“Well, he said he might stay where he was for the weekend to enjoy the golf course,” she told him. “He was supposed to call me.”
“Maybe you should call him and find out then,” Matt replied.
“I can’t do that,” she protested. “What the hell am I supposed to say to him?”
“You need to ask what his plans are,” he said. “It’s better that we know.”
“Shit,” Brigitte cussed and moved away from the door.
The last thing she wanted to do was call her father and act as if everything was normal, but she feared him coming home the following evening and someone being at the house. Bringing up his number on the phone, she made the call.
“How’s my favorite daughter?” he said in a cheerful voice when he answered.
“Fine,” she replied. “Just checking in to see what you’re doing?”
“I’ll be staying the weekend for sure now,” he replied. “The client has agreed to a game of golf on Sunday, so we’ll see what happens.”
“That’s great,” Brigitte went on. “Do you think it will lead on to some work?”
“Keep your fingers crossed,” he replied. “We’ll see what happens on Sunday and I’ll give you a call that evening to let you know what I’m doing. How are things with you?”
“Good,” she let out in a feigned upbeat voice. “Work is going fine and I’ll be going out with Sarah at the weekend.”
“Keep away from bad boys,” he joked.
Brigitte forced out a laugh as she looked across the bathroom door. It was too late for that advice, but she wasn’t going to tell her father. She hoped the situation would be resolved by the time he got back, and she felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach at the idea of explaining to him everything that was going on.
“I will,” she said. “Enjoy the golf and I’ll speak to you on Sunday.”
“OK, love you.”
She hung up the call and looked across the room to see Matt walking out of the bathroom.
“Not coming home tomorrow?” he asked.
“It looks like Monday at the earliest and maybe even longer.”
“He’s out of the way for the moment then,” Matt said. “Is there a hair dryer in here?”
She frowned as she looked at him and wondered why he wanted it until she saw him hold up the wet shirt. There were still traces of red in the material, but most of the blood was washed out. Getting up to move to the dressing table, she started opening drawers and found what he wanted. She plugged the hair dryer in and started blowing hot air on the wet stains when Matt handed the garment to her.
“That’ll do,” he said after a few minutes and took the shirt to put on. “How do I look?”
“Like shit,” Brigitte told him.
“Thanks for the compliment,” he shot back. “Let’s go and make some plans.”
She got up and waited for him to get his jacket before they walked across the room to leave. The sound of the music didn’t do much to lift their spirits when they walked into the bar. There were a couple of tables occupied but the place was largely empty. The other two hadn’t arrived, so they walked over to the bar to buy some drinks.
“Four beers,” Matt ordered when the young woman behind the counter came over to serve them.
She nodded her head then went to get the bottles and placed them on the counter when she returned. Matt paid for them and then thought of something.
“I have a killer headache,” he lied. “Do you have any paracetamol available?”
“This ain’t a drugstore mister,” the girl replied.
“Yeah, I know,” he replied. “I thought I would ask anyway.”
She looked at him for a couple of seconds before going on.
“I have some in my handbag. I could let you buy from me.”
“That would be great,” Matt said.
He gave her a couple of dollars for the half-empty packet she handed over before he and Brigitte picked up the beers and went to sit at a table.
“A diet of booze and drugs,” she said while watching him pop pills.
“You try getting stabbed,” he replied. “It’s not much fun.”
“I think I’ll pass,” she told him.
They heard the sound of the door opening and looked across to see Delores and Brett walking in. Brigitte lifted a hand to wave at them and they came over to sit down. Both picked up a bottle to take a drink straight away.
“So, what do we do?” Delores asked after putting the beer down.
“Do you want to stick together or split up?” Matt responded.
“Stay together,” Brett replied. “From what I’ve seen of you and what Delores tells me, I’d rather have you around.”
Matt peered across the table at the other man but Brett didn’t meet his gaze. Instead, he stared at the bottle in front of him then picked it up to take a drink.
“Thanks for the compliment,” Matt commented, but wasn’t sure the other man meant what he said. He wasn’t sure why, but the words sounded off to him.
Brett’s car was still the best option for getting as far away from town as possible and he decided not to say anything. They could spilt up and go their separate ways once they got settled somewhere safe. He still didn’t like the man opposite him, but decided that sticking together for the time being was probably the logical way forward.
“Where do we go?” Brigitte asked to end the silence.
“Has anyone got a place we can use?” Delores asked.
“No,” Matt answered immediately. “We need to stay away from any places that are linked with us. Going somewhere off the grid makes it less likely we’ll be found.”
“What about phones?” Brett said. “That guy has your number. Can he track us through that?”
“I don’t think the guys we’re up against have that kind of technology,” Matt said. “But I won’t take any chances. It’s switched off and stays switched off. I would suggest all of you do the same. We can dump them when we get new ones.”
Brigitte got her phone out and switched it off, with the others doing the same.
“Where do we go?” she said to repeat her earlier question.
“There was a travel plan in the room,” Brett said. “So I brought it.”
He got the small map from his pocket then unfolded it and spread it out on the table.
“That’s us,” Delores said and pointed to the name of the motel showing on the map.
“I say we get off the highway,” Brett said. “They know we’re running and will more than likely expect us to keep on a main route.” He pointed to a smaller road that veered off from the highway a few miles north of where they were. “That seems the best choice. There are a number of towns along that road, so we can head along it and pick a suitable place to hole up.”
Matt leaned forward to get a closer look at the map. What Brett suggested wasn’t really much of a plan, but he couldn’t come up with anything better himself. Getting off the highway was probably the smartest move and they needed to get themselves hidden from view. There was more chance to sort out a permanent solution to their problem if they weren’t concerned with constantly looking over their shoulder.
“Then what do we do?” Brigitte asked.
It was a good question, but one that none of the others could come up with an answer to at first.
“We need to find a way to cut a deal,” Matt said in a less than convincing voice.
Brett let out a snorting laugh.
“Are you fucking nuts,” he said. “You told me earlier this evening that if I went against Eddie Millar, he would cut me up and feed me to something. Well, I think we’re now officially in a position where we’ve gone against him. What the hell makes you think he’d cut a deal with us. More to the point, what have we got to offer that would interest him in coming to an arrangement.”
Matt wanted to tell the other man to shut the hell up. Unfortunately, Brett was correct in what he was saying. They had nothing to offer Eddie that wo
uld help them out of the mess they were in…, at least nothing he could think off.
“Well, we need to come up with something,” he eventually let out.
“I won’t hold my breath waiting,” Brett replied in a snarky voice and took a drink before getting to his feet. “I need to piss.”
The other three watched him head for the small hallway the restrooms were located in.
“Found yourself a charming boyfriend, Delores,” Matt said.
“Shut up,” she complained. “This is your bloody fault.”
“It’s your fault,” Matt shot back. “If you weren’t in that apartment tonight, I could have just beat Brett into accepting Eddie’s deal and everything would have been fine.”
“No it wouldn’t,” Brigitte cut in. “Your ex-boss wouldn’t have just made you do one job and that was the end of it.”
He looked at her and felt the guilt of getting her involved.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed in a gloomy voice.
“So, how do we get him off our back?” Brigitte asked. The silence afterwards wasn’t encouraging and she went on talking. “There must be something we can do.”
“I think the only way is to take him out,” Delores said.
It was Matt’s turn to let out a snorting laugh.
“Eddie Millar?” he said in an incredulous voice. “You want us to try and kill Eddie Millar.”
“Just a thought,” she said and shrugged her shoulders.
“Didn’t you hear what I said earlier,” Matt went on. “I’m not killing anyone.”
“Then we run as far as we can,” Delores said. “And if we see anything suspicious, we keep on running.”
“What sort of life is that?” Brigitte said.
“Better than being dead,” Delores pointed out.
“Can’t we go to the police when we stop somewhere?” Brigitte went on.
“Won’t do any good,” Matt replied. “We’d be taken home and need to face Eddie Millar in court there…, if it even got that far. I mean, what crime has he committed against us.”
“That man forced his way into my home, threatened me and tried to kill you,” Brigitte said.
“Yeah, then I smashed his head with an ashtray,” Matt replied.
“Really?” Delores said and let out a sniggering laugh. “That was the deadliest weapon you could find in a fight. I think you’re losing your touch.”
“Shut up,” Matt complained. “That ashtray saved my life.”
Delores laughed louder.
“You should have brought it with you,” she joked. “It might come in useful if you get in trouble again. I can just see you. ‘Stay back, I’m armed and dangerous.’”
“This isn’t funny,” Brigitte said, but the sound of the hilarity from the other two infected her. “Well, they do say smoking is bad for you.”
The stupid comment cracked them up and the three of them were in fits of laughter for a few seconds before getting control of themselves.
“I’d suggest a gun next time,” Delores said as she wiped at her eyes. “It’s much more effective.”
“Thanks very much for the advice,” Matt said. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
“I need to go to the restroom and see if my face needs fixing,” Delores said, then got up to walk away.
It left Matt and Brigitte alone and they did nothing except sip at their beers for a short while.
“I’m sorry you got involved in this,” Matt said to break the silence.
“Me too,” she replied, without looking at him, then said what came to her mind. “I won’t be going to work anytime soon and that means my blossoming career in the government program might have ended before it got going.” It seemed a stupid thing to concern herself with in the light of what they faced and she shook her head before carrying on. “And that’s only the start of the problems.”
“I don’t think the program’s advantages will be open to me much longer,” Matt commented in a flat voice.
Brigitte nodded her head, but said no more and started sipping at her beer again. She was still worried about her father returning home and knew that she would need to say something about what was happening before that. For the moment, he was safe and she could only hope it was the same for her. The sound of a voice brought her out of her reverie.
“I think Brett must have got lost,” Delores said when she sat at the table on her return from the restroom.
“He does appear to be taking his time,” Brigitte replied. “You don’t think…”
“No,” Matt cut in to end her words. “I’m sure we weren’t followed. They wouldn’t have let us get this far if they were tailing us.”
“Could you check on him?” Delores asked.
“What am I?” he protested and rolled his eyes. “Your boyfriend’s nanny.”
“Please,” Delores urged.
“I don’t know what it is you see in him,” he muttered, but got to his feet and moved in the direction of the restrooms.
There was no one in sight when he walked inside and he looked to the three small cubicles. The door of one was open to show it was empty and he ducked his head down to see if there were feet in either of the other two. He couldn’t get a proper look without getting down on the floor and he wasn’t about to do that in a bar restroom.
“Brett,” he said in a loud voice.
There was no reply, so he walked to the first closed cubicle and pushed the door. It was unlocked and opened to show there was no one there. It was the same when he tried the second one. Brett definitely wasn’t in the restroom and there was no way he could have missed him on his walk to get there. He suddenly found himself wondering if something had happened to the other man, but couldn’t fathom out what. Stepping out to the hallway, he looked along to see an exit right at the far end. He was walking along to it, when the door opened and the man he was looking for came inside.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Matt asked.
Brett held up his hand to show the pack of cigarettes and lighter he was holding.
“I needed a cigarette,” he replied. “What’s the problem? Did you think I ran, so came to check up on me?”
“Delores was worried something might have happened,” Matt replied.
“Well, nothing happened apart from me smoking a cigarette.”
It was a plausible reason on why he took so long and Matt saw no reason to argue with it, so he turned and headed towards the main area of the bar. He sat down when he got to the table and picked up his bottle of beer to finish it as Brett approached.
“Why were you gone so long?” Delores asked her boyfriend.
He simply showed what he was holding and returned to his seat.
“What time do you want to leave tomorrow?” Matt asked.
“Eight,” Brett replied. “We can have some breakfast here first then hit the road. It shouldn’t take too long to get to the turnoff and we can keep going until we find somewhere suitable to stop.”
“You don’t want to leave earlier?” Matt queried.
“You can if you want,” Brett said and fished the car keys from his pocket to hold them up. “But if you’re coming with me, I’m leaving at eight.”
Considering where they were, Matt didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter and nodded his head before getting to his feet. Brigitte did the same and the pair of them walked out of the bar.
“That guy is an asshole,” he said.
“Yeah, but he’s an asshole with a car, unless you’re planning to revive your wild teenage ways and steal one to get us out of here,” Brigitte pointed out.
“Nope,” Matt replied. “We’ll accept the ride tomorrow morning then consider what we do when we get somewhere safer.”
Brigitte slipped her arm through his and nothing more was said as they returned to their room, went inside and locked the door.
Chapter 18
The dread gnawed at Lincoln as he climbed the steps to the first floor of the property and he saw there was no one
in sight when he looked towards the door at the far end of the long hallway. He wasn’t one for worrying unnecessarily and took most things in his stride, but the prospect of what he was about to do set his nerves on edge. It made him clench his fists tightly and he consciously tried to relax as he approached the office. He already knew Eddie was inside and only stopped long enough to take a couple of deep breaths before opening the door to walk in the room.
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