Page 29 of Wandering in Darkness
“Horse…” Felix whispers. “I really do want a horse. And I like this idea. Can you drive a trailer?”
The first guy who recognized him says, “This guy can drive anything. I saw him drive a semi once. Rammed it right into this guy’s car that was trying to con him. He demolished that fucker. Laughed the whole time.”
Antonio stares up into the sun like maybe he can just burn his eyes a bit to get out of this situation. It doesn’t seem to work because he sighs and lowers his eyes.
I notice Grayson trailing behind us as we’re led through a greenhouse and into a building not far from it. I can’t help but question what else they’re doing here. Is the marijuana actuallya front for something else? They’re obviously not interested in others knowing about this operation since it’s tucked out in the middle of nowhere with men who look like they could beat someone to a pulp if someone looked at them wrong.
And why is Grayson involved?
I can’t fathom that after nearly twenty years in the military, he left to pick up a life of crime. And better yet, why was Devon Jefferson’s photo in that drawer with this very location on it?
Mr. Goatee knocks on the door to an office.
“Come in,” a man says.
We’re led inside to where the man, a gruff-looking guy in his fifties, looks up with much interest.
“So you tell me you caught the people we were looking for, then you tell me that maybe you were mistaken because one guy is blind and the other is toting a pig around, and now you lead them into my office while one of them holds a gun?”
“Funny story,” Mr. Goatee says. “This is Elena’s son Tonio.”
The man glances at Antonio. “I remember,” he says. “I’m Ned. You probably don’t remember me, but your mother and I go way back. We were friends when we were kids.”
“Oh, how fun!” Antonio responds with some odd rise to his voice. “I kind of just want to go home, please? Ha… You know… it was lovely to meet you again and all. I can tell my mom you said hi.”
“So… let me clear this up. You really were just taking a break on the side of the road?” Ned asks.
“We were. These two got out to walk his service dog and their… pig.” We all look down at the pig in question. He’s busy scouting out the room. He knocks over the man’s trash can, decides there’s nothing interesting in there, and continues on his search.
“Yeah? So… a highly skilled runner who claims he left the business just happened to be outside of my place?”
Antonio laughs nervously. “Right? Like what the hell kind of coincidence is that? Well, we’ll just be on our way. It was a pleasure seeing you again. My mother will be thrilled to hear about it.”
Ned reaches back and lifts up a case that I hadn’t seen because his desk had been covering it. As he slides the very familiar case onto his desk, his eyes quirk up.
“So, an ex-runner just happened to stop outside of my place and… please, tell me whose gun this is? I have to assume the owner is the very same person who is standing in this room with a gun that surely doesn’t belong to him.”
Grayson reaches for the gun in my hands, and while I have half a mind to do a minor throat jab so he knows that the gun is nowmine, I do wonder if I should hand it over.
Quickly deciding that I would like to think about this a moment longer, I smack his hand away. He gives me a look, but I give him a challenging one right back. I then fabricate a lie that might get us out of this. “The gun is mine. Antonio is telling the truth, he left the business quite a while ago, but after he was nearly killed being dragged into something we don’t have time to get into, his mother insisted that he should have a bodyguard—which is me. Do I need a rifle of that caliber to be a bodyguard? No, you’re right, I don’t… or at least, I don’t think I should because not that long ago, I was forced to use it to push back some people who were trying to kill Antonio and his friends,” I explain. “We were going to be three hours from home, and in my mind it was better to bring it and not need it than to not have it at all. Understood?”
“I see.”
“To have retrieved my gun, you had to have gotten into our vehicle. The dog that’s in there, is he okay? You better not have hurt him.”
“We didn’t. We sent Emma in there, and that girl can convince a grizzly to like her.”
“Good.”
Ned smiles at me as he leans back in his chair. “So… Tonio, or Antonio, as you call him, is out of the business and you’re a bodyguard. Who are these other two?”
“My friends,” Antonio says. “I met Felix when he was dancing at the place I work at. He helped my boyfriend out with some… questionable family issues. We really are quite thrilled to have met up with all of you. We will not say a word and will be out of your hair lickety-split.”
“So you’re a bodyguard for hire?” Ned asks me.
“I am,” I say.
“Then I have a job for you, and if you do that job, I’ll let you all leave. Got it? Antonio, you too. These two will stay here as a guarantee that you’ll do as I ask.”
