Chapter 10 - Getaway
Back at the Diamond Exchange vault, things were going very smoothly for Wesley and his crew. The floor was littered with the remains of the numerous boxes they had drilled open; Wesley had lost count of how many. Every box they opened was full of lovely diamonds and other valuables, and the duffle bags they had brought with them were full. Wesley was pretty sure that their haul was well in excess of the promised 100 million bucks. His men were euphoric.
"Alright, the bags are full, let's get out of here," Wesley finally said.
Each man grabbed a bag, groaning under their weight, but they bore their burden happily. They knew all that weight made them rich. They dragged the bags to the hallway and Wesley closed the vault door, scrambling the combination, while Goldberg returned to the key to utility closet. The guards usually did not patrol the building, preferring to rely on their technology; but if they did a patrol, they would not notice anything amiss until Monday morning when they opened the vault.
The men made their way through the building to the back entrance, once again the security cameras only showed empty hallways. The only hint the guards had that something wasn't quite right was when Wesley opened the back door, a signal was sent to the control room. However when the guards checked the cameras that covered the back door, they saw the door firmly shut and no one around. They chalked it up to a false alarm and went back to reading their books and listening to the game on the radio.
Wesley and the rest of the gang hauled the heavy bags to the SUVs and loaded them in. Their plan was to get out of town to a rented house in Westchester county. They would rest up there through the weekend, meeting up with the men who were watching Detective Carter and the men who were to kill Mrs. Goldberg.
From there the gang would split up again, each man would fly out of a different airport, and they would all converge back in London in about a week. That way even if one man got caught the rest still had a chance to get away.
Before returning to London, each man would take a small portion of the diamonds to various buyers who had already been lined up around the world. Since the loot was being split up so many ways, no one buyer was being offered enough to arouse any suspicions.
Goldberg would be left behind at the Westchester rental. On Monday he would call the police with a tearful story of how his house was invaded, his wife shot, and how he was forced to cooperate in the robbery at gunpoint and then left locked in a closet after the gang made their getaway. Wesley would beat him up a bit and shoot him in the shoulder to make the story look good. Goldberg wasn't too crazy about the shooting part of the plan, but the thought of finally being able to marry his mistress and travel was enough to overcome his objections.
The diamonds Goldberg had removed from his box in the Diamond Exchange before the robbery were hidden in a floor safe in his house that not even his wife knew about. He would file an insurance claim for the supposedly stolen diamonds, then sell them on the black market. In a about year he would marry his mistress and he would retire.
Wesley had planned the whole thing carefully, and everything was going like clockwork. Or so he thought.
As John, Joss and Lionel pulled out of Goldberg's neighborhood, they received another call from Finch.
"Mr. Tao reports that Wesley and his men are leaving the Diamond Exchange with six very full duffle bags."
"Geez," Lionel said, "Six bags full of diamonds is quite a haul. No wonder they were willing to kill for it."
"That's a lot of money," John agreed. "Which way are they going?"
Finch checked the map on his monitor, "Looks like they are heading north out of the city."
"Did Wesley visit any place north of the city?"
"Checking…" Finch glanced over at Caleb and Caleb nodded. "Yes, yes he did. Sending you the address now."
"Is there some place along the route where we can intercept them and not endanger innocent lives?"
Reese, Carter and Fusco heard the sound of typing on the other end for a few moments, than Finch responded. "There is perfect stretch of road a couple of miles south of the address. There are ditches on either side of the road, no homes or business for a couple of miles."
"We'll intercept them there then." John turned the bike north while Joss tightly held onto him and Lionel followed in his unmarked car.
They caught up to Wesley's SUV a few miles south of the deserted stretch of road. Leon had followed the thieves using the tracking devices to stay far enough back so he wouldn't be seen, and he fell into line behind Fusco.
"How do you want to do this Boss?" Fusco asked.
"Joss will shoot out their tires and I want you to use the car to make sure they run off the road."
"Got it."
John felt Joss lift his gun from his waistband. "You're going to have to shoot fast, honey, before they figure out what we are up to. We're pretty exposed here on the bike."
"I got this, you just hold the bike steady," she replied calmly.
They hit the beginning of the lonely stretch of road and John gunned the bike. He easily caught up to the second SUV and passed on the left, keeping in mind that Joss was right handed. The men in the SUV had no chance to react when Joss whipped out the gun and quickly pumped two bullets into the front tire on the driver's side. The SUV swerved sharply and Fusco delivered the killing blow by ramming the vehicle from behind and to the side. It spun off the road and overturned in the ditch. Leon pulled over to check on the occupants while Reese and Fusco raced forward to the leading SUV.
As they caught up to the remaining SUV, John glanced over and saw Wesley sitting in the passenger seat, his face a mixture of surprise and anger. John saw Wesley draw his gun, but his ability to shoot was hindered by the fact the he was on the far side of the car. Wesley started to lean across the driver to fire, when Joss pumped two bullets in the front tire and Fusco rammed them from behind. The SUV swerved into the ditch and rolled over on its side. Fusco pulled over and got out of the car, gun drawn. John dropped Joss off to help Lionel and then raced back to where the first SUV ran off the road to help Leon.
John pulled up to the SUV and he leaped off the bike to help Leon with the occupants. There were four men inside and two were unconscious; one had a broken leg and the fourth, Goldberg, was mostly unhurt, but simply too scared to move.
John looked up as he and Leon finished up triaging the men, and saw Fusco and Carter pulling up in the car with the driver of the other SUV handcuffed in the back seat. The man had blood trickling from a superficial cut on his forehead, but he appeared otherwise unhurt.
"Where's Wesley?" John growled.
Fusco shook his head, "Gone, by the time I got out of the car and got down to the SUV, this was only guy in there. Sorry John."
Joss was plainly mad "I wanted Wesley!" Her upper lip curled into a snarl.
John growled in frustration, "I should have known Wesley would get away. He's too dangerous for us to hunt for him in the dark."
Joss turned to her partner, "Did you call for backup?"
Fusco nodded, "Yeah, they should be here in little while. Along with several ambulances."
John started walking back to the Ducati, "Leon and I'd better get out of here then. Will you two be OK?"
Joss nodded, "Yeah, none of these guys are in any shape to put up a fight."
"Good, I have to go take care of the operatives who are watching the apartment." John strapped on his helmet and started the motorcycle. Just before he took off, he turned and looked at Joss and their eyes met. Joss saw the love in John's eyes. She smiled back at him and John threw the bike into gear.
Fusco watched John race off on the bike. He turned to Joss with a big grin, "Let's see, ten injured bad guys, two wrecked cars and 100 million dollars in diamonds. Just another day at the office when you work with the Suit."
Joss laughed as she slapped the cuffs on Goldberg, "You gotta admit, life's not boring with John."
Lionel snorted, "Boring? I forgot the meaning of the word."
This is the next to last chapter, last chapter will be posted on Monday.