Tony said, and Wayne chuckled joylessly.
Malone turned the key in the ignition, and the van came alive.
WE PARKED IN THE body shop lot across the street from the Nutty Nathan’s headquarters. The trucks near the warehouse were closed and locked. The showroom doors stood open. A couple of employee cars sat parked near the entrance. The office windows above the showroom remained dark.
“How long?” Tony said.
“They’ll be leaving any time now,” I said. “Then we go.”
Night came quickly. The air was heavy with the smell of rain. A salesman left the showroom and drove away. Moments later the lights went out and the store manager emerged. He locked the glass doors, walked to his car, and was gone.
“Okay,” I said, exhaling a nervous breath. “I’ll go in through the employee entrance. When I signal, the three of you follow. Move quick and low, and keep the guns in your jackets.”
Malone tried to smile, then shook my hand.
Wayne said to Tony, “You ready, man?”
“Yeah,” Tony said, and they tapped fists. “Let’s get paid.”
TWENTY-NINE
I WALKED TO the curb with my knapsack slung across my back. A car approached, and I turned my face in the direction it was heading, letting it pass. When the car disappeared around a curve, I ran quickly across the street, through the Nutty Nathan’s parking lot to the double glass doors of the employee entrance.
I felt my hand shaking a bit as I put the key in the lock. The key began to turn but then stopped. I pulled back slightly on the door and put pressure on the key. It caught and turned.
A high-pitched note sounded as I entered. I pressed the numbers one, two, four, and three in sequence on the keypad of the alarm box. The red light above the keys turned to green and the sound stopped.
I pulled a penlight from my pocket, pointed it at the van, and flashed it twice. A car drove by on the road and then another. I stepped back into the darkness of the stairwell.
The three of them were running across the road as the second set of taillights passed. Malone was in front, the others close behind. As they passed through the light of the parking lot, their features became more distinct. Malone’s face seemed to be stretched back. Wayne and Tony were expressionless.
I pushed the door open enough for them to slide in. Though it was a short sprint across the lot, Malone was fighting for breath. Wayne coolly unzipped his jacket and drew the Colt. Tony’s weapon hung over his shoulder by a strap. I relocked the door and motioned them up the stairs with my thumb. We passed under Nathan’s caricature on the way. At the top of the stairs I halted them with my palm.
Though the florescents were off, the office was drawing light from the crime bulbs out in the lot. Some of the terminals had been left on, their amber screens displaying blinking cursors. The office was nearly unrecognizable in its stillness and in the faint yellow glow.
I crouched down and moved along the wall towards my old cubicle. The others were behind me. When I reached my desk, I sat on the floor near my chair and put my knapsack beside me. Malone sat close by.
“Relax,” I said unconvincingly. “Five minutes.”
Tony and Wayne were whispering behind the divider that separated Fisher’s cubicle from mine. There was also the low, unidentifiable hum that exists in all commercial buildings late at night. I stared up at the drop ceiling.
The alarm company phoned ten minutes later. I gave the woman my employee ID number and explained that I would be working for a couple more hours. She thanked me and hung up. Though I had been gone more than a week, our personnel director had not called the alarm company to have my name stricken from the list. I had counted on her inefficiency.
“All right,” I said, “let’s go.”
We were back against the wall and retracing our steps. At Marsha’s desk I made a right, the others following. I turned the knob on the third door to the left, opened it, and stepped in.
Except for a block of light that fell in from a large rectangular window on the eastern wall, the room was black. The window looked out into the warehouse. Next to the window was a door, which led to the stairwell landing, which led to the door of the loft. At the bottom of the stairs another door opened