by Mike Ryan
After a few more minutes of walking, a car pulled over to the side of the road, offering them a lift. After speaking to the driver, Nicole waved at her boyfriend to hurry up, since he had fallen behind.
“C’mon, he’ll take us to the airport.”
“You know I don’t talk to strangers,” Bridge said.
“Just get in.”
“How do I know he’s trustworthy?”
“Just get in!”
“What if he’s dangerous?”
“Who’d be more dangerous than us?”
Bridge tilted his head and made a face. “Good point.”
“Just get in or I’ll leave you here.”
“Fine. Let’s just get in the car with strangers.”
They got in the back seat of the car and drove to the airport.
“Besides, don’t you want to catch up with them faster?” Nicole asked.
“I guess.”
The driver of the car appeared to be in his late sixties, maybe even seventies. He was very thin and looked like he’d done a lot of hard work in his time. He wasn’t much of a threat. Once they got to the airport, Bridge got out of the car and reached into his pocket to remove some money. He offered it to the driver, who refused.
“No, senor, it was my pleasure. I did not do it for money.”
Bridge smiled. “I know. But it looks like you might need some new tires soon. Please take it as a sign of my thanks and gratitude.”
The man finally relented and took the money. They shook hands and Bridge and Nicole went over to the rental car office. Nicole sat down with the bags to rest from her head injury at Bridge’s insistence while he took care of the rental. He came back a few minutes later, SUV keys in hand.
“Time to load up.”
“Why do we always rent SUVs?” Nicole asked.
Bridge thought for a second. “I don’t know. It’s just what we do.”
“It’s like… your thing.”
“It’s not a thing.”
“It is.”
“It’s not.”
“Then what is it?”
“I dunno… we need a bigger car to put your bazookas in.”
“I’ll accept that.”
They quickly put their bags in the trunk with Nicole taking out her tablet, then they hopped in the front seat. She turned it on and pulled up the app.
“It’s still on. We’re good.”
“Question is whether it’s still on the vehicle that they’re in,” Bridge said.
“It’s moving.”
Bridge was pleased to hear that. “Guess we got some people to surprise, then.”
19
Bridge and Nicole were sitting in their rental, observing the building that their targets were supposed to be in. It was some kind of motel, though it didn’t appear to be one of the nicer ones they’d seen. They had the maroon car in plain sight.
“I’m kind of surprised Ava’s staying in a place like this,” Nicole said. “She doesn’t strike me as the type of person who would stay here.”
“Well, we interrupted their plans. This is probably just a temporary stop until they figure out what they’re doing and where they’re going from here.”
“Are we going in or are we gonna stay here and wait?”
“Well, they gotta come out sometime, don’t they?”
“You know how I am with waiting.”
“There’s no need to go in right now, Nic. If we barge in to that place, it will be a war zone. And who knows if the bullets will penetrate into adjoining rooms? They can’t stay in there, so they’ll have to come out some time, and now, time isn’t of the essence. There’s nobody in there that we’re trying to rescue or save.”
Nicole grunted. She knew he was right, but she still hated waiting. Though it was obviously the right thing to do, she always viewed waiting around as something that was taking away from other activities that she would rather be doing. Things that were more enjoyable. Like sex. She was way overdue on that front. It’d been a couple of days since she last had it.
“Hey, while we’re waiting, how ‘bout we occupy the back seat?”
Bridge dropped his shoulders as he looked at her. “Really?”
“You did say we’ve got time on our side.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Luke, it’s been three days, seventeen hours, and twenty-two minutes since we’ve last done it.”
“You’ve been counting?”
“Maybe.”
“Wait, do you always count between sessions?”
“Maybe.”
“Seriously? Who does that?”
“OK, I don’t really count. Much. It’s just a general guide in that vicinity. Give or take a minute or two.”
Bridge rolled his eyes and shook his head. “No, we’re not doing it now.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’ve got business here.”
“What if they don’t come out for five hours? Think of all the things we could’ve done in that time.”
“And what if they come out while we’ve got our pants down and drive away while we’re stumbling around with no clothes on?”
Nicole shrugged, not seeing a problem. “So I’ll jump into the driver’s seat and quickly follow.”
“Naked?”
“Is that a problem?”
“You would too.”
“So?”
“What if someone sees us and calls the police?”
Nicole looked around. “Luke, look at this place. You really think anyone’s calling the police around here? I’m sure us having sex in the car isn’t the worst thing that happens around here.”
Bridge sighed, knowing he was going to have a tough time talking her down on this. “Can we just wait a bit?”
“For what?”
“Let’s just see if they come out first.”
“I’ll give you thirty minutes.”
“And then?”
“I’m ripping off your pants. And that doesn’t mean you just sit there like a mannequin and get the rewards either.”
Bridge opened his eyes wide. He really hoped that their targets would come out of the room in the next half hour. Not that making love to his girlfriend was an issue, other than being out in public, but it wasn’t exactly the surroundings that made him comfortable. But Nicole could be pushy when it came to sex, and she didn’t often take no for an answer. And if she did, she didn’t usually take the answer twice. She looked at her watch and started the countdown.
“You’re really gonna hold me to this thirty minutes, aren’t you?”
Nicole smiled happily. “Yep. Not a minute more.”
“I didn’t even agree to that. You’re the one who said it.”
“You didn’t say no.”
“Yes, I did.”
“You said no initially. Not to the thirty minutes.”
“Well, now I say no.”
“Too late. Statute of limitations has passed.”
“What? That’s not a thing.”
“It’s totally a thing.”
“No, it’s not.”
“It is. I just passed it into my book of laws.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I just did. I only need a majority of one.”
“Well, I object.”
“Denied.”
“What?”
“My courtroom’s a dictatorship. You have no authority in it.”
“How’s this fair?”
“Didn’t say it was.”
“Well, I appeal.”
“Denied. Next case.”
Bridge put his elbow on the door against the glass and put his hand on his head. He shook his head, wondering how he got to this point. Every few minutes, he looked at the time, knowing he was that much closer to Nicole’s wishes. Bridge stared at all the doors to the motel, hoping that one of them would open soon, revealing one of their targets. He had no such luck, though. The thirty minutes came around, quietly, just as Nicole had hoped.
&nb
sp; She looked at her watch. “Oh, look at that, thirty minutes is up.”
“Really?”
“C’mon, Luke, please. Just ten minutes. Five minutes. Please.”
“I know I’m going to regret this.”
“You’ll regret making love to me?”
“You know that’s not what I mean. I love you. You know that.”
“Then please just do this for me. I promise I’ll be good after this.”
“For what? Fifteen minutes.”
“Stop. Just five minutes. You can keep your head up and look out the window to make sure nobody comes out. I’ll do all the work.”
Bridge sighed. “Fine. Five minutes. But I swear if they come out while we’re back there…”
“Then I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
It was still against his better judgment, but Bridge finally relented. “Fine. Five minutes.”
Nicole smiled and clapped her hands together. “Yes!”
Nicole quickly climbed into the back seat, where she promptly removed her pants. Bridge climbed into the back seat as well, though he was sure to keep an eye on the motel through the window.
The quick five-minute excursion turned into double the amount of time, as they tried a couple of different positions. True to their word, though, Bridge did keep an eye on the building. Well, as much as he could focus on it. Nobody did come out, though. Once they were done, they quickly put their clothes back on and climbed back into the front seat.
“Oh my god, that felt so good,” Nicole said.
“Are you good now?”
“Yes. Thank you.” She leaned over and gave Bridge a kiss. “I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.”
“That should hold me over for another thirty minutes.”
“What?”
Nicole laughed. “I’m just kidding. I’m good.”
“OK.”
“I mean, unless you want to wait another thirty minutes, then…”
“No, we’re good for now.”
Nicole made a face. “You know, you’re probably the only man in America who would turn down having sex right now.”
“Why do we always have this discussion? I’m not turning down sex with you. I’m trying to maintain professional standards and focus on our job. Remember that?”
“Yeah, yeah. But wasn’t the stakeout more fun this way?”
“Only because we got away with it.”
“You’re such a stick-in-the-mud.”
“So you tell me.”
“What are we gonna do if they come out and go in different cars? Who do we follow?”
“I dunno.” Bridge thought about it a little more. “I guess there’s two ways to look at it.”
“Which is?”
“We follow Ava or Hatch, since they seem to be the ringleaders, no matter where they go?”
“And if they split up?”
“Well, I guess the other way to look at it is that we follow whoever doesn’t get into the maroon car.”
“Who doesn’t get in it?”
“Yeah. I mean, we already have the tracker on it. We can find that whenever we want, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“But what if Ava and Hatch split up and neither of them get into that car?”
“Then I guess we got a decision to make.”
“I say we take Ava.”
“Why?”
“This is her thing. She created this. She’ll know all the answers. Besides, she’ll be the easiest to take.”
Bridge nodded. “Yeah. Probably.”
They would have a long time to think and talk about it. Another hour passed without any sign of anybody anywhere.
“You know, I just had a terrible thought.”
“Just one?” Bridge asked.
“Shush. What if we’re sitting here all this time and it turns out they’re not even here? What if they dumped the car here and got into a different car and went somewhere else?”
Bridge knew it was possible, but he shrugged it off. “We really don’t have anywhere else to go right now, do we?”
“No. I was just saying.”
“Something will break.”
“I hate to say this and sound impatient…”
“But you will anyway.”
“Yes. How long are we going to sit here and wait? I mean, if they did just dump the car here and split, we’re going to be really behind the eight ball. We’re gonna need to know if we need to pick up the trail elsewhere.”
Bridge sighed, still not wanting to barge in somewhere. But he did understand her point. “We don’t even know what room they might be in.”
“I can fix that.”
“How?”
“Just give me a few minutes.” She started getting out of the car.
“Where are you going?”
“Rental office.”
She closed the door and hurried over to the office. Bridge knew what she was going to do and kept his eyes focused on the motel in case one of the doors opened. Nicole came back a few minutes later. He tried to read her face as she walked to the car, but was having trouble making out whether she had good news or bad. She got back in the car.
“Well?” Bridge asked.
“It’s just Andujar in there.”
“How do you know?”
“The clerk told me.”
“Maybe he’s lying.”
“No. Said he’s in room 206.”
“No one else?”
“Nope. Disappointing. I was really hoping they all were here.”
“Well, at least we got a room number now. How much did it cost you?”
“Not much. Cheaper than I figured it would be.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll meet back up again.”
“What if they don’t?”
“Then we’ll figure it out. Just like we always do.”
“We don’t even know how many more people we’re dealing with.”
“Well, we got Hatch, Ava, Andujar, and there was at least one more that I remember seeing in the car behind us when we had the flat. And I’m pretty sure I remember seeing his face when they tried to gun me down in that parking lot when they took Ava again.”
They kept talking for a few more minutes, Nicole not really paying attention to the motel. Bridge had his eyes glued to the room number, though. And he saw the door open. He tapped Nicole on the forearm.
“Here we go, here we go.”
They observed Andujar walk out of the room. He locked the door, then walked across the balcony and down a small flight of stairs. At the bottom of the steps, he lit a cigarette and walked to the maroon car.
“He better be on his way to meeting them,” Nicole said.
“Or what?”
“Or else I’ll blow a hole through that stupid car of his.”
Bridge chuckled. They let Andujar pull out of the parking lot before starting to follow him. Since he still had the tracker, they didn’t need to be that close.
“Let’s see where this takes us,” Bridge said.
“He better be taking us to the rest of them or I’ll kill him right here.”
“Now, now, just relax.”
“I am relaxed. Just imagine how uptight I’d be right now if we didn’t have that little backseat session earlier.”
“I shudder to think of it. Just keep the positive thoughts.”
“Of what?”
“That he’s taking us to Ava and Hatch. Then we’ll wrap this up.”
20
After driving for roughly twenty-five minutes, they came into a heavy residential area. The red dot for Andujar’s car suddenly stopped.
“I don’t think this is a great area,” Nicole said.
Bridge kept driving until the maroon car was in sight. Once it was, he pulled over to the side of the road in front of a row of condos. There were houses and condos on both sides of the street.
“We’re gonna have a hard time figuring out where he went,” Nicole said.<
br />
“Just let it play out.”
About thirty seconds later, the driver side door opened up with Andujar stepping out.
“There he is,” Bridge said.
“Now the question is where he’s going?”
“And who he’s seeing?”
They got out of the car and stood next to it, making sure they kept out of sight as Andujar went into one of the condos. Once he was inside, Bridge and Nicole crossed the street and also went into the building. Almost immediately after entering, they were met with gunfire. Luckily, the shots ripped into the door as Bridge and Nicole ducked and eventually dropped to the floor. They both removed their pistols as they scurried to nearby items to get some semblance of cover. There was a staircase a few feet from them. Bridge leaned over to look up, but quickly thought better of it when the gunfire started again. As the bullets hit the floor, Bridge scurried back behind some type of tall table.
“Well, guess he knew we were coming,” Bridge said, trying to catch his breath.
“He must have seen us when he got out of the car.”
“The good news is he’s got nowhere to go.”
“Unless there’s a back door.”
“Oh. Yeah. I guess there’s that.”
“We have another possible problem,” Nicole said.
“What’s that?”
“If he lives here, he might have friends nearby. That means we might have company.”
“What do you suggest?”
“We gotta get up there and subdue him as quickly as possible before we meet any more people.”
“You know how I feel about that.”
“We also aren’t armed to the teeth here, Luke. We can’t hold out on a firefight forever.”
“True.” Bridge sighed, not wanting to give in to rushing before they were ready. He knew they really didn’t have a choice, though. She was right. If Andujar had friends nearby, they’d be meeting them far sooner than they would have liked. “Since you’re the expert at rushing in, how would you like to handle it?”
“We both go together. You get into position as I cover.”
“On three?”
Nicole counted, and as she reached three, they both ran to the bottom of the stairs. Bridge dove and rolled along the concrete floor as Nicole hopped to a knee, pointing her gun up, ready to fire. She kept her gun pointed to the top of the stairs as Bridge started climbing. Once Bridge got to the second floor, he stopped and provided cover as Nicole went up.