the Dirty Dozen - Chapter 50
Four cars with four cops each set out for a weekend fishing trip. They said goodbye to their wives and families, and their girlfriends, and set off. A group of cops taking a fishing trip attracted zero attention from everybody around them. The other cops not in their group, didn't suspect a thing. Their wives and families and neighbors? Didn't suspect a thing. Even their girlfriends didn't suspect anything was up. Just a group of boys going fishing, nothing suspicious about that. The fact that several small groups of the boys were doing it the same weekend? Again, not any kind of big deal.
Once outside of DC, they met up at a diner off of an exit. The waitress at the sleepy little roadside greasy spoon diner, was excited to have a sixteen guy crew to wait on. All happy guys, they were excited about their little fishing trip. With decent tips, she was ecstatic. Why couldn't a nice group of happy guys come through like this all the time? She would do a lot better.
The men chuckled and bullshitted the entire trip up. This was going to be perfect. Simple cop logic, too. When one cop has a problem getting something accomplished? You send everybody, to get the job done right. That's page one in the cop manual, all over the country. Use the radio, use the computers, that's what they're for after all. Use numerical superiority, any time you can. You think you need four? Take sixteen, and do it better. You have to shoot? Dump the magazines, and don't stop shooting, until you run out. Then? Use your second magazine, and do it again. You're supposed to have a third magazine, so dump that one as well.
If it's worth shooting once or twice? It's worth shooting fourteen times. Every cop knew this, it was chapter and verse from the textbook. Extreme marksmanship is wonderful and all, but, having numerical superiority was much the preferred option.
They moved up the highway in a pack. They coordinated restroom and food and drink and snack breaks easily. Each car had four guys in it, so it was extremely easy to take turns driving to make it even easier.
When they got close to their destination, a little stick town on the outskirts of the dense state game-lands, they split up. No sense coming into town in a train, and risking alerting their quarry. A carload of guys on a fishing trip? Would fit in perfect around here. A couple car loads of guys doing the same thing? Again, no problem. Just mill around town, get some food and walk around, talking about all the fun they were gonna have fishing later on. Easy.
They had no idea they were being expected. Rob and Skykid were loafing around town more than usual, but that was no big deal. All the locals by now knew there were a bunch of guys out working on George's property, and were building stuff for shooting ranges of all kinds.
A cell phone call from two guys sitting on a park bench, taking a break from walking around, was normal.
"Hey, Panic? I think we're going live…"
"You heard me. I got a lot of new faces around town today. Wearing fishing vests, and fishing hats. Ain't no locals I ever once saw before…"
"No, that is suspicious to me. What the fuck's even into season right now? They all came in to go catfish fishing? Right…"
"Jesus Christ, they look like cops outta uniform. Half of them are even driving cars that look like cop cars, except its the civilian models. They stick out to me, like a sore thumb. Picture Speedy? And take away 50 IQ points, that's what they look like. Strutting around like roosters, you can make them a mile off. It's fucking pathetic…"
"Hell no, I ain't gonna approach them. Me and Skykid, are sitting here, about to start holding hands… we're just two more locals to them."
"Yeah, I know, we're gonna come back and get a nap too. I wanna be well rested for play-time tonight. We'll set up shop, after dark. Gimme another hour, but, I got four cars that look good to me. Figure twelve, sixteen total. No sweat."
"Yeah, I love you too. Sky sends you a kiss…"
"Well, Sky? Nice day, ain't it?"
"Yeah. Nice weather tonight?"
"Almost a full moon. Won't even need night eyes for this one, practically read a fucking newspaper while we're waiting."
"You sure you guys aren't sore at me, I won't be out there helping any?"
"Sky… it's fine. You know how many times me and Panic have done this before. It's a night at the office for us. You got the easy job. Just eyeball a few stragglers, drop a dime on them for us. When did we ever try to force our high wire electrician, to do the rough stuff, huh? Someone's gotta do that job. Just let the plumbers handle the plumbing…"
"You're right. How long we gonna keep this watch up?"
"Let's give it an hour. Then? Nap time for all of us. Zero dark thirty is a long ways off. And remember, even if you can't sleep? No Diphenhydramine, and you just lay there, taking a rest even if you can't sleep. No working even if you're nervous."
"I honestly don't know how you guys can sleep before something like this. You're both fucking crazy, you know that, right?"
Rob smiled at his buddy.
"Hey. A crazy German farm boy, is twice as good as any regular guy. Now… let's walk around, and get some plate numbers. You let me handle the pictures."
"You're sure these are the assholes we're waiting on?"
"This is them. I can feel it. I just know it. We're live."
"All right, let's take a walk. Get this over with."
"That's the spirit, Sky. Just remember, don't look at any of them. I'll handle all the pictures. Any of these assholes do manage to get away? They'll get picked up, too."
Skykid sighed, and forced a wan smile.
"Let's do it. I'm good. The fuck I got to worry about anyways. Like you said, I got the easy job."
"Right. Piece of cake… let's go. Remember, we walk slow, we talk, we push and shove like buddies walking and talking. It's too easy…"
"Well? Let's go to war, Rob… you said it, we're live."
"Remember Sky, this will be easy. It's fucking amateur hour. These assholes are gonna go down like girl scouts. When was I ever wrong about an operation, huh?"
"Never."
"All right. Let's go. We finish this scouting trip, and go get a nap. If they were trying it in the daylight? We'd already know about it."
Rob and Skykid walked around town several times. Rob had a small digital camera, with a telephoto lens on it. They walked around the block, and Rob carefully peeked out, and zoomed in and took pictures of the license plates as they located them. It was too easy.
When they were done with plates and car shots, Rob filled out the rest of the hour, zooming in on faces.
Digital cameras don't make a click like their real life film counterparts from bygone times did, and Rob had the click noise shut off. He made a soft click noise with his mouth every time he took a far away photo. Rob was having fun.
"Smile pretty for the bird-y… assholes…"
