Here's the second of the two new chapters I have ready to go. I will try to have more soon!I do have a lot of stuff written but it needs tweaking so I'll pop it up as soon as it's ready. Enjoy! -Moki
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The next morning Freddy again woke up with the same feeling of dread as he did on the previous day. This time he decided that he would ignore it. His experience with the guys yesterday had made him feel pretty good about the whole operation. Foreboding dreams were not going to stop him from doing his job. Maybe everyone who went undercover felt like that the first few times, it certainly wasn't anything to worry about.
After a quick shower Freddy cleaned up his apartment. He decided not to do too much though as he figured a "too clean" feeling might alert White that something strange was up. Though no one thought this was his real apartment. He'd told Joe (with backup from Longbeach Mike) that his current place was temporary and that he'd be leaving town for a while as soon as the job was over. It was the only reason Joe would have allowed Eddie to pick him up with other guys from the job in the car. Otherwise what use would it be to have code names and then know where one of the guys lived? Freddy knew that he might still have to move even after the job was done. Joe might end up in jail but he could still send someone after Freddy. But it didn't matter to him, he wasn't attached to the place anyway.
Freddy mostly just got rid of the worst of the mess and concentrated on removing any items that would reveal his identity. He of course had two reasons for this, Joe's rule about not knowing anyone's real names and his own safety in not revealing he was a cop. He'd never realized just how many items in his place could identify him until he started to remove them. Freddy had to put away a stack of bills on the kitchen counter, a couple of plaques he'd received for service done in the line of duty, even his high school track trophies had to come down. Finally after a good half-hour of scouring the place he was convinced that it was all clear. That is as long as White didn't feel the need to go into his closet, Freddy thought to himself with a smile as he dumped one final load of junk on the closet floor.
A few minutes after 12:00 Freddy heard a knock at the door. He opened it to find White standing there, smoking a cigarette in a checkered shirt.
"Heya kid" White said in greeting
"Hey" Freddy responded, stupidly. "You wanna come in for coffee or just go straight out?" he asked, trying to be polite. How did one act when dealing with a professional criminal?
"Nah, I just had coffee. Let's go" White said and Freddy immediately went for his jacket. Anticipating that White might want to leave right away he had already put one of his guns in a pocket. The other was in his ankle holster, as always. He really didn't think that White expected him to go out unarmed, in fact he was sure that White himself was probably packing. But Freddy didn't think it was a good idea to be too obvious either. So he kept the guns hidden for now.
After Freddy got his jacket, White stepped out of the doorway and Freddy followed him downstairs. White started the car and they drove off without a word. After a few minutes the silence became unbearable to Freddy and he finally had to say something.
"This "no name" stuff is unusual but I guess it's a good idea. Have you ever had to do this before?" he finally asked.
"Nope, never done it before. I think Joe just came up with the idea but yeah, I guess it's pretty smart of him" White replied.
"Well I thought "Orange" was pretty silly until I heard "Pink". I'm sure glad I didn't get stuck with that one" Freddy said and White laughed.
"Yeah, no kidding. I mean it doesn't really matter to me but of course I would prefer not to be stuck with that one" he said, chuckling.
Soon after they arrived in front of the jewelry store. White pulled the car across the street and parked it there, turning off the ignition.
"Okay kid so here's the deal. We're gonna go over all the info that Joe gave us yesterday about who's doin' what. I want you to be able to give me all the info back, without hesitation. Alright?" White said, turning to Freddy in the passenger seat.
"Okay" Freddy said.
White then began grilling Freddy on every detail about the heist. He asked things like the exact address of the jewelry store, the time they were to get there, how long they were going to be inside, the jobs of each of the members of the crew and even had him give directions back to the rendezvous.
"Why do I need to be able to give that to you? Brown is gonna be driving" Freddy said after they'd run through it a few times. He was still missing one turn on the directions back to the rendezvous and it was pissing him off every time he did it.
"Listen to me, Orange" White said, seriously. "Just because another guy is doing something doesn't mean you shouldn't know how to do it yourself. A lot of shit can go down on a job like this and sometimes you'll have to take up the slack. What if Brown gets caught or killed and we need you to drive, huh?" he asked.
Freddy hadn't looked at it that way before. But now that White mentioned that possibility, it made sense to him.
"Okay, yeah I see your point" Freddy replied, consoled. "So you go left down this street, take a right at the next light….." He began his directions again and this time was happy when he got every turn right.
White was pleased that his pupil was picking up on his instructions so quickly. He'd had a feeling the moment he'd seen this kid that he had good potential and he was happy to see his instincts were right on the money. White had noticed how he'd sat quietly while Joe had been giving instructions and never mouthed-off like Brown and Pink. That had been a good sign to White and he'd immediately taken an interest in him. Some guys hated working with rookies. They hated having to teach someone new and put up with the attitude, etc. White had to admit that he himself usually felt that way too. There was just something different about this rookie, he thought to himself.
Orange asked a lot of questions but they were the right kinds of questions, White thought. He asked the sort of questions that showed he understood things and was really trying to learn. He wasn't being snotty like some young twerps, White thought. No, this guy was just being thorough and making sure he got why things were being done the way they were.
This kid is gonna catch on quick, White though to himself.
"Okay let's run through it. Where are you?" White said after they'd taken a break to have a smoke.
"I stand outside the door. I don't let anybody in or out" Freddy replied immediately.
"Mr. Brown?" White asked.
"Mr. Brown stays in the car. He's parked across the street till I give him the signal, then he pulls up in front of the store" Freddy replied.
"Mr. Blonde and Mr. Blue?" White asked
"Crowd control. They handle customers and employees" Freddy replied.
Spotting a gorgeous blond walking across the street in front of the car, White decided to have a little fun with Orange.
"That girl's ass?" he asked with a smile.
Without skipping a beat Freddy replied "Sitting right here on my dick" and White laughed, thoroughly enjoying himself now.
"Myself and Mr. Pink?" he asked, still chuckling over Freddy's quick wit.
"You two take the manager in the back of the store and make him give you the diamonds. We're there for those stones period. Since no display cases are being fucked with, no alarms should go off. We're out of there in two minutes, not one second longer" Freddy replied in a well-rehearsed tone. Suddenly a question occurred to Freddy and he decided this was as good a time as any, to ask.
"What if the manager won't give you the diamonds?" Freddy asked. He wanted to know what a criminal like White would do in such a situation. He knew that most of these professional thieves weren't into hurting people if they could help it. But then again you never knew who you were dealing with until it went down.
Taking a drag on his cigarette before replying, White continued looking out of the window as he thought about his answer.
"When you're dealing with a store like this, they're insured up the ass. They're not supposed to give you any resistance whatsoever" he replied.
Freddy thought that was true enough. Having responded to plenty of robberies when in uniform he knew how it worked. Consoling many a shaky victim he'd always told them that they'd done exactly the right thing by not resisting. He reassured them by saying that nothing, not a crappy convenience store nor even a diamond store, was worth risking your life for.
"If you get a customer or an employee, who thinks he's Charles Bronson, take the butt of your gun and smash their nose in" White continued. "Everyone jumps, he falls down screaming, blood squirts out of his nose. Freaks everyone out. Nobody says fucking shit after that"
Now we're getting the real story, Freddy thought.
"You might get some bitch talk shit to you" he continued "But give her a look like you're gonna smash her in the face next. Watch her shut the fuck up"
Freddy giggled despite himself. White's personality so far did not go with the intensity he was now showing and Freddy wondered if he was kidding around a little bit.
"Now if it's a manager, that's a different story" White went on, evidently determined to teach his pupil everything he might need to know. "The mangers know better than to fuck around. So if you get one who's givin' you static, he probably thinks he's a real cowboy. You gotta break that son-of-a-bitch in two. If you wanna know something he won't tell ya, cut off one of his fingers. The little one. Then tell him his thumb is next. After that hell tell ya if he wears ladies underwear"
Freddy looked at White, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. He certainly seemed serious, Freddy thought.
Finished with his instruction, White put out his cigarette and turned on the ignition.
"I'm hungry. Let's go get a taco" he said without another word and Freddy laughed.