Dockingboys

Chapter Sixteen

Pitts was just halfway through Tunnel 6 when he heard sirens. When you're a criminal, the last thing you want to see and hear are flashing blue and red lights and sirens. He stepped on the gas a little harder. Mack had heard it too, and he was constantly looking out the window for any signs of the police.

"Relax, Mack. They're not anywhere near us," Pitts said in a reassuring tone. Mack frowned.

"How can you tell?"

"'Cause they're still not that loud. If they were right behind us, you'd be deaf," Pitts said sarcastically.

"Yeah, alright. Xavier, is your plan really gonna work?" Mack said. Because the cockpit of Yusef's truck was larger, the passenger side had two seats, so Xavier was in the middle, his seat tilted back so he could rest.

"Just wait. Diaz is just up ahead. Same procedure we did with Yusef," Xavier replied with his eyes closed.

Within another few seconds, a blue truck appeared into sight. A young Estavian man was leaning against the side, sipping a coffee. Pitts stopped the truck next to his and hopped out, yelling:

"C'mon, hurry! Cops are just behind us!"

This time, Mack hopped into the forklift and moved both the forklift and the container into Diaz's truck and came back down the ramp. "Let's go!"

Diaz switched keys with Pitts and without another word, drove the white truck they'd arrived in away. The other three men got into their new truck and drove away as well, but instead of continuing down the tunnel, they turned into another tunnel, Tunnel 7, that winded away from Tunnel 6.

~~~

Roy was in the lead police sedan, and he was driving already at the highest speed both the car and the city's regulations would allow. But after a few minutes, he and the other four police sedans arrived out of the tunnel and onto Highway 5, a highway that was so tall that they could almost see the roofs of buildings in the city. When you looked to the right, you could see the bustling city of Oakton there. Roy searched the highway for a few moments then immediately saw a white truck with the plate number OKT-4731. Roy shouted aloud in relief. He picked up the radio. "Boys we've got them."

As the police sedans neared, the truck slowed down and pulled to a stop at the side of the road. Roy pulled to a stop behind the truck and the other sedans stopped parallel to the truck.

Roy hopped out and cautiously walked to the driver's door with his hand resting on his holster, where he saw a young Estavian man. It wasn't Xavier.

"What's your name?" he asked him.

"Diaz, sir. What did I do wrong?" the man replied in a thick Estavian accent.

Roy, jotting down the name, shook his head. "Nothing to do with you, but I've gotta make sure. Can you open up the back of your truck?"

Diaz nodded, then pressed a button, and the mechanical sounds of the back door was heard. A few officers stayed behind to guard Diaz as Roy and the others hurried to the back of the truck.

As the door finished opening, Roy cursed aloud and slammed his fist against the inside of the truck. There was no container inside, only a few boxes.

~~~

A man with a dark blue suit and fedora lay on the roof of the building across from Billy Westover's home, where Declan Graham was talking to him. The man had a new sniper rifle with him, and he was about to use it. Lying down on the edge of the building, he slowed his breathing and looked through the scope, in which he saw Declan and his friends, looking like they were out of ideas or something. The man smiled. Time to die, Declan, he thought.