by Katlynn Rose
~C
She half sighed, half sobbed as she crumpled the letter in her lap, tilting her head back as tears fell from her eyes. Lance was beside her in an instant, brushing her tears away as she held her breath. She needed a few moments to silently say goodbye to her dear friend. Then she threw her arms around Lance as she whispered against him, "I'm free."
"What?" He rocked back as he caught her against him. Then she leaped to her feet to spin around as the elation finally set in.
She yelled, "I'm free!" and danced around Lance as he stared at the envelopes. He glanced at her, one eyebrow raised, before taking them to the bed and dumping out the contents.
"What?" he said again confused.
Ashley smiled at him as she thumbed through the cash. "They're gone. Craig cut me loose."
"What?" A third time, and Ashley busted out laughing.
Both hands on his shoulders, she turned him to face her. She was beaming. "I am free! They must have left early this morning like they always do."
"And you trust me?" Lance looked at her, his eyebrow raised again as he held up a wad of cash. "I could mug you, and leave you here destitute."
"But you wouldn't do that. You're Lance Walker, knight in shining armor, and my savior." As she was fingering through the cash, she sighed, the elation briefly dipping into melancholy. "Craig knew that too."
Then she began to count. Lance chuckled a bit and started to count his own stack until it was broken up in neat little piles. Ashley said, "I've got twenty-five hundred. How much do you have?"
"Over 4k," he replied, shaking his head in disbelief. "We nearly have 7k to get us to Baltimore. This is your take I'm assuming?" His green eyes bore into hers, bordering disapproval.
She responded with a shrug. "Had to make a living. Wasn't just my take, though. Craig's too, and if I'm not mistaken, all of Bobby's. He disappeared in Jacksonville." His expression softened some, and she sighed sadly. "Craig wasn't all bad. He always made sure I was taken care of. Wait... Baltimore? What?"
"Thief," he said simply in response before grabbing her and pulling her against him, smothering her in a deep kiss that muddled her mind.
"One more heist. What do ya say?" he whispered to her when he let her up for air.
"What?" she muttered, trying to breath. She was still suffering from heady head rushes being so close to him and felt like she would fall if his strong arms weren't holding her up. She shook off the effects of his unexpected kiss, her body too sore to engage in anything more passionate right now.
"This." He held up a small key, the same key she had pulled out of Hal's wallet last night. "Baltimore."
She took it from his hand, examining it carefully. It was just a small key with B110L engraved on one side. She gave him a quizzical look as she handed it back to him.
"Hal called it his retirement plan," Lance scoffed. "He was always talking about his great ‘Five by Five’ retirement plan. That shit was getting old." He huffed at that before continuing. "One night, I got enough Mad Dog in him to come clean. Found out the key's to a storage room in Baltimore." He tossed the key in the air and caught it, then slid it into his own wallet.
"And did he tell you what's in this retirement plan of his?" She folded her arms across her chest as she cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Not directly." He winked at her. "But he was dumb enough to drop enough hints. He was skimming from the narcotic evidence room as far as I could tell, probably for at least seven years. You ready to beat him back to Baltimore?"
"That fat ass probably hasn't woken up yet." She giggled, and started throwing the cash in her purse. She pulled on her pants quickly and turned back to him. "Let's go. I got a ride to get us part of the way. The last gift from Craig."
"Good man, that Craig. Good man," he quipped, and Ashley grinned as he followed her out of the hotel room.
Chapter 10 – Storage