Mitch sat with his team in the hotel room. He saw Nick’s car turn into the car park and jumped up to meet him at the door.
“What did ‘the rules’ and ‘winning’ mean?” He stood aside to let Nick enter the room.
“Hi, Mitch. Yeah, I’m well, thanks. And you?” Nick shot back.
Mitch inhaled. “Hello Nick, lovely to see you. What did ‘winning’ and ‘the rules’ mean?”
“Can I have a cup of coffee?” Nick asked. “It’s been a long day at the office.”
“I’ll put the kettle on,” Samantha said.
Mitch followed Samantha into the kitchenette. “Still white with one?”
“Yeah,” Nick said surprised. “So you heard everything? You’re in as the pilot.”
“John Maxfield,” Ellen piped in.
“Yep, good work, thanks. So, stop stalling and tell me what ‘rules’ and ‘winning’ refer to,” Mitch said.
“How would I know? Some stupid game Johan’s playing at. I’m not privy to everything.”
Mitch stopped with the jar of coffee in his hand and glared at Nick.
“What does it mean, Nick?”
Nick moved to sit opposite him on a kitchen stool at the bench.
“I just told you, he doesn’t tell me everything.”
“Bullshit. It’s about the fifth reference to either rules, game, winning or M.M. You expect me to believe he’d mention those things around you and you wouldn’t ask what he’s talking about? Tell me!” He raised his voice.
“I– don’t– know!” Nick emphasized the words.
Mitch’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know,” Nick stamped his hand, “drop it.”
Mitch’s fingers began to tap involuntarily on the counter.
Samantha cleared her throat. “Um, maybe we should talk through the plan, from the top.”
The two men continued to stare at each other.
“Just damned well tell me, Nick, or I swear …”
“What will you do, Mitch?” Nick taunted him.
Mitch’s phone rang. He turned his gaze from Nick and looked at the screen. “John,” he answered it, moving away. He watched Nick take the coffee offered by Samantha.
“Maria?” Mitch asked. He saw Nick snap to look at him. “OK, thanks, John.” Mitch hung up and returned to the group.
“What’s happening with Maria? Can he organize her a deal? Get her off?” Nick asked.
“How would I know, Nick? I’m not privy to every little thing John does,” Mitch said.
Nick flared with anger and lurched at Mitch as J.J. barged in between the two men.
“Hold up,” J.J. ordered Nick. “Back up.”
Nick stepped back.
“Let’s go through the plan one last time, shall we?” J.J. suggested.
“Fine,” Mitch said. “This is how we’ll be playing it tomorrow …”
Charlotte woke and looked at the clock.
After seven already, she thought. I need to get up right now, she rolled back over. I should call Mitch. Wonder where he is and if he is the same time zone.
She reached for her phone and dialed his number. It rang three times before she heard him answer.
“Mitch!”
“Charlie, hi,” she heard the slowness of his words.
“Have I woken you?” she whispered. “What time is it there?”
Mitch cleared his throat. “I’m three hours behind you, but it’s OK. Why are you whispering?” He teased.
“Oh, no, so, it’s four in the morning?”
She heard him yawn and turn.
“Yep,” he confirmed.
“So, where are you?”
“Nevada.”
“What on earth for?”
“A job. Hey, it’s great to hear from you. Everything alright?”
“Everything’s fine. Go back to sleep before you wake up fully, I’ll call you later today.”
“I am awake fully, talk to me.”
Charlotte smiled. She lowered herself back in the bed.
“Lachlan there beside you?” he asked.
“What do you think?”
Mitch laughed. “Guess not.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about our talk.”
“Really?” he closed his eyes. “I thought you might analyze it once or twice.”
“I’m sure you did,” Charlotte answered. “I think we should talk when you come home.”
Mitch groaned.
“I heard that.”
“Charlie, there is nothing to talk about. It’s all squared away.”
“Nothing? So when are you coming home?”
“If I had my way I’d be there now,” he sighed.
“God, I love a man in uniform,” Samantha said, sizing up Mitch and Nick dressed in the courier company’s black pilot suits.
“You should see how good I look out of uniform,” Nick said.
“She’s a black belt,” Mitch warned him.
“I wasn’t thinking of fighting her,” Nick smiled at Samantha.
“John Maxfield,” Mitch said aloud, adjusting his tie.
“Yes, John Maxfield,” Nick confirmed. “One of Dad’s old buddies.”
“Yeah?” Mitch smiled. “OK, let’s cross-check the gear.”
“Some of this stuff is fantastic,” Nick said, looking at his new phone. “Zone maps, infrared camera, voice recognition and scrambler. Great!”
Mitch handed him back the black wristwatch Nick had worn with the microphone in it the day prior.
“Put your trackers to the ‘on’ position and the listening device should be ‘off’. We can’t risk hearing each other’s dialogue.” He showed Nick how to do it.
“Ah,” Nick smiled. “I wondered how you got that backup team so quickly that night we went for a drive.”
“Yeah, we have our ways.” Mitch ran his eyes over Ellen and Nick. “OK, you two ready to head off?”
They nodded.
“Be careful and watch each other’s backs.” He glanced at Nick. Their eyes met.
“Relax, you can trust me,” Nick read his look.
“God, I hope so … an ambush is not going to go down well,” Mitch’s brow creased with worry.
“You know, you always worried too much,” Nick lowered his cap on his head. “Don’t you think he worries too much?” he asked Ellen opening the door for her.
“Yeah, he does,” Ellen patted Mitch’s shoulder as she passed him, “but it’s a good quality in a leader.”
Mitch rolled his eyes and pushed them both out the door.
Nick walked into the courier company’s makeshift office on the tarmac with forty-five minutes to spare before his shift. Waltzing in, he offered the usual greetings to the staff. He looked around and walked out through the back door onto the tarmac. He strode behind the demountable office and saw Ellen waiting, hidden behind the wall. He opened a wire gate and let her in. They walked towards the plane. Nick spotted George, one of the security guards who would be on his flight, milling around the plane.
“Damn,” he swore. “What the hell is he doing here so early? I wanted to smuggle you on board before the guys arrived.”
Nick smiled as he walked towards George, wrapping his arm around Ellen’s shoulders.
“Hey, George, you’re early. This is my gorgeous girl, Jessie,” Nick planted a kiss on Ellen’s lips.
“Hi,” Ellen extended her hand.
“Jessie,” he grinned shaking her hand. “Didn’t know flyboy had a girlfriend. Never seen him with one. Thought he might be gay.”
“I promise you, he’s not,” Ellen giggled.
“I’m going to show her the cockpit,” Nick winked at George. “Then we should be off.”
“OK,” George continued to grin.
They entered the plane and Nick saw Ellen wipe her mouth.
“Hey, it wasn’t that bad.”
“It was wet and sloppy!”
“Well, excuse me.” He pointed to a large timber box.
“In there?” she asked looking at it. “Can I breathe in there?”
“It’s the only place – and yes, there are plenty of gaps to let oxygen in. It carries the daily parcels that get air delivered but, with the gold run, everything goes in the safe. The guys sit on top of it most of the journey.” Nick opened the lid; empty mailbags filled the bottom.
“So, how do you think I’m going to arrest them when they’re sitting on top of me?” she asked.
“You’ll follow my lead and I’ll get their butts off you.”
Ellen looked at him.
“What?” he sighed, pushing the cap back off his forehead. “Did you and Mitch go to the same school of suspicious spies? Get in there, we don’t have time to argue the toss. Cover up with the mail sacks to be on the safe side.”
Ellen climbed in.
Nick took her arm. “Trust me, OK?”
“OK,” she looked up at him.
“Want another kiss for luck?”
“No!”
“Right.” He waited until she was in position and closed the lid.
Nick walked to the front of the plane and descended the steps to the tarmac. Seeing George on the other side of the plane, he wandered around to him.
“Ready to go?” Nick asked.
“Sure, where’s Jessie?” George looked around.
“Sent her home,” Nick told him, “to change the sheets.”
George laughed.
At nine, Samantha and J.J. dropped Mitch near the Broad Arrow site. They then turned the car around and headed back about half a mile to hide it from passing traffic. Looking around, Samantha gave the all-clear to J.J.; they parked, exited and ran, hugging the edge of the road, all the way to the perimeters of the site.
Mitch, carrying his jacket and cap, walked the quarter-mile to the Broad Arrow site, entering through the main gates and making his way to reception. He knocked and saw a huge man striding towards him.
Hell, that’s one huge guy, he thought. He must be six-foot-five and weigh as much as a tank. Got to be Luis Gamboa. No one else around.
“John Maxfield,” Mitch announced.
Gamboa grunted. “This way.”
Mitch followed the security guard back out of the building and around to the garage, feigning ignorance of his surrounds like he was seeing it for the first time.
Going down a set of stairs to the underground garage, Mitch saw the cargo plane.
Looking forward to having a fly.
“I’ve been told you’ve got your instructions,” Gamboa thundered. “Wait in the plane until you receive a signal to take off.”
Mitch nodded.
“The opening?” Mitch asked.
“I’ll be here to do that. I’m your only point of contact. If you want anything, press this alert button here,” he indicated an alarm on a timber pole. “Otherwise, do not move from the plane.”
“Got it.”
Mitch watched Gamboa walk off and then hoisted himself into the pilot’s seat. He looked around the control panel.
OK, he thought, now how do you fly this baby?
Ellen could hear Nicholas Everett’s voice as he gained clearance for takeoff. Control responded to his request.
CONTROL: Air Express 021, cleared for takeoff – runway ten right – wind zero-ninety, eight knots.
EVERETT: Roger, understand – clear to line up and take off.
CONTROL: Affirmative.
EVERETT: Air Express 021 is rolling.
CONTROL: AE021, roger.
Ellen braced herself. She closed her eyes and felt the plane rising.
Mitch checked his watch.
The plan’s started. I hope you’re safe on that plane, Ellie, with two men not on your side and one informer whose loyalties are dubious, Mitch thought. Please Nick, do the right thing.
He sat back in the pilot’s seat, scanning for Samantha and J.J. He looked at his watch again.
Just under two hours until the swap.
Mitch checked his phone; there was a text message.
Ellie? No, Charlie!
It read “R U OK? Miss you.”
Charlie, Charlie, what are you doing? I haven’t time to think about you right now. OK, I have plenty of time, but I don’t want to think about you right now.
He sighed and put the phone away. From the corner of his eye he saw a door being pushed up from the ground, Samantha’s face emerged from the tunnel. Mitch looked around and gave her the all-clear. He watched her run to the back of the garage. A few moments later, he saw J.J. emerge, waiting for the signal. Mitch gave him the thumbs up. Running low, J.J. ran towards the cockpit. Mitch pulled him up and he scurried on board and hid behind in the body of the plane. Mitch sighed with relief.
All in place. Two on board the gold plane, two on the backup plane, and one on the ground.