“What else did you ask”, my mind still spinning? The Sheriff lowered his head and slowly back up. “Don’t take this the wrong way Billy, But I’m having my wife check a few things for me”. I shrugged indicating that it was okay . “She’s been county clerk for almost as long as I’ve been Sheriff, so I’m having her dig into adoption records starting eighteen years ago until she comes up with something”.
Wait a minute, I’m almost eighteen so………….. Yes, sometimes I’m slow at catching on. “Do you think that I’m really adopted, that my parents just picked me up after a raffle at church? That’s not right and ridiculous to even consider”, I
blurted with emotion. I plopped down on the bed and put my hands to cover my
face. This was too much and my emotions were starting to get the better of me.
Thank you for evaluating PDF to ePub Converter.
To get full version, you need to purchase the software from: http://www.pdf-epub-converter.com/convert-to-epub-purchase.html
The Sheriff and Captain gave me some space as I pondered this possibility for a
moment. I stood up, wiped the tears from my eyes and went over to the window and lit up another smoke. After a few puffs and seeing nothing of interest outside the window I asked, “So where do we proceed from here”? “Billy, that all depends on you, and to let you know that I’ve got Deputy Dave calling in some reserves from another county so he can be a twenty four hour chaperone for our girls”.
“Without hesitation I replied, “I say we nuke the place”. That brought a smile to the Sheriff’s face but not so much from the Captain. “What’s wrong Bill”, The Sheriff inquired? “I’m just running things over in my mind and if he knew what Billy was doing in the room and not to mention our plans, just how are we supposed to continue with a surprise attack that’s no longer a surprise”, The Captain offered?
That was a good question and I had no immediate answers. What if I did have a brother and why would he wait until now to announce his presence. No, none of that made any sense. I want to end this shit and get my life back. Just how in the hell could he possibly know what I was smoking, not to mention where I was at, and our plans how did he know about that? I could only remember us going over the plans once we were outside of what was left of Thomas’s place and there wasn’t anything or anybody around.
The car, the Buick, I’d be willi ng to bet that there were not only homing devices on the car but a recording device as well, and probably a camera. I couldn’t say this out loud since I had an idea that there was something other than my clothes in my backpack. I casually walked back over to the window and noticed that the Buick was parked on the street in front of the hotel, with a perfect view of my room. Okay I’m reaching a bit since he couldn’t possibly know which room we would get………unless.
The Sheriff was calling his deputy to confirm his message had been relayed. The Captain had just finished his smoke. I grabbed the pad of paper with the Hotels letter head on it along with the pen next to it and began writing.
The Captain was about to ask what I was doing but I put a finger up to my mouth to indicate the hush signal. It worked as the Sheriff ended his call and the Captain copied my finger signal for the Sheriff. Damn if I didn’t fill that first page
fast. I quietly tore the page off and started another, but it was too quiet so I wrote another quick note and handed it to the Sheriff informing him to continue talking and do some fake planning and stay away from the window. He shrugged in agreement as I continued.
I had enough written down to get the point across, hopefully. I handed the Sheriff the pad I was writing on then continued to act like I was upset about the phone call and such to the Captain while the Sheriff read my note.
‘What happened to Charles and Dumar, where did they go, and how convenient was it that one of the cars didn’t have flats. I think they hid out while ole red eye was doing his damage and placed a tracker on the car and a camera
on it as well. They can use those long range microphones to pick up our voices and hightail it to this motel once they heard you talk about it. They are playing us for fools and are probably trying to get the bounty money on their own and are able to watch our every move. Let’s play this off as we’re changing our plans and head down to the buffet and find a noisy spot. They could have eyes on us but at least they won’t be able to hear us if we’re careful.’
“I’m in agreement with Billy, we need to rethink this and decide if we should wait or not go through with this at all”, The Sheriff winked as he spoke just loud enough to be heard by other means.
The Captain added while reading the note pad the Sheriff handed to him, “I’m not sure what to think about all this but I am hungry, so how about we go down a grab a bite to eat. I’m sure after we’re done we should probably sleep on it and talk about this after some rest”, damn the Captain was good at bluffing.
We were only on the second floor but had the entire length of the hallway to maneuver to get to the elevator. I didn’t notice when we came in but if you were to stare at the burnt orange carpet long enough, I’m sure you could go blind. The salmon colored walls weren’t much better and oddly enough it blended well with the carpet.
We turned right from the elevator and entered the casino’s buffet. Luck was on our side as most of the tables were occupied. Two tables close to the kitchen
door were where we ended up as we each took turns filling our plates. Enough
noise was coming from the kitchen to make it easy enough for us to talk.
The Captain was the first to fill up his plate and returned with a combination of pancakes loaded with blueberry topping a heaping mound of hash browns and an
extra-large cup for coffee. The Sheriff went next and returned with half a pig. A plate bulging with sausage patties, sausage links, covered in a few layers of ham and topped with about twelve slices of bacon. The Sheriff sat down as the Captain started making snorting noises.
I had a pretty good pile of food going myself, though not to the extremes of
the Sheriff. I loaded up with scrambled eggs, some bacon, a lot of hash browns
and a Dr. Pepper from the self-service soft drink fountain.
We ate quickly and all of us were checking out the early morning breakfast
crowd. I was looking for anyone that resembled Charles. I remember him from
Astoria. He was a good six foot two with short blonde hair and fairly muscular. I saw no one that even came close to that description.
“What do you think Walt, does Billy’s explanation make sense to you”, Bill asked while needing some reassurance? “What Billy said makes more sense than that story they were feeding him”, The Sheriff replied. “I say we go as planned, except for one small problem”, I stated. “They’re watching our car”, I added to the two curious faces staring at me.
The Sheriff munched on the last of his bacon and looked over at the Captain. “You still any good at breaking into cars”, The Sheriff inquired? The Captain almost choked on his coffee as he wiped his mouth and looked around to make sure no one noticed. “No one’s asked me to do that in years Wa lt, but yeah I probably could, if the car was old enough”. The Captain looked about and added, “If it’s made before nineteen ninety I should be okay”.
“By the looks of the cars parked here when we came in I’d say you could have the pick of the litter”, The Sheriff offered. “How are we going to get to it since they’re watching us? They’re going to notice someone breaking into a car”, I wondered. “Bill how about you and I take a little walk through the casino and see if we can come up with anythi ng. Billy you go and get seconds or something and we’ll be back in five minutes”, The Sheriff requested.
I did as asked and returned with more hash browns and sausage patties. I was looking past the worn wooden split rail fence that separated the buffet from the
casino. I was amazed at the amount of flashing and blinking lights coming from the casino. That was a seizure waiting to happ
en. They split up and went in different directions. The Sheriff occasionally stopped and plopped in a couple of
coins on a couple of slot machines as the Captain did the same.
I couldn’t see any exit doors from the casino or from the buffet, though I’m
sure there was one through the kitchen.
The prospects seemed bleak to sneak outside unnoticed, when a thought
occurred to me. What about the fire alarm? No dumb shit, then everyone would
be outside by their car. Looks like its back to the drawing board as I munched
away. My mind was still busy pondering possibilities.
59
“Looks like they’re biting Dumar, can you hear them”, Charles asked while putting down his binoculars on the dash board of his black Ford f150 pickup truck? “Negative, too much traffic to pick up anything useful”, Dumar replied
from the confines of his second floor room next door to the Sheriff’s and Captains room which is right over the casino. His long range directional microphone was picking up more static than anything else right now and would be like that until they left the casino area.
Dumar shut off the microphone for a few moments and now could hear Charles much better. “Is there anything strange about their behavior so far”? “Nothing yet, the big Sheriff is cruising the casino along with the other police guy while Billy is still eating”, Charles reported.
“From what I’ve heard, they seem spooked and I doubt that they continue their quest. There are too many things for them to worry about, like something happening to Billy’s girlfriend and the fact that now he thinks he mi ght be related to the entire operation. That was a good touch by the way Charles”.
“There are parts to that which are true. One phone call and I can have that
Jenny picked up in an hour. The kicker was finding out that he’s adopted which
made the story much more convincing”, Charles gloated. “You stay up there for a few more minutes and then head down to your Jeep and set up shop around the corner facing the casino and see what we can pick up. Remember that Catrell is in charge now and was more than delighted to hear that Billy is still with us and the
five million soon will be ours. Keep your long range ears ready”.
“Did Catrell mention what happened to Vargas”, Dumar wondered? “You know Catrell, that short skinny fuck has a twisted sense of humor. All he said was, that it was a gas”, Charles replied.
“You pick up anything worthwhile once you’re outside give me a buzz. I’m
going in to pick us up a couple coffees’ to go and I’ll set yours inside the Jeep”,
Charles offered. “I’m packing up now so I’ll be there in about five minutes”,
Dumar answered.
“Once you get set up we’ll go over what happens depending on which direction they go, if they leave. If they stay here and admit defeat, we shall catch them while they sleep and go collect our money”. “Sounds good Charles, I’ll be back online in a few”.
60
The Sheriff and the Captain were taking quite a long time in the casino. I believe if I took another bite I might just explode. I saw the Sheriff talking to a couple of people and the Captain was meandering about the casino perimeter. I had to get up and walk as I was getting stiff just sitting. Perhaps having a pile of rocks falling on me might explain my stiffness more than a ful l stomach.
I wondered up by the casino entrance and peered out one of the windows right out front by where we parked the Buick. It was still dark but a hint of light was coming from the east, as sunrise would soon approach. Scanning the street
since there was currently nothing else better to do, I noticed a guy in a dark colored pickup truck and there was just enough light emitting from the casino to see that the guy was using binoculars and staring in at the casino.
He sat the binoculars on the dashboard and was taking a drink of something, but when he set the cup down he faced the casino. I recognized him. He was the fourth guy that showed up in Astoria to help us out. Charles was spying on us which meant that Dumbass or Dumar, whatever hi s name is, was close by as well.
I went to the wooden split rail fence separating me from the evils of gambling in hopes of getting the Sheriff’s attention. He saw me and motioned for me to go
back towards the buffet. It’s too soon for me to be defe nding my title in the
buffet, but I went.
The Captain came back in the buffet as the Sheriff past the buffet and went into the gift shop. “I saw the guy watching us and”…………… “I know we saw him to, now hush and wait for the Sheriff, we just may have way out”, the Captain spouted while getting to get a cup of coffee.
The Sheriff came back in the buffet as I filled up with another Dr. Pepper and the Captain guzzled his coffee. He sat down and had three ball caps he got from the gift shop. I was confused; I just bought us some a little earlier.
He bought an assortment of ball caps, all different styles and colors. “Okay gent’s this is how this is going to go”, the Sheriff started as that peaked my curiosity. “I met three locals who are familiar with Round Mountain and one of
them used to make deliveries there until he started asking questions and
immediately got laid off”. I’m confused, where is this going? “This guy has two friends and the three of them could pass for us. They’re in the casino right now and the driver is almost my size, his friend is close to Bill and the guy’s son is just twenty one and is Billy’s size”, the Sheriff added.
The Captain handed me one of the hats. I put on the orange and yellow flame
cap as I was starting to follow where the Sheriff was going. The Captain put on
the bright red cap and the Sheriff donned an ugly yellow cap. “There our disguises have been started. I know you saw the guy in the truck Billy, we all did, and these guys are willing to help us out by switching cars……………….for a price”, his volume dwindled.
The faces were staring at me and I’m taking it that since I’m the only one currently with a small wad of cash that I was going to have to finance this ruse. “Okay, what’s their price”, I asked in a matter of fact tone? The Sheriff to a quick peak at the small crowd around us and stated, “Five hundred dollars”. Gulp, ouch, oh, damn the peer pressure, “Fine, now how do we go about this”, I caved?
“First we go to our rooms and grab our stuff like we’re checking out and then
meet back in here to begin the start of identity change”, The Sheriff mysteriously
stated.
I had grabbed my backpack and replaced my semi crushed pack of smokes for a new pack and did a quick check at the window. I just wanted them to know that
I was still concerned over their bogus phone call.
I must be getting slow in my old age as the Sheriff and Captain were already
back at a table in the buffet. I unzipped my backpack, rummage around for a
moment and came out with five hundred dollars from my stash and slyly handed
it to the Sheriff.
“Okay, now what”, I asked? “I’m going first, meaning we will each be going to the bathroom to exchange clothes with our doppelganger and then when finished we meet in the casino”, The Sheriff explained. That statement made me almost happy that I would get to go into the casino, but just exactly how was I going to get by the guy at the gate to get in?
The Sheriff sensed my doubt and replied, “Don’t worry Billy, the guy we’re swapping with says the old guy at the entrance has cataracts and won’t notice anything since you’ll be wearing the clothes of the guy that was just in there”.
“Once we swap in the bathroom we go to the casino and the person we swapped with will take our place at the table. I will pay the guy once I get in and when all three of us are in the casino they will check out of the hotel and head in the opposite direction of Round Mountain”, The Sheriff continued.
“In our car I take it, but what about the c-4, the two
backpacks are in the trunk
of the car”, I wondered? “It’s okay Billy, when they leave and go west on highway 6 they will stop and get gas at the shell station up the road. I gave the guy some gas money, and he said that his brother in law runs the place and they will put the backpacks in the bed of a dark blue Chevy pickup that will be parked next to the building. I gave the guy my cell number and he will call once the bags are dropped and they are on their way”, The Sheriff had this planned out nicely.
I liked our plan but still had questions. “What about Charles in the pickup out
front. Do you think him and Dumar will follow them”? “Damn Billy, you’re
getting good at this shit and yeah they will be expecting company and if you knew
the kind of weaponry they have in the truck that they will pick up after placing our
c-4, then you would hate to be Charles and Dumar”. The Sheriff was making feel a bit better about this but, “They know that they’ll be tailed and eventually try to kill the fake sheriff and captain and kidnap the fake Billy”?
“They are well aware and they’re from around here and know every side road and roads that aren’t on a map. They will be taking them on a wild goose chase and eventually wait for them to catch up, but by then they will be loa ded for bear and empty every clip they have, at them”, The Sheriff finished. “I’m game, let’s start operation identity swap”, I offered.
The Sheriff as planned got up first and looked towards the casino. His partner in the casino gave a nod and made his way to the bathroom. “We got us a vintage ride waiting for us Billy”. The Captain was not as good as the Sheriff when it comes to softening the blow. “What did we inherit”, I politely asked? “A nineteen fifty seven Chevy Bel Air”, The Captain spouted somewhat proudly.
The Road to Round Mountain II - The Alliance: By C.G Roberts Page 22
