Operation Last Ditch Effort

Chapter 17: The Package

The hum of the engine filled the brisk morning air as Sal breathed little puffs of smoke billowing out his nostrils. Why did it have to be so cold? Thank God I never went into the postal service. Too cold for my taste. Scraping windows. Walking through snow, rain, sleet. Nope, not for me. Well, good thing Kane still owed me one. Poor chap does this every day. Nope couldn't do it. Finally. 

Sal knocked the scraper against the car before plopping into the tiny white vehicle with a blue eagle plastered on the side. 

Sal wrung his bare hands together trying to breathe life back into his fingers now numb from the cold. Let's do this. The manila envelope sat in Sal's lap as he made his rounds passing by houses stopping every few minutes to shove an assortment of materials into the mailboxes. Open. Shove. Close. Drive. Stop. Repeat. Boring. Poor Kane. He should've stayed in the business. 

Turning into the next neighborhood Sal scanned the area his eyes landing on the all too obvious black van. Really. Amateurs. He made his way down the street keep a watchful eye on the van through his rearview mirror as he came to the house next to Megan's. Pulling up to Megan's mailbox he noticed a woman working in front of the house. She was kneeling down pulling weeds from around her roses. She turned as Sal paused in front of her mailbox. 

She made brief eye contact with Sal before nodded a hello as Sal placed the package in the box and closed the lid. They'll want to know what's in the package. Act natural. Not to fast. Walk. Calm. Breathe. Flipping through the mail she made her way back to the house. Megan went back inside with the package tight in her grip. She threw the mail on the coffee table at the door but held onto the manila envelope. The envelope was heavy with an odd shape at the bottom. What on Earth has Marj sent me? She tucked the package under her jacket to avoid any prying eyes as she passed by the window and stepped into the bathroom.

#

"Looks like the mailman's here." Said the man in the dark van parked at the corner. Dark circles hung under his eyes looking like he'd awake for days. He yawned as he scratched at the stubble that had started to form around his neck giving him a five o'clock shadow.  

He stretched as the woman next to him put down her paper as she responded, "Oh, anything interesting?" 

She moved to pull her long brown hair back into a ponytail as she looked to the driver for his response. 

Shaking his head he turned facing the woman whose deep blue eyes pulled him in like an ocean as he replied, "No, looks like regular bills and such. Wait there's an envelope."

"What?" replied the woman as she looked at the man with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, see that there's an envelope." The man replied pointing to Megan as she walked into the house.

"She doesn't seem surprised it's probably nothing." Said the woman shaking her head as she picked her paper back up.

"Well, we should still check it out." Replied the man looking at the woman with his head cocked to the side.

"Yeah and how would you propose we do that genius?" said the woman sarcastically as she flipped through her paper paying little attention to the man next to her.

"We could wait until she leaves for her daily shopping trip and break in to check it out." the driver responded.

"Will you two be quiet I'm trying to listen in. That bug you guys put in yesterday is acting up again." Said a small man in the back who was hunched over staring at a screen with a pair of headphones over his ears.

The woman lowered her paper to respond. "Watch her make sure where she puts the envelope."

The driver pulled out his binoculars and watched as Megan walked past a window with no sign of the envelope. He never noticed the strange way she was holding her right arm at her side missing what was right in front of him.