Chapter 3

Jack pulled to the side of the road a block from the Heggen's Trucking Company yard. "Now here's my plan, Wang. With a name like Adolph, that this place is probably full of those asshole skinhead Arian freaks, so you're going to have to keep a low profile. We need to get ourselves hired to be able to look around, and we'll probably just be paid to deliver a first load as a kind of test. There might be someone that knows me here, but I doubt it; I haven't done any business with these guys and I'm about as independent as they come. Better let me do the talking."

Jack climbed into the back of his cab, and emerged minutes later with his cap off, his hair slicked back and fake glasses on; at the last moment he put the glasses away because his driver's license didn't mention needing them. "Okay, this is it. You're a trucker now, Wang." He pulled away from the curb and rolled down the block before pulling into the yard. He parked the truck with a loud "Shshhhhh" of the air and hopped out of the cab and strolled purposely toward the door that read 'Office'. "Remember, think trucking" he said as he opened the door and walked in.

The office was busy with the sounds of phone calls, computer typing and printing. There were five people working in the office.

All of them were Asian.

Jack looked at a door in the rear that said 'President'. Underneath it read 'Adolph Chung'. "So much for the skinhead theory, eh Jack?" Wang said in a low voice with a grin.

"Do your people own all of California yet?" Jack retorted.

This caught the attention of a receptionist, who was busy typing on a keyboard. "Hello, welcome to Heggen's Trucking. Can I help you?"

Jack kicked it into gear. "Hi, my name's Jack Burton. I'm new to the area, and I'm looking for a job. Long hauls, day jobs, whatever I can get. I've got a Freightliner that's fueled up and ready to go, I'm coming off 10 hours of sleep and I even have a thermos full of coffee." Jack held up an insulated bottle to emphasis his point.

"I see" said the receptionist. "If you and your partner can sit over there" she said while she pointed to some chairs off to one side "I'll see if Mr. Chung is accepting applications today. If he isn't, I know I am" she added with a smile. While they seated themselves in the indicated chairs, the receptionist disappeared beyond the president's door.

As they sat, Jack studied the chairs. "I don't see where the straps come out and hold you down, there's no place on the floor for it to pivot, no seam in the wall for a panel to disappear us behind."

"Maybe it's a legit office, Jack."

"I don't know, but my gut says something isn't right here."

"Maybe it's that deep-fried chimichanga you had for breakfast."

"No, I always eat those. Breakfast of champions."

"And heart patients."

The door opened and the receptionist returned. "Mr. Chung will see you now if you would like."

"Thank you ma'am," Jack said while standing up "that's what we're here for. As an aside, he told Wang "this is where we meet the real Heggen" as they walked toward the door. The receptionist seemed to brush against Jack on purpose, but he passed it off as an accident. Her lilac perfume registered in his brain but was soon forgotten.

As the entered the inner office, a man stood from behind his desk. Mr. Adolph Chung was in fact Asian, much to Jack's disappointment. "Have a seat gentlemen" he said after shaking their hands. "I could use another team, so let's talk about what experience you have."

And talk Jack did. Fast, machine-gun quick with barely time for breaths. Jack was in his element, talking about himself; he censored out any mention of ex-wives or battles under Chinatown. He handed over his identification and certifications.

"Very impressive Mr. Burton. So you started in the business by busting tires, then some warehousing before moving onto the road. Mr. Chi, you don't seem to figure in much of Mr. Burton's experience." He added something in Chinese.

Wang responded in his native tongue for some time. When Jack gave him a look he explained. "I was telling Mr. Chung that I was new to trucking, and that I have a half interest in your truck. This way I could learn the business and at the same time look out for my investment. After all, that's the way you're supposed to treat family. My sister wouldn't be happy if she found out I wasn't doing all I could for her husband's brother."

While Jack was still trying to figure out just how this made him and Wang related, Mr. Chung stood up. "We'll handle the paperwork later if you can perform this next test. Meet me outside the office on the loading dock in a few minutes and we'll see what you can do." He sat again and picked up a phone while dialing.

"Thank you sir" Jack said as he and Wang stepped out of the office. The receptionist gave him a thumbs up. Jack smiled weakly and said "We'll see" before continuing outside to the front of the building, where he followed the walkway to a loading dock in front of the first warehouse.

"Jack, that receptionist is giving you the eye. You just told her 'maybe' for later."

"I did nothing of the kind. She was saying the interview went well and everything was looking good to work here."

"Are you sure you know about women?"

They stood on the dock and waited. The yard was quiet, so Jack peeked into the warehouse. "No doubt this is where the drugs are held" he said as he looked inside. Crates of bicycles and playhouses could be seen on pallets. "They must be farther in."

Mr. Chung came out to meet them on the dock. "As you can see, sometimes my labor force doesn't always match up with what work needs to be done, so I can use someone who's flexible and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty." Jack looked at Wang as if to say 'Code for henchmen'. "Here is a manifest; I want you to load that nearest trailer and get it ready to ship out. You'll find everything on pallets in this warehouse. Come into the office when you're done, you are being timed." He handed the clipboard to Jack and wished them luck before returning to the office.

"We can explore the warehouse later after we're hired; right now we need to pass the test. Let's get that trailer loaded first and get a good time." Jack hurried over to a forklift and fired it up, then drove it near the rear of the trailer. "Okay, let's see what we have." He started scanning down the list of merchandise to be loaded.

"Jack, what does this ID number mean?" Wang pointed out a number in a box near the top of the manifest.

"That's the trailer number. See how it matches the number…" However, the number didn't match the trailer they were ready to load. That trailer was actually parked away from the dock. "It's a test within a test. If we load the wrong trailer right, we fail. If we load the right trailer wrong, we fail. Well, we have to match up with the manifest, number one rule. Let me back the other trailer in here and we'll see what we have. Come on Wang."

They ran across the parking lot, and hopped into the cab of the Express. Jack fired it up and quickly maneuvered to hook up the correct trailer, then ran Wang through the process of putting the two elements together. Satisfied, he moved the trailer and backed it against the dock beside the first trailer.

Grabbing a light, he ran around and opened the doors. "Okay Wang, read off that manifest and let's see if it's loaded right. From the top down, don't move on until I say 'check'. Go!"

Wang proceeded to read the list while Jack checked the load. All was according to plan until after the manifest was read through, when an extra pallet nearest the doors wasn't accounted for. "We've got an extra pallet, Jack."

"I know. This is where the stuff is. Maybe they're shipping human cargo." Jack whipped out his knife and opened the large box's flap. Inside was a partially constructed see-saw set. "Legit, but it doesn't belong. Let's move it out." He used the forklift to move a heavy ramp between dock and trailer, then removed the crate and left it with the forklift in the warehouse.

"That's it. We'll leave the doors open for inspection. Back to the office." They hustled back into the office where Mr. Chung was waiting.

He looked at his watch. "Already? You boys are fast; now let's see if you're good too." They all went out, and at the dock Chung cast an eye in the lot and at the extra trailer. "You got step one right; we throw out a lot of applicants when they miss that one." He looked into the trailer and noticed the space for the missing pallet, then glanced over to see it on the forklift. "And step two is passed as well. I must say, I'm impressed. You don't know how much time and money I lose by people that can't read a manifest properly. Step three should be easy. Here's the manifest, you can see by the address that this is just a simple run here in town. I don't see any reason why you two can't become part of our organization. Here's the rest of your paperwork you brought, now if everything goes smoothly you'll be part of team Heggen this evening.