A few minutes later, Diesel eased the Subaru into the spot next to the van. We transferred the rockets from the van to the Subaru, cut the engine on the van, locked its doors, and drove away in the Subaru. The perfect crime.
“Are you okay?” Diesel asked me.
“Sure. I’m peachy. And you?”
“I’m good.”
He stopped the SUV at the edge of the lot, untied the hood, and pushed it back off my face.
“You look like you’re going to faint,” he said. “Your face is white and your eyes are glassy.”
“I’ve never stolen rockets before. I’m pretty sure it’s against the law. And what if they explode?”
“They aren’t going to explode. They’re just shells. No fuel. No payload. No explosive device.”
We sat for a few more minutes, waiting to hear back from Flash. When the call came in, it was negative. He hadn’t been able to locate any companies that might have X-12 Kings.
“Call Wulf back and tell him you have his rockets,” Diesel said.
I punched Wulf’s callback, and he answered on the first ring.
“I have your rockets,” I said. “Now what?”
“Do you have all twenty-?three?”
“No. I could only find twelve.”
Silence.
“This is as good as it’s going to get,” I said. “There are no more in the area.”
“There’s an envelope in locker 2712 at the train station. Get the envelope and read the instructions.”
“Do I need a key?”
“No. You need Diesel to open the locker.”
THE TRENTON TRAIN station is to the south of center city. As with most of Trenton, it’s a
mixed neighborhood where busy commuters can mingle with hookers and muggers and various interesting bag people. It was just past noon, and traffic was slow around the station.
Rather than chance sitting in short-?term parking with a car full of rockets, Diesel had me drive around the block while he ran into the station and retrieved the instructions. I picked him up after two laps, and I drove us to Cluck-?in-?a-?Bucket. We got a bucket of extra-?crispy, extra-?spicy fried chicken and opened the envelope.
The first instruction was that Diesel was not allowed to participate, that I had to run through the directions without him. I would be directed to five different locations and closely watched. The fifth location would be the drop where I would exchange the rockets for Gail Scanlon.
“I know Wulf. He doesn’t care about the rockets,” Diesel said. “This is a way to get you. He’s going to lead you around, and in the end, you’re going to have to deliver the rockets to him. And when you deliver the rockets, he’s going to turn you over to Munch.”
“Do you think he’ll really kill Gail if I don’t cooperate?”
“Hard to say. Wulf doesn’t usually kill innocent people, but he’ll kill if it’s justified in his mind.”
“Is there a way you can watch me without Wulf detecting you?”
“No. I flunked invisibility.”
“I’ll be okay until I get to the fifth location. I’ll take Lula with me, since he didn’t say anything about Lula. And I’ll use the Buick, so Ranger can track me. I can keep in phone contact with you. And we can reevaluate after the fourth location.”
Diesel dumped his half-?eaten chicken breast back into the bucket, wiped his hands on his jeans, and cranked the engine.