CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Our next job was to go to Tampa and recon the football player’s home for the red Lamborghini. The owner, a wide receiver who had been drafted by the Bucs from the University of Florida six months before, was a bit of a show off. He was obviously new to money. He lived in a multi-million dollar mansion, with six cars in his garage and several more parked in his driveway. He drove the Lamborghini every day. I guess he wanted people to know he had ‘made’ it.
Genie and I watched him for a week from a wooded area near his home to get his patterns of movement down. By the time the week was over, I had figured out that the best way to get the car would be to hijack it while he was on the road, in the sub-division, where he would feel the safest.
Genie enjoyed the whole week we spent ‘camping out.’ We ate military MRE meals and freeze-dried food, talked to each other a lot about our pasts and where we wanted to go in the future. We took a lot of notes on the receiver’s movements. At times, I would have Genie follow him after he left the gated community and tell me where he was going by phone.
After all of our reconnaissance was done, Genie and I packed up everything, cleaned up the area, and went back home to plan things out. Once we had everything ready, we went back to the sub-division to put things into motion.
Genie went into the wooded area behind Mr. receiver’s house to watch for him to leave. It was early evening and from our earlier surveillance, we knew he would be going out within the next hour. Genie had a ‘burner phone,’ and would contact me on my burner when he pulled out of his driveway.
When I got the signal, I quickly set things up. I was about a half mile from the front gate to the sub-division. The gate was hidden from sight by a curve in the road, and there was a small wooded area I could conceal myself in. There was no moon out and it was cloudy with drizzling rain.
I laid a dummy in the middle of the road that was the size of a small child and was wearing colorful children’s clothing. Beside the dummy, I placed a child’s bike. Before I went back to my hiding place, I flipped a switch near the dummy’s chest that activated a small battery operated motor that moved one of its’ arms a little bit in order to enforce the illusion of life and injury.
A minute or two later, car lights came around the corner and just as I predicted, Mr. Receiver, Mr. red Lamborghini screeched to a halt, jumped out of his car, and ran to the injured ‘child.’
Before he could place his hand on the dummy though, I was right behind him. I slugged him on the side of his neck where the sciatic nerves connected right below his jaw. He went down like a sack of potatoes.
I caught him before he hit the asphalt and quickly drug his limp body to the edge of the woods, propping it against a tree. I threw the dummy and the scooter in the passenger seat of the still running Lamborghini, closed the door and drove off.
After going through the gate, I drove about two miles to an empty school parking lot and put the car into the trailer. I called Genie to let her know it was done. She walked out of the woods and drove our rented car to the rest area we’d parked in when we’d be been surveilling the car dealership.
Earlier that day, about an hour before they closed, we had gone there to look at some cars. We had been disguised as an affluent, middle-aged couple looking for a few ‘play toys.’
We drove up to the dealership in a ‘clean’ Mercedes that Miguel loaned me. When we got out of the car, A salesman approached us and showed us some cars.
When we got to the Lamborghini I wanted, I sat down in it and turned it on while Genie chatted with the salesman, keeping his attention. I turned off the car and switched the keys from the ring they were on with a set I had in my pocket. I had gotten them from an associate of T.O.’s, a locksmith, and had bought the ring and tag from a hardware store. I made a label on my computer from the video I’d shot.
Yes, it was simple as that.
About an hour after I’d stolen the car from Mr. Receiver, I pulled the trailer to the side of the road about half a mile from the dealership and called Genie on the phone. She drove up and picked me up, then dropped me off at the front of the place. By now, it was raining steadily and pretty hard, so visibility was pretty low.
I got out of the car, walked onto the lot, walked right up to the Lamborghini, and opened the driver’s side door. I drove it off the lot and down the street, then pulled it into the trailer. All-in-all, it took maybe five minutes. Genie followed me in the Mercedes as I drove the trailer to the pre-arranged meeting area that T.O. had told me about earlier, and a few hours later, T.O. wired me a hundred and fifty grand. Another job successfully completed.
Genie was amazed. She couldn’t believe that it was that easy. She was ready to hit Fort Knox or the World Bank.
I chuckled at her enthusiasm and stopped her before she got too wound up. I explained to her that this wasn’t a game, that there were always unforeseen occurrances, things could go wrong. Like my old buddy, Neville used to say, ‘no plan survives contact.’ Although everything had gone well for us that night, anything could have gone wrong and we would have had to be ready for it.
I told Genie about my time in prison, and how I’d gotten there. It really moved her heart. Tears flowed down her face as she listened to me and thought about me being locked behind bars. She wanted to go find the rat who’d put me there and beat the crap out of her.
I then told Genie that my issue wasn’t with the rat, it was with a dirty cop who’d stolen my money while I was in jail.
Caesar had gotten back with me a few weeks before with the information. I now had a name and address. The cop’s name was James Raine. He was a detective who’d been one of the investigators on my case.
I told Genie that I was trying to let it go, to forget about it, as Caesar had advised me. To be truthful, I still wanted my money and also a little payback to go with it. But, I couldn’t figure out how to get it without going back to prison.
Genie agreed with Caesar, saying she knew it was best to just let it go. She was very supportive. She now knew about everything. Well, almost everything. She knew about my childhood, my mother dying and the damage that caused, my life as a thief, my time in prison. I didn’t tell her about Heather, my dead prostitute girlfriend. I just couldn’t see the need to tell her about that.
Genie loved me, and I loved her. For the first time in my life, I was truly happy. We talked about marriage. I told her about my dreams of retiring in South America or Mexico or somewhere like it.
She told me she’d go anywhere with me, near water if possible, as long as we were together. Wow! I really love that woman.