Break Out

35. Break Out

“Couldn’t she give us a hand, Mr. Higgs?” Guy said to Jimmy as they fished around the snowdrift for the ladder they’d buried beneath the snow days before.

“Ocean, lad,” Jimmy corrected Guy as they kicked the snow about. It occurred to Guy that some kids might have stumbled over the ladder and taken it. Kids would take anything that was laying about. Guy had once dragged a gas stove home when he was a kid. His mother made him take it back. She was terrified of gas stoves and screamed at Guy as if he had dragged a serial killer home.

“There she is, Wheels.” Jimmy picked up one end of the ladder. The snow fell through the holes like cheese through a grater. “Just leave Crack in the car. Her wrist is still pretty sore and she needs to keep her hands warm, lad. Those fingers will be our bread and butter. Keep your thoughts focused on the prize at the finish line. Don’t worry about what you have to do to get there.”

A light breeze had swirled in eddies in the alley creating drifts against the building. The snow was up past the back windows of the restaurant. Only the space outside the back door had been cleared away. They placed the ladder against the wall. Guy grabbed some of the tools they would need once they were in the basement of the restaurant and had to start digging through the wall into the bank. He could see now that he was going to have to take the place of Mustafa. He had become the mule. Although he had never killed anyone before he felt as if Mustafa was good starting point. The little shit should be here.

When Guy reached the roof of the restaurant, he threw down the bag of tools. Looking around, he sighed with relief. It had been his fear that they would be faced with feet of snow to shovel. And he knew who was going to do most of the shoveling. Guy stepped onto the roof. A moment later Jimmy Higgs stepped off the ladder and stood beside him.

Jimmy smiled. “The gods are with us, lad. Look at that. The wind has blown the snow off our entrance. I don’t mind telling you, lad, I was afraid that we might have to spend considerable time and effort in finding and then uncovering our entrance.”

“Too easy.”

“What lad?” Jimmy was in an ebullient mood.

Guy shrugged.

“Let’s get the rest of our gear up here and open the entrance,” Jimmy said and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small flask. “Have a sip. I saved it for the work up here. Help take the nip out of the air.”

Guy took a sip. The whiskey revived his spirits. Once they had all their gear on the roof, Guy and Jimmy pried open their secret entrance into the restaurant. Jimmy took a flashlight out and shone it into the closet. He spotted a pail of water below. Satisfied that all was well, Jimmy sent Guy back to the van to get Montgomery. When Guy opened the door of the van he found Montgomery using the rear view mirror to put on makeup.

“Hello sailor.”

Montgomery’s smile made Guy feel uneasy. She’d seen her flashing it at Jimmy and in the Zig Zag when she was seducing the bank manager.

“It’s show time,” Guy said.

Montgomery put her makeup back in her purse. Guy saw the flash of a gun.

“What do you need that for?”

“A girl can’t be too careful.” Montgomery took a package of cigarettes out of her purse and offered one to Guy.

“Mr. Higgs want us up top.”

“He can wait. Come on inside. We’ll have a little talk then we’ll go up.”

Guy slid into the van and took a cigarette.

“What are you going to do with your money?” Montgomery asked, smoke slipping out through her lips. And almost effortlessly as if it was the most natural thing in the world, she leaned over and kissed Guy on the lips.

***

“What’s wrong?” Ship asked from the other end of the telephone line.

Junior looked down at Margaret and smiled nervously.

“Nothing. You decided to come after all.”

“Ya. I missed you guys. But there’s no time to explain…”

“The lady I work with is going to have a baby,” Junior said.

“What?”

“Forget the plan,” Junior whispered, turning away from Margaret. “Get off the line. We’ve got to call a cab.”

“You’ve got to get out of there, Junior!”

“What?”

“There’s a gang of bank robbers who have climbed up onto the roof of the restaurant. They’re going to break into the restaurant and climb down into the basement. They know all about that wall behind the wine cellar.”

“Where are you?” Junior asked. A gang of bank robbers! It didn’t make sense. Ship was always screwing things up. He wished he could talk to Stretch.

“I’m across the street with Stretch. Junior, you’ve got to get out of there.”

Margaret looked up to the roof.

“Someone is on the roof,” she whispered.

Junior looked up. He glanced around the room. He spotted a place in the corner behind the stove where they could hide.

“Call the cops,” Junior said to Ship and hung up.

Junior looked up then pointed to the corner. “Burglars.”

Margaret struggled off the chair and with Junior’s help made it over to the corner. They both sat on the floor. Margaret heard a noise from the back of the restaurant.

“The closet,” she whispered.

“Fuck!” Junior skipped across the kitchen to turn off the light. On hands and knees he crawled back to the corner of the darkened room.

“My friends will call the police.”

“I can’t wait that long, Junior. My water just broke.”

***

Sam stared at his cell phone. He looked at Wendel. “The line just went dead.”

“Must be this storm,” Wendel responded. “Don’t worry. Margaret will be okay.”

Outside the wind had picked up. Gusts of snow blew across Lakeshore toward them. It was becoming difficult to see anything when the snow was blowing. And just when Wendel was going to suggest that they call it a night and check out the Canadiana, a car came hurling out of the parking lot of the Miami Inn. Sliding sideways as it turned to speed off, the car smashed against the rear of the cop car. And just as quickly tore off down Lakeshore disappearing in a cloud of blowing snow.

“Shit!” Wendel turned on the ignition. The car did not respond. Wendel pumped the gas and tried the ignition again.

“Don’t flood it.” Sam’s voice was calm and collected.

Wendel took his time, turned on the ignition again, softly touched the gas. The engine roared. He moved out of the side of the road and, once on firmer ground, made a u turn and sped off after the goons.

“Do you see them, Sam?” Wendel’s heart was pounding.

“Slow down, Wendel. We’ll catch them.”

The cop car moved along Lakeshore. Wendel leaned forward trying to see through the gusts of snow. The wind stopped.

“There they are.” Sam pointed down the road.

Wendel laughed as the car sped up. “Jesus, I love being a cop.”