remain undiscovered.
He resisted the urge to whistle as he walked away to return to where he'd parked his ride. He arrived back at the Ford without having seen a soul, but he still waited a few moments before he fired up the truck and drove away.
By two-forty-five he was settled once again in his home on wheels. His ill-gotten gain was locked securely in the fireproof safe that he'd installed in what was now the makeshift lab at the rear of his living space. Then he stretched his frame out on the over-cab bunk and smiled as he drifted off to sleep.
***
* * * *
Lizzie and Donny were both out of bed for the day by four a.m. after a futile attempt at sleep.
"I'm going for a run," Donny decided, and moved to the closet to pull out some clothes. "Want to go?"
"And then, breakfast. With coffee. Lots of coffee," she answered as she headed into the bathroom to pull her hair up into a ponytail. "Waffle House?"
Donny grinned briefly. "Deal."
***
- Writer
