Page 20 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
“Hey baby.What can I do for you ortoyou?”
“Oh, sweetheart, you soundsohelpful.”I licked my lips, even though he couldn’t see it; maybe he’d “hear” it.“I need…” I trailed off, waiting for him to take the bait.
“And I’ve got anything you want.”His high-pitched voice lowered.
Donning my very best Marilyn Monroe kitten voice, I breathily said, “Iwant… Jackson.”
“Oh, fuck.Jack!One of your bitches is on the phone.Hang on.He’s in the shop.”
Problem solved.I’d managed to fool the gatekeeper.That was good, right?
“Babe, I’m at work.Can’t it wait?”
“Are you alone?”I dropped the breathy act and went straight to business.
“Uh, yeah.Like that.Talk my ear off and get my dick hard, babe.”
“I think you know who this is, but if not, it’s the Queen of Hearts.I’m being followed.I know I wasn’t supposed to call you, but this is my friend’s phone, not traceable, not connected.I need help getting away.”
“Fuck.Hang on.”The phone crackled as he moved from where he was to a place we could talk freely.A door snicked shut, and he spoke again.“I’m in the john.They’re going to think I’m whacking off in here.What’s going on, who’s following you?”
“I’d guess Shock or one of his people.I filed for divorce.The next day, I got a bad feeling.All this week I’ve been seeing the same gray sedan parked outside work, at the bus stop I wait at outside the shelter, and outside the grocery store when we went in the shelter van.”
“Have you told anyone?”
“Everyone who needs to know.The shelter staff have awareness.They traded out vehicles with another location.We’re escorted to work now.”
“We?”
“Cara and I work at the same place.It’s a precaution because we’re often together.They might target her.”
“It sounds like they got it covered.”
I had to impress on him how serious this was.“They don’t.They’re used to normal people not…”
“Kate, I know what you mean.I’m one of them, remember?”
“Absolutely, that’s why I need you.”
“You don’t need me,” he protested.
Which was where he was wrong.“I need someone who can outsmart Shock.I know you’re that guy.”
He exhaled a little too loudly.“Remember the nurse?”
Ohshit.“Yeah.”
“She washed up along the Ohio River a week after you disappeared.”
I let out the breath I was holding.Unfortunately, I’d expected retribution.“Did he target you?”
Jackson made a noise.“He tried.Fucking Disney came through, covered my shit, and then some.Lied his ass off to a patched member.I owe him big-time.”
“Good.”
“Naw, not good.I can’t help you.He’s probably watching me.”
Shit.I must have said it out loud.
