Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) by Bob Blanton (open ebook txt) 📗

went to the cupboard and got the fixings forthe coffee while Matthew put the water on.  “How come you don’t have a coffeemaker?”

“We just do a cup at a time, so when the last one went bad,we didn’t replace it.”

Agent Peters knocked on the door just as Matthew finishedputting the water on.  He used his portal to open the door.  “Come on in,” hehollered.

“Weird,” Agent Peters said as she closed the door.  “I stillcan’t get used to that portal of yours.”

“Wait until you get to watch through it,” Emily said. “Coffee will be ready in five minutes.  We’ll be sitting at the kitchen table.”

“Okay.”  Agent Peters picked the seat Matthew pointed at andturned and watched as the two finished making the coffee.  “Very domestic, areyou sure you two aren’t dating?”

“We spend a lot of time together, and we get along great,probably because we’re not dating,” Emily said.  Matthew just shrugged.  “Matt,where’s the plane?”

“It just took off from Catalina.  So we’ve got twentyminutes.”

“Is there any chance you could teach me how to do that?”Agent Peters asked.  “It would come in real handy.”

“He can’t.  We tried and it wouldn’t work.”

“You tried?”

“Yeah, Matt was feeling sorry for himself back when we weretracking Sayid.  He tried to hand it off to me, but it wouldn’t work.”

“We?!”

“Hey, I was there for support.  And I helped at the Sackler.”

“Yeah, you did.  I’m just feeling sorry for myself again. It’s very disruptive to try and keep track of someone.  I have to keep poppingin every few minutes.  It’s not like I can put a wire on them and then tracktheir movements with an alarm when they do something interesting.”

“I can see how that would be a pain.  But if you couldcombine it with other methods, it would be very effective.”

“Matt would be really good at planting bugs.  And he’s acesat getting passwords and putting little apps on someone’s phone.”

“Emily!”

“Yeah, you might not want to mention illegal things in frontof a law enforcement officer.”

“See!”

“But don’t worry, we’re all going to break the law just alittle today.  But not the spirit of the law.”

“How would you like your coffee?”

“Black, no sugar.”

Emily poured three cups of coffee.  She added cream to hers,then passed them out.  “Are we ready?”

“They’re still in the air.  Another ten minutes.”

“Matt, tell us how they’re set up?” Agent Peters asked.

“It’s the same as last time.  There are three pallets of PCboards with the shoe boxes in the middle.”

“I don’t really remember much about the last time,” AgentPeters said.  “Remember, I wasn’t looking at the plane until they dumped me init.”  She laughed at the memory.  “And I wasn’t paying much attention to itwhen they were getting ready to toss us out of it.”

“Right.  Anyway, they unloaded the crate of cocaine onCatalina like before and now they’re bringing the pallets with the pills toFallbrook.  I’ve never witnessed what they do in Fallbrook, just what they dobefore.”

“How will they unload the plane?”

“I assume the same way they loaded the one that goes to LongBeach.  They have a small pallet jack they put on the plane to move the palletsaround to the cargo door.  Then they have a forklift that they use to take thepallet off the plane and move it to the warehouse.  I don’t know what they doabout the drugs.”

“Well, we’ll see.  Have they landed yet?” Emily asked.

“Just now.  Okay, I’ll open up for viewing.”  Matthewexpanded his portal so that the two women on each side of him could lean in andwatch.

“This is really cool.  And you can just move it around?”

“Yes.  I just have to think about where I want to see and itmoves so I can.”  They were all watching the plane as it taxied toward thecargo storage shed that Mr. Graham used.

“Nice,” Agent Peters whispered.  “Wait, can they see us?”

“The other end is tiny, so they’d have to be right up againstit to be able to see this side.  Don’t worry, I’ll close it or move it if anyeyeballs start to get close.”

“There goes Mr. Graham to get the forklift and pallet jack.” They watched Mr. Graham put a pallet jack on the forklift and raise it up sothe copilot could pull it into the cargo bay.  A minute later the first palletappeared next to the cargo door.  Mr. Graham picked it up with the forklift andmaneuvered it into the cargo shed.  Ten minutes later all three pallets were inthe cargo shed.  The pilot shut down the plane and joined Mr. Graham and thecopilot in the cargo shed.

“Is everything copacetic?” he asked.

“Let me check,” Mr. Graham said as he moved to the first palletand examined it.  Seeming to be satisfied, he moved to the second pallet.  Heimmediately tensed up and started to curse under his breath.  “Did one of youunwrap this pallet?!” he demanded.

“No, why would we?”

“I don’t know, but somebody has been in it.”

“How can you tell?”

“See this liquid here,” Mr. Graham said, pointing to a smearof gel that was running down inside the plastic that wrapped around the pallet.

“Yeah, but that couldn’t have happened on the plane.  Nobodywent back there once the pallet was loaded.  Could it have happened inGuatemala?

“No, they verify it after they load the pallets.  It had tohappen on the plane.  We inject this liquid in after it’s wrapped in theplastic.  The only way for it to run is if someone removes some of the boxes. It relieves the tension and the gel will be squeezed out when you put the boxesback.”

“Well, it wasn’t us.”

“Shit.  Turn the center box on top onto its side.”  Mr.Graham ran to a toolbox at the side of the shed and spun the combination lock. After unlocking it, he grabbed three flares, tossing one to each of the othertwo.  Then he grabbed a crowbar and levered the center box of one pallet so itturned on its side.  He lit the flare and dropped it into the void.

“There’s a void between the shoeboxes,” Matthew explained. “I wondered what that was for.  Should we do anything?”

“Can you put out the flares?”

“I’m not sure.  I’ve never tried anything like that.”

“Then just let it