No Honor Among Thieves: An Ali Reynolds Novella (Kindle Single) Read Online Free PDF

with his eyes closed, but he has to be there—boots on the ground—to do the work. It’s just like a haircut: You can’t get a haircut over the phone.”
    Ali’s phone rang. When she saw Cami’s name on the display, Ali put the call on speaker so B. could hear as well.
    “Hi, Cami,” Ali said. “I’m here and so is B.”
    “Good morning, guys,” Cami said cheerfully. “Here’s what I’ve got for you so far. The most recent shipment from LEGO arrived in Long Beach by way of the manufacturing plant in Monterrey, Mexico, yesterday morning. It consisted of twenty-five shipping containers devoted solely to LEGO. The last of that shipment was off-loaded yesterday by approximately three P.M. According to the GPS chips on the pallets, most of those containers are now en route to their final destinations with the exception of ones that have already been delivered at various West Coast distribution centers between San Diego and San Francisco.”
    Adding GPS locator beacons to all the pallets had been done at B.’s suggestion. Each chip listed the individual pallet’s weight as well as its final destination.
    “We know from the readings on the pallet tracking system that the designated weight on each pallet remains unchanged from what it was when it left the plant in Mexico.”
    “All the pallets may still weigh the same amount,” B. said darkly, “but I’m betting some of them aren’t carrying their original payloads or maybe the boxes in the wrecked truck are from a pallet that was never chipped in the first place.”
    “As in ‘no chip, no pallet’?” Ali asked.
    B. nodded. “Which would mean there are people working this scam at both ends of the food chain, and we need to find out who they are.”
    Cami waited quietly on the phone, listening, until B. and Ali finished their own discussion. “Is that all you need me to do, then?” she asked.
    “Not exactly,” Ali said. “What’s Stu’s favorite Subway sandwich?”
    “The club,” Cami answered without hesitation. “With mayo, lettuce, tomato, and Jack cheese. Why?”
    “Go get two of them,” Ali said, “one for him and one for me. It turns out he and I about to take a little trip, and we’ll need some sustenance along the way.”
    “What kind of trip?” Cami asked.
    “Never mind. We’ll tell you when we get there.”
    •   •   •
    By the time B. pulled into High Noon’s lot, Ali had finished letting the YWCA know that she would be a no-show for that day at least and maybe longer. Cami arrived at the same time they did. She was just exiting her car with a pair of sandwich bags in hand, when the shadow of a landing helicopter passed over her head and then swooped down for a landing in the far corner of the lot.
    Cami looked at it and then back at Ali and B. “Surely you don’t think Stu’s going to ride in that.”
    “He’ll have to,” B. said. “This is an important client, and we need a quick turnaround.”
    Cami shook her head. “Good luck with that,” she said, and stalked inside with B. and Ali right behind her.
    “Hey,” the unsuspecting Stu said when he saw them. “Marliss Shackleford just updated her blog.”
    “What’s new?”
    “Come look.”
    B. and Ali walked over to Stu’s bank of computers and read over his shoulder.
    At a hastily called press briefing this morning, Chief Deputy Tom Hadlock, media spokesman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, has just confirmed what I had reported earlier. The fatality truck accident that occurred earlier today on Highway 92 east of Palominas is now being investigated as a homicide.
    According to Chief Deputy Hadlock, the vehicle, carrying a load of possibly stolen goods, was attacked with a barrage of automatic gunfire just west of the San Pedro bridge. The driver of the vehicle, still unidentified, was found dead at the scene. An autopsy is scheduled later this morning with the Cochise County Medical Examiner.
    Chief Deputy Hadlock is urging anyone who might