Trouble And Money #23
At any casino, you must step away from the table to make the money real, or you will lose. Crime, like gambling is a zero-sum game unless you walk away.
A Metal Warehouse In Southern New Hampshire - The Ponderosa
By the early nineties, the Kinneys had perfected every crime that could happen on a company's loading dock. Loads of manufactured goods or deliverables were loaded onto trucks that looked like what the company expected, with what was perceived as the proper paperwork. These crimes were more lucrative than an armored car heist and less dangerous for all involved.
Lisa Kinney had evolved over the years into the person who ran the day-to-day operations. What set the gang apart from "mere criminals" was their applied patience and forward thinking.
After their first big hit, a load of aftermarket car carburetors built in China, the family built a large warehouse facility in southern New Hampshire.
They rented it out to legitimate trucking companies as a hub for materials in New England. The constant in and out of large trucks became normal for that part of the industrial park.
The two-story portion of the complex was for materials that the Kinneys needed to cool while they arranged purchases. It was a legitimate business built around something that was planned around a kitchen table in the Charlestown projects.
The business ran well and made each Kinney "Quiet Rich".
The business became increasingly challenging as surveillance and tracking equipment became normal at every manufacturing or import company. One of the most vexing things the Kinneys learned to deal with was RFID tags, which applied a tracker to each unit on a small sticker.
Things were getting more complicated.
Lisa sat at her desk at what the Kinneys referred to as The Ponderosa.
She bit the affixed cap of a clear plastic pen, thinking about what the family would do next: hijack a load of critical machined parts used in every advanced military drone and then sell them to an Iranian-owned company.
She looked out the window at the gray day, thought about her age, and that her family was in the game for ten murders over the years.
She missed sitting around the family kitchen table in the old neighborhood, eating Hoodsies from the dairy company right down the street.
She could still taste the wooden spoon.
Doing time during their golden years was not the retirement plan that each Kinney wanted.
The technology problems, the gang's age, and the perserverance of shitty New England weather had the family thinking of doing a Bobby Orr, "Hanging up their skates" after this job.
It makes sense to make a final sale to Iran and then walk away clean. Most gangs wouldn't make this move, which is often their undoing.
At any casino, you must step away from the table to make the money real, or you will lose. Crime, like gambling, is a zero-sum game unless you walk away.
Trouble And Money is published Monday through Friday. It is a free serial fiction detective story with characters you will love. Read the adventures of Conrad Grange as he solves cases and contends with a harsh world.