Bad Beat - Chapter 11 - Silence (Patreon)

Gabriel enjoyed the silence surrounding him for a long moment before whispering.

“Do you know where our pallet is? Over.”

While he waited for Mia to look it up, he stepped deeper into the warehouse, looking around curiously. Most of the boxes were piled on top of each other, fixed in place with cling film, looking like they were one stiff breeze away from collapsing.

Reading the paper stapled to the nearest stack of boxes, he blinked in surprise.

A full stack of used graphics cards.

The next one held computer coolers.

After that, the boxes contained some kind of aftermarket component for watercoolers. The one used in offices.

He walked around, reading more and more labels, only to come to one very important conclusion: Electric Jackals were complete garbage at organizing things.

Electric components next to household items. Followed by toxic substances, which were – for some reason – stacked on top of a pallet full of toilet seats.

Finally, after ten minutes, Mia spoke up.

“Found it!” she declared happily. “Get your phone out, and I’ll send you the tracking numbers. Over.”

“Isn’t there a map?” he asked, sounding dismayed. “Over.”

“I’m just happy they even had a spreadsheet with the numbers. Over,” Mia said, disdain in her voice obvious.

Gabriel let out a long-suffering sigh and pulled out his phone to see the numbers.

Then, like a nearsighted grandmother at a supermarket, he began to blindly wander around, occasionally glancing at the screen to see if he could find the pallets Mia had diverted.

Though while he was here, he felt his fingers itch…

That stack of used graphics cards?

Into a card it went.

A few dozen boxes stuffed full of off-brand hard drives?

Don’t mind him!

By the time he found their pallets, several sections of the warehouse shelves were looking noticeably thinner. Idly glancing back the way he came, Gabriel winced, as he had the distinct feeling it wouldn’t take the gangbangers more than a few hours to realize they had been robbed.

Maybe even less…

‘I hope Mia forgives me…’ he mused as he confirmed the tracking numbers.

Once that was done, he absorbed three different pallets into his cards – one loaded with laptops and tablets, another stacked with smartwatches, phones, and peripherals.

He was already salivating at the thought of what he might be able to build with all the loot he was carrying. Checking his deck, he saw that he still had more than twenty cards free.

“Overwatch, do you copy? Over.”

“I have been listening to your breathing for the last twenty minutes. Over,” Mia deadpanned.

Gabriel ignored the sass.

“I found the pallets. Does the spreadsheet have anything interesting we could grab while we’re here? Over,” he asked.

“A moment. Over,” came the immediate reply.

As he waited, Gabriel took a seat on a stack of boxes, idly playing with the phone in his hands while scanning the warehouse through his green-tinted lenses.

So far, the entire heist had been easier than he expected.

‘Much fewer laser traps than media told me…’ he chuckled to himself.

Gabriel had basically just walked in and started browsing the place like he was back at the grocery store he worked at.

Smooth sailing, as the saying goes.

His musings were interrupted by Mia.

“Found something. Over.”

“What is it? Over,” he asked, immediately getting to his feet.

“There was a delivery today. No description, but it’s marked as important. Over,” she reported.

“Chances of it being drugs? Over,” he asked uneasily.

“Not much,” Mia replied calmly. “Electric Jackals – as the name suggests – are mostly into electric crimes. They usually build websites that sell drugs rather than dealing with the product directly. Over.”

Gabriel considered that for a moment, then shrugged.

He had the card space.

And if it turned out to be useless, he could just destroy it.

His phone buzzed.

And just like that, he was back on the hunt.

Gabriel found the pallet right on the far side of the warehouse from where he had entered, sitting next to a set of stairs that led up to an observation room with giant windows that probably doubled as a simple office. Thankfully, the guard stayed in an outside booth – they had to protect several warehouses, not just this one.

His suspicion spiked instantly when he saw it.

While the other pallets, boxes, and crates in the warehouse looked like a drunk monkey had packaged them while several others tried to sabotage the effort, this one was pristine.

The pallet itself wasn’t made of recycled wood but some kind of grayish-black polymer, completely smooth and without markings. The boxes stacked on it were immaculate – no dents, no scratches, not even a scuff. Each one had been individually wrapped in film and secured with a polymer net for extra stability.

Gabriel slowly walked around it, careful not to touch anything.

There was no writing anywhere.

No labels.

Not even a ‘This Way Up’ symbol.

It smelled dangerous to Gabriel.

But it also smelled expensive.

“Overwatch. Do you copy? Over,” he murmured.

“Copy, Shadow. What is it? Over.”

“Are you sure there is nothing in there explaining what these are? Over,” he asked.

“I checked, Shadow. Just marked urgent. No description. Not even a delivery address. Blank all the way. Over,” Mia replied.

Gabriel let out a sigh.

He pulled out his multi-tool, flicked the knife open, and approached the pallet.

One careful slice with his power-created tool cut through several layers of transparent wrap. A few more quick cuts later, the top box was accessible.

With considerable hesitation, he lifted the cardboard flaps, revealing the contents inside.

He was just about to lean closer–

When Mia’s voice suddenly cut through his earpiece.

“Shit. They’re coming. Leave!”

Gabriel didn’t waste time asking questions.

Instead, he raised a card and absorbed the entire pallet without even checking what kind of card it produced.

Then he turned and hurried toward the door he had entered through.

Granted, he didn’t really run.

The warehouse floor was far too cluttered for that, and crashing into something would make far too much noise. Instead, he power-walked, weaving between stacks of boxes and pallets while doing his best not to kick stray cardboard or plastic packaging.

He had made it about halfway across the warehouse when a sound froze him in place.

A door somewhere behind him opened without care, its unoiled hinges squealing loudly in the otherwise silent warehouse.

The noise echoed through the cavernous space.

Gabriel’s breath quickened.

Then he heard voices approaching.

“…and I told that bitch if he’s late again, I’m going to cut him up and into tiny little pieces and feed him to my iguana,” came from the first voice.

It sounded rough – like someone who spent a lot of time yelling and smoking – and it carried a thick layer of arrogance.

Two more distinct voices laughed.

But to Gabriel’s ears, the laughter sounded forced.

‘A boss and two mooks,’ he concluded immediately.

He was about to start moving again when one of the mooks spoke.

“Did we really have to pick up the product this late?”

“You mean this early,” the other corrected him. “It’s almost one in the morning.”

“That’s when the guys wanted it picked up, so that’s when we pick it up,” the boss said, shutting the conversation down instantly. “Bring the pallet jack. It’s freezing.”

“Yes, boss…”

Gabriel slowly exhaled through his nose.

He was thinking he would get away clean, when one of the mooks spoke up.

“Hey, boss?”

“Yes?”

“Where’s the pallet?”

The silence that followed seemed to spread across the entire warehouse.

Gabriel could almost feel it pressing down on him.

After a moment of silence, the boss spoke up.

“What did you say?”

“Uh… you said it was in the priority spot, right?”

“Yes. It’s always in the priority spot, so it can be moved quickly instead of hunting it down in this chaos people call organization,” the boss replied sharply.

“Well, boss… I’m standing at the priority spot.”

A pause.

“It’s not here.”

Gabriel heard the sound of heavy footsteps moving around.

A long moment passed.

Then…

Cursing.

Yelling.

Something crashed loudly against the floor.

“Where is it? Where did the fucking pallet go?” the boss yelled, his hoarse voice echoing across the warehouse.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps as the three men began searching the immediate area. More curses followed as they tried to see through the darkness.

The boss finally had enough. “Get the light, you fools!”

A second later, there was a loud click, and the halogen light overhead flickered to life one by one, flooding the entire warehouse with harsh white light.

Instantly, Gabriel’s lenses whited out as the mask struggled to adjust to the sudden change in illumination, blinding him momentarily.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was still standing between two rows of shelves, the only thing preventing him from being seen being several stacks of boxes precariously balanced on top of each other.

It was at that moment that he realized Mia had been yelling at him the whole time.

“…Shadow! Shadow! You utter moron! Move! MOVE!” she shouted, desperation bleeding into her voice even though she had enough presence of mind to avoid saying his real name.

Shaking himself out of his stunned stupor, Gabriel crouched down and immediately began moving toward the door.

Well, it was more like a slow, awkward waddle.

Behind him, the boss continued barking orders.

“Search the entire warehouse! I want that pallet found, or your heads are rolling!”

Gabriel could hear them spreading out now, first checking the obvious locations before gradually fanning out through the aisles.

He was halfway to the door when one of the mooks suddenly called out.

And Gabriel’s heart dropped into his stomach.

“Boss! I found something!”

“What is it? What is it?”

Gabriel froze again, straining to hear.

“Here! Do you see it?”

“See what?”

“Footprints. On the boxes.”

Gabriel silently cursed himself.

Earlier, he had climbed on those same boxes to check a higher stack that was labeled as containing processors.

Step by careful step, he edged closer to the exit.

When he finally reached the door, he glanced back once more.

No one was looking his way.

Slowly, carefully, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around the handle.

He took a deep breath.

Then, moving as slowly and deliberately as possible, he began pulling the door open.

Unfortunately, the universe seemed determined to ruin his night.

When he had entered earlier, the door had been silent as a mortuary. Now, even that tiny movement produced a sound that echoed like a scream across the cavernous warehouse.

Gabriel froze.

His eyes widened.

Through his earpiece, he could hear Mia furiously packing up equipment while yelling at him – while behind him…

A lot of movement.

“They’re still here!”

“Catch them!”

“I want them alive!”

Gabriel didn’t hesitate anymore.

He jerked the door open the rest of the way – producing even more awful screeching – and burst into a sprint.

Behind him, the gang members gave chase, shouting obscenities and threats as they tried to navigate the still-shadowed warehouse aisles.

Finally, one of them had had enough.

Even with his heart pounding in his ears and his lungs burning for air, Gabriel clearly heard the shout behind him.

“Fuck it!”

BANG

“Don’t shoot! Do you want to wake up the entire neighborhood?”

Gabriel dove forward, hitting the ground hard on his shoulder as the bullet slammed into the wall well above him.

Scrambling back to his feet, he didn’t even risk a glance behind him.

He just kept running.

“I’m done with clean up. Meet you back at the place,” Mia said through his headset.

Then the line went dead.

Reaching a fork in the alleyways, he jumped to the side, pressing himself flat against the wall while trying to control his breathing.

His choice proved correct when one of his pursuers ran past him seconds later, clearly unused to navigating the maze of back alleys in complete darkness.

Taking several shallow breaths, Gabriel tried to calm himself, but it didn’t really work.

His heart was still hammering.

His hands were shaking.

And his lungs burned from the sprint.

He knew that at any moment the entire gang could descend on the area, cutting off his escape routes, so he listened carefully for approaching footsteps.

But the only ones he could hear were fading farther and farther away.

Keeping close to the walls, he began shuffling down the alley, heading toward the main road where he could eventually circle back to the dark alleyway where he had changed earlier.

While doing this awkward sideways shuffle, he ripped off his headset and fumbled his phone out of his pocket. Both were quickly absorbed into cards. Then he destroyed both of them without hesitation.

No evidence.

No trail.

When he still didn’t hear anything behind him, he picked up his pace.

First, a fast walk.

Then a jog

Then another burst of running.

His lungs felt like they were on fire, but he refused to stop.

Fifteen minutes later, he finally reached the alleyway where he had originally changed.

Bent over slightly, Gabriel gasped for breath as he quickly tugged off his shoes, pants, and shirt before switching back into his regular clothes.

The disguise was destroyed immediately.

The Shadow Stalker Hoodie, however, went into a card instead

It was far too valuable to destroy.

Gabriel planned to repurpose it later.

For now, it would stay safely stored away.

Once he finished changing, he retrieved his usual work backpack, wiping sweat and grime from his face as best he could. He didn’t know how he got so dirty when he was covered from head to toe the entire time.

Then he stepped out of the alley and began walking toward the store where he worked, while also doing his best to get his wildly pounding heart under control.

With every step, he half expected a hit squad from the Electric Jackals to descend on him. But as he merged into the growing crowd of early morning commuters on the main road – nothing happened.

People walked to work with tired expressions, heads down, some sipping coffee while others stared at their phones.

Nobody looked at him.

He was just another forgettable face in the crowd.

His phone buzzed.

Pulling it out, he saw a good morning message from Mia.

Gabriel smiled slightly and sent back a sleepy emoji.

A moment later, he received a crying face followed by a green puking emoji.

‘Green means everything is good on her end. Good.’

He spent the rest of the walk chatting with her about completely inane things, both of them carefully avoiding any mention of electronics or warehouses.

By the time he reached the store where he worked, his heart had finally slowed to something approaching normal.

He said his goodbye and slipped the phone back into his pocket before fishing the keys out of his bag.

Time to open the shop…

And pretend he hadn’t just kicked over a hornet’s nest.

Maybe during his break, he would have time to have a breakdown…