by Carl Weber
“Good morning,” she said.
“Morning.” I wanted to hug her but decided against it when friggin’ Bob walked up and affectionately placed his arm around Kia. She looked embarrassed.
Bob was a bald, middle-aged, out-of-shape white guy who owned a Copy Hut store in Manhattan. He was one of Kia’s regular clients and very much in love with her, which was apparent in his willingness to drop everything and drive us to Texas. This guy had been kissing her rear the entire way down to Texas.
“You ready?” Kia asked.
I looked up at Bob with his arm around her and simply said, “Yeah, I’m ready. I just have to get my backpack.”
“Good. I’ve calculated we’ll only need one bathroom stop until our destination,” Bob replied, pushing back his Coke-bottle glasses, which kept sliding down his greasy face. Bob’s picture could have been in the dictionary next to the term degenerate nerd.
“If we hurry, we can catch McDonald’s before breakfast hours end.”
“You do know McDonald’s serves breakfast all day now,” I said.
“That’s a very limited menu. But I wouldn’t expect someone your age to understand. Your mommy probably tries to keep things very simple for you.”
I glanced at Kia, but she just turned and began walking toward the car. When this was all over, I was going to hack this guy’s accounts and send all his money to Oprah’s school for girls in Africa.
We got into the car and headed to our destination, Waco, which was about an hour from where we were. The entire time he was driving, Bob kept telling Kia how beautiful she was, how he had no problem helping her whenever, wherever, and constantly asking if she was okay.
“Is the air too cold, Kia? Do you need me to turn it down some? Are you hungry? Do you need to stop? You are the most beautiful girl in the world, Kia.”
He was making me want to throw up, especially when he reached over and grabbed her hand and kissed it. I felt a slight twinge of jealousy, even though technically we were just friends and there was nothing between us.
“I’m fine, Bobby.” Kia smiled and rubbed his arm. She turned to the back seat and gave me a look that said I’m just going along with this to get what we need. I shrugged, leaned back in my seat, and went to sleep.
After we arrived in the city of Waco, which really seemed more like a town, Bob asked. “So, where exactly do we need to go, sexy?”
“Find the downtown area,” Kia told him.
When he found it, she said, “Just drive. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
We went up and down the streets of downtown Waco for almost thirty minutes.
“You sure you know where you’re going, beautiful?” Bob glanced over at Kia, who was staring out her window.
“Wait. Stop. Pull over there.” She pointed at a small shop.
“Here?” Bob asked. “At the Asian foot massage place?”
“Yeah.”
“You think she’s in there?” I asked.
“It’s possible. Asian foot massage is a usually code for massage parlor that offers a whole lot more than foot rubs.” Kia slid close to Bob. “Bobby, I need you to go inside and ask for something.”
I listened as Kia gave him specific instructions and showed him the mug shot of her sister on her phone. She rubbed his head and whispered something in his ear. Whatever she said, he must have liked it, because he couldn’t get out of that van fast enough. I watched him fast-walk into the massage place.
“You okay, Nevada?” she asked, turning to me as soon he exited the car. “I know this is kind of awkward for you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I mean, I really don’t have a choice, do I?” I shrugged. “It’s just this dude is kinda weird.”
“I know, but he’s harmless, and he did drive us all the way here.”
“I get it. I’ll be okay. I just feel like an outsider. He keeps treating me like I’m a kid,” I complained.
“I’ll talk to him. I promise.” She gave me that look that always gave me butterflies.
“Thanks. So, where’d you guys go this morning?”
“To the Dr. Pepper museum. We were both up, and he wanted to go, so I said yes. No big deal. It was actually a lot cooler than you’d think.”
I nodded, and we sat in silence while we waited for Bob, who came out a few minutes later.
“Did you see her? Was she there?” Kia asked him.
“No, she wasn’t there. There was a girl who looked like her that they offered me, but you know I only have eyes for you. I would never do that.” He reached for her hand, but Kia moved before he could touch it. She looked a little annoyed.
She reached into her purse and took out several bills. “Bobby, listen to me. Take this money and go back in there. Tell them you really wanna find this girl and spend time with her.”
“She wasn’t very friendly when I turned the other girl down. I don’t think she’ll tell me anything,” Bob said, looking at the money.
“You offer her this five hundred dollars, and she’ll tell you whatever you want to know. The girls who work at the front desk are just locals. They don’t make any real money. It’s enough to get the information.”
“I don’t know about this.”
“Well, if you don’t think you can handle it, I’m sure Nevada can. Right?” She turned around and held the money out to me.
“No problem.” I reached for the cash, but Bob pushed her hand away from me.
“Never send a boy to do a man’s job.” He glared at me as he stepped out of the car. “I’ll be back.”
“Bob, the money!” Kia yelled.
“Don’t worry. I’ll pay whatever,” he said as he ran back inside the building.
“Never send a boy to do a man’s job.” I repeated his words, pretending to be gruff. Kia couldn’t help but laugh.
“I told you he’s harmless, Nevada. And I really do appreciate you doing this for me. There’s no one else I’d rather have going through this with me.”
Our eyes met, and we stared at each other for a few seconds. Bob had been right about one thing: she really was the one of the most beautiful girls in the world.
“And if anyone is an outsider, it’s him,” she continued. “He’s doing this because he wants sex. He has some fantasy about who I could be to him, but you’re doing this because you’re my friend. I know the difference.”
“I got it!” Bob announced, ruining the moment as he opened the door.
“What did she tell you?” Kia asked.
“The girl we’re looking for works somewhere else.”
“Did she tell you where?”
“Not exactly, but she’s in El Paso, so I guess that’s our next stop.” He leaned in to kiss her, and she turned her head.
“You know the rules,” Kia chastised him. “No kissing.”
Roman
40
After a few days of negotiating with Lex on the phone, we finally got him to agree to pay us the two hundred grand a piece. We were supposed to meet him for the exchange at midnight in a parking lot on the Queens side of the Throgs Neck Bridge. When he pulled up in a passenger van, I was the only one waiting with the truck.
“Where’s your partner?” Lex began to inspect the truck the moment he stepped out of the van.
“We decided he should stay somewhere safe just in case this was a setup and you tried to kill us. That way, one of us would be around to return the favor.” I smirked.
“I get the premise, but I don’t operate that way. It’s bad for business.” I swear he was looking at that truck like he wanted to make love to it. “Everything looks okay.”
“Good, then give us our money,” I demanded.
He opened the passenger side door of the van and retrieved a large black bag, then walked over to me. “It’s all right here, four hundred K. You boys drive a hard bargain.”
“I’m sure you’ll make out on the deal.”
“Oh, I’ll do all right.” He handed me the bag. As I reached for it, he pulled it back.
“Roman, a little advice.”
“What?” I said with an attitude, thinking he was about to give me some bullshit about our money being short.
“You guys need to disappear for a while. Just get in your car and drive out of town immediately. And I’m not talking Atlantic City. I’m talking Colorado or California. Just stay the fuck out of Texas.” His tone was dead serious.
“Man, I ain’t going nowhere. My mama’s in ICU about to have a transplant thanks to this money.” I snatched the bag from him.
Before I knew it, Lex collared me and pulled me close. “I like you boys, which is why I’m trying to save your fucking lives. This isn’t Louie the Jeweler you’ve stolen from. These people are animals. Unless you want your sick mama to have to bury your dumb ass, disappear for a couple of weeks. Once I unload this shit, I’m taking off for a few months myself.”
“A’ight, Lex, I hear you.” I pushed him off of me and straightened my shirt. “What the fuck is in that truck anyway?”
Lex stared at me and said, “You don’t wanna know. Now, go.”
I jumped in the minivan and headed out of the parking lot to the small road that led to the Clearview Expressway, then quickly veered off to a dirt road and parked behind some bushes. I got out of the van, taking the money with me. I ran up a slight hill, where I found Denny laying down in the grass, looking at the parking lot I’d just left with a pair of binoculars.
“Did he open it yet?
“Nah, he’s doing something to it now. Must be some type of electronic unlocking device. I don’t know.” The story about Denny staying behind as an insurance policy was true, but after driving around playing hide and seek with that truck for two days, we wanted to know what was in it. So, we’d decided to stick around and see.
“You get all the loot?” he asked.
I tapped the bag. “I didn’t count it, but it damn sure feels heavy enough to be all there.”
“It better be. So, was he pissed about us upping the amount?”
“Nah, not as much you would think,” I said. “But he did say we need to lay low for a while. I ain’t never seen him act that way. Like, he was all shook.”
“Well, with that extra two hundred, we can do that.” Denny stuck his fist out, and I bumped it. “Oh, shit! He’s got it open.” He handed me the binoculars.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled as I watched one, two, three women step out of the truck.
“What’s going on?”
I handed the binoculars back to him so he could see.
“What the fuck?” Denny said. “Is he on some human trafficking shit? That truck’s full of girls.”
“I counted three, but there are more getting out?” I asked.
“I got eight so far,” he replied, still peering through the binoculars. “A few of them are running away from him.” Denny laughed.
“Heads up. There’s another car approaching,” I said as a black Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows pulled into the lot. “Must be his buyer.”
“I don’t think so,” Denny replied. “The guy in the Jeep’s getting out. White guy in black camouflage. He’s got a AK—oh, shit!”
Suddenly, we heard rapid gunfire, and even without binoculars, I could see the three runaways falling as they were gunned down. I’d played my share of video games and even shot a couple of brothers in real life, but I’d never seen anything like this before.
“What the fuck! He–he j–just shot three of them,” Denny stammered.
I snatched the binoculars to get a better look. The gunman pulled out a handgun, then walked over to each of the fallen women and put a bullet in their heads to make sure he’d finished the job. He pointed at the truck, and the rest of the women scurried back in. He then turned to Lex, who looked like he was going to shit on himself when the man approached him. I zoomed in with the binoculars to get a good look at this sadistic son of a bitch. Whoever the fuck he was, he looked like something out of the movie Natural Born Killers.
“What the fuck is he doing?”
“It looks like he’s talking to Lex.”
Lex was now down on his knees with his hands clasped, pleading for his life. Lex said something, and then the man lowered his gun as Lex reached into his pocket and handed over his phone. The man studied the phone for a minute and gave a satisfied smile. It looked like old Lex might be okay—until the man raised his handgun and shot him in the head.
I watched him fall backward and then lowered the binoculars. “Fuck.”
“Rome, let’s get the fuck outta here, man.” Denny looked scared shitless. Not that I was feeling very courageous.
“We’re not going anywhere until that motherfucker is gone,” I said with finality. “Now, stay down. The last thing we wanna do is bump into him on our way out.”
Denny nodded his agreement.
I lifted the binoculars and couldn’t see the gunman. I almost started to panic because losing sight of him could be dangerous. Then I realized he’d closed up the truck and was in the cab. I heard the truck rumble to a start, and within a minute, it disappeared from the parking lot.
KD
41
By the time I’d swallowed the third shot of bourbon, I was feeling quite nice. It was only ten in the morning, but I’d been sitting at the airport bar for an hour and had no plans to leave any time soon. My eyes were glued on the TV screen, where some broad on the news was talking about three women and a man being killed under the Throgs Neck Bridge. What the dumb bitch hadn’t mentioned was that those girls were worth a hundred and twenty grand a piece, and they belonged to me.
“Morning, KD.”
I turned around to see Slick pulling out the bar stool beside me.
“Well, if it ain’t Superman just flown in to save old KD’s ass. I gotta tell you, I’m mighty impressed with the work you did last night finding that truck. Mighty impressed. I would have never thought to put GPS on the trailers and the trucks.”
“Just doing my job, boss. You did put me in charge of loss prevention.” Slick grinned with pride.
“Speaking of losses, what the fuck happened? Why did you kill three of the girls?”
“Sorry, boss, but I had no choice. They were out of the truck, running away. I needed to get the situation under control. Better we lose three than the whole load, right?” Slick replied in no uncertain terms. “There’s a million niggers, spicks, and chinks for you to sell on the black market, but you would be screwed if the cops got a hold of that truck.”
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize he’d done the right thing.
“I can’t argue with your logic, but more importantly, I appreciate you looking out for my best interests.” I motioned for the bartender. “Gimme another. What you drinking, Slick?”
“I’ll have whatever you are.”
“Bring us a double,” I said, then turned back to Slick. “Did you deliver the merchandise to Greer?”
“Yes, sir. The merchandise was hand delivered by me. Then I drove the truck back to New York and delivered the girls.”
“Good, good.” Hearing that made me feel as if I could relax, at least a little, for now. I picked up my glass and motioned toward the television screen. “You know, bringing you on board may have been the best decision I made since I fucked my son’s mother and got her pregnant in the back of my pickup.” I laughed then asked seriously, “You do realize we have one loose end that you haven’t taken care of?”
Slick lifted the drink the bartender placed in front of him. “What’s that?”
I waited until the bartender was out of earshot. “The one person who knows those dead girls came out of my truck. The driver, Johnny Brooks,” I told him.
“Well, then I better drink up. I’ve got work to do.” Slick gulped down his bourbon.
As I watched him leave, my phone rang. I took it out of my pocket. “Hello.”
“KD.” It was Greer, and he sounded emotional.
“Yes, sir, how can I help you?”
“I just wanted to
say thank you. That blood you sent us was a perfect match. My daughter’s having a transfusion as we speak,” Greer said tearfully.
“Well, that’s good news, Leo. I’m glad we could help.”
“You did more than help. You saved my child’s life.” Greer continued to weep. “If ever there’s any way I can help you, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thank you. Give my best to the missus and your fine daughter.” I hung up, feeling rather touched and a whole lot more confident about my next move.
LC
42
In Waco, Vegas and I went straight to the Dr. Pepper museum. We showed Nevada’s picture to every employee, but none of them recognized him or said they’d seen him. I was starting to wonder if I should have stayed in New York and helped with the search up there, because it was possible Nevada wasn’t with this guy Bob. We were back to square one, and it seemed that finding my grandson was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. But, if our family was able to find a known drug lord in the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, then we’d locate Nevada.
“Any ideas?” Vegas asked as we walked toward the rental car.
“Not off the top of my head. Only thing we can do now is hope Junior finds us a lead,” I told him.
As soon as I got into the car, I got a call. “What’s up, Junior?”
“Hey, Pop, I got some information for you.”
“What did you find?”
“I went by Bob’s job, the Copy Hut, and found out he’s traveling in his company van. It’s wrapped so it shouldn’t be hard to spot. I’m gonna text you the make, model, and tag number.”
“Ask if he added the credit monitoring,” Vegas said.
I held my hand up to signal for him to calm down while I continued talking to his brother. “That’s good. Anything else?”
“Actually, there is. I signed him up for credit monitoring and got a pop on a credit card he’s been using. It was used at the Dr. Pepper museum, a gas station, and Victoria’s Secret yesterday in Waco. And it was used at a Best Buy about fifteen minutes ago,” Junior said.
