Karen MacInerney - Margie Peterson 01 - Mother's Day Out

by Karen MacInerney

  “Well,” he said, “This house is the only one for miles ’round here, so I guess they figgered this is where to find you.” His lips twitched into a mischievous smile. “I got somethin’ from ‘em, though.”

  “What?”

  He held up a scrap of paper. “Plate numbers.”

  “You’re kidding me!” I resisted the urge to run up and hug him. “You know, if I weren’t already married, I think I might propose.”

  He laughed. “It ain’t worth that much.”

  “I don’t know about that,” I said. “Now, before they come back, can I borrow your phone?”

  He smiled. “It’s all yours. And when you’re done, can I interest you in a bite to eat?” My stomach gurgled, and he chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  #

  An hour and a half later, not long after I finished a third bowl of chili, the driveway crunched again. I slunk back down the hall while Jess picked up his gun.

  A minute later, I heard a familiar husky voice, and burst into the kitchen. “Peaches!” My boss stood in the kitchen, one hand on her hip, her generous curves clad in a lime green spandex minidress.

  She ran an eye over me. “You look like hell.”

  “Thanks.” I grinned. “Jess, this is my boss, Peaches.

  Jess smiled big and swept an imaginary hat off of his balding head. “Pleased to meet you, miss.”

  Peaches’s eyes swept up and down Jess’s tall frame, lingering at his dark brown eyes. “Likewise,” she purred.

  “I hate to run,” I said, “but we’ve got somebody else to rescue. Jess, I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done…”

  “Don’t forget this,” he said, handing me the scrap of paper with the plate numbers. “I put my number down there, too,” he said, glancing at Peaches. “Margie here tells me you’ve got a little rescue operation going on. Anything I can help with?”

  “Jess,” I protested, “you’ve done so much already… I can’t ask you…”

  Peaches put her hand on my arm. “Hold on there, sugar.” Then she turned to Jess. “That shotgun there might come in mighty handy.”

  “Peaches!”

  Jess smiled at Peaches. “Why don’t I just follow you all into Austin? I could be there as backup… just in case…”

  “But…” I stammered.

  Peaches just looked at me. “Honey, we need all the help we can get.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  “He’s cute,” Peaches said as we bumped over the cattle guard in her Buick Regal.

  “I thought you were already seeing someone,” I said.

  “Yeah, well, that ended last night.”

  “What happened?”

  “I ran into him down at the Broken Spoke with a twenty-year-old.”

  I winced. “What a jerk. Are you okay?”

  She glanced at the rearview mirror, and the reflected glare of Jess’s headlights lit up her carefully rouged cheeks. “It’s just like my mama said. Men are like buses. They come around every twenty minutes, but you have to get off one before you can get on another.”

  I eyed her dress. “I guess that means you weren’t sitting home moping tonight.”

  “Nope. Good thing, too. You don’t want to meet a man like Jess wearing a t-shirt and a ratty pair of shorts.”

  “Thanks for coming to pick me up,” I said.

  “No problem. You did a good job getting out of that truck. I’m just hoping we can get to the warehouse before they clear everything out of there.”

  “I didn’t think about that. You think they’ll do that tonight?”

  She glanced at me and shook her head. “Of course. They figure the first thing you’re gonna do when you get to a phone is call the cops. As soon as those goons call in and say you got away, they’ll empty the place. I’m just hoping they’re afraid to call and tell their boss they lost you.”

  “They stopped by Jess’s place.”

  “I know. And it’s a good thing you hid. If they knew you were there, they probably would have killed him and taken off with you.” She grinned. “They must be scared shitless to tell their boss they lost a little gringa like you. I’m guessing they won’t be getting their Christmas bonuses this year.”

  “So what are we going to do about getting Eduardo out?”

  “See that bag there?” She nodded toward a canvas bag on the floor between us. “Take a look inside.”

  I opened it and peered inside, but it was too dark to see. I slid my hand inside and felt something cold, hard and slick. “A gun?” I whispered.

  “Yup.”

  “What do I do with it?”

  Peaches rolled her eyes. “Jesus. What do you think you do with it? You shoot people with it. If you look underneath, you’ll find a couple of stun guns, too.”

  “Can’t I just take a stun gun?”

  She shook her head. “Not with these people.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ve got it all worked out. Now why don’t you get a few minutes of shut-eye? I’ll wake you up when we get to Austin.”

  I sank back into the bench seat and relaxed, watching the fence posts flash by in the headlights and drowsing while a singer on the radio crooned about a woman in Tennessee.

  #

  “Margie! Margie!” Somebody was shaking me. “Wake up!”

  I swam up through a dream about snakes wrapping themselves around my wrists, their forked tongues darting out to caress my skin. “What?”

  “Where exactly is this place?”

  I looked around, disoriented. The fence posts were gone, replaced by darkened storefronts and a few people in baseball caps slouching on street corners. “Where are we?”

  “East Austin. Where did you think we were, New York?”

  I rubbed my eyes and sat up straight, suddenly remembering why we were here. “The warehouse. It’s on Seventh Street. Over by Chicon. But what are we going to do when we get there?”

  “You said you only saw a few heavies, right?”

  I thought back to the guards I had seen in the main room of the warehouse. “Yeah. Three or four of them.”

  “Well, I’m guessing at least one of them is out looking for you now, so that puts us at two or three. Maybe even just one.”

  “Okay. So?”

  “So. We knock on the door…”

  “We knock on the door? You’re kidding me, right?”

  “How else are we going to get in? You said the windows were boarded up, right?” I nodded. “Okay,” she continued. “So, we knock on the door and yell ‘Immigration!’ When someone answers, we take him out with the stun gun, and then go in and secure the place.”

  “That’s it? We ‘take him out’ and then ‘secure the place?’”

  She beamed at me. “Yup. Piece of cake.”

  “Forgive me for sounding dense, but how exactly are we supposed to secure the place?”

  “Take out the other guys.”

  “What do you mean, ‘take out the other guys?’”

  “Remember the guns?”

  “Yeah. But I thought we were going to use the stun guns.”

  “Yeah, well, they only work at short distances. You gotta have the guns for longer-range stuff.”

  “So I’m supposed to use a gun—which I’ve never even held before, much less used—to take out a few, possibly several, members of the Mexican mafia.”

  Peaches’ eyebrows rose. “They’re involved with the Mexican mafia?”

  I threw up my hands. “I don’t know! I just don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “You want to call the cops instead? Because if you do that, Eduardo is going straight back to Mexico on a one-way ticket.”

  I sighed. “There’s no other way to do this?”

  She shook her head. “Not unless you can come up with something better. Besides, we’ve got that hunk Jess looking out for us. I’ll bet he’s real good with a shotgun.”

  “Let’s just get it over with,” I groaned
.

  “You worry too much,” Peaches said, patting my leg. “You’ll be fine.”

  #

  Five minutes later, we pulled up across the street from the warehouse. Peaches parked the car behind my minivan, and as Jess pulled up behind us, dug through the bag and tossed me a gun and a stun gun. “How does it work?” I said.

  “See that? That’s the safety. You flip that back, and then all you gotta do is pull the trigger.”

  I flipped it back experimentally and held it out in front of me. “Like this?”

  She grabbed my hand. “Careful with that thing! I just got the windshield replaced last week.”

  I replaced the safety. “Sorry. And what about the stun gun?”

  “You just press this end—the one with the metal pointy things—up against the guy and hit the button, and they go down like a sack of potatoes.” She checked her makeup in the rearview mirror. “Do I look okay?”

  “We’re about to go raid a warehouse filled with armed men, and you’re worried about your lipstick?”

  “Hey. Once this thing is over, I’m planning on taking that handsome man out to the Spoke. Show Buck a thing or two. I’ll bet he’s a great dancer.”

  “Let’s just hope we get a chance to find out.”

  We climbed out of the car and met up with Jess, who was leaning against the front of his truck and eyeing Peaches’s legs appreciatively. “What’s the plan, ladies?”

  When Peaches told him, he nodded.

  “You think it’s okay?” I said, relieved that he wasn’t rolling around in the grass laughing.

  “It’s all you got, so it’ll have to be. I’m coming with you.”

  “Oh, no,” I said. “We couldn’t ask you to do that.”

  “If there are three of them and two of you ladies, you’re going to need help.”

  “What a man,” Peaches purred. Even in the dim light of the streetlamp I could see Jess blush.

  Peaches turned to me. “There are two entrances, right?”

  “That’s all I know of. There’s the main door on the corner, there, and then there’s the loading dock in the back.”

  “Why don’t I take one of the doors?” Jess said. “That way, if they try to sneak out the back, it’s covered.”

  Peaches nodded. “Good idea. If you’ll cover the loading dock, we’ll take the main door.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Jess said, and trotted around the building. When he’d disappeared, Peaches adjusted her cleavage. “Are you sure this dress doesn’t make me look fat?”

  “You look fine. Now, can we get this over with?”

  She tightened her grip on the gun and the stun gun. “Ready?

  “I guess it’s now or never.” We set off across the street, my still-bare, torn-up feet howling with every step.

  A chill swept through me as we crossed the appliance graveyard. What was I doing? Last time I went in there, they had taped me up and stuck me in a delivery truck destined for God knows where. This time I had a gun, and Peaches, but I wasn’t sure how much good it would do me. I remembered seeing only a couple of guards, but I wasn’t really sure. Maybe the rest of them were on their lunch break.

  As we approached the door on the corner of the building—the small one, not the big loading dock—Peaches pointed to a spot a few feet to the left of the door. “Stand there,” she hissed. “Right next to me.”

  I moved toward the peeling concrete wall and squeezed the stun gun hard.

  “Ready?” Peaches whispered.

  I nodded.

  She hauled off and whacked the door with the butt of her gun, yelling “Immigration! Open up!”

  Silence.

  She banged again. “Immigration! We have the building surrounded! Open up now!”

  A moment later, a shuffling sound came from behind the door. Peaches flattened herself against the wall beside me as the deadbolt clicked back. When the door opened, Peaches thrust her gun through the opening and yelled, “Come out with your hands up!”

  When a short dark man in a grubby t-shirt and jeans inched through the doorway, looking surprised to find himself face-to-face with a buxom woman in lime green spandex instead of a guy in blue polyester, Peaches gave me a quick nod. I stepped forward and hit the button on the stun gun. Instantly, the man crumpled to the ground.

  Peaches peered through the open door. “That was easy.” Then she waved to me. “It’s clear. Come on.”

  We slid into the darkened warehouse, the massive machines lit only by the pale light of the moon seeping through the skylights. “Where is everyone?” I whispered.

  “I don’t know. But I bet we’ll find out soon. Try to stay covered.” We darted from the doorway to crouch behind one of the cutting tables. “Where are the workers?”

  I pointed to the doorway to the loading dock. “Through there,” I whispered. “But there’s a big glass wall up there,” I said, nodding toward the black glass on the second floor. “Anyone who’s up there can see what we’re doing.”

  “We’ll just have to be careful, then.”

  We had made it halfway across the floor when the glass shattered above our heads, and a piece of the sewing machine next to us flew into the air. A split second later, the hard ping of metal on metal ricocheted around the room.

  “Stay down!” Peaches hissed. I was already flat on my belly under a table, but I appreciated the tip. She ducked behind a machine and let off a few rounds in the direction of the window. The glass exploded. Then it was silent, except for the occasional tinkle of a piece of falling glass. “Come on!” Peaches darted forward. I scrabbled out from under the table and tried to keep up with her. We were just ten yards from the door when three more bullets whizzed past us. I ducked again, smelling burnt hair.

  “Peaches! Are you okay?”

  “Took a chunk out of my hair, the bastards.”

  “At least that’s all they hit,” I hissed back.

  She peered over the edge of a machine and popped off a few rounds in the direction of the gunshots. Then she grabbed my arm. “Let’s go!”

  Another bullet zinged by as we dashed toward the door and flattened ourselves against the wall. Peaches listened for a moment. Then she crept over, pulled the door open, and retreated to the wall. When nothing happened, she edged over to it and peered in. Then she slipped through it, waving to me to follow.

  Except for a pale sliver of moonlight through the open door, the room was pitch black. “At least there’s no welcoming party in here. They must be short-staffed. Where are they keeping everyone?” Peaches asked.

  “Over there,” I said, pointing toward where I remembered seeing the hallway. “Should we let Jess in?”

  “Maybe,” she said. “If we can do it without getting shot. Where’s the loading dock door?”

  I stepped forward, hands in front of me, until my fingers touched metal. “It’s here.” A second later, she bumped into me. “What do we do now?” I asked.

  “I wish we had radios, or something. I guess we just knock and hope he can hear us.”

  “What about the other guys?”

  “Can you cover the hallway?”

  “I guess so.” As I walked over in the general direction of the hallway door, the silence was broken by a gunshot. “Don’t count on it, though.”

  I felt for the wall in the darkness, and fumbled along it until I got to the opening that led to the hall. Then I planted myself next to it and gripped the stun gun in my hand. There was no way I was going to go down that hallway alone, but at least I could surprise anyone coming through it. As I guarded the doorway to the hall, Peaches knocked on the loading dock door.

  “I don’t know if he can hear me,” she said.

  “I’m not sure you can open it even if he could,” I said. “I bet it’s locked.”

  A moment later, she said, “You’re right. But I have the key.”

  “You found the key?”

  A crack sounded, followed by ping of a bullet ricocheting around the small room. “Yup,”
she said.

  “Peaches! You could have killed me!”

  “In case you forgot, there’s a couple of guys at the end of that hallway who have just that in mind. And unless you want to head back across the floor out there, we were gonna need another exit, anyway. Now, let’s just hope Jess recognizes me before he takes my legs out. I just bought these shoes, and it would be a shame to have to give them away.” Something rumbled from the direction of her voice, and the faint light of sodium streetlamps filtered into the room, silhouetting Peaches’s curvy form.

  “So far, so good,” she said.

  A moment later, Jess trotted through the open loading dock door. “Are you two okay? I heard gunshots.”

  “We’re fine for now,” said Peaches. “But we’ve got a problem at the end of that hallway.”

  He squinted into the darkness. “Is that where we’re going?”

  “Of course,” Peaches said.

  Jess turned to me. “You know where they’re keeping them?”

  I nodded. “First door on the right.”

  “Tell you what. Why don’t I fire a few shots down there, clear out whoever’s down there.” He glanced at the loading dock door. “We should probably close that, though. The light behind us will make us sitting ducks.”

  I walked over and tugged at the door. Although the room was darker, the double doors were still open. “Is that going to be okay?” I asked, pointing to the moonlight leaking in from the factory floor. Unfortunately, the only way to get to the double doors was to cross in front of the hallway door, providing an easy target to the gunmen who were doubtless lurking at the other end of the hall.

  “It would be better to close it,” he said. “How about I take a couple of shots, then one of you gals run over and close it up?”

  “I’m on it,” Peaches said. A moment later, a shotgun blast exploded from the door to the hallway. Peaches scuttled across the room and swung the double doors closed, plunging the room into darkness. Jess emptied two more rounds down the hallway, then called to me. “Ready, Margie?”

  I swallowed hard. What was I doing here? Saving Eduardo, I told myself. And potentially making my children motherless, I realized, thinking of Elsie and Nick. Would I ever see them again?