Dockingboys

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, as Declan and two other dockingboys were in the city, as the other dockingboys at the West Docks were playing around in Toland's bunk, Eli Wong, the Jaitonese supervisor of the West Docks, climbed aboard the Saint Morales ship and met with a Swixom man named Pitts McCarthy. He'd only met him once before, and that was during the night, where he didn't have such a good view of the man. Now he did.

Pitts' hair was a dark black, but already, signs of grey strands were already surfacing. His face was wrinkled, but his bright blue eyes were still keen and sharp. His voice had a very strong Swixom accent, but there were also signs of a Lycian accent as well. He was currently still dressed in a dark suit, but he'd taken off his tie, leaving him with an unbuttoned shirt under a black jacket.

Eli, meanwhile, was also getting on in years, but he was slightly younger than the criminal. His features were pretty small, as was many of the Jaitonese people, but in contrast to most of his race, he did not command respect. Instead, he always seemed a little nervous, especially when dealing with criminals like Pitts.

He approached the man with long strides, trying to look as though he was totally used to this and was not one bit nervous. Pitts saw him and chuckled to himself.

"Um, hello, Mr. McCarthy," Eli said politely. "Do you have my money?"

Pitts laughed. "Call me Pitts. And yeah, I got it right here." Eli looked down. He noticed that Pitts was holding a brown bag, gripping it by the handles. He now gave it to Eli, who immediately unzipped it to find a pile of silver coins. Eli grinned.

"Thank you. Now, what is it that you want me to do?" he asked, holding the bag tightly.

Pitts stopped smiling. His gaze now turned determined and cold. "Look, I need you to fend off any dockingboys from the shipyard. By the gods, don't announce it! Just stall them if they leave for the shipyard. I know that you've already told 'em they get the entire damn week off, but I still need you to make sure, alright? The last thing I need is for some kid to wander into the shipyard looking for some traveling girls."

Eli nodded. "Yeah, sure. May I ask, why do you-"

Pitts cut him off. "Don't ask. It's none of your business. If I see a single dockingboy in the shipyard, I swear, I'll shoot you myself. Hell, I might even ask one of the dockingboys to do it."

Eli gulped, having no idea whatsoever that the last sentence was sarcastic. "I understand."

"Good," Pitts said. "I need something else as well."

"What is it?"

"I'm gonna need a truck. A cargo truck. Can you go fetch one from the truckyard and bring it here? And also, I need a forklift. Any size would do."

Eli nodded. "Is that all?"

Pitts thought for a moment or two, then shrugged. "Yeah. Enjoy the money."

With that, Eli went back the way he came and headed for the truckyard, a few minutes' walk from the shipyard. Pitts cracked his knuckles and turned back to Xavier and Mack, who were standing nearby the black Titan container. "Alright, boys. Let's do this," he said, smiling. "Xavier, you sure you've got everything arranged?"

The day before, when Mack went to visit his daughter, Xavier had arranged a few old friends to help them with the job. They would all get their share of whatever amount of money there was in the container, and, if they succeeded, they would live like kings for the rest of their lives.

"For the hundredth time, Pitts, yes I did!" Xavier replied exasperatedly. "Just shut up and hope to God that nothing goes wrong. I'm not exactly a fan of rotting in prison, are you?"

"Hey, nothing wrong with being cautious. Besides, with that plan of yours, Mack, everything will go perfectly," Pitts reassured him. "We just have to hope that the cops don't have too much brains in between their ears."

Suddenly, they turned to the sound of Eli, who was back with a cargo truck with a forklift sitting inside, shouting:

"Here it is! My part is done! Good luck!"

Without another word, Eli wandered off back towards the Hall, while Pitts motioned for them to move. Xavier went into the cabin to keep the crew distracted while Mack started for the forklift. As Mack clambered in, he could hear an argument break out in the cabin:

"Hey! Give me back my cards! Don't look at 'em!"

"That's my money! I won that round! Give it back!"

Mack studied the controls of the forklift. His mother had been Jaitonese, and he liked to think he was fairly smart. After a few moments, he maneuvered the forklift out of the truck and up onboard Saint Morales. There, he figured out how to lower the fork onto the floor so that it could slide under the container and lift it up off the ground. The forklift Eli had picked was, thank the Gods, the largest model there was. The forks were longer, so that it could balance the container on top, and the body was bigger as well to maintain the center of gravity. Making sure Pitts ducked under, Mack turned the forklift and drove back to the truck, in which he lifted the forks a little higher and placed it inside. He turned off the forklift and got out.

"What are we gonna do about the forklift?" he shouted at Pitts, who shook his head.

"Get it inside with the container!" His friend replied. At this moment, Xavier rushed out of the cabin, adjusting his tie.

"Just played some cards with those guys," he said, noticing the black Titan container already inside the truck as Mack drove the forklift in the truck next to the container.

"Did you win?" Pitts asked. Xavier grinned and flashed a little velvet bag of coins.

"Yes, siree," he sang, walking towards the truck. "Pitts, you're driving, right?"

Pitts nodded. "Yeah, sure. Mack, you get shotgun."

Xavier frowned. "Wait, why does he get shotgun?"

"'Cause you're not the one with a busted ankle," Pitts replied simply, clambering into the driver's seat of the truck.

"Damn you," Xavier grumbled in a half-joking way, sitting inside the cargo compartment of the truck as Mack climbed into the passenger seat.

"All aboard!" Pitts said cheerfully. "Next stop, the Vulture's Nest!"

~~~

A friend of Xavier's called Yusef, a Lycian man, was waiting in an alley in the Vulture's Nest, a part of Oakton that wasn't a place recommended on the tourist maps. It was full of thieves, pickpockets, and dangerous men with guns, and while it was not a desirable place, it was the number one hub for criminals. There were hotels and restaurants and bars called "The Lockpick" or "Guns and Buns Breakfast" or "Lucky Shots and Cots".

Yusef was a quiet man, mostly because he was a pretty threatening man who had no desire to make any smalltalk among others. But the main reason was because his Swixom tongue was not very good, and he couldn't really make any sentences easily. His build was huge, almost two times that of a normal man, but then that was perfectly normal for Lycians.

He was waiting with a large cargo truck, leaning against the side, when Pitts and Mack showed up. Yusef looked up. "Where Xavier?" he asked simply.

Pitts gestured to the back of the truck. "In back."

Yusef nodded and walked to the back of Pitts' truck as the metal back door opened, revealing Xavier sitting next to the forklift and the container. Yusef grinned.

"Xavier, get out," he said as he climbed into the forklift and lifted the container onto the forks and backed out of the truck. He then repeated what Mack had done earlier, but placed the container in his own truck. This was all part of Xavier's plan that he'd come up with the day before, and it was going along smoothly.

"Ok, everything done," Yusef said to the other men as he closed the metal door to his truck. "Now we switch."

Yusef tossed Pitts the keys to his truck while he catched the keys for the original truck. They nodded goodbye and both men drove away.