by Kara Hart
Finally, we came to a group of disheveled cottages that seemed to be built in a hurry. They were aligned in a square and only one seemed to be in use. Smoke was billowing out from a makeshift chimney and a faint light showed through the wooden walls. Adam walked up to the door and knocked seven times, in a perfect rhythmic pattern. We waited. Nothing.
He knocked again. Still nothing.
“Maybe he’s not home…” I whispered. I prayed that what I said wasn’t true.
“He’s home. He just ain’t answering.” Adam said. He knocked one more time and finally the sound of someone tripping over their shoelaces could be heard from within.
“Hold your damn horses.” A voice called out.
The door slid open about an inch, just enough to eye us up and down. “Who the hell is out there? I got a magnum aimed right at your heart, asshole. State your name.”
“It’s Adam.”
Silence.
“Well I’ll be damned…” The voice said back. “Adam? Bruce’s boy? I thought they killed you.” The door slid back and an old black man hobbled outside with his cane.
“I thought you had a magnum aimed at my heart.” Adam said calmly.
“Can’t be too careful these days. You’d be surprised who shows up every now and then.”
“Who? Your old hookers looking for their money?”
“You always had a way with words, didn’t you? Come on in, asshole.” He smiled, extending his arms.
“This ain’t a time for celebration. These are darkened days.” Adam said in a solemn voice.
We both walked inside the broken down cottage. There were old chairs lined against the wall. Boxes littered the entryway. He was a hoarder if I ever saw one. I was a long ways away from home.
“Who’s the girl?” He asked.
“My wife.” Adam replied back.
“I ain’t see no ring, boy.” The man hobbled over to one of the old chairs and sat down. A plume of dust shot up around his body
“No time to explain.” Adam said. “Daryl, this is Rose. Rose this is Daryl.”
“Pleased to meet you, sir.” I said, avoiding eye contact. He may have been an old friend of Bruce and Adam, but he was no friend of mine. After the events of this week, I learned to avoid growing too close to people.
“Sit down, sit down.” He said. “Make yourselves at home. You want coffee or something?”
“No. We’re fine. All we need is this fire.”
I chimed in, “And maybe some jackets if you have any.” Adam looked at me, cross.
“So what bad news have you brought me?” Daryl asked him, running his shaking hands over his cane.
“It’s Jorge…” He muttered. His jaw clamped down and I saw his face turn from pale to dark red. He grinded his teeth together and breathed deeply. A heavy set of rage and adrenaline flooded his body.
“That fucker? What’d he do now? You know he was the one that fucked up that robbery years ago, right? Almost cost me an arm and a leg. I’m lucky I never got caught. Mother fucker…” He shook his head and adjusted the taped-together pair of glasses that hung against his nose.
“Pops is dead. He shot him dead. In cold blood.”
Daryl stopped moving his hands. His cane fell to the floor. “What did you just tell me, boy?” He asked, turning suddenly very serious.
I looked at him and shouted, “He’s dead, okay? We need your damn help!”
“She’s right. We need you now more than ever.” Adam backed me up. He put his hand against my kneecap and images of Bruce falling to the grass where we made love just hours before, flooded my mind.
“Adam, I’m an old man now. There ain’t nothing I can do now. I’m done playing those games.”
Adam stood up, his tall stature hovering over him. “Like hell you are.” He said, lighting up a cigarette. “Now, you’ll help us if it’s the last thing you do.” His body twitched angrily. He took one drag of his cigarette and threw it to the ground, stomping it out.
“Hey, you can’t just barge in here and expect me to do whatever you want. This is my house, boy. And I won’t be taken advantage of. Pick your damn cigarette up off the ground.”
“As if you ever cleaned this place in your life…” Adam whispered.
“What was that?” Daryl retorted back. He had grabbed his cane and pushed himself up from his chair. His legs could barely even hold his body up. I began to wonder how he had even kept his job at the bank.
“Adam, this man is clearly on his last years. He’s no help to no one.” I said, looking Daryl directly in the eyes.
“Little girl,” He began, “You know nothing about me.”
“It’s okay, Rose.” Adam reassured me. “He’ll be dead in two seconds if he doesn’t help us out.”
“Boy, you always had a way with words didn’t you? Ain’t no one dying in this here house! Not on my property.” Daryl squinted at me, frowning. “Hey…I know you, girl.”
“No you don’t.” I said, turning to Adam. I bore the look of confusion and alarm.
“Yes…yes, I believe I do. You were on the T.V.” He smiled. “In fact, you been on the T.V. for a couple days now. The kidnapping… Ah, shit! Adam, you didn’t…”
“It was poor planning on my part. I’ll admit that, Daryl. But now we got everyone in the damn world looking for us. Jorge, the police, and…”
“Don’t say her name.” Daryl said, walking over to the kitchen. He leaned over his sink and sighed loudly.
“Brianna Baxter.”
“God dammit, I told you to never say her name around me again!” He screamed. He punched the wood cabinet in front of him, shattering it to pieces.
“Settle down. She’s my problem, not yours.”
“Oh, I know that. She’s always been your problem.” Daryl looked at him angrily.
I stood up too, backing away from both of the men. “Adam, what’s he saying?” I stammered, clenching my fists tightly.
Adam sighed and looked past me. “Guess it’s about time you find out about something.” He said.
“Adam…what’s he talking about…you didn’t… Did you?” I felt my body shake with pure rage.
“I’m afraid…well, I’m afraid you already know the answer yourself.” He looked away from both of us, staring at the dusty floor.
“You bastard! I want to hear it from your own damn mouth. You tell me what he’s saying. NOW!” This time it was me who threw punches, right at Adam’s temple.
“Settle down, kid! Settle…down!” He grabbed both of my wrists and wrestled to the floor.
“NO! You can’t make me! Goddammit! I’ll kill you! I…I HATE you!” I screamed. My voice practically echoed throughout the forest.
“Keep your voice down. For all I know, Jorge’s men could be following us.” He held my wrists tightly, twisting them until I relaxed. I fell to the floor, sobbing tears of betrayal. He sighed, “It’s not what you think. It was a long time ago, Rose…” His voice turned into a soft whisper. “It was ages ago.”
I struggled to break free from his grip, but he wouldn’t let me go until I decided to listen to his reasoning. “Then what is it then? What could it possibly be?” I gave up resisting, falling flat against his chest.
“Oh, boy…” Daryl sighed. “I’ll give you some time.”
“No, Daryl. Stay here. We have a lot to do before sunrise. It’s fine.” Daryl shook his head and sat back down, muttering to himself quietly.
Adam turned to me and managed to let go of my wrists. “I met Brianna Baxter on the Eve of my initiation. I was the rising star in the group. So much promise. You know, that sort of thing. There was a lot of pressure put on me. I was going to take over the gang someday. But I was unhappy. I wasn’t getting paid as much as I should have. I had to pay off my debt to my elders. I had to prove my worth. And even though I knew I could run things better than the rest of the crew, I couldn’t say one damn thing. Because if I did, they’d have ostracized me quickly and completely.”
“Boom.” Daryl
said.
“Right. Boom.” Adam ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. “So I did what any man would have done in my position. I drowned myself in women and whiskey. Cigarettes and expensive cocaine. Hell, we sold it for triple the price. It was one of the perks of the job. And that’s when I met Brianna Baxter.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes. “Go on.” I said, sniffling. I needed to know the whole story, at least for my sanity’s sake.
“Well one thing led to another, you know? I was 26 years old. I didn’t know a thing. And here was this 23 year old bombshell of a bitch. And of course, I wanted her. But she played hard to get, teasing me and taunting me wherever I went. I’d sometimes be gone on a trip to deal in Texas or Nevada – one of those empty desert towns close to us….i’d be gone for weeks. And then I’d come back home to the guys, and Brianna would be sitting on the couch, wearing a tight skirt, legs wide open with her arms around Jorge. That’s the kind of woman she was. She liked to press your buttons.”
“So you dated?” I sniffed. I felt my heart beat fast. I was filled with adrenaline. I felt like I could punch a hole through his face.
“I’m getting to that. As soon as she found out I was Road Captain and in charge of the drugs, she’d magically show up at the oddest times. I’d be in the middle of a deal, there it was, a knock on my door. I’d wake up sometimes and she’d be at my window, trying to score a line for herself after a party. It got to the point where I felt like I had no choice. Did I like this woman? Of course I did. Did I want to settle down with her. Hell no. She simply drove the point home. She needed me. And soon…well, soon I needed her more.”
“You prick…” I cursed, spitting in his face. He wiped it off and continued speaking.
“Well, I guess I deserve that. I didn’t tell you the whole truth. Even still, there’s more you don’t know. Now, if you want me to continue speakin’, you’ll have to keep your mouth closed and saliva to yourself.”
“I’m listening.” I said, though I could barely contain my anger.
“Well, it got deep, her and I. And soon enough, she was trying to convince me to let her join in on my trips down south. This was something you didn’t do. Maybe other crews let that fly, but not ours. We had tight rules. We were a family. Brianna was just some outside bitch who was trying to ruin our plans, according to the rest of the group.” He lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “I wasn’t in a good place back then. We were both doing coke everyday. Sometimes we would go all night, listening to Black Sabbath and talking about my future. She always had ideas for me. She always knew what was best for me. Of course, the guys were right. She had self-interests. However, we didn’t know it went as far as it did.”
“So what happened?” I asked, feeling my body loosen up a bit.
“Well, I did what I had to do. I got word of a big business deal, one that could make us millions. And I told her she could come. But as soon as word got out, my own father kicked me off the job. And he scolded me in front of everyone, including her. He knew she was trouble from the first day he met her. He was older than I was, more experienced. He had met girls like her before. Well, she didn’t quite like that. She left in a drunken, drug-fueled rage. And the next thing I knew, she had settled with Jorge. She was with him now.”
Daryl shook his head breathed out loudly. “Boy do I remember that. Your father was on the verge of ringing your goddamn neck.”
“You bet he was. And I deserved it too. But I had a new plan. One that would make us even more money than the deal down south. Can you guess what that was?”
Daryl laughed. “I’ll give you a hint…”
I cleared my throat, “The bank heist, huh…”
“You got it. So I went over the plan. Right in front of Jorge and Brianna, I gave out every detail. We had Daryl on our side, the blueprints to the bank, and God knows we had the manpower on our side to win. But one thing we didn’t have was that common bond. That had broken with Brianna. Like a snake in the grass, she fed me that poisoned apple and I gladly shared it with my men. When it came time to arm up, things didn’t feel right. But there was no backing down now. Once a decision had been made, there was no going back on that.”
“But what happened?” I asked, standing up and pacing around the room. I grabbed a cigarette from the half-empty carton and lit it up. “What went wrong? You triggered that alarm, right?”
“What went wrong was Brianna went missing. Somehow we had decided she would be the best getaway driver for the job. I don’t know how we came to that decision. It was god-awful. But she was innocent enough, young enough, and could put herself together well enough for us to think it could work. But when we triggered that alarm, we had 30 seconds to pack our things and get out of there. We stuffed all the gold and cash we could and ran out of their like a team of jackals.”
Daryl spoke up as Adam took another drag. “And boy did they run fast. They pushed those bank doors open with smiles on their faces. But I saw that damn parking lot and there was no getaway car like they had planned. That bitch never showed up. A few of the men, Adam included, had enough sense to get out of there. They all knew of the four routes into the forest and they knew the cops would have a hard time following them in there.”
Daryl stood up and walked over to the center of the room. He lifted the center rug off of the ground, revealing a wooden door. He opened it and we all looked down. There was a big passageway that seemed endless, like staring into a black hole. I shook my head in disbelief.
“Trust me when I say this - we had this down to a fucking science. Brianna left us there to die that day, but I sure as hell wasn’t about to lay down in my own grave. I ran as fast as I could, got to this cottage here and went down in the hole. I spent two whole days without food or water, walking miles upon miles in a darkened tunnel. And eventually, I came out of a sewer and train-hopped to Arizona. That’s when I met you.”
Daryl chimed in, “One of our men tripped up and dropped a bag of cash. The boy was so stupid he ran back to get it. Cops surrounded him in seconds. All it took was one finger on that trigger for the damn police to light that place up. That’s how I banged up my knee. Took a bullet right in the thigh.”
Adam swallowed down some saliva. “And Jacky…man, he wasn’t so lucky. Two in the chest, four in the arms and legs, three in his fucking skull. I’m glad I got to miss that mess. I don’t think I could’ve handled that. I would’ve went marching right into my grave.”
“My God, Adam…I had no idea.” I said, wrapping my arms around him.
“It’s okay. I just want you to know it wasn’t as cut and dry as you think. We didn’t know she was UC back then. Now we know, but it’s too late. The crew went their own separate ways.”
“What about Jorge? Where was he during all this?” I asked, trying to put two and two together. As far as I could tell, he had been a negative force in Adam’s life since day one.
“He was down south, making his own plans. I know how it looks, but I’m 90 percent sure he didn’t know she would skip town. He was never a real member of the club anyway. He came and went as he pleased.”
“Adam, don’t you think it was convenient he left right before the robbery? I just doesn’t add up…”
Adam sat up straight. “After tonight, I wouldn’t put it past him. It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing does. I’ve found you, Rose. I don’t want to dwell in the past. All I want from this life is to move forward and settle down. I want to put all that pain behind me.”
“Me too, Adam…” I reached out and ran my fingers down his arm. “You’re all I want in this life.”
“Alright, alright. Enough of the lovey-gushy stuff. Can one of you tell me why in the hell you’re standing in my house?” Daryl tapped his cane against Adam’s skull. Adam hit it away and stood up.
“I’ve got an idea that’s crazy enough to work.”
“Shit.” Daryl muttered under his breath. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”
Chapter 18
I watched as Adam explained the plan to Daryl in full detail. They were huddled, hunched and weary, under the yellow light of the bulb above them. Cigarette smoke filled the air, coyly wrapping against the rays. They spoke in hushed tones and Daryl kept shaking his head in disbelief.
“I don’t know, man. Sounds good on paper. But will it actually work?”
“It’ll work.” Adam said with confidence.
“Like hell it will…but fuck it. What do I have to lose anyway? Another leg? I’m getting old and they’re about to let me go anyway. Might as well collect my retirement fund early.” He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms.
“So you’re in?” Adam asked, shocked by his response.
