James Chase - The World in My Pocket

Morgan thought of the hundreds of men who would be thrown into the hunt as soon as the truck vanished. He thought of the aircraft checking every road and the motorcycle cops checking every car. If they were going to get away with this job, Gypo would have to rush it a little. He knew how excitable Gypo was and realized there was no point in getting him worked up before the truck was in their hands. It would be time enough then to put on the pressure.

‘Yeah, I guess you’re right,’ he said. ‘Well, maybe if we’re lucky, you’ll have a month to work on it. Who knows? You might even bust it first try.’

‘That’s a tough truck,’ Gypo said scowling. ‘It’s going to take time.’

Morgan lit a cigarette.

‘I guess we’re about ready to take it,’ he said.

The three men facing him stiffened.

Ginny rested her hips on the fender of the caravan; her eyes suddenly alert.

‘Today’s Tuesday. That gives us three clear days to make the final preparations,’ Morgan said. ‘Anyone see any reason why we don’t take the truck on Friday?’

Kitson felt a sudden constriction in his throat. For the past eleven days he had been absorbed in working on the caravan, and he had put from his mind just why he was working on it. It had been a job that had interested him, the first job of construction he had ever done. But now he was sharply jolted back to earth and he felt frightened.

Bleck felt a creepy sensation crawl up his spine, but it wasn’t fear. If he had any luck, in a couple of weeks, he would be a rich man. He would be worth two hundred thousand dollars! The thought quickened his heartbeat.

Gypo was very uneasy. He didn’t like this veiled hint that he might have to open the truck fast. He wasn’t scared of taking the truck because he knew he wasn’t going to play an active part in the operation, but he didn’t want Frank to imagine he could open the truck quickly. He didn’t want Frank to be under any false impression.

‘Let’s make it Friday,’ Bleck said, anxious that Morgan should know how keen he was.

‘Yes,’ Ginny said.

Morgan looked at Kitson and Gypo.

Both of them hesitated, then aware that Ginny was staring at him, Kitson said huskily, ‘Sure, why not?’

Gypo lifted his fat shoulders.

‘That’s okay with me,’ he said.

Morgan walked over to the workbench and sat on it.

‘If that’s the unanimous verdict,’ he said, looking around at the other four, ‘then let’s fix the rest of the things still to be done.’

The others found seats on the assortment of cases that cluttered up Gypo’s workshop, the atmosphere suddenly becoming tense.

‘We’ve got to get a car for Ginny,’ Morgan said. ‘We need a two-seater open sports job. Ed and Kitson will handle that.’ He looked over at the two men. ‘When you’ve found one, bring it here and Gypo will spray it and change the number plates. It’ll have to be overturned at the bottleneck. On this side of the bottleneck there’s a ditch running along the road. We’ll want two ten-foot crowbars for the job. With them we can easily tip the car over into the ditch. You get those crowbars, Gypo.’

‘Sure,’ Gypo said. ‘And I’ve got those road signs ready.’

‘Let’s have a look at them.’

Gypo produced two signs mounted on poles. Morgan nodded his approval.

‘Right; now let’s run through the whole plan,’ he said. ‘How would it be for someone to make notes? I want everyone to be absolutely clear about what he has to do. Ginny, will you take notes?’

‘Yes,’ the girl said. ‘If you’ll get me paper and a pencil.’

There was a delay while Gypo went over to his hut to get a writing pad and a pencil.

As soon as he had left the shed, Bleck said, ‘He seems jumpy, Frank. He worries me.’

Morgan’s face hardened.

‘We’ll handle him. We’ve got to jolly him along until we have the truck. Then if he starts flipping his lid, we’ll get tough with him. He’ll be all right.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Bleck said.

Morgan looked over at Kitson.

‘Well, kid, how are you feeling? Have you started to plan how you’re going to spend that dough?’

‘I haven’t got it yet,’ Kitson said, his voice sullen. ‘Time enough to make plans when I have got it.’

Morgan regarded him thoughtfully, then he glanced at Ginny.

‘Okay, Ginny?’

Her sea-green eyes were expressionless as she said, ‘Why shouldn’t I be?’

Gypo returned with a pad and pencil which he gave her.

‘I’ll run through the whole plan,’ Morgan said. ‘If any of you don’t follow what you’ve got to do, stop me. This is important. Everyone has got to know what his job is, so don’t be scared to ask questions.’ Morgan paused to light a cigarette, then went on, ‘We meet here at eight o’clock a.m. on Friday. Ginny and Kitson will wear the kind of clothes you’d expect anyone to wear on a vacation. Kitson drives the Buick. Ginny drives the sports car. The rest of us travel in the caravan out of sight. Ginny drives to the trucking agency and parks there and waits for the truck to come out. Kitson drives the Buick, hauling the caravan to the start of the dirt road. Here we let Gypo out with one of the signs.’ He pointed his finger at Ginny. ‘Make a note we’ll need two club hammers to drive the signs into place.’ He looked over at Gypo. ‘We leave you at the bottom of the road. There’s plenty of cover for you, and you can keep out of sight without trouble. Your job is to wait for the truck to pass. As soon as it has passed, you put up the sign, diverting all traffic to the other road, then you start walking back so we can pick you up. Get that?’

His eyes round, his expression tense, Gypo nodded.

‘Kitson drives to the bottleneck and stops. Here, Ed and me leave the car and get under cover by the side of the road. Kitson drives on.’ Looking at Kitson, Morgan went on, ‘You’ll leave the caravan in the wood and uncouple it. You’ll drive fast to the end of the road and put up the second diversion sign. Then you’ll come back, couple up the caravan and turn the car to face back the way you’ve come. The ground each side of the road is hard enough for you to make a circular sweep, and you have the same kind of ground when you get back to the bottleneck so you can again turn the car and the caravan so the back of the caravan will be facing the front of the truck. What you have to remember is when you get the signal, you have to move fast — and when I say fast, I damn well mean fast!’

Kitson said, ‘What’s the signal to be? How do I know when you’ll be ready for me?’

Morgan took his cigarette from between his lips and stared at the glowing end, frowning.

‘Well, I guess you’ll hear some shooting, but if there isn’t any, I’ll have a whistle with me. Act on the whistle. One long blast and you come fast.’

Kitson’s face tightened.

‘You think there’ll be shooting?’

Morgan shrugged.

‘I don’t know. I don’t think so, but there could be.’

He looked over at Bleck and then back to Kitson. ‘Anyway, come when I whistle.’ He turned to Gypo. ‘You’ve got it soft, but your end could be the toughest before we’re through: remember that.’

Gypo nodded uneasily. It gave him a feeling of relief to know that he wasn’t going to be mixed up in any violence. He was a technical man. His job was to bust into the truck. He felt it was only fair and right that he shouldn’t be expected to have anything to do with the capturing of the truck.

‘You understand what you’ve got to do now?’ Morgan asked, turning his attention to Kitson.

‘Yes,’ Kitson said.