A/N Thank goodness for Labor Day weekend and a little extra time. As usual, I didn't get nearly enough done that I had hoped to do, but at least I have another update to the story. Hope you guys enjoy.

Chapter Twenty-One

Frank's POV

I barely had gotten the passenger door of the car closed before Joe was speeding down the driveway on the way to Volturi Pharmaceuticals.

"Do you really think Nancy is going to stay?" Joe asked.

I sighed, "She said she would."

Joe gave me a piercing look. "Okay, I hope she will stay there and not go off and do something foolhardy," I admitted.

"You do realize that it's practically impossible for her to actually stay in one place without working on the case," Joe said.

"Yes, but right now I would much rather focus on us following the truck to the disposal company," I told Joe.

I was glad when Joe remained quiet. I didn't need him adding to concerns with regards to Nancy. I focused my thoughts on the case and our potential lead of what was actually happening to the rejected batches at the disposal company.

It wasn't long before Joe had pulled over near Volturi Pharmaceuticals. Carlisle had informed us before we left about what kind of truck we were looking for. We decided that it would be less noticeable if we wait to start following the vehicle until after it had left the company premises. Considering that we were still unsure how many people might be involved in all of this, it seemed the safest route to take without being noticed by unwanted eyes.

We were sitting in the car for about twenty minutes before we saw a truck that met Carlisle's description pull out of the gate.

"Do you think that's the one?" Joe asked.

"It meets the description Carlisle gave me so we might as well give it a shot," I replied.

Joe allowed several cars to pass before we pulled out and began following the truck through town. Neither of us was really all that concerned about the truck noticing us following it through the congested streets of Chicago. There was too much traffic around for someone to really pay attention to a particular car in the mix.

We followed the truck through traffic for about fifteen minutes before it began to leave the bustling city behind. Since the cars were lessening, Joe allowed more space to fall in between us. It was easy enough for us to keep track of a large truck, so the additional space didn't make much of a difference for the two of us.

"Where do you think this guy is going?" Joe finally asked after we had been silent for about thirty minutes.

"Well, I guess it's safest to incinerate stuff far away from large populations," I responded. "Since we're starting to get into the middle of nowhere, maybe we'll be coming up on it pretty soon."

"I just hope the driver doesn't notice us following him," Joe replied.

I nodded in agreement. There had been very little traffic for the past five minutes on the road we were driving down. If this guy was trained to look for tails, it was almost certain that he would have spotted us by now. I was hoping that he wasn't paying attention and we could continue to go unnoticed.

We drove for another ten minutes before I saw the truck's brake lights come on. Joe slowed the car down gradually as we watched the truck turn into the short drive for the disposal company. Joe pulled the car over on the side of the road and put the hazard lights on.

"What did you do that for?" I asked.

Joe shrugged. "We're out in the middle of nowhere. I figure that flashing lights might at least make it seem as if we're have car trouble or something instead of sneaking around."

"If you say so," I replied.

We got out of the vehicle and walked toward the entrance that was several hundred feet from where we had pulled off. By now, I think we had both decided that we were going to try to see as much as we could and just play it by ear if things got hairy.

The company had a chain-link fence that lined the outer edges of it. As we neared the entrance, I noticed that there wasn't a gate or anything to keep people from getting inside.

"Nice security they have here," I commented.

"Yeah, anybody could walk on in," Joe said before walking inside the fence.

I chuckled softly as I gave a quick look around to make sure no one was watching before following Joe in. I looked around the premises as we headed in the direction the truck had taken. There were several large buildings that seemed to be made of concrete. The facility also had a large structure that looked like it might be an incinerator that was located near a man-made body of water.

We crept around one of the large buildings and saw the where the truck was parked at a loading dock. There were a couple of men in dirty coveralls using forklifts to unload the truck of the many pallets of material that it had been carrying. The driver was standing nearby observing them unload.

A few minutes later, the truck seemed to be unloaded and another man walked out carrying a clipboard in his hand to meet the driver. This man was short and pudgy with oily black hair. He was wearing a brightly coloured button down shirt with pink flamingos on it. There were several gold chains hanging around his neck.

"Man, that guy really needs to get some fashion tips," Joe said softly with a shake of his head.

"What, you don't want me to buy you a shirt with pink flamingos on it for Christmas?" I asked amused.

"Shut up," Joe replied. "I might just get you a bunch of gold chains to wear around your neck. I bet Nancy will dig that."

I scowled at him before returning my attention to the two people. The oil-slick of a man, who might be the manager of the company, was given some paperwork from the truck driver. We watched as the manager signed the paperwork and returned a yellow copy to the driver. With a friendly wave, the truck driver got back into his vehicle and started it up once again. He slowly pulled away from the unloading dock and travelled back down the same route he had taken when he entered.

"Well, everything looked okay to me," I said to Joe.

"It seemed like a pretty legit transaction," Joe agreed.

We had just about decided to turn around and head back to the car when another truck drove in. It stopped in the same spot the previous vehicle had been in and the driver got out. This truck driver didn't have the clean look of the previous driver. Instead, this guy was wearing tattered clothing and seemed to be covered in tattoos.

We watched from the cover of the building we were next to as the truck driver walked over to the manager of the disposal company. The two of them talked for a minute before the manager ordered a couple of guys to load the back of the new truck with all of the product we had just seen arrive. The truck driver then handed over a wad of money before going toward the rear of the truck and observing it being loaded.

Ten minutes later, the truck was loaded to capacity with the products from Volturi Pharmaceuticals. Joe and I watched as the truck driver got back into his rig and started the engine before heading out. The manager gave a quick wave before heading back in the direction of a building that probably served as an office.

"What do you think we just witnessed?" I asked Joe.

"I don't know," Joe said with a shake of his head, "but those drugs are definitely not getting destroyed here."

"I'm thinking we need to follow them," I told Joe.

"I think you're right," Joe agreed.

We hurried back to the side of the road where we had left the car trying to keep cover as much as possible. I was pretty sure that no one on the premises of the disposal company would actually be looking for anything out of the ordinary and see us, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

By the time we were inside the car, Joe turned the ignition and quickly turned the car around in the direction the second truck had taken. It was apparently heading back into town, but neither of us knew where the final location might end up being. Joe gunned the engine of the car to try to catch up to the truck. I was hoping that we had been quick enough getting back to the vehicle that the truck wasn't too far ahead of us.

A couple of minutes later as we were nearing the city limits, we managed to catch up to the truck. The truck passed through several intersections in town while Joe slowed down to allow more space between the two of us. The truck made a right-hand turn that headed toward the warehouse district of town. Joe followed as closely as we could safely allow without running the risk of being spotted.

"Where do you think this guy is going?" Joe asked.

Before I had a chance to respond, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw that it was Nancy calling.

"Hey Nan, everything okay?" I asked slightly concerned.

"Everything's fine here," Nancy's clear voice answered. "I was just checking in on you. Hope it's not a bad time."

"Well, the transfer of product to the disposal company seems okay, but shortly after that truck left, another one arrived and loaded the same drugs into it," I told her. "Joe and I are following that truck right now."
"Where's the truck headed?" Nancy asked.

"We're not sure of the final destination yet, but we're currently driving through the warehouse district," I answered.

"Hey, the truck's slowing down," Joe pointed out.

Joe slowed the car down even further as we watched the truck pull into a small alleyway between two abandoned-looking warehouses.

"Hey Nan, I'm going to let you go," I told her. "The truck pulled into an alleyway, so Joe and I are going to go check it out."

"Be careful," Nancy replied.

"Don't worry, we'll be careful," I told her while shooting a glare at Joe, who was snickering at my end of the conversation.

I quickly hung up the phone and put it back in my pocket.

"You are so whipped," Joe said shaking his head.

"Shut up," I retorted.

Joe chuckled softly again as he drove past the alleyway. I watched as Joe drove around the block and parked the car out of sight from the warehouse. We quietly walked in the direction of the alleyway where the truck had entered. We were hoping to enter the alleyway from the opposite end and see if the truck was unloading the drugs into the warehouse like we suspected.

A few minutes later we reached the alley and peered around carefully. The truck driver along with a couple of other burly men were unloading the drugs from the back of the truck and hauling them inside the warehouse.

Joe made some hand motions to indicate us moving closer. We crept along the narrow alley trying to stay in the shadows and not gather any notice from the men. We moved cautiously forward to watch as they unloaded the truck in the hopes of getting a better look at who the men were so we could identify them later.

The men finished unloading the truck and the truck driver got back inside and drove away. The two burly men who remained ambled back inside and closed the door.

I looked at Joe and indicated that we should move forward to see if we could see anything from one of the grimy windows near that doorway. We crept forward and were peering through the dirty glass when I suddenly felt something prod me in the back.

"Don't make a noise and you might not get hurt," a low voice said from behind.