Phil looked down at his cell phone. Michelle’s number was ready to dial. All he had to do was hit send. His thumb rested on the green button, but it didn’t press it. He looked up, and noticed he had wandered into Kmart’s toy department. “How did I get here?” he muttered under his breath. How indeed he thought. Jer’s death, the shooting in Jer’s apartment, the car chase, hiding in B’s car, freight hopping and wandering Aberdeen were all racing through his mind. How could he call her now? He found the number on-line months ago, but could never bring himself to call it. He was being sought by the police and an assassin, so calling her now seemed like the stupidest idea he could think of. Yet, he still missed her. He thought about her every day. He wandered out of the toy department and kept walking. His finger still on the button.
***
There she is! What is going on? I have to confront her Felix thought.
Is that officer Black? What is going on here Will thought.
This room got a lot more tense all of the sudden. Who is she Clayton thought.
Those must be her heavies old man B thought.
Dammit…those looks…my cover Laura thought.
This isn’t good. I really didn’t want to involve Mabel again Jeremiah thought.
Mabel and Jebediah didn’t think. They reacted.
Mabel screamed like she’d never screamed before. She thought about the guns that were drawn on her, and the fear she felt when she sat in her apartment and heard the second break in. She remembered crying when she saw the torn jacket in the tree. She thought she had put it out of her mind enough to function, but she only now knew how close her fear was to the surface. She put her hands on the sides of her head as her scream tailed off. Old man B grabbed her arm and kept her from falling hard.
Jebediah’s mind had been going over everything that had gone wrong so far. He hadn’t counted on Mabel showing up, but he had been mindful of what to do if Laura’s cover was blown. Laura froze in the door of the elevator as Mabel started screaming. He took a step forward. His right hand shot to the door close button and the basement button at the same time. His left arm stiffened and shoved Laura out of the elevator. Laura was not expecting it at all, and Jebediah saw her fall to her knees as the door closed. He looked at Jeremiah as the elevator moved downward. “Fall back alpha.” Jeremiah was used to running the show, but he deferred to Jebediah in times like these.
Laura went from frozen to putting her arms out in seconds. She knew that Jeremiah and Jebediah had hung her out to dry. She didn’t blame them. She knew she would have done the same. Now she was alone in a police station, and even the protection of Sioux Falls’ finest wouldn’t be enough to save her if she rolled over on the weatherman. Felix came running over to help her up, but she had other ideas for him. Laura fell to her right and clutched at her right knee. As Felix helped her up, her arm slid upward, and her hand reached for her sidearm.
***
Bob held the gray cargo pants in his arm. He didn’t care for cargo pants, but it was the best option he was finding at Kmart. He started walking towards the Northeast corner of the store. He was walking by the storage section and he glanced to his left. He saw a large plastic trash can, with a sale sign taped on it, with one piece of tape on every corner. It was exactly how Bob had taped Michelle’s letter to the bottom of their garbage can. He stopped and just stared at the sign. Why did I not throw it out? Why did I tape it to the can? Was I ever going to tell Phil? Should I have let him read it? What did it say? Will I ever be able to tell Phil? Will he forgive me? Wi-
“Hey, uh, are you going to buy that trash can?”
Bob snapped out of his mental prison. “Excuse me?” He turned and saw a large man with a dirty NASCAR hat on.
“The garbage can. If you aren’t going to buy it, I was going to. It’s the last one.”
“No, no take it. I…I just remembered I needed to take out the trash later.” Bob walked rapidly away towards the automotive section. The man watched him walk for a second, then he started dragging the can to the check-out.
***
Mabel was screaming and crying, and old man B was doing all he could to keep her from crumpling into a heap on the floor. “What the hell was it? What’s going on?”
“The…the men in the elevator…Bob’s apartment…threatened to kill me if I went to the police…” she said in between sobs.
Old man B hoisted her up. “We need to get out of here, and now is our chance. Let’s go. I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you.” Mabel didn’t know what to say. Was B offering to protect her? How could he? She couldn’t think straight as B led her towards an exit, away from the scene at the elevator.
Felix reached Laura and started to help her up. “What was that about? Are you okay? We need to talk.”
“Thanks for the assist Felix, but no talking.”
“Huh?”
Laura swung her leg under Felix’s lead leg. As he teetered backwards, she pulled her sidearm and threw her left arm around his neck. She pulled him to a standing position while pressing the gun barrel to his temple. “Don’t make this hard Felix. I’ve already died once, as you found out.”
Will moved forward, but a look from Laura made him back off. “Easy Black, easy.”
“No, you take it easy, and back off. Felix, press that elevator button.”
Clayton calmly took a step towards the wall and to Will’s right. “I’ll call you back” he said as he slowly lowered his phone.
***
Phil looked down at his cell phone again. Michelle’s number was ready to dial. All he had to do was hit send. He took a deep breath…
