Chapter 10

Joe was out of breath, out of daylight, and out of ideas. He had spent the entire day chasing the girl, traipsing around the woods. He found no clue of any sort to lead him anywhere and was strongly rebuffed at the only house within miles where Amanda thought she had seen her peeking out of a window.

Hot, irritable, scratched, and bleeding, he was mad as hell. He was humiliated and embarrassed for letting down his guard, especially on a job for boss man Spike, literally taking his hold off the girl's arm when he became overcome with excitement about finally completing the deal-so distracted that he let this one get away.

Now, he had something to prove. He had to come up with a plan to make it up to him. He had to find her and deliver her when Boss specified if he wanted to get paid the much-needed money as well as stay in the organization.

Amanda babbled in the background as they made their way along the street to the parked van.

"Hey, shut up, will ya? We gotta come up with a plan, a good one, and find her. We don't have much time left. We hafta find her or someone like her as soon as possible so's we can get her to Norfolk, or we'll be fish food."

"You should stay and look for her. It's your fault anyway. And when Boss pays you, you can send me my half of the money."

"Your half? You must think I'm an idiot or something? When I'm doin' all the work, I get at least seventy-five percent."

When Joe turned around, he saw that Amanda had stopped walking toward the van. She stood steady, looking straight ahead at him. He saw a burst of pure rage, raw and deep appear on her face.

"After your actions today, yes, you are an idiot," she said through tight lips. "And I have had enough of your harebrained ideas." Her face contorted in anger, reddened, eyes bulged, and her mouth tensed. Her hands became fists at her sides. She leaped toward Joe, flinging herself on him, knocking both of them to the ground. They rolled off the sidewalk and onto the stone gravel on the outskirts of the park, arms and legs flailing. She grabbed his hair and pulled. When he grabbed her hands and squeezed them tight, she squealed and let go of his hair. Then she tried to scratch his eyes out with her long, sharp fingernails.

Joe had had enough. Between the girl giving him such a hard time, defying his every order, and now Amanda giving him orders, he was up to his eyeballs in shit and wouldn't take anymore. He rolled away from her, pulling a gun out of his jacket pocket as he got up on his knees. As she rolled to sit up facing him, he pointed the gun between her eyes, the cold metal of the barrel touching her forehead.

Amanda froze, staring at Joe's face. His threatening stare enough to let her know he'd kill her if she crossed him. Joe looked around at the few people still milling around the almost-dark park. He motioned with his gun for her to get up. Amanda stood and brushed herself off.

"Just shut the hell up," he said through gritted teeth, holding the gun at his side, close and ready. "Don't say another word. I don't want nobody hearin' our business, so let's get back to the place so we can figger this out."

Under the cover of darkness, Joe followed Amanda as she walked stiffly in front of him back to the van. He looked over his shoulder for any sign of followers or interest.

After parking about a clock away, Joe followed Amanda in the door. "Amanda, go sit on one of the beds. I'll get you a drink," Joe told her, pushing her to the side as he closed and locked the door.

"No, I'll get my own drink," Amanda told Joe. "I wanna make sure I know what I'm drinking."

Insulted, Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I ain't gonna use you that way," Joe said, walking to the kitchen.

"That's just what I'm gonna make sure of," Amanda said, following close behind Joe.

They sat, fuming and furious, with their drinks. When Joe's cell phone rang interrupting the tense silence, they jumped, startled. Joe shook his head as he looked at the caller ID, hesitated a second, then flipped it open.

"Oh hi, boss. How ya doin'?" Joe said as he turned around and looked at Amanda with menace in his eyes.

"I know, boss, but we kinda ran into a snag here." He listened for a few seconds. "I know, boss, we're tryin' to-" Interrupted, he listened, then said, "Okay, boss, I will."

Joe could hear Amanda's anxiety increasing with her deep breaths, heavy sighing, and fidgeting as she waited for an explanation from him. She was still seething over her earlier altercation with him and he didn't want to deal with her attitude again.

"Well, what did he say?" she asked as she stood.

"Boss said we hafta drop the girl in Norfolk by Tuesday at midnight. He didn't wanna hear 'bout no problems. We just gotta have the girl there by then," he answered without turning around to look at her.

Amanda began screaming. "What have you gotten me into? I want out of this right now. I don't even want any money!"

"That ain't gonna happen, and you know it. You knew exactly what you were gettin' into from the start. Boss knows you're workin' this job with me and are gettin' a cut. When he pays for somethin', he 'xpects to get what he pays for. Iffin he don't, he don't need you or me no more and he'll get ridda' us before you can spit. You'll be iced and floatin' in the 'Lantic Ocean, or what's left of ya will be."

Amanda ran at Joe, her arms flailing, fists ready to do battle. She screamed, "What are we gonna do? This is all your fault, you fool."

"Shut up, you bitch," he said as he restrained her by holding her head back with one hand. "Just sit down and shut the hell up. I can't even think with your caterwaulin'."

Joe turned around to face her and backed her onto a nearby bed. She sat and put her head down on her arms and rocked back and forth.

"We gotta get that particular girl-not just any girl. It has to be the girl boss picked out. And we have to get her to Norfolk on time, just like boss wants. You know how picky he is. He has to get exactly what he wants when he wants it, and that's what he's payin' us for. If we screw up this job, there won't be no more jobs 'cause we'll be dead. So if you've got any ideas, now'd be a good time to hear 'em?"

Amanda lifted her head, pointed her finger at Joe, her lips tight, her face red with anger.

"I risked gettin' caught and goin' to jail for this job, man, I need the money. And now, thanks to you I've got nothin'. No deal. No girl. No money."

"Like I toldja. It ain't gonna' matter. Boss'll see us dead 'fore he pays either of us the first red cent. We have to deliver the goods or else."

Unflappable and composed, Joe sat in one of the two chairs in the house, crossed his legs, and lit up a cigarette. "We hafta come up with a way to find this girl. If we don't, we're dead. That's our only choice. I know Boss. There's nowhere to run or hide he won't find us. Iffin we don't deliver to Boss what he wants, we can't run far or fast enough to get away from him."

They needed to come up with a plan. They needed it to be foolproof. They needed it now.