Code of Honor

35

Lucky Optical occupied the western half of a low whitewashed block building that contained only two businesses. Tucked back from the street less than half a mile from the airport, it was relatively modern, with a tile roof instead of tin like many of the other businesses in the area. The sign for a specialty meat shop that had once occupied the space next door said it sold everything from fruit bat to “fine-hair” meat — meaning dog. Dusty windows and an empty showroom said it had been vacant for a while.

Lucky Optical closed at five-thirty, according to its website, giving Clark and the team very little time to get in place beforehand.

Jack Junior and Midas jimmied a window in the vacant meat shop and sat down to wait for everyone from Lucky Optical to go home. Clark went inside for a little recon. He asked for a tiny screw for his reading glasses. A nice lady at the reception desk put the screw in for him while he scanned the interior for motion sensors, contact strips, and control panels — and anything else that might indicate an alarm system or booby trap. The single CCTV camera was tilted toward the ceiling and would get a shot of nothing but light fixtures, if it worked at all. It had likely been installed by the previous tenants and never removed.

Caruso parked at the end of the street, behind the thick sawblade leaves of some pandanus trees that ran beside the scooter dealership. Clark drove a block away in the other direction.

The team had their earpieces in again, relying on radios now instead of cell phones so they could all be on the same page.

The chubby eye doctor left first, followed by two female assistants who looked half his age. The woman who’d helped Clark with his glasses — probably the office manager — was the last to leave. She locked the door and then rode away on a scooter, paying no attention at all to the strange bunch of Toyotas lurking in her neighborhood.

“You are clear to go,” Clark said. “I’ll get Gavin on the line so he can talk you through what you need to do.”