The Box by Jeremy Brown (ebook reader play store txt) 📕

“What if they have a chase car?”

Rison frowned.

“Tug didn’t say anything about other vehicles behind the armored car.”

“What if they catch on somehow, the guys with the cash get a distress call out? Even if we make it past the Romanian compound, wherever that is, we’re stuck on this one road. Unless you see us on snowmobiles or ATVs.”

Rison seemed to be considering that, so Bruder said, “No. If this is the right road, we hit them and go the other way. Into town. More options.”

Rison found a spot on the shoulder with a little more gravel and used it to swing the car around. The scenery going southeast was exactly the same, but now they had the sun in their eyes.

They went past the immaculate farm and the three men were still out there, now looking even more concerned about the same car going by, but they waved again when Rison gave them a thumbs-up.

After another mile he said, “Okay, so where do we hit them?”

“Let’s see how that tunnel looks coming from this way.”

The tunnel looked good.

Bruder took a few more photos and some video, and jotted down some cryptic notes, then Rison drove them back into town where they parked behind Len’s and went inside.

It was close to noon and the lunch crowd was picking up.

Bruder scanned the tables for any Romanians—especially the same crew from the previous day—but didn’t see anyone who tripped the alarm. A young woman in a smart gray suit was at the bar with a bowl of soup and an open laptop, talking on the phone while she poked at the keys and trackpad.

Bruder and Rison didn’t bother going to the front podium and corral. They just slid into the same booth they’d used the night before and Marie spotted them right away.

“Too early for beers?”

“Never,” Rison said, “but we’re hitting the road after this, and it’s probably not a good idea to show up in Omaha smelling like craft beer. So I’ll take an iced tea.”

Marie pushed her lower lip out.

“Aw, you guys are leaving?”

“Yeah, and we’re flying back to Jersey from Omaha. But we’ll be back.”

“I hope so.”

She looked at Bruder.

“I’m gonna miss the conversation with Chatty Cathy here.”

Rison snorted, and Bruder played along and gave her a put-upon face.

She said, “Iced tea for you too?”

“Great.”

Marie winked at Rison. “See what I mean?”

“Yeah, he won’t shut up.”

“I’ll be right back with those drinks.”

She walked away and Bruder said, “You see the bar?”

Rison nodded behind his menu.

“I do. Lawyer?”

“Maybe. She doesn’t seem local. If she is, maybe she knows something about what our friends are up to.”

“Maybe she’s in on it,” Rison said.

Bruder acknowledged the possibility, and also accepted the possibility she was no one of any use or interest to them. But she was an anomaly in the restaurant, and that required some attention.

Marie brought the iced teas and they both ordered the Lenburger.

“No steak?” she said.

“Ah,” Rison said, “gotta have the famous burger one more time before I go.”

He glanced past her toward the bar.

“Do we have another first-time burger tourist?”

Marie turned to see what he was talking about, then came back and put her hands on her hips.

“Are you cheating on me?”

Rison covered his heart with both palms.

“I would never dream of it.”

“You better not, buster. But no, that’s Nora. She was a few years behind me in school. And by a few, I mean plenty.”

“Hm,” Bruder said.

“Hm what?”

“She doesn’t look that much younger than you.”

“Now I know why you don’t say much. You’re too full of shit.”

Rison laughed again and said, “Is she the mayor or something?”

“Oh, no, she lives in Minneapolis. Her folks have a big spread south of town. Well, had a big spread, I guess. They moved away and Nora’s been coming down every weekend to handle the estate sale, what to do with the land, all of that.”

Rison shared a quick look with Bruder.

Bruder said, “Her folks get tired of the winters?”

Marie paused, just long enough for that thin line to reappear on her mouth.

“I guess so. I’ll get those burgers cooking for you guys, be right out.”

When she was gone Rison looked at Nora, the woman at the bar, then at Bruder.

Bruder said, “Call Connelly. Tell him to get his ass down here. She’s almost done with her soup.”

Chapter Eight

Connelly came in the front door of Len’s with the guitar case. The air inside was heavy and warm, almost too hot after the fast walk from the motel, even with the cold wind blowing in his face the whole way.

The corral was empty and he stood next to the podium, the only person standing up besides the servers, and some of the people at the tables gave him and the case speculative looks. None of the people were Romanian, like Rison had said, so he wasn’t worried about it.

He spotted Marie at one of the booths with her back to him, then the woman at the bar Rison told him about, and two empty stools between her and a man slumped over whatever was in front of him. Connelly recognized his jacket and hat from the previous day, one of the regulars.

He navigated between the four-tops and nudged Marie on his way past.

“I don’t want to take up a whole table. I’ll use the bar.”

“Of course! And I talked to Len about tonight, calling you was on my list. I’ll be over there in a sec.”

Connelly went past Bruder and Rison in their booth without looking at them and leaned the guitar against the bar between the two empty stools, then stood behind it like he was shielding it from the rest of the room.

The man with the beer was on his right, worrying over some scratch tickets, and the woman in the gray suit was on his left. She had shoulder-length auburn hair with subtle blonde highlights. The hair on the left side of her face hung free, the right side tucked behind a small un-pierced ear.