Chapter 22 Chapter 21

The three guys who worked in the self-storage, Sweetman, Snow, and Sulu, who was wearing a black bandanna and sunglasses, brought cardboard boxes to hold the different weapons, and they packed each weapon Wrap them in newspaper first.The guns don't need to be stored very well, because from here it's only a matter of walking to Keith Harbor in a pickup truck for loading.With the door closed, it was really hot inside with a flashlight.Sulu turned the pickup truck around, drove halfway into the warehouse, and turned on the headlights.There's no one on Australia Boulevard from here anyway, so why not?When they finished packing, he turned the truck over so they could load from the rear.When they heard the noise outside, they thought it was someone's radio.They stopped listening and they heard a voice again and they knew something was wrong, shit, it was a bullhorn, and the cops were telling them, "Get out with your hands up!"

The voice said something they are federal police, told them to put down their guns, put their hands over their heads, and come out one by one! "They're still on the street, why are they shooting at us? They can only shoot at this door," Sweetman said. Snow said, "Hell, we've got all the guns we want." Sulu said, "Sweetman, get in the car and look out the back of the car and see where they are." He drove more than half of the car in just now, so he opened the door to get in the car, and he couldn't see it from the outside.Sulu began to search in the box, and said to Snow, "Where are those rocket-launching things we got from the big man?"

Sweetman came back and said that the police had set up green and white barricades at both ends of the street, and some people had climbed to the opposite roof and lay there.Sulu turned to him, holding an olive-green LAW rocket launcher, a twenty-four-inch cylinder with a handle, a sight for the trigger, and a diagram in the instructions. "How the hell does this thing work?" Sulu said, "The three of us each take one and get into the car." "I'd rather use my AK," Snow said. Sulu said, "We carry AK guns too, but this fucking thing keeps us free. Look, here's the explanation."

They all wore camouflage uniforms with identifying letters on their backs.Nikolai from the Authority, a man from the Investigations Department, and Boland, an elderly man in command of the Criminal Division of the Police Department, were crowded behind the radio van.They stared down the brightly lit street, flanked by warehouse doors, until they saw the back of a pickup truck jutting out of one of the warehouses.The surveillance team said that there were three people inside, all of whom were black boys.As the pickup came, two people jumped out; the driver first backed the van into it, then turned it around.Across the street from the pickup truck was a set of blue searchlights shining.There were about fifty heavily armed police officers at the scene.

"If they're all young people," said Nicolai, "the guy I want isn't in there, so I'll have to catch something alive. The only problem, I see, is that they have about a hundred and fifty machine guns, A big M-60 machine gun, grenades, and five or six rocket launchers. It might drag you down. These guys have more ammo than we do." "Are they going to open fire?" said the criminal police officer. "I don't want to find out," Nikolai said. "I'm afraid I'm going to go out there and deal with the black-talkers before they fire rockets at us."

"That truck is blocking the door." The criminal police officer said. "Just cover me," said Nicolai. "Shoot a burst of gunfire from the top of the van. We've got about seven seconds to jump in and jump on them while they're dazed. I To catch alive." Sulu took off his sunglasses, and read the illustration on the side of the LAW rocket launcher in front of the headlights. "'Pull the trigger'" Sulu read. "'Remove...tail...cover and...'" "'Leash,'" Snow said, "means the strap that removes the tailgate."

Sulu said, "On time, this thing," and read it again. "Now, 'Pull it off until...' damn it." "It's about fucking pull away," Sweetman said. "That's exactly what I did." Sulu said, "You pull yourself away. Hey, like this." His LAW rocket launcher was now thirty-six inches long. Sulu said: "'Song——...' What the hell is this word?" Snow said, "'Loose--open.' Yes, it says let go of--something. 'Loosen the insurance.' Yes, it's here. Let it go." Sulu said, "Push it up?"

Snow said, "Anyway, it's the goddamn release you're supposed to release. I see, yes, you push it. The next word says aim. You're ready to launch." Sulu said: "I just launch like this? What does the word below say?" Snow said: "'Take—' I think it means 'tighten'." "What does that say on the top? The 'danger'?" Sweetman said. Snow said, "Let me see. Yeah, it's 'Dangerous... exploding tail...'" Something hit the roof of the pickup.They heard it, and then they saw it, a long, round thing like a blaster, leaping over their heads and landing in the middle of the cardboard boxes.They heard what sounded like a snap.They stood still for about two seconds, and then the concussion bomb exploded, a flash of light blinded people's eyes, and an explosion was deafening, and the three of them were hit by the air wave and stuck to the front of the pickup truck.

They were all on the pavement, where their rocket launchers and machine guns were piled up, and they were all dazed, blinded by the dusty beams of the searchlights, and looked up to see the guns in camouflage the police. Nikolai bent over beside Sulu.He picked up a rocket launcher, glanced at the instructions, and put the weapon on the guy's chest. "Can't read, can you? You're fucking stupid—we couldn't figure out what you were doing just now. Got it?" Nicolai said. "I wish you hadn't dropped out." Ordell called Louis for a meeting at a bar on Broadway in the Riviera.The customers here are all black. Louis sat in front of the bar and looked back. Ordell told him, "You're fine, you're with me." Ordell was also nervous, smoking and drinking sipping rum; wanted to drive past the warehouse door to see what it was like, and he had to drive to Islamorada tonight to pick up Mr. Volka and put him in a Airplane to Freeport.Everything is imminent.However, that's good, I'll leave the city tonight, and don't show up too much tomorrow.

He said to Louis, "I want to tell you one thing mainly: Melanie goes to where they are trying on clothes." "The fitting room," Louis said, "I dare say there were no suits around before she came out." "Let her go," Ordell said, "but then don't go away, you don't go away until she comes out with the 'Macy' bag. You know what I mean? You take the bag and you break up with her , don't delay. If she gives you trouble, gag her. I mean, you must take the bag from her, understand? Otherwise, Melanie is gone, and the money is gone. Just lost it. It's all over. Five hundred and fifty thousand, man."