Reaching for the Moon by ThePekingNoodle

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Chapter Thirty-Nine: One thing I Forgot to Tell You

A bit of burglary, but one small complication rears its ugly head…

When they were a block away from the customs warehouse, Logan had Max pull the bike over behind a semi-truck that was parked with its motor running. He climbed off the bike and walked up to the driver's side of the truck. Moments later he returned, accompanied by another man. Together they opened the back of the truck and let down a loading ramp.

Max looked at Logan questioningly.

"The truck is going to pick up my shipment from the warehouse. I figured you could ride your bike inside and then leave it there. When we back the truck up to the loading dock, you can slip out and inside."

"Not bad, Logan. Saves me getting over the fence anyway."  Max revved the motor of her bike and sent it up the ramp into the truck.  As soon as she was in, Logan and the other man closed the back of the truck leaving her in pitch darkness. She focused in her night vision and surveyed her surroundings. The trailer was empty except for some odd straps and bits of packing materials. She secured her bike with a couple of straps and then made her way to the back, walking carefully in the swaying trailer. There were a couple of quilted squares of material next to the rear doors. Max crawled under them, wrinkling her nose at the musty smell. They would serve to hide her in case there were unfriendly eyes present when the truck was opened. Her bike would be invisible in the dark, stashed as it was in a front corner of the dark trailer.  Satisfied, she settled in to wait for their arrival at the warehouse.

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Logan rode in the cab with the driver. The man was silent which suited Logan well. When they arrived at the warehouse gate Logan handed the driver the shipping manifests he had been given by Sergei earlier. The driver handed them over to the bored looking guard who skimmed them and then flipped through several pages on a clipboard.

"Through the gates and park at dock 5E. Your shipment is waiting to load. Don't know if the full crew is in yet though – you weren't scheduled until 6:00 AM."

"Traffic was light." The driver said.

The guard shrugged and opened the gates waving them in.

When they pulled up at the indicated dock a lone man awaited them. Logan walked over to him with the manifest sheets in his hand.

"Day loading crew isn't in yet."

"What about the night crew?" Logan asked as he handed the man the manifests. The driver had proceeded to the rear of the truck and was opening the doors. Logan had placed himself so that the dock worker had his back to the truck.  The man was still looking through the sheets, when Logan saw a small dark shadow slip from the truck and make its way up the dock and into the warehouse through the open bay.

"Night crew's getting ready to go off shift. 'Course they might could be persuaded to do one more load if you know what I mean." The man looked slyly at Logan.

"How long will it take to load?"

"With the right incentive they could get it done in thirty minutes… or less."

"When does the day crew come on?"


"They won't be ready to load for at least two hours."

Logan debated giving Max the extra time, but two hours was too long to linger here. He wanted to get the weapons shipment away from this place and Max safely home. He pulled out his wallet and took out some bills. "Here's half. Your crew gets the rest when the truck is loaded in the next thirty minutes."

The man took the bills, counted them and gave Logan a greasy smile. "Let me just get them."

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Max slipped easily into the warehouse. She found herself standing between high rows of pallets stacked with crates with various markings on them. The warehouse was brightly lighted even at this hour of the morning. Logan had described to her where the office would be located, and she quickly began to make her way in that direction.  The stacks of pallets had gaps that provided convenient hiding places. More than once she made use of one when she heard voices or footsteps approaching. Finally she came to the end of an aisle and saw a small office partitioned off by a half glass wall in front of her. It was empty except for a cluttered desk with a computer terminal on it and a wall lined with file cabinets.

She glanced around and saw no one. She was in the office in moments heading straight for the cabinet marked I –J. She opened a drawer and began leafing through paper files. The one she was looking for was halfway through. Opening the file marked ICE On Ltd. she quickly scanned its contents. With a nod she pulled out several pages and folded them and slipped them into her vest. She replaced the file and closed the cabinet drawer.

As she was walking out of the office a burly man with graying hair rounded a corner."Hey. What are you doing here? This is a secured facility."

Max shot him a tremulous smile. "Pete told me to wait for him here."

"Pete?"

"My boyfriend. He said I could wait until he got off shift." Max batted her eyes at the security guard.

"You mean Cavanaugh?" The man frowned, "He knows it's against the rules to have any visitors here. We could lose our customs bond. He could lose his job."

Max looked at him in dismay, "Oh you can't do that. It's my fault. You see I was kind of upset tonight." She paused and willed tears into her eyes, "I found out I'm…I mean I…I didn't know what to do and since he was the one…." She burst into tears and flung herself at the man.

Caught off guard he just stood there. Max took the opportunity and before he knew what had happened, the handcuffs he wore on his belt were snapped onto his wrists, and he found himself cuffed to a support pole.

"What the…" he sputtered.

"Sorry. I gotta blaze now. By the way I never met anyone named Cavanaugh so don't fire the guy."  Max blew him a kiss and was on her way leaving the guard calling for help.

Abandoning stealth she flew down the aisles toward the loading dock where she had left Logan.  Fortunately the warehouse sections she went through seemed deserted. When she was close to the dock, she slowed down and cautiously peered around the end of the aisle.

The truck was just finishing being loaded. As she watched two men began to close the doors.  Before they could finish, Logan walked over to them. He held out some papers and then led them into the warehouse and started pointing at some boxes.

"No way. They ain't on your list." One man had accompanied him. The other walked away clearly done with this job.

"Are you sure?" Logan argued. He handed the man the list and when he looked down at it, Logan quickly looked around. Max slipped out of the shadows and he smiled when he saw her. She slid past him and his companion and quickly climbed into the truck. It was now filled with cartons so she simply slid behind some and waited. Within moments the doors were once again closed and she felt the truck begin to move.

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Logan breathed a sigh of relief when they were several blocks from the warehouse and there was no sign of an alarm or pursuit.  The driver pulled into an empty lot and Logan climbed out and headed for the rear.

"Max?"

There was no answer.

"Max?"

Still no answer.

A frown crossed his face and Logan clambered into the truck. He felt his way around the crates wishing he had a flashlight. Suddenly he tripped over something.  He came down on his hands and knees. Without rising he felt around him. His eyes were adjusting to the gloom and he could make out a small heap on the floor.

"Max? Max what happened? Are you okay?"

His only answer was a slight moan. Just then a light shone into the truck.

"Everything okay?" the driver asked.

 Logan took the flashlight and aimed it at Max. He gasped in shock when it became clear that she was having some kind of seizure.

End of Chapter Thirty-Nine…TBC…