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Suddenly, waiting to hear from Mateo just got a lot harder.
20
MATEO
Riccardo drivesus up to the location that Klein gave me. From what I can tell on the map, it’s right on the Delaware River on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
I’ve brought Raf and Enzo with me. Both skilled men I can count on for a mission like this. I know Enzo is itching to find anyone who had anything to do with the attack, too. His brother, Tony, deserves whatever vengeance we can give him.
We’ve all left our phones behind. From what Klein told me, they’re too much of a liability to bring with us. For all we know, there could be someone tracking our movements, waiting to ambush us. We think it’s some kind of warehouse, based on the little information Elio was able to give. There may be a few guys guarding the place at all times. We don’t know if there could be more inside. And we’re going up there in broad daylight.
Still, we strategize on the drive. We’ve brought radios and earpieces. We have a small arsenal between us.
Riccardo heads north on I-95 toward Trenton. Then we get on 295, taking the exit just before New Jersey and follow side roads running along the Delaware River. I track the turns in the road, the bends in the river on my map.
“We should be getting close,” I tell Riccardo. “It should be just after this bend.”
It’s a good thing it’s pretty rural out here. The coordinates I got from Klein are more of a general location. There aren’t a lot of buildings, but we’re looking for anything that could fit Elio’s description. Mostly it’s just trees, then an old house, then a sign for a mining quarry.
“Slow down,” I say. I scan the buildings at the edge of the quarry. One of them is a big concrete block structure that fits Elio’s description. “That could be it. Drive just a little further down and see if there’s anything else.”
Riccardo drives another half mile down the road. More tree-lined streets and the occasional house. No other industrial buildings like Elio told me about.
“It must have been the building at the quarry,” I say. “There was a side road just after it. Let’s take it and see if we can find a way in through the back.”
Riccardo finds a spot to turn around and then takes us back toward the quarry. He turns down the side road several hundred feet before the quarry entrance. We follow the road a little further until it starts to turn away from the quarry.
“Pull over here,” I tell Riccardo, pointing to the edge of the road where it turns.
I look through the woods toward where the building is. I can just make it out through the trees.
“This looks like a good spot to approach from,” I say. “Riccardo, you wait here, but turn the vehicle around in case we need to call you into the main entrance.”
Riccardo nods.
“We’ll go through the woods here,” I turn and tell Raf and Enzo. “Then we’ll fan out when we get to the edge of the trees.”
Raf and Enzo nod. The three of us turn on our radios and put in our earpieces. Riccardo turns on his radio and sets it on the center console.
Raf, Enzo, and I get out of the car and quickly head for the cover of the trees and into the forest. I hear Riccardo turn the car around behind us.
When we get a several yards into the woods, we pull out our guns and walk toward the back of the building at the quarry entrance. I watch for any movement, any people walking around or any cars or equipment running.
It’s quiet. I don’t hear any machinery or voices at all. As we get to the edge of the forest, I can clearly see the back of the large concrete building. No vehicles are parked in the empty lot behind it. To my left, there are more trees and a bucket loader that looks like it hasn’t run in years. To the right, piles of different types of gravel, rocks, and dirt for loading.
I whisper to Enzo to go out toward our right and that I’ll go to our left. “Raf, you cover the back. When we each get into place, radio and let us know what you see.”
Enzo and Raf nod. Enzo starts heading off in his direction and I go in mine. As I get further through the trees, I can see around the side of the building. There is another bucket loader parked closer to the entrance. It’s old, but in better condition than the broken down one. Still, it doesn’t look like it’s being used today.
I still don’t see any other vehicles. No employee cars and no people. They could all be parked on Enzo’s side of the building. I make my way up to the broken-down loader at the edge of the trees. From here I can see the front of the building. I don’t see anybody around.
“My side is clear,” I whisper into my radio. “And I don’t see anyone in the front.”
“It’s clear on my side too,” Enzo replies. “No vehicles, nothing.”
“The back is still clear,” Raf adds.
“I’m going to head to the front. Raf, you come around my side to the front corner and Enzo you come up your side to the front corner.”
