Chapter 16.
. 3.19pm .
Memphis pulled up at the garage in the sleek Mercedes and hopped out to let the runner take her. He walked through the small wooden door and took his next boost sheet from Otto.
"What'd you get man?" asked Mirror peering over his shoulder at the paper.
Memphis grinned and fed it through the shredder. "Faith."
"Aw Damn! That is so unfair! I was ten seconds behind you dude. You get a goddamn Lotus Elise and I get a." He paused whilst he looked down and surveyed his own sheet. "Isobel! Who the fuck is Isobel?"
He looked up at the blackboard, searching for his lady.
"Probably the friggin' booby prize knowing my luck." He muttered to himself.
Memphis shook his head and turned to Otto,
"How we doing?"
"Pretty good, pretty good." His old friend replied, nodding his head.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Everything's fine down at the warehouse, and so far we got," He glanced up at the board "The Diablo from Sway, Mazda MX5 from Sphinx, your Mercedes, and a Celica courtesy of our whining little smurf over here."
"Hey! I aint no smurf! I just aint some big tall freak like all you guys! Its un-natural you know."
Memphis raised his eyebrows. "Okay."
"Are we gonna go this side of the century or not then Raines?" Mirror asked impatiently pulling a set of keys from the rack above the desk.
"That's a change of heart. I thought you were moaning because you wanted the Lotus."
"Dude, I started to like this Isobel chick." He walked through the doors of the garage with Memphis and unlocked their dumping car.
"Since when?"
"Since I found out her surname was TVR Tuscan!"
***
. 3.22pm .
Sphinx pulled up in a dark filthy alley that ran behind a very successful chain-restaurant. Parked in a spot next to some over flowing trashcans, was a contrasting sparkling silver Lexus SC 430, Tara. She was a soft top with leather seats and all the mod cons, a beautifully crafted machine, which definitely didn't belong in this dingy alley.
He looked around before he got out of the dumping car, checking to make sure his exit was clear. As he made his way over to the Lexus a scratching noise caught his attention and he flatted himself up against the wall, dissolving into the shadows. He waited silently, barely breathing, until the intruder, which happened to be a large gray rat, ambled in front of him and sat down, nibbling on a piece of stale food blissfully unaware that anyone was around. Inhumanly fast, Sphinx raised his foot, and in one swift, silent motion crushed the rat beneath it. Scavengers like that deserved to die in his opinion, and besides, it would make a nice treat for his cat friend. He bent down and scooped the dead rat up into his pocket without even so much as a flinch.
"Now," he thought to himself, "Back to my lovely lady friend."
***
. 3.25pm.
Sway drove calmly past a parked traffic cop and it dawned on her how out of place she must look in Melissa. Blonde dreadlocks and leather pants were hardly Aston normality. She sunk a little lower in her seat and picked up her receiver.
"Hey Memphis. You there?"
"Yeah babe. What's up?" He replied after a beat.
"Who you got next?""
"Faith."
"Aw Dammit! I wanted her. Sexy lady!" She wiggled her eyebrows as she indicated and took a right turn.
"That's what I said!" Chipped in Mirror "Damn lucky bastard. Anyway, you can't talk girl, you got all the major hotties so far! I'm gonna ring and reserve me a real goddess for my next one before you guys get 'em all!"
"Mirror." Sway said.
"What?"
"Shut up and get the hell off the line." She heard him mumbling to himself in the background through Memphis's receiver, but he didn't say anything else.
"So then," said Memphis, a playful tone in his voice "How'd you do with Melissa?"
"46 seconds."
"Damn girl! She could grow a coat of rust in the time it took you!"
"She's British." Sneered Sway "I go for the Italian girls. Besides, I don't see you beating my thirty."
"I will, with Faith, trust me."
"Would trust you as far as I could throw you Mr Raines!" She laughed. "See you later babe. Much later if the time you're taking is anything to go by!" And with that, she disconnected, giving no time for a come back from Memphis.
***
.3.26pm.
Sphinx cruised along in the lap of luxury in his Lexus, much better than the pile of crap Honda he'd just been in. He'd played his favorite, trademark trick; leaving the dumping car in the spot where the boost had been. Sometimes he wished he could be there to see the owner's reaction at the transformation of their prize belonging.
The whining of motorbikes filled his ears, and before he could react, he was surrounded by eight black Kawasaki's. One rider, fully clad in surprisingly Sway-esque black leathers signaled for him to stop, and he pulled the Lexus over at the side of the road. A red-hot rage started to boil up within him and he climbed out of the car forcefully, ready for a fight. That was until he noticed the eight guns, now pointed discreetly at him.
"Shit." He thought.
***
.3.30pm.
"Yo Otto!" Called Toby from the back of the garage, "You better come listen to this dude, I think we got some action."
Otto ambled over to the young blonde and took the large black headphones he was offering him. Toby twiddled with some of the knobs on the makeshift circuit board that he had set up earlier, and Otto held one of the cans up to his ear.
Static echoed through and then a very faint voice fizzled across,
"Bravo-four-six this is Dispatch, we have just received a call from Traffic Delta-nine-nine of a sighting of the stolen automobile turning right at the corner of Whethers and Sixth. Are you in the vicinity?"
"This is Bravo-four-six, we are approximately half a mile from the location. What are we looking for dispatch?"
Otto glanced up at Toby, his eyes saying it all "Please don't be one of ours."
"Owner describes a 2003, Aston Martin Vanquish, silver, license plate number zero-"
Otto dropped the headphones; he didn't need to hear anymore.
"Shit! That's Sway." He muttered as he picked up his receiver. "Sway? You there?"
After a second of nothing her voice drifted through.
"Yeah."
"Get the hell out of that vanquish girl, you got a tail."
"What! Fuck!" She banged her fists on the steering wheel "Where are they Otto?"
"By now, probably turning right at the corner of Whethers and Sixth."
"Oh shit!" Sway chuckled slightly, gearing up into sixth and squeezing the gas. "Keep me posted Otto."
"Sway?" Memphis cut in from his Accord, "I heard that, I'm coming to pick you up. I'm about 2 minutes from Faith, give me thirty seconds to get her and then I'm about 2 miles from you."
"Thirty seconds. That's a bit adventurous isn't it?"
He ignored her banter and grabbed his tools from the backseat of the Honda. "Give them the run around for five minutes or so, give me chance to get to you. Keep me in on your position." And with that he disconnected.
Otto listened to the deadening silence now on the line and drew a deep breath as the burning sensation returned to his chest.
"Hey man you ok?" Asked Toby eyebrows raised.
"I'm fine." He snapped, "Keep checking the police line."
Toby nodded and quickly returned his attention to the dizzying array of buttons and wires laid out before of him.
They didn't need this right now thought Otto thought as he ran his hand over his face, and picked up his receiver, again.
"Rachel, please tell me that you guys have some good news for me."
Rachel and Tumbler were the only two remaining in their van and once they had picked up the next car, they would drive the van back too, and go off as a pair in another accord.
"Yep, we're just pulling up to Samantha now. And, damn! Is she fine?" She tilted her head and blew out a little breath of appreciation for the dark green sleek Jaguar XJ220 before her.
"Looking forward to this one." Tumbler grinned as he pulled the van to a stop and reached down between his feet for his kit.
"Yeah!" Laughed Rachel, "Sit your skinny ass down sweet pea, you aint going nowhere. This one's mine."
"What! Dream on, I drove all the way over here, therefore I get the girl!" Tumbler exclaimed gesturing at the Jag.
Rachel sat and turned her head very slowly to look at him, sending him a level "yeah, right!" stare.
"See you later boy scout." She finally said sliding out of the SUV and sauntering across the road to the Jag.
"Er, Otto." Tumbler said warily into his receiver. "Does this girl actually know what she's doing? She's not being very discreet, you know what I'm saying?"
"Just watch her." Sway cut in.
Tumbler sat and narrowed his eyes as Rachel reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open and began talking rapidly, whilst standing in plain view in front of the drivers side door.
"What the fuck is she doing." Muttered Tumbler to himself. He didn't even notice at first that Rachel had even got the door open, and then she slid inside still talking on the phone, loudly, his jaw dropped open
"How the hell did she do that!?" He exclaimed into his receiver.
"She's an good actress." Replied Sway "She makes you believe that the lady belongs to her and you don't even notice that the key she is fumbling with in the lock is actually a six inch steel wire down the door panel. No body notices because she looks like she belongs there."
"Holy shit!" Laughed Tumbler "That is a damn good trick."
"Watch her reach down now and root in her 'handbag'." Sway said disconnecting, back to her own business.
Rachel reached down with one hand, keeping her head in plain sight and chattering loudly to the talking clock on her cell. To the general public she looked like she was rummaging around in her handbag for her compact, when in fact, she had a knife in the ignition and screwdriver in the steering column.
The car roared to life and smiled, closing her eyes for a second, savoring the power and style of the beautiful car.
"Ciao." She said to the clock as she snapped the cell phone shut and slinked the car out of the parking spot.
Tumblers voice came through on the receiver in her pocket "Damn girl! You just stole a car from outside a shopping complex and no-one even noticed!"
"What was my time?" Rachel said, smiling to herself.
"32."
"Oooooh! So close, so close."
***
.3.32pm.
Memphis climbed out of the accord and moved over to the Beautiful Yellow Lotus. In his opinion, the only car manufacturer who could get away with yellow cars.
If his mind hadn't been on other things, he probably would have been enjoying this intently. He didn't even notice that he was inside the car in 28 seconds flat.
"Memphis, where the hell are you, I can't stay close to you and keep these guys off my back for much longer." Said Sway rapidly into her receiver as she viciously swung the Aston around a sharp bend.
"I'm coming, where are you?" He replied as he waved goodbye to mirror and pulled the Lotus away.
"About a mile from the Stockholm garages. Heading North."
"Ok, keep going on that course. I'll probably meet you just before you hit them coming South."
***
Otto listened from back at the garage as they both disconnected.
What were they thinking boosting in broad daylight? He couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to all end badly.
*** End chapter 16***
. 3.19pm .
Memphis pulled up at the garage in the sleek Mercedes and hopped out to let the runner take her. He walked through the small wooden door and took his next boost sheet from Otto.
"What'd you get man?" asked Mirror peering over his shoulder at the paper.
Memphis grinned and fed it through the shredder. "Faith."
"Aw Damn! That is so unfair! I was ten seconds behind you dude. You get a goddamn Lotus Elise and I get a." He paused whilst he looked down and surveyed his own sheet. "Isobel! Who the fuck is Isobel?"
He looked up at the blackboard, searching for his lady.
"Probably the friggin' booby prize knowing my luck." He muttered to himself.
Memphis shook his head and turned to Otto,
"How we doing?"
"Pretty good, pretty good." His old friend replied, nodding his head.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Everything's fine down at the warehouse, and so far we got," He glanced up at the board "The Diablo from Sway, Mazda MX5 from Sphinx, your Mercedes, and a Celica courtesy of our whining little smurf over here."
"Hey! I aint no smurf! I just aint some big tall freak like all you guys! Its un-natural you know."
Memphis raised his eyebrows. "Okay."
"Are we gonna go this side of the century or not then Raines?" Mirror asked impatiently pulling a set of keys from the rack above the desk.
"That's a change of heart. I thought you were moaning because you wanted the Lotus."
"Dude, I started to like this Isobel chick." He walked through the doors of the garage with Memphis and unlocked their dumping car.
"Since when?"
"Since I found out her surname was TVR Tuscan!"
***
. 3.22pm .
Sphinx pulled up in a dark filthy alley that ran behind a very successful chain-restaurant. Parked in a spot next to some over flowing trashcans, was a contrasting sparkling silver Lexus SC 430, Tara. She was a soft top with leather seats and all the mod cons, a beautifully crafted machine, which definitely didn't belong in this dingy alley.
He looked around before he got out of the dumping car, checking to make sure his exit was clear. As he made his way over to the Lexus a scratching noise caught his attention and he flatted himself up against the wall, dissolving into the shadows. He waited silently, barely breathing, until the intruder, which happened to be a large gray rat, ambled in front of him and sat down, nibbling on a piece of stale food blissfully unaware that anyone was around. Inhumanly fast, Sphinx raised his foot, and in one swift, silent motion crushed the rat beneath it. Scavengers like that deserved to die in his opinion, and besides, it would make a nice treat for his cat friend. He bent down and scooped the dead rat up into his pocket without even so much as a flinch.
"Now," he thought to himself, "Back to my lovely lady friend."
***
. 3.25pm.
Sway drove calmly past a parked traffic cop and it dawned on her how out of place she must look in Melissa. Blonde dreadlocks and leather pants were hardly Aston normality. She sunk a little lower in her seat and picked up her receiver.
"Hey Memphis. You there?"
"Yeah babe. What's up?" He replied after a beat.
"Who you got next?""
"Faith."
"Aw Dammit! I wanted her. Sexy lady!" She wiggled her eyebrows as she indicated and took a right turn.
"That's what I said!" Chipped in Mirror "Damn lucky bastard. Anyway, you can't talk girl, you got all the major hotties so far! I'm gonna ring and reserve me a real goddess for my next one before you guys get 'em all!"
"Mirror." Sway said.
"What?"
"Shut up and get the hell off the line." She heard him mumbling to himself in the background through Memphis's receiver, but he didn't say anything else.
"So then," said Memphis, a playful tone in his voice "How'd you do with Melissa?"
"46 seconds."
"Damn girl! She could grow a coat of rust in the time it took you!"
"She's British." Sneered Sway "I go for the Italian girls. Besides, I don't see you beating my thirty."
"I will, with Faith, trust me."
"Would trust you as far as I could throw you Mr Raines!" She laughed. "See you later babe. Much later if the time you're taking is anything to go by!" And with that, she disconnected, giving no time for a come back from Memphis.
***
.3.26pm.
Sphinx cruised along in the lap of luxury in his Lexus, much better than the pile of crap Honda he'd just been in. He'd played his favorite, trademark trick; leaving the dumping car in the spot where the boost had been. Sometimes he wished he could be there to see the owner's reaction at the transformation of their prize belonging.
The whining of motorbikes filled his ears, and before he could react, he was surrounded by eight black Kawasaki's. One rider, fully clad in surprisingly Sway-esque black leathers signaled for him to stop, and he pulled the Lexus over at the side of the road. A red-hot rage started to boil up within him and he climbed out of the car forcefully, ready for a fight. That was until he noticed the eight guns, now pointed discreetly at him.
"Shit." He thought.
***
.3.30pm.
"Yo Otto!" Called Toby from the back of the garage, "You better come listen to this dude, I think we got some action."
Otto ambled over to the young blonde and took the large black headphones he was offering him. Toby twiddled with some of the knobs on the makeshift circuit board that he had set up earlier, and Otto held one of the cans up to his ear.
Static echoed through and then a very faint voice fizzled across,
"Bravo-four-six this is Dispatch, we have just received a call from Traffic Delta-nine-nine of a sighting of the stolen automobile turning right at the corner of Whethers and Sixth. Are you in the vicinity?"
"This is Bravo-four-six, we are approximately half a mile from the location. What are we looking for dispatch?"
Otto glanced up at Toby, his eyes saying it all "Please don't be one of ours."
"Owner describes a 2003, Aston Martin Vanquish, silver, license plate number zero-"
Otto dropped the headphones; he didn't need to hear anymore.
"Shit! That's Sway." He muttered as he picked up his receiver. "Sway? You there?"
After a second of nothing her voice drifted through.
"Yeah."
"Get the hell out of that vanquish girl, you got a tail."
"What! Fuck!" She banged her fists on the steering wheel "Where are they Otto?"
"By now, probably turning right at the corner of Whethers and Sixth."
"Oh shit!" Sway chuckled slightly, gearing up into sixth and squeezing the gas. "Keep me posted Otto."
"Sway?" Memphis cut in from his Accord, "I heard that, I'm coming to pick you up. I'm about 2 minutes from Faith, give me thirty seconds to get her and then I'm about 2 miles from you."
"Thirty seconds. That's a bit adventurous isn't it?"
He ignored her banter and grabbed his tools from the backseat of the Honda. "Give them the run around for five minutes or so, give me chance to get to you. Keep me in on your position." And with that he disconnected.
Otto listened to the deadening silence now on the line and drew a deep breath as the burning sensation returned to his chest.
"Hey man you ok?" Asked Toby eyebrows raised.
"I'm fine." He snapped, "Keep checking the police line."
Toby nodded and quickly returned his attention to the dizzying array of buttons and wires laid out before of him.
They didn't need this right now thought Otto thought as he ran his hand over his face, and picked up his receiver, again.
"Rachel, please tell me that you guys have some good news for me."
Rachel and Tumbler were the only two remaining in their van and once they had picked up the next car, they would drive the van back too, and go off as a pair in another accord.
"Yep, we're just pulling up to Samantha now. And, damn! Is she fine?" She tilted her head and blew out a little breath of appreciation for the dark green sleek Jaguar XJ220 before her.
"Looking forward to this one." Tumbler grinned as he pulled the van to a stop and reached down between his feet for his kit.
"Yeah!" Laughed Rachel, "Sit your skinny ass down sweet pea, you aint going nowhere. This one's mine."
"What! Dream on, I drove all the way over here, therefore I get the girl!" Tumbler exclaimed gesturing at the Jag.
Rachel sat and turned her head very slowly to look at him, sending him a level "yeah, right!" stare.
"See you later boy scout." She finally said sliding out of the SUV and sauntering across the road to the Jag.
"Er, Otto." Tumbler said warily into his receiver. "Does this girl actually know what she's doing? She's not being very discreet, you know what I'm saying?"
"Just watch her." Sway cut in.
Tumbler sat and narrowed his eyes as Rachel reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open and began talking rapidly, whilst standing in plain view in front of the drivers side door.
"What the fuck is she doing." Muttered Tumbler to himself. He didn't even notice at first that Rachel had even got the door open, and then she slid inside still talking on the phone, loudly, his jaw dropped open
"How the hell did she do that!?" He exclaimed into his receiver.
"She's an good actress." Replied Sway "She makes you believe that the lady belongs to her and you don't even notice that the key she is fumbling with in the lock is actually a six inch steel wire down the door panel. No body notices because she looks like she belongs there."
"Holy shit!" Laughed Tumbler "That is a damn good trick."
"Watch her reach down now and root in her 'handbag'." Sway said disconnecting, back to her own business.
Rachel reached down with one hand, keeping her head in plain sight and chattering loudly to the talking clock on her cell. To the general public she looked like she was rummaging around in her handbag for her compact, when in fact, she had a knife in the ignition and screwdriver in the steering column.
The car roared to life and smiled, closing her eyes for a second, savoring the power and style of the beautiful car.
"Ciao." She said to the clock as she snapped the cell phone shut and slinked the car out of the parking spot.
Tumblers voice came through on the receiver in her pocket "Damn girl! You just stole a car from outside a shopping complex and no-one even noticed!"
"What was my time?" Rachel said, smiling to herself.
"32."
"Oooooh! So close, so close."
***
.3.32pm.
Memphis climbed out of the accord and moved over to the Beautiful Yellow Lotus. In his opinion, the only car manufacturer who could get away with yellow cars.
If his mind hadn't been on other things, he probably would have been enjoying this intently. He didn't even notice that he was inside the car in 28 seconds flat.
"Memphis, where the hell are you, I can't stay close to you and keep these guys off my back for much longer." Said Sway rapidly into her receiver as she viciously swung the Aston around a sharp bend.
"I'm coming, where are you?" He replied as he waved goodbye to mirror and pulled the Lotus away.
"About a mile from the Stockholm garages. Heading North."
"Ok, keep going on that course. I'll probably meet you just before you hit them coming South."
***
Otto listened from back at the garage as they both disconnected.
What were they thinking boosting in broad daylight? He couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to all end badly.
*** End chapter 16***