The rehearsal of the stop with Kate acting as Gillies went off without a hitch. That gave the six of them the confidence to go the next morning and execute the job.
Ian and Rab were sitting in their car in a strip mall parking lot. They were to wait for the word from Lauren and Moussa that Gillies was on the move. Then, they would wait for the triplet of vehicles to pass and Rab would then swing them into position.
While waiting, Ian started thinking about how he and Rab had constantly been chomping at each other throughout this whole ordeal. Rab seemed decent. It was unfortunate that conflict existed between them. Ian recalled that Kate had told him that he was an amateur stock car racer originally from Lebanon. He had nothing in common with stock car racing, so trying to connect over that would seem forced, so he went with the Lebanon angle.
"Your name, Rab. Is that from the Middle East?"
"Yeah," replied Rab blandly. "My parents are from Lebanon. I'm named after the town where they are from. Rab Thalathine. Thalathine is not my last name, so, you can't Google me. They missed their home during the occupation, so it prompted my parents to give me an unusual first name."
"My Dad named me Ian because the last letters in the word Indian, are I-A-N."
"Ian, I really don't care. I will tolerate you until we finish with the Benefactor, then I hope to never see you again."
That shut down conversation pretty quickly. In an attempt to swing the moment away from the tension between him and Rab, he decided to do a communications check with everyone on the Bluetooth.
"Hello everyone, this is Ian. Are we all online?"
"Lauren, here."
"Moussa is present."
From beside him "Rab is listening."
"Bill and Dean are here." It was Dean. Bill was driving, so Dean probably answered for both.
"Good. Dean and Lauren, confirm you are in position."
"Bill and Dean are in position. We have eyes on the car. No movement yet."
Lauren replied immediately afterwards, "We are in place. Awaiting the word."
Ian looked at his watch. Bill said that Gillies left the house daily between 8:10 and 8:15. It was 8:03, they had a few minutes to spare.
Instead of again attempting any form of conversation with Rab, Ian thought about Kate. Ian really wished that she would take part in this, but she was adamant in refusing. She was fearful for her safety if the Benefactor found out that she had been seeing Ian, or hanging out with the gang. It was not a fight, but she stressed that she was really getting tired of being pressured into their actions. Ian did not want to admit it, but perhaps there were some cracks forming already in their nascent relationship.
Ian's earpiece crackled with Lauren's voice "Gillies is out of the house. He's heading to the car."
Immediately, thoughts of Kate dropped from Ian's mind. The adrenaline started pumping and Rab and Ian both sat up and repositioned themselves in the seats. From their estimates, it would be three minutes, give or take, from the time that Gillies pulled out of his driveway until he passed the strip mall where they were parked.
"He's on his way, we are taking up a position behind him." Lauren sounded calm. Ian wondered if she was feeling the adrenaline too.
Three minutes seemed to take forever.
Dean's voice crackled over the headset, "Bill did not make the turn, Gillies is past us. Bill would not pull into traffic."
Krap. Ian started doing some rapid-fire thinking. If they pulled out now, could they get Gillies to slow down and stop? He was about to tell Rab to get on the road when Lauren's voice came over the headset, "We are passing him, we'll take the front position. Dean can you take the back?"
It seemed like Lauren was calling the shots.
"No, we can't catch up. We've just turned onto the boulevard."
Ian jumped in. "When you pass, we'll take up the rear. Dean, get the lead out and take the side position. We can still box him in."
"Got it, trying to catch up now."
Ian saw Lauren and Moussa pass the strip mall, followed by the car that had been described as belonging to Stephen Gillies. Before Ian could say anything, Rab had their car already moving to fall in behind. Ian kept turning to get a visual on Bill and Dean.
"Where are they?" Rab was trying to stay close to Gillies while watching his mirrors.
"I don't see them."
Lauren chirped in, "Library approaching quickly. We are going to start slowing down."
"Dean! Are you going to be able to make it?" Ian was getting anxious.
"We are travelling with the speed of traffic. I don't think we'll make it unless you really slow him down."
"Lauren, can you stop him?"
"No, he looks like he might try to pass. His indicator is flashing."
Ian could see that. "Keep going! We are going to abort. It's not going to work. Scatter!"
Rab, hearing everything, pulled out and passed Gillies as he was turning on the street at the library.
Ian looked down the street. Gillies did not look rattled. That was a good sign, but Ian was looking at the back of his head over a distance.
Neither he nor Rab spoke on the way to the Central Shopping Mall. Ian was frustrated, and suspected Rab felt the same. Ian further conjectured that Rab was even more frustrated because he had crafted the plan that failed. He was quick to ride Ian when Ian's initial plan to bust Dean out of the hospital did not work and the "smash and grab" plan Rab proposed did work. But Ian was too wise to bring that up.
The three cars pulled up at the Central Shopping Mall almost simultaneously. The six of them got out and met around the hood of Rab's car.
"What happened?" Moussa, for once, was asking the question.
Bill, shamefacedly replied, "I could not get off the side street because of the traffic. It was heavier than I expected. And when I did, we were so far behind that we could not catch up."
"That's OK," said Lauren. Moussa and Rab were nodding and Rab even reached out and put a hand on Bill's shoulder.
"That's bullshit." Dean burst out. "He folded. He chickened out. He's a coward. He would not pull into traffic because he was afraid. It's as simple as that. He's too used to sitting behind a computer where he's anonymous. Now that we are doing real work, actual physical work, he's useless." There was spittle coming out of his mouth as he was ranting.
"I'm sorry," Bill said weakly. "I am not as daring as I need to be."
"You're pathetic."
Lauren snapped. "Dean. Shut your damned mouth. You have no clue what Bill offers this team. He's been the one who has been keeping the heat off of us. The reason your photo is not all over the news for taking $35000 from the bank is because Bill intercepted and deleted the feed. The reason you are not sitting in a hospital or jail is because Bill found you in the psych ward of the hospital, and managed to find out when they were moving you so we could get you while you were mobile. He's also the one who has given us the biggest lead in finding out who the Benefactor is. What have you done? You resisted the planning for our part of the heist. You violated the rules the Benefactor gave us in stealing money. You robbed a gas station using the same disguise as the heist. You are the reason we are now so desperate to rid ourselves of the Benefactor. Lay off Bill. He's contributed far more than you!"
Ian glanced around and saw that Lauren was backed by Moussa and Rab. Ian backed her too.
Lauren, took a breath, and changed subjects. "How are we going to fix what happened today?"
No one wanted to break the silence. So, Ian spoke up "I don't think Gillies knows we tried to stop him. He looked pretty casual as he turned at the library. I think we can try again tomorrow to stop him."
Bill looked up. "You sure?"
"I'm sure. If he was spooked, he'd stay on the main boulevard, not turn off onto a smaller street that provided less freedom of movement." That seemed to provide comfort to Bill.
"Want to do it again tomorrow?"
"I won't." It was Dean.
"Why not?" Lauren looked like she was challenging him.
"You are angry with me, and I obviously am not liked and can't contribute."
"Listen," Lauren stated. "I may have been forceful, but I stand by what I said. However, you do contribute. And we like you. Just as I like Ian, Rab, Moussa and Bill. I don't think we can lose the Benefactor's control without your support."
"Well, if we do this again tomorrow, I am NOT riding with Bill." Evidently, he was still stinging.
"I'll ride with Bill," said Lauren, matter of factly.
Moussa jumped in, "I'll ride with Dean."
"OK." Ian took the reins of the conversation. "We need to make some changes. First, we need to look at changing the cars up. Gillies might recognise Moussa's car. Plus, should we look at putting the car in front of him to begin with instead of trying to get one along the stretch?"
"We could start down his street as he is heading to the car. That way we don't have to fight traffic to get onto the boulevard in time to stop him." Bill made sense. With Gillies behind them, it would be nothing to have traffic clear for two cars.
"OK. So, we keep Bill and Lauren in the back. Dean, you and Moussa take the front. Rab and I will stay in our position. That should solve the issue."
Lauren finished up for the group. "Good. Let's get out of here, and we'll meet at the Diner at 7 tomorrow."
Ian decided to take the bus back to his place. His confidence was shaken. Not because of what happened with Dean, but because Kate was not comfortable, and they had not solved the Benefactor problem.