Page 70 of Texas Hold Em'
She hit send. “How long do you think we’ll have to wait?”
Brody, who had brought his defibrillator into the room whileCarrie finished the final touches with the fake blood, shrugged. “It’s anyone’s guess.”
Carrie wrung her hands. “Where are you going to hide, Brody?”
“I thought I’d wait in the pit.”
“They might look there,” she said.
“Any suggestions then?” Brody asked.
She shook her head.
“You’re going to have to wait out back,” I said. “Leave your truck on the north side of the building. Wait in the cab. They’ll be coming from the south so they won’t see it, and if they do a lap of the permitter, they’ll likely assume you’re just another resident.”
“The truck is too far,” Carrie said. “We have minutes, remember?”
“It’s our best option,” I said.
She raked her fingers through her hair and huffed out an exasperated breath. “You’re okay with this, Brody?”
He shrugged. “Sounds like I have to be.”
The Nokia chimed, and then it started to ring.
All three of us stood there staring at each other like a bunch of slack-jawed idiots for a minute before Carrie snapped into action.
She pulled out the phone. “It’s him.”
“Answer it,” Brody said. “Don’t make him wait. He thinks you’re alone and Tex is dead, remember?”
Without another second of delay, Carrie answered the call on the third ring. “Yes.”
Brody and I couldn’t hear what Bates was saying, and the old Nokia didn’t have a speaker phone option. So we stood there and watched while Carrie nodded, and her eyes went wide.
“I can’t do that,” she said.
Bates spoke.
“No,” she said firmly, “youlisten. I did my part of the job, okay? How am I supposed to drag his bloody fucking corpse down the hallway of this stinking apartment and get him into a car? I’m a hundred and thirty pounds. I can’t move that kind of dead weight. You’re going to have to come here if you want to confirm.”
Good girl,I thought proudly,don’t give him an inch.
Whatever Bates said must have been more reasonable because Carrie started to nod before she spoke. “That’s fine. I’ll be here. Residents enter through the back, so come to the front. I’ll prop the door open somehow. I’m in unit 106 at the end of the hall to the right when they come in.”
She closed the phone when he hung up on her.
“So?” Brody asked.
“He’s sending Caroline and his enforcer.” Her voice shook.
“You can do this,” I said. “It’s all going to go to plan. I can feel it.”
Brody moved forward with his defibrillator. “They won’t be long. We should make sure we have you in position. We can’t afford to waste time. Carrie, you need to be my lookout. As soon as they arrive, I need to stop his heart so I have enough time to slip out the back before they come inside. Got it?”
Carrie nodded and looked up at the warehouse windows over our heads in the bedroom. “And how am I supposed to see?”
Brody grimaced. “You’ll have to wait by the front doors.”
