Highway Robbery (9 page)

Once in the garage, they stopped to listen. They could hear the Dumpster being moved from the door, and then they heard footsteps in Matt's office. Joe risked a quick look back and said quietly, "There are two of them in there. They must've left one on guard outside."

The attack had taken Brady by surprise, but he caught on fast. "This is the key to my old rig. The tractor's three down, with the custom chrome work on the sides. If one of you can open the garage door to the outside, we might be able to break out of here."

The door was raised by a chain and pulley system, Brady explained. "I'll do it," said Joe. "How's the arm, Brady? Are you all right?"

Startled, Brady noticed for the first time a dark stain on the right sleeve of his shirt. "It's nothing, just a graze," he said. "I didn't even know I was hit."

Frank stationed himself next to the door that led to the offices, pressing himself flat against the wall. Joe went to the outside garage door and grasped the chain to raise it as Hal Brady quickly clambered up into the cab of his old semi.

When Joe gave him a high sign, Brady started the truck's powerful diesel engine. Then Joe pulled the chain, arm over arm, raising the corrugated metal door with a loud rattle.

A bright beam lit up Joe as a gunman holding a flashlight came through the entryway from the office. He had his gun leveled at Joe, ready to shoot, as Frank chopped at the man's wrist with the edge of his right hand. The gun clattered to the concrete. The man turned in surprise and was hit flush on the jaw by Frank's left hook. The man fell, landing on top of his gun.

The garage door rattled up, revealing a second gunman - one had been left outside. He, too, was poised to shoot as Hal started the truck forward and turned on his blinding headlights and leaned on the truck's deafening klaxon horn. The hood, who was standing directly in front of the oncoming machine, was forced to dive off to the side.

Frank bent to move the man he had dropped to get his pistol, but he was knocked aside by a sudden impact. The third hood had slammed into him! Tucking into a shoulder roll, Frank somersaulted and sprang back to his feet. He was caught now between the gunman who had knocked him down and the first one, who was getting up. Joe was screened from the action by the truck, Frank realized, so he wouldn't know to come help.

With his airhorn still blasting the night silence, Brady gunned his engine and drove forward, smashing the gangsters' car broadside where it stood in the entrance to the Lombard lot. He shifted into reverse, and it looked as if he was going to ram the car again.

The guy outside, a tall, brawny type, yelled, "He's going to wreck the car! Let's beat it before we can't get out of here."

The three men made it to the car before Brady maneuvered back for a second attack. They took off, the car wobbling from the damage done to the chassis by the heavy truck.

Hal Brady climbed down from the cab. "Should we go after them?"

"No," Frank said. "They've still got guns."

Brady frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That big, burly one - I've seen him somewhere, I'm sure of it."

"We have, too," Joe said quietly to his brother. "Only tonight he wasn't wearing a mask."

"They must have figured they wouldn't be leaving any witnesses," said Frank. Turning to Brady, he asked, "Can you remember where you saw him?"

After a few seconds the trucker sighed. "I'm drawing a blank, but it'll come to me." Then he stared at the Hardys with new interest.

"What gives here? Those guys wanted to kill me! And what's the story with you two? Don't tell me you're just a couple of kids who work 4for Simone - kids don't handle themselves like you did when they're up against professional muscle. Talk to me!"

Frank considered the situation a moment. "Okay, Brady," he said. "Just do this for us - go in the office and punch up the week's trip schedule on the computer. And we'll tell you what's going on."

"Punch up?" Brady sputtered. "What I know about computers you could write on a matchbook cover."

Again, Frank looked at Joe, who was grinning.

"Brady, you just passed the test," Joe said. "Let's talk. The only one who knew you'd be here tonight was Gerard, right?"

"But why would Gerard want me dead?"

"We don't know yet," Frank answered. "You probably know something that you shouldn't, something that could help put Gerard away."

Brady was looking at them as if they were crazy. "But I don't - put Gerard away? But it's Simone who - "

"Did Gerard tell you something about Matt being a crook a while back?"

"He told me that Simone was bleeding money out of the company, that he was messing around with the books. And that soon he'd take all this money and let the business go under and retire to some place in the sun, where they could never bring him back to face the music."

"Brady," Frank interrupted. "Gerard is bent. He's been trying to extort money from Matt, in exchange for going real easy on contract talks and so on. But Matt wasn't going along, so Gerard decided to up the pressure."

"You mean - " Light dawned in Hal Brady's eyes. "Like this hijacking business?"

"Right," Joe said. "Gerard has this driver called Turk - looks and talks like an old boxer who's been hit too often. We're pretty sure he's one of the hijackers. And these three tonight are probably the others."

Brady suddenly smacked a fist into his other hand. "I knew I'd seen that big guy before! I had a meeting with Gerard a week ago, and when I arrived, that guy was there. He left right after I arrived."

"That's probably why Gerard wanted you out of the way," said Joe. "Because you could tie him to the hijackers. And now we'll be on the hit list, too," he added.

"Sure," Frank agreed. "He probably hoped that when your body was found, Deputy MacReedy might guess that Matt had had it done. Everyone knew there was bad feeling between you."

Hal Brady looked angry, then embarrassed. "Then I've been a fool, treating Matt Simone like a criminal."

"Matt'll understand, once you explain that Gerard suckered you," said Joe.

"Suckered me!" Brady looked angry again. "He almost killed me! I want to get face-to-face with that little creep. Right now!"

"Slow down, Brady!" Frank warned. "First we have to get proof." He turned to Joe. "Let's check in with Dad."

They called Fenton from Matt's phone.

"Sorry," came Fenton's voice from the other end of the line. "That tow truck was reported stolen last week, just as you suspected. And I couldn't find anything on this Hal Brady. He seems to be clean."

"That's okay, Dad," Frank replied. He motioned to another phone on a small table in a corner, and Joe listened in. "We already worked that one out for ourselves. But didn't you say something about Mickey Vane being suspected of involvement with labor racketeering?"

"Vane? That's right."

"Did you get anything more in that area?" They could hear Fenton going through some papers.

"Here it is. Vane was mixed up with a man named Leonard Garry, who was wanted in California in connection with some missing union funds. Garry is still at large. Does that help any?"

"It sure does," Frank replied. "Thanks, Dad. See you later."

"What are the odds that Lou Gerard is Leonard Garry?" he asked Joe after they'd hung up.

"No bet," Joe answered. "If we could get Gerard's fingerprints and match them with Garry's, that'd pretty much be the ball game."

Brady's expression brightened. "There ought to be stuff with Gerard's prints in his office at the local," he said. "Let's get over there!"

Frank checked his watch. "It's pretty late, Hal. How do we get in?"

Brady pulled a key ring from his pocket and flipped through it until he found the one he wanted. "I was a shop steward there for a while, and they gave me this so I could get into the office if I needed to. If no one's around, so much the better. We can roust Gerard's office in private. Let me just put my rig back in the garage, and then we can get going."

But when they arrived at the union's local office in the Hardys' van, they were surprised to find lights on.

"Looks like Gerard is working late tonight," Brady said, disappointed.

They were parked across the street. "Let's hang out here a little," suggested Joe. "Maybe he'll knock off soon, and we can look around."

Half an hour went by before the lights in Gerard's office went out and the front door opened.

"Here we go," Joe murmured.

They watched as Lou Gerard appeared on the sidewalk, but he wasn't alone. He spoke briefly with another man before getting into a car and driving off. Joe couldn't quite make out the other man's features, since he was standing on an unlit part of the sidewalk.

The man stood there, nervously tapping his foot before he walked to his own car, which was parked under a streetlight. As he unlocked and opened the door, he glanced back over his shoulder, and his face was clearly lit from the lamp above. Joe sucked in his breath sharply.

There was no mistaking the face of Felix Kinney.

"There's our informant," Frank said quietly.

Hal Brady was stunned. "Felix? I can't believe it! He's been with Simone for fifteen years! He's a nice guy, wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Maybe, but he's also a logical suspect," pointed out Joe. "Think about it. He has total access to the computer, he knows everything about Lombard's shipments, when and where they go and what's on them. And, come to think of it, Teri said he's been putting in a lot of late hours recently, even though business has been slow."

Felix had started his car by then, and pulled away from the curb.

"Let's tail him," Frank said. "Gerard's fingerprints will keep until tomorrow."

Starting up the van, Frank made a U-turn to follow Kinney.

"Don't get too close," warned Joe. "Traffic is light, and we don't want him to spot us."

"Thanks for the hot tip, super sleuth," Frank said sarcastically.

But Felix appeared not to notice them, and before long it was clear where they were headed.

"He's going to Lombard," Frank observed as they made a left turn onto the road that led down to the trucking company.

A few minutes later Felix parked in front of the Lombard building and let himself in. Frank had dropped well back as soon as Felix's destination was obvious. He stopped the van at the corner of the block, where they weren't too close but could keep an eye on the building.

"We'll give him a couple of minutes and then go in to find out what he's up to," Frank said.

They waited in silence. A dim light went on in Felix's office. Another minute went by.

"Let's go," Joe said.

They were quiet, not wanting to warn Felix of their presence. Frank used Matt's key to unlock the front door, and the three of them crept to the door to Felix's office, which stood ajar.

Frank saw Felix sitting with his back to them, hunched over a computer console. As he worked the keys, figures flashed in neon green on the screen. He looked at a sheet of paper and scrawled notes on it from time to time, copying data from the display.

"Hi, Felix," Frank said, stepping into the room.

Kinney let out a startled noise and stood up, spinning around to face them.

"Working kind of late tonight, aren't you?" asked Joe, as he and Brady came in behind Frank.

"Oh, hi. You gave me a scare there for a second." Felix tried to smile but couldn't hold it and had to shift his eyes away. "Yeah, I was, uh - I forgot to enter some stuff on the computer so I thought I'd ... " His voice trailed off and there was a brief silence.

"You're keeping some bad company, too, aren't you?" said Joe.

Felix backed up a step. "What do you mean by that?" He sounded shrill, and he wouldn't meet Joe's gaze. "I had work to do, I told you!"

"Work for who? Not for Lombard, I'll bet." Frank advanced very close to the edgy accountant. Felix backed up.

"Listen here, I don't know what you're talking about." Felix had an annoyed look on his face, but it couldn't mask his fear. "And it's not a good time for bad jokes, so just - go home and - "

"It's no good, Kinney," Frank said. "We saw you with Lou Gerard tonight at his office, and we followed you here. We know all about him - and you, too."

Hal Brady couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Why, Felix? Why did you do it? Gerard fed me a line of garbage and I bought it, but you - Simone treated you good! I just don't get it."

Suddenly Felix's knees gave way, and he collapsed into his desk chair, burying his face in his hands.

Frank squatted down beside him. "Felix?" He spoke gently, softly. "The game is up. We're taking everything we know to the sheriff. The best thing you can do for yourself is tell us what you know, and maybe that'll make things a little better for you. We can say you cooperated with us, at the end."

Felix raised his head and drew in a ragged breath. His face was pasty white. "What I did - I didn't have any choice. I had to!"

"Tell us," Frank urged.

"A couple of years ago I ran into heavy expenses and I didn't have the money to meet them. I panicked. I know, I know," Felix said, "I should have gone to Matt and he'd have given me what I needed. Well, I wasn't thinking, I was scared. I took some money from Lombard's expense account and fiddled with the computer to hide it for a while."

Felix took another deep breath before continuing. "I told myself, 'It's just a loan, I'll pay it back and no one will ever know.' But time went by and I couldn't get it together, and I knew I'd be found out. I wound up going to a - someone I heard about, who'd give me what I needed."

"A loan shark?" Frank asked. "Felix, guys like that will lend you money, no questions asked, but will bleed you dry afterward."

Felix nodded. "That's what I discovered. I kept paying and paying, and the debt never got any smaller. Then one day, after I'd been paying this guy for months, he said he'd sold my debt to another man and that I'd deal with him from now on. And that man turned out to be - "

"Lou Gerard," Joe finished for him.

"Exactly," Felix said grimly. "Gerard came and said he wasn't interested in getting money from me. What he wanted was 'little favors' - that's what he called them. Information on Lombard, routes and schedules and cargo. And then he wanted other things - stuff off Matt's desk, in his handwriting, and some blank Lombard company checks - "