Tag Archives: gumshoe

It was just before three am when the Lincoln came to a stop on the wharf. They watched for a few minutes making sure that what they were looking for was there. The chauffeur was the first out of the car pulling the mask over his face he waited for his passenger join him.
When they were ready they walked down the dock. As they reached the warehouse they were looking for, a small freighter was pulling away from in front of it. Mickey made easy work of the two men that had been left outside to keep an eye out for trouble. Quickly tying them up Barnes joked that maybe he should go out west and become a Rodeo star. Shaking his head the chauffeur picked up their typewriters and tossed them into the water. Inside the warehouse office three men were busy checking and counting the packages. While two others were busy counting and checking a satchel of cash.
Wasting little time they circled around the office and waited for them to come out. It would be easy enough they had done it all before and in the very same warehouse. It wasn’t long before two of the men came out carrying the satchel of cash. Barnes nodded to Mickey; nodding back he followed the men out. The other three men were busy loading the packages into six other satchels. They were laughing as they sampled some of the packages themselves. Mickey was back a couple of minutes later and settled next to his boss.
The phone rang in the office and one of them answered. It was short conversation they couldn’t hear any of it but when they hung up the three men hurriedly finished packing the satchels.
“Come on hurry up Tuna’s expecting us,” one of them said opening the office door.
“Was that him on the phone Smitty,” asked one of the others.
“Yeah,” Smitty returned. “Who do you think it’d be this time of night, fer cryin out loud? You’re not the smartest bum in your family are you?”
The second reached for his heater and cursed at him
“Knock it off you crumbs,” the third interrupted pushing the two apart. “We ain’t got time for this, let’s get on with it.”
Agreeing they would have it out at another time they each picked up two satchels and called out to let the others know they were coming out.
While they were arguing Barnes and Mickey had made their way back out of the warehouse and were waiting for them. As the three men came out Mickey grabbed the last two and knocked their heads together. The bodies of the two men went limp immediately and slumped to the ground. Barnes was behind the last man standing with both of his revolvers aimed at his chest. No words were spoken as the man noticed his two companions on the ground. Dropping the two satchels he lifted his hands up over his head. As Mickey began tying the three men together with the first two, Barnes made his way up the dock crane. When the men were securely tied they made quick work of the packages tearing each one open before tossing it into the bay. A half hour after they arrived the two were making their way back through the city streets.
“I’m a little hungry,” Barnes said from the backseat.
“Usual place,” he asked.
Barnes nodded and settled back in the comfort of the back seat.
Three hours later Joey would find his men hanging ten feet off the ground, suspended from a loading crane in a cargo net. As usual none of them could describe who it was that had attacked them. Then again they didn’t want to admit that there were only two of them. It was a familiar problem he’d been having over the past couple of years. Over the next few days and weeks he’d have more men at every exchange, but nothing would happen. When he’d cut back it was only a matter of time before he was hit again. As many people as he had in his pocket he still couldn’t find anyone that knew anything about them. He had a few ideas of his own and for his money there was only one man that had the brass to do what they had been doing.


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