Nemesis Chapter 43

Nicholas approached the warehouse with caution, scanning the area for any sign of Garcia.  Seeing none, he stopped the truck, pulling a straw hat down low over his eyes so no one could tell what he looked like.

One of the farmers ran up to the driver's side.  "May I help you, sir?"  he asked.

"Tell Garcia his shipment is here," Nicholas growled.

"You're early," the farmer responded, but Nicholas ignored him.  Shrugging, he walked off around the side of the warehouse and returned in just a few seconds with Garcia.

"We didn't expect you here for another half hour or so," Garcia greeted.

Seeing that they were not being watched, Nicholas whipped out his gun and shot both men with knockout darts.  He swiftly dragged first one, then the other, around the opposite side of the building, then took a moment to glance through the open doors to the inside of the warehouse.

There was a large machine in the midst of it, obviously designed to facilitate packaging.  There were two separate chutes - one on each side - leading to a common chamber.  One for the rice, reasoned Nicholas to himself, and one for the drugs.

Nicholas quickly summoned one of the farmers to the driver's side of the truck.

"You!  Come here!"  he barked in Garcia's voice, and the farmer walked over.

"Mister Garcia!"  he greeted.

"Turn this truck around and unload these supplies," Nicholas urged, before the farmer had time to think.  "We've got to get this machine going!"

"But, Mister Garcia," the farmer protested, "you just told us to wait until after sunset to start the machine up."

"There has been a change of plans," Nicholas hissed.  It was critical that the machine be started before Christie arrived, and Nicholas wasn't sure if or for how long Max would be able to delay his arrival.  Nicholas' patience was feeling the pressure of desperation and he was trying not to let it show.

"But what about what goes in the chute on the other side?" the man persisted.  "Don't we need to wait for that?"

Suddenly, with one swift move, Nicholas whipped his dart gun out of his waistband and pressed it against the farmer's forehead.  At first glance, it looked like any other handgun.  The farmer certainly thought it was.

"You let me worry about that," Nicholas said menacingly, his teeth clenched.  "Just do as I said and get to work bagging that rice, or your friends will be picking you up in pieces!  Do you understand?"

The farmer swallowed hard.  "Yes, sir,"  he said quietly.  He signaled for his companions, and they set about preparing the bags and feeding the milled rice into the chute. Then the farmer turned on the machine.

*******

Max parked the sedan several hundred yards from Christie's compound, as he had done before, to keep from being spotted.  He approached on foot, and when he came into sight he cursed to himself.

Christie was already outside and heading toward his vehicle; there was no way Nicholas could have had enough time to get to the warehouse, subdue Garcia, and get the bagger started.  Max would have to think of a diversion...and fast.

Quickly, he reached down at his feet and grabbed a baseball-sized rock.  Giving thanks for perhaps the hundredth time that his dominant arm was uninjured, Max hurled the rock into the woods as hard as he could, and it made a rustling sound as it landed.

Christie instinctively turned his head toward the rustling.  While he was distracted, Max whipped out his dart pistol, aimed, and shot out both right-side tires in each of the two vehicles parked in front of the compound.  His aim was on target, as usual, and the air went out of each tire with a soft hiss.

Christie climbed inside his pickup truck and started to back out before he realized his tires were flat.  Max, crouched behind some tall weeds keeping watch, chuckled softly to himself.

Christie got out of his truck, scrambled to the right side, looked at his tires, and cursed out loud.  Immediately, he checked the tires on the Jeep and realized that its right sides were also flat.  He cursed again, and summoned one of his associates to change his tires.

After about twenty minutes, Max heard the telltale beep of his communicator.

"Yeah, Nicholas?"

"Garcia's out of commission and  the rice is being bagged as we speak."

"Good," Max countered, with a smirk Nicholas could almost hear as he watched Christie and his henchman struggle with the rear tire.  "I'm headed there now.  Christie will be ten to fifteen minutes behind me."