Day 196 - Upside Down - Chapter 32 - (2473 words)

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UPSIDE DOWN, BACK TO FRONT

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 32

Before.

“You lied to her.”
“What do you mean?” Sam knew that James knew, but no one had to admit that. If they had then things would not be said that could not be unthought. Play the game until that point of no return.
“You just bare faced lied to your sister about Alison. What the fuck man?”
“No, I just, well it was easier this way.”
“You also lied to me man, you said she was against her being white and how you needed a proper Indian wife. That’s not what you just told Manisha is it?”
“No one wants their racism pointed out to them do they? Of course she’s not going to say it, she’s not a racist you know. She just wanted better for me, but she can’t say that can she?”
“Don’t fucking lie to me Sam, I know when you’re lying.”
“Oh do you really?”
“Yes, do you know how I know?”
“Enlighten me oh white wizard.” Sam mocked him and James wondered if it was Sam who had the race problem, though he had never seen evidence of it before.
“Because you have never lied to me before.”
“Well that’s not true…” Sam thought hard but it actually was true. There was never a need to lie, not between them. Nothing was sacred, no lines were ever crossed because there were none. Had he never lied to James before?
Well they were partners in the lie now, they’d have to stick it out. That would not be hard.
“Look it’s done, and it doesn’t matter now ok, just leave it.”
“Did you? Oh fuck you did.”
Sam had to hand it to him, he was attuned to very little but there was a bond between them of trust and intimacy that he could not fathom. Why on earth did this guy stick with him like this, it was a two way street but where had this come from? It kind of crept up on the both of them, but now they were brothers.
Brothers weren’t this close, lovers weren’t this close.
“Dude, we can back out of this.”
“No, no you need this.”
“I need this? Oh for fucks sake man, you are happy with her and you gace it away to help me, and Ivan and your sister, Fuck us man. Fuck us all. I can’t go through life with that on my conscience! I can’t owe you like that. That’s a debt man, that’s a debt no one can repay.”
“It’s too late now, we may as well and as you say the risk…”
“It’s not too late, lets go see Ivan. We’ll pull the pin, like we always said we would if it got dangerous.”
“But it’s not dangerous is it.”
“You can’t see it, you can’t see what you’re giving up for me, and them.”
Sam thought maybe there was some truth to this, maybe a glimmer. It was hard to say, maybe he had burned his bridges already. His sister needed extra money for the kids, there’s be more than one. And Greg was going to fire them it was a matter of time before that was a fact. Ivan, well his business problems were his own, until he married Sam’s sister.
Alison. Maybe they could still?
Who knows? Stranger things had happened.

Before

Ivan had a whiteboard in the living room.
Where did he get a whiteboard from? Wasn’t he a mechanic? I mean he seemed a lot smarter than the average mechanic, I mean he seemed a bit well read that is. James did not know how well read most mechanics were or not. It seemed that Ivan was different though. A whiteboard though?
He was detailing the plan. Times, locations and tasks assigned to individuals. James, driving and checking the route to the drop off point. Sam was sourcing the extra tyre, the one that provided the alibi for the missing ten minutes when they were at the drop off point.
James checked the map laid out on the table, the route was marked in red as a suggested best path. There were a couple of alternate routes based on pressure points in traffic flow. James had to check some webcams and monitor traffic reports for the day, easy enough when in the cab. They did that anyway. It seemed straight forward, and there was pelnty of redundancy to deal with delays or problems in getting to and from the staging area, the drop off point.
Ivan would swap the money out into bags, they were stacking neatly next to the whiteboard, Ivan had already laid them out. He said he could get the cash boxes and fill them with paper, he could get them no questions asked and they would burn down to slag as easy as the real thing, leaving a paper traik of ash for investigators to follow.
If they looked.
The way he was talking it seemed like that may not even happen. Ivan was so confident and assured, it almost seemed too easy.
“So you’ve thought about this a lot then yeah?” James was impressed at how much he had come up with in such a short time.
“You have to have a plan, you have to be prepared. And you don’t get anywhere unless you have it under control.”
“It’s just that, we’ve not really committed to this yet. Have we?” He looked to Sam who was studying the whiteboard and the work that Ivan had already put in.
Who was this guy? This is his brother in law, and he just seems too capable in an extreme situation. Who sits around with two blokes he barely knows and plans a robbery, a crime.
It did look easy though. Could they pull this off? It didn’t seem like a hard job to do and the chances of getting caught were so low. He knew all about the issues they had with Greg, knew that there were problems with the trucks, knew that the opportunity was limited and that this was free money.
“No one gets hurt.”
“Exactly, no crime, no harm, no foul. Free money.”
“It was an observation.” Sam rubbed his head in thought.
Before he looked away a flash of something passed through Ivan’s face. Anger? Frustration? Annoyance? Something was there, but it was gone too fast.
Ivan saw the hope in James’s eyes but also picked the fear from Sam’s. Time to step it up a notch.
“Gentlemen, we are not at the point of no return, we can stop any time if you don’t want to do this.” He knew that James did, but that he was relying on Sam to be the sensible one. “If we don’t do this, it’s not like anyone else will. This is out of the box, no one else will be thinking like this and no one will think it can be done, or should be done. That’s what makes it perfect.” Ivan looked at the board and then looked sideways at Sam in full sight of his friend. He subtly shrugged his shoulders and then looked at James as if to say “What can you do?” and then sat down. “It’s totally up to you guys.”
But it was not though. This was going to happen, one way or another. If they didn’t go along with the plan then it would be harder, and there would be collateral damage of course.
That was plan B.
Sam did not need to look at his friend to know what he was thinking, hoping would happen. They could always pull out, always. They could do it and it would set them apart from the rest of the people stuck in dead end jobs for maniac bosses. It would be good for James, what other options does he have? It would be good for Ivan, and he knows what he’s doing. It’ll be good for Manisha and the baby, provided nothing goes wrong.
But what could go wrong? Barring the massive middle finger he was mentally giving to fate by even asking that question, he struggled to think of things that could go wrong. Worst case scenario is that Greg comes for a ride to see his mate at the pick up. Greg had never seen a ride through before though, why would he now? He’d never delay or interfere with a job, he’s too proud of the reputation he’d built on service. He could trample over the staff, the equipment, cut corners and generally be a miserable bastard, but it would never ever affect the customer.
That was what he was selling, not the price or the security of the service provided. He was selling himself and the personal attention you got. He could not compete with the big boys on the block, it was impossible to match the expertise, the process or the economy of scale.
He didn’t compete on that stage. He was a business owner talking to business owners, he was not a sales man or a business development manager. He was Greg Nixon, his name was on the side of the vans and he came lock, stock and beers down the pub with any business you did with him.
That’s why this would work, that tyre change would seal the deal, no one would blink twice at them making up time, not one question would be asked or load would be checked. He’d push and scream and threaten and then that load would sail out the door as fast as humanly possible.
Then it was all down to one route. One bottleneck. Too hard to get to in a hurry, but close enough to be in plain sight by the people who would be trying to stop it. He had to admit this was a brilliant plan. Stall the truck on the viaduct, away from the onramp, away from the exit and away from the ground, too far to get to with hose or to get to it easily. Then the fire, the perfect excuse and a history of problems. It felt poetic, Nixon was so keen to save money that the literally will burn it awy on this job. He did nothing for Dave, he deserved this. He may lose the contract, he may not. After all it looked like an accident and smelled like an accident.
It was an accident. No one would look twice, except for the cause of the fire. They’d want to know how and why. Sam, James and Dave could all provide context, and Ivan swore he could make it look like the exact same fire as before.
He knew what he was doing. They could see that.
He admitted to being a criminal, a succesful uncaught one. The best kind? Or the worst? You can learn from your mistakes, and it can make you better at what you do and make you a better person. If you don’t make mistakes? Then what, does arrogance and attitude creep in?
Can he be trusted though?
An admitted criminal, someone willing to commit a crime for money and then admit to that.
“Just like me.” Sam said that aloud and it got no response, the other side of this train of thought tunnelled in his mind alone.
“We’re in.” Sam accepted his fate.
“Good, good. That’s good.” The easy way then, thinks Ivan. Plan B is still an option, there’s still time for this idiot to fuck it up. Sam looked like a thinker and a reasoner. James though, he was the weakest link. He didn’t really deserve a third of the money, the reward. He was carrying so little of the burden and the responsibility and getting a full third share.
Early days yet. Lets get to the job and when these bags are full? There must be more equitable wasy to split the money. Ones that reflected his leadership role in this endevaour. Sam was in the inside man and the reasonable one, the one that would be the check and balance for the probablility of things going wrong. Ivan was the brains, the subject matter expert and the man with the plan. The man who could make this work, not just take the money but make it look like it was not a crime, but an accident. Perhaps he should charge for the service. He was already leading the charge for success, the was already providing the plan, he was at least fifty percent of the take.
At least.
A four way split. 25% to each of them, the Planner, the Arsonist, the Inside Man and the Driver. Did it really matter who took on the roles, if he did two of them? If he could wangle achance to drive that day? Then James would be superfluous. He could not quite swing that though, that would be too coincedental, too suspicious and too much to handle for the watching eyes. Slight of hand required a distraction.
James was that distraction, he just did not realise it yet.
His Dad had always been right, if you lead people will follow. He had told Ivan from a very young age that if you wanted something you took it. People who wanted it badly enough could take it from you. If you wanted to keep something, keep something for good then you lead people to where you wanted them to go. Things given to you freely are much harder to lose and it was a skill that not many men had.
Leaders were born and not made. The conventional wisdom was the reverse, and he would be told that too many times in his life, but his father had made it clear. You are who your are because of where you came from. Even when life had screwed him, Ivan’s dad laid the blame clearly at his own feet. Learn from your mistakes son.
Learn. Lead people to where they need to go, even if you have to push a little harder, pull a little stronger or guide firmly. It didn’t matter, you wanted and needed people to get where you need them and a good leader does that without thought.
If they need a push, push them. If they need more, push harder.
Push harder.
James needed no pushing, he was a follower. He was a child playing at being a grown up. Sam on the other hand? Maybe the push was not the right thing to do, not obviously anyway. He needed a reason and Ivan needed a distraction.
The twenty five percent paid for that distraction.

The amount is flexible, negotiable even.