The assignment: A thief is tailed by the feds after they turn him/her loose from prison.
Garry Radcliff, an insurance investigator for the Pacific Indemnity Insurance Company came to the office of FBI Director Jack Manners.
Garry stated, “Now that Mary Haskins has been found guilty of complicity in the Colonial Bank job, it won’t do me or my company any good if she goes to jail. She admitted in court that Morgan West was the mastermind and thief, but he has vanished without a trace. Without her, we may never find her boyfriend.”
“I know,” said Jack, “we’re still looking for West, but every lead we’ve gotten on him, has led to a dead end.” Then he asked, “Why have you come to me?”
“I came to you because I have a plan,” Garry said, “if you could put a homing device on Haskins; arrange for her to escape while being transferred to the State Pen, we could trail her to her partner and recover the bonds.”
He thought about this and asked, “Why should I take the responsibility of letting her get away on the chance that she might lead us to Morgan West; what’s in it for me?”
“There is the standard ten percent recovery fee paid to the person or persons who finds those stolen bearer bonds. I thought perhaps five percent of $750,000 would be enough motivation for you.”
Jack sat back in his swivel chair and lit a cigar while his miserly mind contemplated a plan. “Let me see what I can arrange,” he slyly answered, “come back tomorrow afternoon and I will let you know.”
The next day when Garry arrived, Jack explained, “I have arranged for transmitting devices to be placed in Hawkins’ watch, a second one stitched into the lining of her handbag, and for good measure, there will be a third one secured in the heel of her left shoe.”
“That sounds good so far, but how are you planning her escape?”
“I will have two of my most trusted men posing as would-be rescuers. They will holdup the transfer vehicle and help Hawkins escape.”
“Really – what’s their cover story?
“They will tell her that Morgan West promised them a share of the loot if they broke her out of jail.”
“That will never fly,” Garry interrupted, “she’ll know it’s a setup.”
“That’s the beauty of the plan! We know it’s such a phony story that she won’t fall for it and will ditch them the first chance she gets. Then we’ll follow her when she goes to find West and the money. With the GPS tracking devices, we will know exactly where she is at all times.”
“That sounds like a plan to me,” Garry admitted.
“But there’s one small thing we must discuss,” Jack confessed.
“What’s that?”
“The reward money will have to be split three ways. I will need a third of it to pay off those who know about the scheme and cover the cost of the tracking materials.”
“How many people know about it?”
“Just the prison transport driver and guard plus my two men,” Jack confided.
“I don’t have any problem with that arrangement,” Garry agreed.
Three days later on the local news broadcast, the reporter announced, “Mary Haskins, convicted felon of the three-quarter million dollar robbery escaped early this morning while being transferred to the State Penitentiary. She is not believed to be armed but should be considered dangerous. The FBI and local law enforcement authorities report that they are in pursuit and should have her back in custody soon.”
The mock rescue went as planned and Mary went along with it as expected. Within hours of her liberation, she disappeared – also as predicted.
Garry traveled with Jack in the surveillance truck while they followed every move Mary Haskins made. They tracked her and interrogated every person she spoke to. Many of them admitted they had spoken to Mary Haskins, but not one of them would admit they knew where to find Morgan West.
There were times when the surveillance team lost sight of Haskins but continued to track her even when she took a Greyhound Bus from Buffalo, to New York City. At three o’clock they observed Haskins enter a branch of The First National Bank and when she came out, she was carrying an over the shoulder bag and an attaché case.
“I think we’ve got our money!” they both excitedly exclaimed.
Jack picked up his handheld radio and called for his backup team to move in and nab Haskins. But before anyone got to her, she had disappeared down into the New York City subway system. Jack immediately checked the GPS that indicated that Haskins was directly below them in the 42nd Street subway station. Suddenly, and to their amazed bewilderment, the signals split, one stayed below them, a second indicated that Haskins was heading up town, and the third said she was going downtown.
“What the hell’s going on?” Jack hollered into his radio.
One of his operatives reported from the subway platform, “I just found an old bag lady and she’s carrying Haskins’ handbag – she is telling me that some woman was getting on the train and just threw it to her.”
Jack sent his men chasing back and forth across town following the GPS signals. The left shoe was eventually found wrapped in a brown paper bag stuffed under a seat on a subway car in Brooklyn. The watch was located in White Plains, some 40 miles east of the shoe. The teenaged kid, who was hocking the watch, swore he didn’t steal it. His story was that some guy had hailed a cab and before it pulled away, the guy opened the window, called to him, and just tossed him the watch.
When Garry Radcliff and Jack Manners dejectedly returned to their respective offices, there was a message for each of them on their voice mail machines that said, “Greetings, my Champions of Justice. I hope you enjoyed the chase as much as we did. Sorry it was not as profitable for you as you had conjectured. Oh, and by the way, this is Mary Haskins, alias Morgan West. Don’t bother looking for either of me, since I am now financially solvent, I have decided to retire and we no longer exist. Have a nice day.”