by Nora Kane
“Why? Because I said she could do better? Come on kid, you know you’re playing out of your league.”
“How about because you’re a wanted fugitive?”
“Fugitive? At best I’m a person of interest.”
“Either way, do what I’m telling you.”
Stone looked at Margot who told him, “Do what he says.”
Stone shrugged and looked at Radcliff, “You ever shot anybody before?”
“There’s always a first time.”
Stone considered that for a second and then said, “You know, maybe before you haul me in, you should talk to your girlfriend. I’m trying to save her life.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Yeah, well, here’s the thing. If you take me in not only am I dead, but so is she.”
Radcliff looked at Margot.
“He’s mostly trying to save his own ass,” Margot said, “but it’s not entirely untrue.”
“You know this is kind of weird,” he said to her.
“Weird like you running over here and kicking in my door because I didn’t return your call?”
“If you weren’t on a cartel hit list, I might have been a little more patient.”
“Don’t be so hard on him, Margot,” Stone said. “He wasn’t entirely wrong. I was waiting for you and I’m something of an unsavory character. At least that’s what I’ve been told.”
“Shut up, Stone,” Margot said. She turned to Radcliff. “He thinks he can smooth things out so Mal and I aren’t on any hit lists anymore.”
“How is he going to do that?”
“There is going to be a shakeup with leadership down south and I’m in good with the new boss,” Stone explained.
“Okay, but you haven’t told me how you’re going to do it.”
When Stone didn’t answer right away Margot remarked, ‘He was coy about it with me too.”
“You really don’t want to know. All I can say is, whatever it is won’t be on this side of the border.”
“Is that supposed to make it okay?”
“Okay might be a strong word. I’d go with tolerable.”
“Not to me. I’m bringing you in.”
“Come on. You may be a youngster, but you know I won’t survive an hour in jail.”
“I’ll make sure everything that can be done is done to ensure your safety. Get on the floor face first and put your hands on your head.”
Stone looked back to see Margot had her pistol in her hand.
“Try something and I’ll put you down myself.”
Stone nodded and said to Radcliff, “When I get up, you're going to see a gun on the chair. Don’t freak out and start shooting.”
“Keep your hands where I can see them and it won’t be a problem.”
Stone did as he was told. Radcliff got out his handcuffs.
Radcliff snapped the bracelets on Stone’s wrists. Stone said to Margot, “Is this what you want?”
They both looked at her.
“No,” she replied, “But you’re not making this easy. If I was him, I’d be arresting you too.”
Stone sighed before asking, “What if I told you what I’m doing for them?”
“It wouldn’t hurt.”
Radcliff shook his head. “I probably won’t help either. Maybe you shouldn’t be confessing a crime especially if it's the one I’m thinking of. You do have the right to remain silent…”
“I know my rights and I’m not committing a crime. Certainly not the one you’re probably thinking of. They’ve got better people than me or even Margot for that kind of thing.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
“I’m going to be a rat.”
“You could have told me that from the beginning,” Margot said.
“Yeah, I could have, but I hate saying it. It makes me ill.”
“But you’ve done it before.”
“It made me ill then too.”
“I’m not sure how you talking helps them out. If you’re going to talk anyway, why not just let me bring you in?” Radcliffe asked.
“You really got to ask that?” Stone said as he shook his head.
“Enlighten me.”
“If you take me in, I don’t get to choose who to talk to. The fact is, a lot of those guys are crooked. I’ve got an agent I can trust. On that same note, they like it better when I come to them. Second, I need to know what to talk about and whose name to bring up and whose name not to, so I need to talk to Enrique first. The idea is to topple the organization so the new guys can step in. Third, I need to know I’m getting something out of this. That’s the important part because that’s the part where Margot and I get to stay alive.”
“Maybe you tell me who you want to talk to and I’ll do my best to make sure he’s the one.”
“You going to talk to Enrique as well and make sure this is all on the level?” Stone asked.
“Maybe we need to consider letting him do this. It would solve all of our problems,” Margot suggested.
“Margot, he’s a wanted man,” Radcliff argued. “We shouldn't even be talking to him.”
“He’s wanted for questioning in the death of his wife and we both know he had nothing to do with that. We also both know, if you take him in, he might not last twenty-four hours. I also have a personal interest in having him straightening the Cartel business.”
“Okay, Stone, let’s say I do let you go, how exactly are you planning to meet with this guy, Enrique? Were you going to bring them to Margot’s place to negotiate?”
“No, it’s all by phone. He ought to call on our way back from Margot’s thing out east.”
Radcliff turned to Margot, exasperated. “You’ve got a thing out east?”
“Yeah, and it would be better if I wasn’t late. If you’re considering letting him go with me, you need to do it sooner rather than later.”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“Come on kid,” Stone urged. “There’s following the law and then there’s doing the right thing.”
Radcliff didn’t say anything.
“Did you call it in?” Margot asked.
“No, like you said, a missed phone call isn’t exactly a call out the cavalry situation.”
“Then no one will know. Let him make his phone call and then you can take him in. You’ll look a hero.”
“Everybody wins this way,” Stone added.
“You think just because no one knows that makes it okay?” Radcliffe asked.
“No, but I think it's the right thing to do,” Margot replied.
“You trust him to do what he says?”
“Of all the people I’ve had to deal with since I got into this mess, he might have been the most honest. So, yeah, to a certain extent, I guess I do. Don’t think of it as letting him go. Think of it as releasing him into my custody. I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure he comes back to testify.”
“I don’t know…”
“You asked if I trust Stone. I have to ask, do you trust me?”
“I do and I do believe you say you’ll do everything you can to bring him back, but I can’t let him go. I also recognize that you need him to straighten things out for you. With that in mind, I can’t release him to you, or anyone really.”
Margot wasn’t sure what to say.
“So, I guess I’m going with you,” Radcliff told her.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, we haven’t gone on a road trip together yet.”
“Yeah, I guess we haven’t. Mal’s going to love this.”
“He’s coming along too?” Stone asked.
“He’s watching my back.”
“Do we still need him?” Radcliff asked, “I can do that.”
Margot thought about for a second. “Yeah, I’m sure you can, but you’re also watching Stone.”
“I’d enjoy watching your back as well,” Stone told her.
“Shut up,” Radcliff growled. “You’re lucky you’re not on t
he way to jail.”
Stone decided that was true and shut up.
“I’m getting in the shower, can you two behave?”
“Yeah,” Radcliff replied.
Stone nodded.
When Margot got out of the shower, Stone was still on the floor.
“You going to let him get up?”
“Yeah, get up,” Radcliff told him as he picked up Stone’s gun from the couch and put it in the pocket of his sports coat.
“I can carry that,” Stone said to him.
“No, you can’t.”
Mal’s Charger was parked next to Margot’s Prius in a spot reserved for her neighbor.
Mal probably would have stayed in the car and then followed her but seeing Radcliff and Stone emerge from her apartment made him get out.
“What the hell is this?” he asked.
“They’re riding up with us.”
“Uh, why?”
“I’ll explain later, we’re running late,” Margot muttered before she looked at Stone and Radcliff and asked, “Anybody want to ride with Mal?”
“No,” they both said at once.
“His car has more legroom.”
“Still no,” Radcliff replied.
“Shotgun,” Stone said.
Radcliff laughed. “You were sitting upfront anyway. I don’t want you behind me.”
Stone shrugged and quipped, “More legroom for me.”
Chapter 6
Gale wasn’t kidding about how far out of the way Lori’s place was. They used the GPS to locate a lone gas station out among a sea of orange groves. The gas station was the closest thing the GPS would recognize. They found the station and then took a right on an unmarked and, as far as they could tell, unnamed road.
As they passed the station, Margot caught sight of a truck sitting in front of the garage attached to the small convenience store. It appeared that, aside from gas and snacks, there was a mechanic on duty. Two men were by the truck talking, one was wearing greasy coveralls and appeared to be the mechanic, the other was wearing a dress shirt and a tie.
The man in the tie watched them go up the road. He even stepped away from the truck so he could keep his eyes on the two-car convoy. Margot watched him watching her until the road turned enough they couldn’t see each other.
“You see that dude eyeballing us?” Stone asked.
“Yeah, I did.”
“Cartel?” Radcliff asked from the back seat.
“I don’t know, but I doubt it, he didn’t have the look. They could have contracted him out from somewhere, but how in the hell would they have somebody waiting for me here of all places?”
“The road,” Margot said. “He couldn’t have cared less until we turned here.”
“Why would he care?” Stone asked.
“He’s local,” Radcliff said, “he was talking to the mechanic like they knew each other. He might even live down here. They probably don’t get a lot of traffic. You might be the first Prius to go down this road ever.”
Stone nodded. “I haven’t met anybody that lives out the boondocks who wasn’t a little paranoid. The reason half these assholes live out in the middle of nowhere is because they’re afraid of other people. He’s wondering if you’re going to rob him.”
“That would explain the stare down,” Radcliff agreed.
“Or he’s Lori’s husband, which could mean trouble.”
“He’d be right about you stealing something,” Stone said.
“She’s a person, not a possession,” Margot told him.
“Okay, but I’d bet that’s not the way he’s going to see it.”
“Doesn’t make it right.”
“No, but it doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
Margot couldn’t argue that point.
“He’s supposed to have a job in the city,” she told them. “He should be at work by now.”
“He do something that would require a tie?”
“He sells used cars.”
“They usually wear ties. Nice looking truck too, which I would guess a car salesman would have,” Radcliff said.
“He could have had car trouble,” Stone said, “that would explain why he was talking to the mechanic.”
“Or this is another setup,” Radcliff added.
Margot saw the turn up ahead just past another orange grove. Just like Gale had described it, there were two mailboxes. One belonged to Lori and Dave and the other wasn’t being used by anyone. If anyone else saw her take this road, they’d know who she was going to see since no one else lived there.
Margot checked her mirror. The only car on the road was Mal’s and there wasn’t anything but dirt and orange trees on either side. She took the turn.
“If it is him, hopefully, whatever trouble his car’s giving him lasts long enough to pick up Lori,” Margot said.
She made one more turn and then came to a well-kept double wide mobile home. She looked back to see Mal drive past the turn. She assumed he would stop somewhere close so he could watch the road coming in. He sent her a text to confirm he was doing just that.
Ten minutes later, Stone was gone, Radcliff was out cold, Mal was M.I.A. and Margot was looking at the wrong end of a hunting rifle.
Chapter 7
Margot didn’t put down her gun, she didn’t even lower it.
“Don’t make me repeat myself, little lady,” the mechanic told her.
Margot took a second to read the name on the patch sewed above this heart before she said, “Look, Chuck, I figure no matter how this plays out, you’re going to be fine, but you might want to ask Dave here if he’s okay with playing to a tie.”
“Excuse me?”
“You might shoot me dead before I blow Dave’s head clean off, but I kind of doubt it. The guys who do that kind of shit are trained snipers, which I’m guessing you are not. And you want to know something? Even those guys probably don’t get that clean kill you need every time. Not the kind you need to get to keep me from pulling the trigger and spreading Dave’s brains all over my car. On the range, they never miss, but pulling the trigger on another human being? That shit gets messy.”
“Maybe I’ll take my chances.”
“Maybe you won’t,” Dave said.
