“I guess so,” she relented and sat down at the back.
“See? It’s not so bad. We’re like the cool kids at the back of the bus,” Carl chuckled.
But Anna didn’t notice him. She was busy staring out the window at a city she wished she could become more acquainted with. Watching the hustle and bustle of the bus station she wondered where everyone had to go, and why they were in such a hurry. She pondered on the idea that there were countless people like her out there, on the run and in peril.
Scanning her eyes over the other passengers as they took their seats she thought everyone seemed so normal to her. That was until she caught sight of the last passenger to come on board. The girl couldn’t have been more than sixteen but had the confidence of a woman more than twice her age. She popped gum and glared at each passenger with disgust. Her headphones were blaring loudly but for some reason she had them dangling down the front of her chequered shirt.
Her eyeliner was thick around her eyes and it looked as though she’d been wearing it for days. Acne covered her chin but somehow it didn’t make her any less pretty. The girl walked to the back of the bus and nodded in acknowledgment of the runaway couple. She made eye contact with Anna for a split second before she sat in front of them. It was as if the turmoil in her respected the turmoil in Anna.
There was a roar of the engine as the driver reversed the bus out of its bay. And as he pulled out of the station she wondered if she would see Austin again someday, she hoped so. Soon they were back out on the open road with danger behind them and a life full of opportunity ahead. Carl looked to Anna and noticed the despair on her face and the thunder in her eyes.
“You know you’re coping with this really well,” he whispered into her ear.
She flinched at the words and looked to him surprised.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean most people would have gone bat shit crazy living your childhood, but you’ve gone one step further. You survived it, conquered it and moved on,”
“But what have I moved on to?” she questioned him and looked back out the window at the desert that was moving quickly passed her.
The bus reached its first stop and the girl in front of them departed. Anna watched as she descended the steps from the bus with a real attitude. But as Anna looked to see where she was heading she saw nothing in the distance. This looked like a ghost town and she felt panicked for the strange girl. As the bus pulled away from the stop Anna craned her neck to look behind her and saw the girl stick out her thumb. A car stopped beside her immediately. It seemed like such a cruel and peculiar world. Carl meanwhile followed her gaze and looked out the back window.
“Kids these days are in all sorts of trouble. Try not to think about it,”
“That’s not right though. That’s not normal,”
“Just try and focus on us and the here and now,” Carl squeezed her hand.
But it wasn’t working. She couldn’t quite shake the image of the lost girl getting in a stranger’s car. Something about the situation screamed that she wouldn’t get back out. Anna shivered at the thought despite the warm sun beaming through the windows.
“Are you cold?” Carl asked.
And he took his jacket off and wrapped it round her.
“Thanks,” she spoke weakly.
And she pulled the jacket around her frail body and lay down on across the back seats. Letting sleep take hold of her worries she let her eyes close.
~
When she woke up the sun was dipping down over the hills. She looked out the window to see the bus pull into another bustling station and soon the sign revealed it to be San Antonio. Looking over to Carl she saw him fast asleep against the opposite window. She nudged him with her foot and he woke with a start.
“We’re here,” she yawned and sat up.
“Urgh…. Fuck,”
“You ok?”
“Yuh…. Just weird dreams,” he scrubbed at his eyes with his fingers.
“Well forget about them, we’re here!” Anna giggled and stood up while grabbing her things.
“You seem in a better mood,” Carl kissed her cheek.
“Sleep can make people reborn,” she shrugged and waited for the people in front of them to depart.
As they stepped out into the station Anna felt the night descend on the city and she wondered what that meant for the couple. Another night meant another place to hide.
“So tell me,” nudged Carl playfully. “This plan of yours… Why’s it so secret,”
“It’s not secret… I just… I dunno I’m just not entirely sure it’ll work yet,”
“So it’s not really a plan then,” she rolled her eyes and readied herself for another night in a random hotel.
“No… no. Don’t be so quick to judge,” he smirked and placed his hands on her waist. “Now I want you to trust me ok?”
“Ok,” she nodded and they kissed.
“Now I want you to wait right here, on this bench. And I mean it. Don’t move an inch,”
“What? Where are YOU going?”
“I’m going to find someone…. I think. I’ll be two minutes,”
“Carl I don’t like this one bit…. What’s going on?”
“Please…. Just give me two minutes,”
She thought for a minute then relented. “Fine… But promise you’ll come back,”
“I told you already I’ll be back. Now please……” his eyes were pleading with her desperately.
“Fine….” and she slumped onto a metal bench that was somehow even less comfortable than the bus seats that she still ached from.
She watched as Carl disappeared into the crowd and out the station into the city center. If she wasn’t sure she would have guessed that he was ditching her, that he was trying to run away and leave her behind. After all how well did she know him? They’d only met four days ago. She nibbled on a nail and kept her eyes fixed on the distance. Every second she waited the more she was certain he wasn’t coming back.
“Fuck,” she mumbled into her sleeve. “He’s not coming back,” and tears came to her eyes. “Oh God please….. Come back,”
And the reality of the situation hit her. She was alone and lost in a strange city and the only person she trusted and who her entire life depended on, had disappeared into the city. She felt like a lost child as she swung her legs from the bench. What would happen if he never came back? A thousand scenarios ran through her head in a panicked sequence. He was the one with the money. All she had were the clothes on her back and what she held in her pockets. She twisted her fingers into the tight jeans pocket on her thigh. She had one stick of gum left and she placed into her mouth, her last worldly possession. Fiddling with the wrapper in her hand she crumpled it a dozen different ways as she tried to expel nervous energy. When that didn’t work she threw it to the ground and it accidentally hit an old lady on the shin.
“How rude, how very rude,” the old woman had a dried, shrunken face like a gnarly weasel and she glared with hatred at Anna.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there,”
“Tsk….” the old lady rolled her eyes. “Kids,”
And Anna was confused at that last remark. She wasn’t a kid at all! Although the more she waited the more she felt someone at the bus station could take her into an office and talk through a microphone. They’d report her as a missing child and her parents would run into the office to collect her.
But of course there were no happy endings or simple procedures for a lost adult. The best case scenario would be if someone kind took pity on her. Her eyes were still fixed in the distance. She was looking out for Carl’s tall stature and blonde hair and she longed to see his buzz cut through the crowd. But it didn’t come.
~
Carl’s thoughts were focused and laser sharp as he ran from the bus station with his eyes on the lookout for a payphone. There was one close by but as he approached he saw the booth was occupied by a homeless man yelling into the receiver while knocki
ng back a forty of beer. Jogging round the block he saw another one but yet again it was taken too, this time by a teenage girl who was in tears.
“Please God just give me a break!” Carl angered.
And his prayer was answered, because as he jogged a few yards up the street he finally found one available. He crammed his bag and briefcase into the booth and fished in his pockets for loose change. He pushed the coins into the machine and prayed that the guy’s number hadn’t changed. To his delight it answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Yuh… Chuck? Dude, it’s Carl. You know Carl Reiner?” he asked with his fingers crossed behind his back.
“Holy shit dude! Carl! My God, how are ya buddy?”
“Well good. I mean no, not good. Actually things are rough,”
“Damn man, that don’t sound great,”
“Yeah… well it’s not. And I’m so sorry to ask but… you think you can help me out? I seriously wouldn’t’ ask if it wasn’t a proper emergency,”
“Well sure! I mean… I owe you a lot buddy,”
“Aaw man, thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me,”
“Save your words pal. Just get your ass here and old uncle Chuck here will take care of ya,” he chuckled.
“Sweet, thanks,”
“So where are ya? Chicago still?”
“Actually I’m right here in San Antonio, at the bus station,”
“You’re kidding right? Holy Hell I’ll be right there! You still rockin’ that buzz cut?”
“I sure am,” Carl laughed as his money ran out and he hung up.
Now that his plan was in action, he had a spring in his step and he could finally tell Anna that things were gonna be ok. That they’d be in Mexico and on their way to safety in only a matter of hours but as he ran back into the station - he saw she was gone.
CHAPTER 21
John Reiner’s back was aching tremendously as he shuffled in the driver’s seat. He couldn’t believe that a man of his age in his condition was driving this far, but he wasn’t your average guy. Braking at a stop light he shifted in his seat again to try and eliminate the pain but it was no use, it only seemed to make it worse.
Changing gear though was more painful as he leaned down, stretching his broken ribs. Every few hours he’d pull open his shirt to inspect his injuries and it always looked steadily more grotesque. His side was now covered in a mottled purple that got more inflamed and angrier with each passing mile.
Soon though he’d be south of the border and that either meant he’d have Carl back or he’d have some place to rest and recover. Hopefully he’d have both those things, but he tried to stay realistic. The light turned green and he pulled away. As he approached St Louis he couldn’t help but notice a giant scorch mark in the road and he wondered what caused it. Probably just some car torched by vandals, he thought as he carried on moving.
He reached another stoplight and cursed himself for managing to hit every single red light along the road. But he took the moment to pull out the photo from his inside jacket pocket. It was of Miriam and her eyes were so bright that it looked as though the photo was alive. He kissed it for good luck and placed it back in his pocket.
“We’ll find him baby. We’ll make sure he’s ok,” and the light turned green.
~
Jorge and Jerry were holed up in the Evergreen Motel. The manager was confused at first as to how the two men knew each other. The last he’d seen of them Jerry was bundling the little Puerto Rican into his car. But as the two men entered reception and asked for a room the manager wasn’t dumb enough to question it. He handed over the keys with a smile and scratched nervously at his head as they left.
Now each of them lay on a single bed and stared blankly at the small TV at the bottom of the room.
“This place isn’t the four seasons now is it?” Jerry said out loud to himself as he nursed his broken hand.
“Yeah… so what?” Jorge pulled his knife out from inside his boot and began cleaning his teeth with it.
“Hey, you better have cleaned that thing since you took it out of old man Reiner,” Jerry laughed and his enormous belly jiggled up and down.
Meanwhile Jorge thought back to the old man and how he’d let him go. He felt conflicted at letting him live. He’d never cared about a victim before. Still didn’t, really. But something at the back of his mind told him he’d done the right thing.
“Hey, what you look so serious for?” Jerry asked with genuine concern. “Looks like your mind’s all churned up in there,”
“Ah just nothin’,” Jorge lied and resumed cleaning his teeth.
The news came on the TV but neither of them paid attention. They were too lost in their thoughts and too exhausted. Jerry’s phone rang and he pulled it out his pocket.
“Shit! It’s Don Angelo!”
Jorge’s eyes were wide like saucers. Jerry answered the phone and immediately started babbling.
“Boss…. Not a good time boss. We got him. We’ll bring him to ya soon. Just tidying up some of the messy stuff you know,” and he giggled nervously like a child.
Jorge rolled his eyes and turned his gaze back to the television. Images of a flood somewhere in the East flashed before him but he didn’t care. He was just hoping Jerry wouldn’t say anything stupid.
“Yeah OK Boss. See ya soon,” and Jerry threw his phone on the bed as if it wouldn’t be able to hurt him that way.
“So?” Jorge looked to him expectantly.
“So…. Angelo thinks we got him already. He asked for us to bring him his head…. Like right away,”
“Cool….. So ….. Well done there Jerry,”
“What the hell was I supposed to say?”
“I dunno,” Jorge picked up his pack of cigarettes. “You coulda not answered the phone. You ain’t his lap dog,”
They both went silent as they felt equally fearful and frustrated. Turning their eyes back to the television as if they were somehow connected to it, they tried to distract themselves from the impending shit storm.
Jerry prayed they’d find him somehow, that Carl would just appear out of thin air. Jorge on the other hand was more cunning. If his father wouldn’t lure him away what else would? He thought to his old Navy Seal buddies and immediately dismissed the thought of paying them a visit. They would be trained and impenetrable and also probably didn’t know where he was. Carl wouldn’t have burdened them with the trouble of housing him. He respected them too much for that.
But there must be something or someone else. Then an idea went off in his head like a firework.
“Jerry!” he said a little too loudly making the fat man jump. “You were friends weren’t you? You and Carl? He trusted you,”
“Yuh… Knew him for ages, thought of him as one of the boys you know,”
“So… He’d probably think that you would be on his side right?” Jorge grinned.
“What exactly are you getting at?” Jerry leaned in closer.
~
Carl was in panic mode when he returned to the empty bench. An old woman with a stick and a blue rinse sat nearby and he approached her.
“Excuse me ma’am. Have you seen a girl here? Red hair, real pretty?”
“You mean that little scoundrel! She went that way,” and she pointed a bony finger in the direction of the confectionary kiosk.
“Thanks!” and he raced to find her but what did she mean by a scoundrel?
As he made his way through the crowd he caught sight of a mass of red hair that blew in the wind.
“Anna!” he grabbed her from behind but as she turned to face him Carl was confronted by an angry woman.
“Hey! Who the hell are you?” she popped gum in his face but instantly softened when she saw what he looked like. “Oh hey…. You lookin’ for company?” she grinned widely and showed a fuchsia pink lipstick smudge on her cracked, front tooth.
“Sorry ma’am,” he pushed her away.
He ran the length of the bus
station three times but still he couldn’t see her. His heart was beating hard and his mouth became dry. The city seemed to be swirling around his head as intense fear set in. But then from one of the entrances came a voice he had learned to love so much.
“No! Just leave me alone. I’m waiting on my boyfriend,” Anna’s voice danced over to him.
As he walked over, he saw her being cornered by a teenage boy with pants fastened half way down his thighs.
“Hey, what you think you’re doing?” Carl pushed the kid in the chest and he almost fell to the ground.
“Sorry man. I was just saying hi,”
“Yeah well don’t,” Carl shouted and the kid scuttled away into the distance.
Cark immediately dropped his things and grabbed Anna tight. He pulled her close to his chest and felt the relief of her warm body against his.
“Thank God you’re ok. I should never have left you alone! I’ll never do it again,”
“I’m fine!” she protested and looked up to him with her eyes sparkling. “I just needed the bathroom but that guy wouldn’t leave me alone,”
“Ah, that’s the price you pay for being as beautiful as you are. I should keep you on a chain,”
And Anna raised her eyebrows. “Oh yeah? And then what would you do?” she bit her lips and smiled.
“Oh God don’t do that…,” and he laughed. “Now this way, the plan’s working,” he grinned as he picked up his bag and briefcase.
And he led her out the building. As they walked he couldn’t help but notice that he’d heard her refer to him as her boyfriend and it made him smile. They turned a corner and Carl was immediately confronted with the wild, curly hair of his old friend Chuck.
“Shit Carl! I’ve been walkin’ around all over lookin’ for you,” the young man was complaining but still had a huge smile across his face.
He pulled Carl into a bear hug and smacked him on the back.
“Long time no see buddy,” he ran his hand through his curls.
“Yeah, it’s been a while,” Carl was still holding onto him.
Then Chuck noticed the impossibly pretty girl next to his friend and grinned. Meanwhile Anna looked him up and down cautiously.
CHAPTER 22
Carl and Chuck were becoming reacquainted and spoke quickly as they updated each other on their lives.
The Hitman's Last Job Page 11