|Never Let Me Down Again||Joel Miller|

Chapter Nine

Joel paced back and forth. "You've got to be kidding me." He muttered under his breath.

"What's going on?" Caroline said as she sat up from her sleeping bag. She had been sleeping, but awoke to Tess and Joel standing in the corner of the grocery store, both looking very concerned.

"Nothing." Joel said sharply, then turning back to Tess.

"Hey, if I'm part of this team now, you've gotta tell me everything. No secrets." Caroline said as she got up and started walking towards Tess and Joel.

"Our merchandise was stolen. Now we've only got half as much supplies for our client as we were supposed to deliver."

"He's gonna kill us." Tess muttered under her breath.

"What do you mean it was stolen." Caroline asked, clearly showing concern in her voice.

"Raiders came over night. We had all the supplies strapped into the back of the truck so that we could leave early this morning. When I went to check it out this morning, almost half of what we had was stolen." Joel explained.

"Why would they take only half? Was anything else stolen?"

"Nope. Just some of the guns that we were supposed to deliver."

"That is the strangest thing. Maybe they only took what they could carry away." Caroline wondered.

"Honestly, I don't care why they took what they did. We just need to find replacements before we get down to Georgia. Tess is right. If we don't bring the stuff we promised, our client will kill us."

"Can't Leo just, deal with him?" Caroline suggested.

"If you're suggesting what I think you are, then you really don't have a clue about this business." Said Tess.

"Yeah, there's no dealing with it in the way you're talkin'." Joel told Caroline. "Word would spread, and boom. We've got no more business."

"So, what's your plan?" Caroline asked.

"Get more guns." Joel said, point blank.

"It's not going to be as easy as 'get more guns' Joel, and you know that." Tess responded sharply.

"I'm sorry." Joel took a deep breath and buried his head in his hands. "I just don't know what to do."

"Well where did you get the guns in the first place?" Caroline asked.

"From inside the Boston QZ. Wasn't easy." Tess explained.

"Well, are there more in there?" Caroline responded with a slightly annoyed tone, almost frustrated they didn't already think of just breaking in and getting more.

"It wasn't easy getting the first batch. Now I'm sure there's extra security out there since they know they just got broken into." Joel told her, the frustration in his voice growing.

"Yeah, but you've got me this time."

"Oh, and you just think you're all that, don't you?" Tess said, confrontationally stepping towards Caroline.

"I was just saying, I can help." She said, throwing up her hands to show Tess she wasn't looking for a fight.

"Ok, well what are your ideas then? We walk in, they kill us. End of story."

"How'd you get in the first time?"

"Our original plan took months to work out. Now that they've seen it and had time to study exactly how we infiltrated their base, they know what to look for."

"I hate to say it, but Tess is right." Joel said, reinserting himself into the conversation.

"Doesn't FEDRA have feeder bases outside of the ones in the main city?" Caroline said.

"Yeah, they've got warehouses all throughout the country. Holdin' the stuff they don't want muckin' up the main QZs." Joel explained. 

"So there's gotta be one around here somewhere. We break in, we get back our guns."

"No. It's not that easy." Tess said, shooting down Caroline's idea immediately.

"It would be easier to break into a warehouse than the whole damn QZ." Joel pointed out.

"When we broke into the QZ, if you'd remember, we had the whole town mapped out. We knew where every security guard was stationed, where every check point was, hell we even knew the exact room where our supplies were. We'd be going in totally blind this time. We don't even know if these bases have guns in them, let alone the type our client asked for."

"It's worth a shot." Caroline said, oozing optimism.

"I agree." Said Joel, starting to walk away from Tess' wrath  that he was about to face.

"Of course you'd agree with her." Tess said as she walked after Joel.

"That's got nothing to do with it, Tess. And stop talkin' about her like she's not in the room."

"Ok fine. You both have until dark to put together a plan. Figure out how the hell we are supposed to break into a FEDRA warehouse and steal all their guns without getting killed."

Joel and Caroline looked at each other from across the room.

"You in?" Joel asked her.

"I'm in."

"This better be good, Joel. Or so help me god."