“X-Man, you think we’re ever going to move beyond taking orders for boosting cars?  Older model Caddie, Jetta less than ten years old… we can do better.”

“I know, Raphael, our time will come. Albert said so last month,” Xavier replied.

“Two years of boosting. Where am I now compared to two years ago? Same dumpy apartment, same dumpy friends.” Raphael smiled a wide grin and his eyes sparkled.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“I mean it. I know Albert has a new operation at the chop shop. There are flash cars coming in and leaving right away. Leaving whole. You know—new Audis, Beamers, there was even a Lexus there last week. It’s time we moved up.”

“Albert wants another Caddie this week. We can talk to him when we deliver it, okay?”

“Deal. Your cousin works there, so you do the talking.”

Raphael was waiting on the curb outside his apartment. The sky was just beginning to get dark in the early summer night in the city. “Nice monkey suit Raphael. You look a little out of place in this neighborhood,” Xavier said.

“It’s just a white shirt and bow tie; we have to score a Caddie, you know,” Raphael said.

Raphael hopped in the passenger’s seat of the Chevy and slammed the door.

“Easy on the door, would ya? What’s the plan, you gonna charm the car?”

“Something like that. Head to Fourth Avenue and Eleventh Street.”

“Restaurant row? You look like a waiter. You gonna serve dinner to the car?”

“X-man, you gotta think outside the box. We get them to give us the keys to the caddie. And a new one at that. That’ll impress Albert. You’ll see.”

“See those three fancy restaurants in a row? Park across the street.”

“Now what?”

“Okay, see that white Lincoln that dropped off the lady in the long dress. He’s going to park in the parking garage around the corner and come back. What if there was a parking attendant? Like me.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“Just sit here and watch. Sooner or later there will be a Caddie; follow me to the shop when I score.”

Over the next half hour, a dozen cars stopped and let someone out. Here comes a Caddie. Raphael straightened up from his position of leaning against the building and hustled to the slowing vehicle.

As the passenger door was opening, he extended his hand to a middle-age woman in the passenger seat, helping her out. “Good evening, Jimmy’s is offering valet parking this evening, can I interest you? You can both go right into the restaurant.”

“Uhhh,” came from the driver.

“We will take it, young man. Harold, it’s our anniversary. I’m not going to wait outside for a half hour while you try to find the cheapest parking. And tip him.”

Raphael went around to the driver’s side and handed the man a token with A411 on one side. YMCA on the other side had been ground off. “Happy anniversary, sir, and I hope the evening turns out wonderful.” Raphael took the five-dollar bill from the driver and stared at it motionless.

“Really?” The driver added a twenty to it and said, “No funny stuff, just park it.”

“Of course, sir.” With that, Raphael was in the Caddie and off towards the parking garage. At the same time, a Chevy parked across the road started.

Once Raphael rolled to a stop inside the chop shop, Albert approached the vehicle. “Nice boys,” he said through the rolled-down window. “This Caddie may be too nice to part out.”

“Yeah, that’s something Xavier wants to talk to you about. He’s right behind me.”

“Hey Albert, how’s it going?” Xavier called out across the shop. He was approaching the Caddie at the same time a tall, African man was.

“That one, too,” said the African man, pointing at the Caddie.

“Uh, your container’s full.”

“Dump the Lexus. I want a Cadillac.”

“You got it,” said Albert

The man turned on his heel and was gone, as was his entourage.

“Albert, me and Raphael were thinking that we could move up the ranks and not just pick up cars to chop, but nice cars to go intact like that Caddie. What do you think?”

“Okay. You scored a nice Caddie, think you can do it again?”

“Absolutely,” chimed in Raphael. “Man like that might really go for a Limo.”

“Try the airports, and within seven days,” Albert said. He turned and left the two standing there, ending the conversation.

“We’re in, X-man, we’re in.”

Raphael pushed the home fries around his plate at the nearby all-night diner, while he spoke. “Every Sunday, a Caddie limo drops off an old lady for church. I see it from my window. The driver helps her, parks, waits for the service to be over, and picks her up. After that, he stops three blocks away at Lugi’s, goes inside, picks up cannoli, and then drives away. We grab the car when he is getting cannoli. Easy peasy.”

“What about the old lady?”

“She’ll get out, don’t worry.”

Raphael pulled his hat down to shade his eyes from the sun. “See, there she’s dropped off and he’s going to park,” Raphael said. “Off to Lugi’s we go. Service lasts about an hour, so we can get a cup of coffee, then wait outside. The big time, X-Man. Things gonna be different.”

“Boy, the big guy driving looks ugly and mean,” said Xavier.

Now,” Raphael whispered to Xavier as they watched the driver exit the limo in front of Lugi’s. Raphael casually walked around to the driver’s side while Xavier opened the back door.”

But the driver saw the action. He moved like an athlete and was at the door before Xavier had it fully open, slamming it shut with his hip. Raphael watched him grab Xavier by the throat and start to reach inside his jacket pocket. The man said nothing as he slammed Xavier onto the closed door. Raphael continued to nonchalantly walk by the driver’s side and round the limo and by the pair. He darted toward the large back and drove a knife into the kidney area and twisted it.

The big man dropped on the pavement and a handgun clattered to the pavement. In one motion, Raphael scooped it up and opened the back door.

“Out.”

“Scappa,” was the reply.

“Now,” Raphael said.

“Sai chi sono?”     

Raphael reached inside, cut her seatbelt with his knife and grabbed her wrist.

“Mailae.”                    

To that, Raphael dragged her out of the limo and threw her onto the pavement. Xavier was still standing at the curb with a dazed look. “Get in” was all Raphael said. Xavier stepped over the man lying on the sidewalk and obeyed. The drive to the chop shop was silent.

“Nice boys,” said Albert, exactly what they expected him to say. “Where this is going, they don’t even care about VIN numbers. Airport won’t miss one limo for a while.”

“Uh, yeah,” replied Raphael.

“Mick, Tommy,” yelled Albert, “get over here and get this loaded.” Two men scurried into action.

He turned to Raphael and Xavier and said, “you two, get out of here. Come back in a week and I’ll let you know if something comes up.”

“That was quite a limo, Boss,” Mick said after the container left port.

“Yeah, the boys got it from the airport. Sharp looking.”

“Boss, it was a custom job. Reinforced sides, bullet-proof glass, the works. I don’t think it came from the airport. Sorry, Boss, I thought you knew.”

“That’s alright, Mick. I’ll have to talk to the boys. Have them come in.”

Word on the street traveled fast. The head of the Donatelli Crime Family wanted blood. His mother suffered a broken hip and her driver was still in the hospital from a carjacking. Word reached Albert when the cargo ship was at sea.

The next day, the price went up for information on the carjackers. No one was to lay a finger on them, the Donatelli family alone would pick them up.

Xavier and Raphael showed up at Albert’s shop as summoned. “What you got for us now?” asked Xavier.

“Thought you said you got the limo from the airport?” asked Albert.

“You thought we got it from the airport, but we didn’t say,” said Xavier with new-found cockiness.

“Was there and old lady in it?”

“Yeah, but we didn’t think you’d want her.” Xavier chuckled.

“What did she say?”

“I dunno, something in French, I guess,” answered Xavier.

“That was Italian, you moron. That was the mother of the head of the Donatelli Crime Family. He has a price on you two geniuses. High enough I might give you up myself.”

“Raphael knifed the guy and threw the old lady down, not me,” pleaded Xavier.

“They don’t care. They want you both. Best plan is to leave town now.”

“Roll the widow up, I don’t want anyone to overhear us,” Raphael said.

“Here? Outside the shop?”

“Anywhere.”

“Geeze, Raphael, leave? I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve only been to New Jersey twice. I can’t leave, this is where I live.”

“This where you want to die tomorrow?”

“Okay, we’ll split. I’ll drop you off, then you drive and pick me up in a half hour at my apartment,” said Xavier.

Holy crap, they’ve got Xavier. Raphael slowed and continued by the apartment building. Three brutes tossed a limp form in the trunk, climbed into the car, and drove off like this was an everyday occurrence. Raphael tailed them to the warehouse district near the docks. They weren’t gentle in removing Xavier from the trunk.

From a window, Raphael watched Xavier get a beating.

“Where’s your partner?” SMACK.

“Who’s your partner?” SMACK.

“Boss wants both of you together.” SMACK.

He’s barely conscious. If he comes to, he’ll give me up in an instant.

Raphael dialed 911 on his cellphone. “Help, help, a man has been kidnapped and is being beaten by three men in Warehouse #24 on the East Docks. I saw it happen and am watching through a window at the warehouse. Come quickly.”

That should help.

Three sets of blue lights appeared within minutes and the occupants swarmed out of the cars and approached the warehouse. Raphael turned back to the window to watch the show unfold in the warehouse. He watched three sets of police officers entered the building. Upon seeing the three men intent on the forth in the chair, the officers announced their presence and order the three to stand down. The three moved away from the limp form in the chair and all pulled out weapons.

Gunfire was everywhere. When the smoke settled, the three men were down and two of the cops rushed to attend to the limp form in the chair.

“Call an ambulance, he’s still breathing. Look for the 911 caller; he might still be around.” That was Raphael’s cue to exit.

Raphael followed the ambulance to Mercy Hospital and watched Xavier get offloaded and wheeled in. Two hours later he entered and inquired about the man brought in.

“You mean John Doe? You know him? He’s conscious but can’t remember his name.”

“Yes, he’s John Smith, can I see him?”

“Well, okay, but just for a few minutes. This is his room. I will be back in ten minutes and you’ll have to come back with me and fill out some paperwork.”

“Raphael, good to see you,” Xavier said as Raphael entered.

“I thought your memory was toast.”

“Nah, all good. I thought it would be best if I didn’t give my name.”

“You okay?” asked Raphael.

“Yeah, a headache, but I’m good. What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later. We have to go before the nurse comes back. Here’s the sack with your clothes. Put them on; we have to sneak out of the hospital and head to Jersey or we’re both dead.” Both turned around at the noise at the door.

“Albert, nice of you to come. I didn’t know you cared,” Xavier said. “Getting kinda crowded in the hospital room.”

“You two going to split to Jersey like you said?”

“Yeah, right now.”

“Albert, would you lie in the bed with the covers over you so they don’t know Xavier’s gone?”

“Sure, for all you two have done for me, I can help you boys out.”

“Xavier, come with me. There’s a stairwell at the end of the hall.”

“Here, take my car,” said Albert. “They’ll be looking for yours,. You know what it looks like. It’s parked in the lot closest to the ER entrance. Don’t take the tunnel, take the bridge, it’s a safer route. Now get out of here before the nurse returns.”

Albert watched as the two quietly closed the stairwell door behind them and then dialed. “Yes, Mr. Donatelli, I know the last lead only had one of them. But now I have them both. They stole my car and are taking the bridge to Jersey. Blue Lincoln Navigator. Yes, Mr. Donatelli, I would be very interested in discussing a business arrangement with you. Thank you, Mr. Donatelli. I will wait for your associate to contact me.

# # #

NT Franklin writes after his real job hoping one day to have it be his real job. When not reading or writing short stories, you might find me fishing or solving crossword puzzles. https://www.amazon.com/N.-T.-Franklin/e/B013YXUBW6

Photo: Matthew Fassnacht