“Certainly, sir. By which entrance should we pick you up?”
“Pick us up in the Emergency Room parking lot. We’re at the brown and tan RV, the only RV in the lot.”
“Emergency Room parking lot, RV. Got it. He should be there in about ten minutes. Blue Honda van.”
“We’re going to fly?”
“No. Rent a car.”
“Ah.” Draping Mafic over my shoulder, I pulled Colt’s pistol out of my pants and handed it to him. As I wiped a seat clear of glass, he tucked the pistol away in the small his back. When I sat down in my newly cleared seat, Mafic tried to hop down, but I held him, and after a moment of me gently scratching his ears, cheeks, and chin, he relaxed and settled more fully into my lap.
For the next ten minutes, Colt paced in a tight circle at the front of the coach, clearly watching for threats.
“Here comes the taxi,” he said.
A blue Honda Odyssey pulled up alongside, stopped, and the side door began sliding open. Colt went out first, did a quick check, then waved me out. I crawled into the van and moved to the seat behind the driver. Colt crawled in immediately behind me and dropped his single small bag into the floor beside my computer between the seats.
“Holy cow! What happened?” the driver cried as he looked at Colt, his eyes wide.
“Road rage.”
“Are you kidding me! What’d you do?”
“I forgot to signal and a woman in a Miata thought I cut her off.”
The driver stared at Colt for a long moment. “Naw, man! What really happened?”
“Really… that’s it. We’re in a bit of a hurry.”
The driver continued to stare at Colt, but then he must have realized he wasn’t going to get anything else out of him and pushed something to start the door closing as he turned away. I looked down, a tiny smile on my lips, as I scratched Mafic’s ears.
-oOo-
Mafic was a good rider and had fallen asleep in the back seat of the rented Mustang as we rumbled north and east along I-35. We were two hours into the five-hour drive when I finally decided I had to call Dad and tell him what happened. I’d been dreading this since we left the airport.
“I don’t want to do this,” I said softly.
“It’ll be okay,” Colt said, taking my hand. “You’re going to have to do it sooner or later, so better to get it over with.”
I nodded, selected Dad’s personal number from my contact list, and pressed the button to dial before putting the call on speaker. “Dad?”
“Hey, Baby Girl. Where are you?”
“On the way home. Dad,” I paused a moment as I summoned my courage. “Someone tried to kill me again. I’m okay, but–”
“What?” he roared from the phone. “You said you trusted these guys and nobody would be able to get close to you again!”
“They attacked the RV! They came right up to us!”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. A little bruised up from getting out of there, but yes, I’m okay. The RV is totaled. It’s shot full of holes, and Colt had to crash through two trucks to get away.”
“What?” he roared again.
“It was the only way!”
“I don’t care about the damned RV! You’re not hurt?”
“No. I’m okay. The DBMC, they saved me. Two men are in the hospital, and three more are dead, but they saved me.”
“Where are you now?”
“I’m with Colt. We rented a car and are on our way home.”
“I want to see both of you the moment you get here!”
“Wait a second,” I said as Colt began shaking his head. I placed my thumb over the microphone. “What?”
“Not tonight. Tomorrow. I don’t want to hear… I can’t deal with it right now. If your dad gets in my face over this, I’m afraid I’ll…” He paused as his lips thinned. “Tomorrow would just be better,” he finally said.
I nodded as I placed my hand on his arm. “I understand.” I brought the phone back to my ear. “Tonight’s not good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Where are you? When will you get into town?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m tired, I have Mafic with me, and I just want to go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I want to see both of you.”
“Okay… we’ll see you tomorrow.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “Okay. Fine. I expect you in my office by eight.”
“Okay. We’ll be there.”
Dad let out a long sigh. “Thank God you’re okay. We’ll take care of this. Can he hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Take me off speaker.”
“No. Anything you have to say, I want him to hear.”
He was quiet for another long moment. “No. We’ll discuss this in the morning.” That’s what I thought. He isn’t going to bad mouth Colt or the BDMC in front of me without hearing about it.
“Okay. Love you, Dad.”
“I love you, too,” he said. “We’ve got to find out what the hell this is all about and put a stop to it.”
“I hope so. The other time scared me, but this time, it was awful. Tom Fisher died because I couldn’t stop the bleeding, and two more were killed before we could get the RV started.” I swallowed hard. “Four men have died because of me.”
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “Just get home, and be careful. I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I’m damned sure going to find out.”
“I will.”
“Call me when you get home so I know you’re safe.”
“Okay. Love you. Bye.”
“Bye, Baby Girl.”
I hung up the phone and stared at it a moment. “Fuck… pardon my French.”
.
.
.
COLT
“Okay, Dad. Bye,” Willow said as she ended the call and pointed. “That’s it, 2415.”
I turned the car into the drive and stopped in front of the garage door of a two-story brick townhome barely wider than the double garage and front door and window. Somehow, Mafic knew he was home. He’d woken up when I’d stopped to open the gate leading into her neighborhood, crawled into her lap as we drove down her street, and was now meowing his excitement as he stared out of the windshield. Willow’s home was an end unit, with a small expanse of grass in front and a larger area along the side that looked like a utility right of way.
“Let me have your key and I’ll open the door.”
“There’s a keypad on the garage… one nine seven three enter.”
“Stay in the car,” I said as I stepped out and entered the number. As the door rumbled up, I returned to the car and pulled it inside. The large two-car garage was empty save for a bicycle and a row of shelves along one wall that contained neatly labeled plastic boxes. When the car stopped, she started to get out until I took her arm and gently restrained her.
“Wait.” I exited the car and pushed the button to lower the door. While the door was closing the last foot, she opened her door and stepped out, cuddling the cat as she bumped the door closed with a hip check. It was nearly eleven, and she looked exhausted.
She unlocked the door into the house from the garage, shoved it open, and turned Mafic loose inside. Bag in hand, I started to follow her in, but instead of entering, she turned on the water at a valve and then stepped to the nearby hot water tank and twisted the thermostat. I heard the woosh of the burner igniting as she turned away. I followed her into the house.
It was uncomfortably warm inside, and she went directly to the thermostat on the wall and punched a button to start the air conditioning running.
“Bedrooms are upstairs,” she said as I continued to watch with amusement as she proceeded directly to the kitchen.