…I’ve been here so long.
The Doclopedia #2,347
A California Kid & Spider Story: The Junkyard Job: Part 6
It was 8:15 PM on the night of the job and the California Kid was sitting in a pickup truck on top of a hill overlooking the junkyard and surrounding area a mile away. He had very good binoculars, a CB radio base station for communicating with his crew, a box full of fireworks to distract any unexpected police, and a pair of US government night vision goggles that would allow him to escape said police while driving without his lights on. He also had a bottle of beer and a bag of potato chips.
Picking up the mic, he spoke to his crew using a vaguely Texan good old boy voice.
“Hey, Blondie, this is old Brother Kidd. You got yer ears on tonight?”
“I sure do, Brother. We’re all just waitin’ around for Peter Parker to get the party started”
The Kid chuckled, because Spider was not enamored of that CB handle.
“Well, you just tell old Pete that from were I’m sittin’, its party time because the old man is off to his regular Friday night visit to the exotic dancers in town.”
“Oh, Henry,” the Kid thought to himself, “your predilection for nude young ladies dancing made you so very predictable.”
Henry would not be home until at least midnight, by which time they larcenous deed would be long done.
“Hey there, one and all, this is the #1 Speed Racer here. I’ll be leaving as soon as I get the word to pick up my load.” Pieboy was using a Boston accent, one of many that the Kid had taught him.
Spider spoke up. “Good buddy, we’re ready to load you up in five. Start your engine.”
The Kid smiled. It was a go.
The job went like this…
Pieboy began driving from where he had pulled off on the main road. He hit a switch that opened the rear door of the truck. Inside the box were two cages measuring seven feet wide by five feet deep by 8 feet tall. They were made from tough welded wire. The divider between the cages was Plexiglas mounted on a steel frame. The push of another button opened a door that slid up. Finally, a third button dropped a short ramp that did not quite touch the ground. From this rolled a stuffed rabbit on a thin but strong cord.
He was ready to pick up his cargo.
At the junkyard, Spider, was holding the three greyhound bitches by short leashes. The chains on the gate had been cut and Blondie & Trix were ready to throw them open. Meanwhile, inside, the guard dogs had ceased their barking and were now whining frantically as the smell of bitches in heat drove them nuts. In fact, the greyhounds were not in heat, but had been liberally sprayed with the drippings of bitches who were. The guard dogs did not care.
What happened next happened fast. Pie drove by at about 15 miles an hour. Spider let go of the greyhounds just as they saw the rabbit. Blondie and Trix opened the gate as the truck and the greyhounds sped up to about 25 miles an hour.
The guard dogs took off as though shot from a cannon. By now, the truck was half a mile away and the greyhounds were about to catch the rabbit. Pie hit a switch and the rabbit shot up into the truck. He slowed a bit and the greyhounds ran up the ramp and into the forward cage. A press of a button and the sliding door fell and locked.
At that point, Pie stopped the truck and the guard dogs ran inside. Two more buttons pressed and the ramp came up and the door shut. Inside the forward cage, the lady dogs relaxed and enjoyed the treats Pie had left for them. In the rear cage, the male dogs were pissed off and ignoring the meat he had left for them.
All secured now, Pie resumed his 200 mile trip back to home base and Lena’s dog sanctuary. Once there, all of the dogs would be unloaded and the guard dogs would get all the help and training they’d need to become better canines.
From his perch on high, the Kid watched Phase One go off without a hitch as he heard the #1 Speed Racer inform them all that he was on the road and would see ’em on the flip side.
Down below, the three thieves began walking into the Junkyard after closing the gate behind them. Ever wary of surprises, and as Trix said, “rats and rattlesnakes”, they made their way to a rusty old ice cream truck half covered in the hoods of a couple dozen cars.
Entrance to the truck was easy enough, but the ice ream freezer inside had a big padlock. While his partners kept a lookout, Spider used his trusty bolt cutters to deal with the lock, then opened the freezer. A few seconds later, he poked his head out and gave Blondie a message to relay.
“Hey, Brother Kidd, ol’ Peter Parker says you need to drive on down and join the party. We’ve got way more to eat than we thought.”
The Kid arched an eyebrow at this. More loot than expected? Had Henry been dealing in more than just cars?
“That’s a 10-4, darlin’. I’m motivatin’ you’re way as we speak. Keep them vittles warm.”
Ten minutes later, the Kid was on the scene and staring at an old ammo box that Henry Evans had used to store his money, but he was even more intrigued by the two large and expensive metal suitcases next to it.
“Tell me that’s what I think it is,” Spider said.
The Kid looked closer. He saw the name “Bradley” on the cases. This caused him to let out a long, low whistle.
“My friends, it would seem that we have hit the jackpot. These are the cases stolen from the Bradley Auction House in San Francisco in 1964. Since these cases have not been opened, I’m going to assume they contain three million dollars in cash.”
You probably could have heard the collective gasp a mile away.
After a few seconds, Blondie said, “Oh, yeah, we also found these.”
“These” were a half dozen ledgers that were Henry Evans real books. After having the three carry the money, now in trash bags, to Spider’s car, he sat down on a rickety old chair outside the office to look them over. Sure enough, there was enough here to easily convict Henry of tax fraud. There were also many notes in the margins regarding his contempt for the IRS and just about everyone else.
On an otherwise blank page in the 1965 section, Henry had written a short note about how he had received a totaled out station wagon a couple of months earlier. It seems it had been involved in a fatal head on collision with a drunk driver two days after the Bradley robbery. Both men in the car had been killed, the vehicle sat in an police impound yard for four months, then Henry had bought it and five other wrecks.
Then, a few months later, as he was stripping the car he found the cases hidden under the back seat. Recognizing the Bradley name, he knew what they contained and stashed them away.
After thinking a bit, the Kid ripped that page out as his friends returned.
“We’ll leave in just a few minutes, but first we have a couple of things to do.”
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