by Sophia Gray
“There you go!” she exclaimed. “That wasn't so hard, right? Okay, so it starts with C, but it's not Clyde...”
“You promised you wouldn't bug me about this anymore,” he pointed out. “You literally said that two seconds ago.”
“Well, I was obviously lying, wasn't I?” Billie countered. “Jeez, for a professional criminal, you sure do take people at their word way too easily. Let's see. Chet? Chas? Casper?”
“Even if you guess, I'm not telling you,” he said. “Are we almost in Blue Lace yet, or should I just tuck and roll out of the car now and pray I land on something hard?”
“It'll be coming up in the next few minutes,” Billie assured him. “Look, there's even a sign for The Whippoorwill on the right. It's less than a mile from here.”
“Good. Turn off at the next road.”
“Why?” Billie asked. “We're not there yet.”
“Because by now, this car will be reported stolen too. So we can't just park it in front of a motel for people to see, can we? We have to ditch it and walk the rest of the way.”
“Fair enough,” she agreed, pulling the car onto another country road. “That makes sense.”
“I'm so glad you approve,” he answered. “See that deep ditch alongside the road, next to that corn field? Pull up next to it.”
Billie complied and “Clyde” leaned over, yanking the twisted wires apart. The engine shut off.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Now we're going to push this thing into the ditch and try to cover it with some corn stalks,” he said. “It won't be perfect, but it should still throw the cops off our tail a bit and buy us some time. Hopefully, the other two did something similar with their bikes. Oh, and don't go thinking you can try to run away while we're doing this, either,” he added. “That's not going to go well for you, believe me.”
“I'm having too much fun to run off now,” said Billie. “Besides, then what? I'd just be stuck out here in the hundred-degree heat instead of an air-conditioned motel room.”
“For fuck's sake,” he grumbled. “Is this all one big game to you or something?”
“Pretty much,” she laughed. “I mean, you must get a real kick out of all this bank-robbing, running-from-the-law stuff too, right? Otherwise, why would you do any of it? And anyway, when the cops catch up to us, it's not like I'm the one who's going to be in trouble. So in the meantime, I may as well ride along and have some fun.”
Clyde opened his mouth as though he was going to disagree, then closed it again. “If that's how you feel about it, fine,” he said. “Help me shove this thing into the ditch.”
They both braced against the trunk of the car and pushed as hard as they could. Slowly, the sedan started to roll forward and to the side, until the right front wheel went off the edge and the others followed. The car crashed down through a patch of reeds and sank into the brown water of the ditch up to the tops of its tires, settling in like a hippo wallowing in a watering hole.
Clyde started to gather armloads of tall, dried corn stalks from the edge of the field, and Billie followed suit. They tossed the stalks on top of the car and spread them out a bit.
“Well, it helps that the thing is dirty as hell,” Clyde said. “They probably won't find it for a few hours. That'll give me a chance to catch up to the other guys, and then hopefully we can all get some distance between us and the cops. Now let's start walking. And again, don't try to make a run for it, or we'll have some serious problems.”
“I told you...” she started.
“I know what you told me,” he said. “But maybe I'm done taking people at their word so much, professional criminal that I am. So just walk a few steps ahead and don't make any sudden moves.”
Billie rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
They started to walk along the muddy back roads and rocky footpaths as the corn stalks swayed around them.
Chapter 12
Billie
They made their way through fields and scrubby wooded patches for almost thirty minutes until they saw the sign for The Whippoorwill, depicting a cheerful-looking cartoon bird perched on top of an alarm clock. Billie glanced around the parking lot, but she didn't see any motorcycles.
“Looks like they got rid of their bikes, like you said,” she pointed out.
“That, or the cops caught up to them,” Clyde replied. He sounded worried.
“Assuming they didn't, how will we know which room they're in?” she asked. “I'm guessing asking at the front desk isn't an option.”
“You guess right,” he said. “We reserved a specific room in advance under a fake name, just in case we'd need to meet up here after the heist. Number 17.”
They found the room and Clyde stepped up to it, about to knock.
“But what if the cops did grab the other two?” Billie asked. “Aren't you worried that they might be in there, waiting for you to knock on the door so they can arrest you?”
Clyde considered that, then stepped back. “You've got a point,” he said. “Stand here, in front of the door.”
“Okay,” she said, taking his place. He stood behind her, and a moment later, she felt the barrel of his gun pressed against her back.
“Now if it's the cops, I've got a hostage at gunpoint,” he said.
“That makes sense,” Billie said, nodding.
She was learning a lot about the procedures robbers followed in real life. Movies about thieves could be a real hoot, but they rarely focused on the procedural details, and she found this information fascinating. Maybe I could even write a book about all of this when it's over, she thought.
“If it's cops, do you want me to say or do anything specific?” she asked. “Like, should I start screaming and crying, or tell them you're a desperate man and they'd better do what you say? That kind of thing?”
Clyde stared at her in disbelief. “Wow. You seem like you watch way too much television.”
“Hey, you saw the town where I live,” she said. “There wasn't much else to do there.”
“Fair point. Now knock.”
She rapped on the door with her knuckles, and a gruff voice answered. “Who is it?”
“It's me,” Clyde answered. “Open up.”
The door opened, revealing the faces of the short blonde man and the scarred redhead who'd been drinking with Clyde the previous night. Both of them had grins of relief which immediately curdled to confusion and anger as they saw that she was with him.
“You brought her here?” the redhead hissed at Clyde. “Have you lost your motherfucking mind, man?”
“Come on, let's get her inside, quick,” the blonde said, looking around outside to make sure no one was watching them.
They pulled Billie into the room and Clyde followed, shutting the door behind him and locking it.
“What the fuck is the matter with you?” the redhead continued angrily, shaking a stubby finger at Clyde. “It's not enough she knows what our faces look like, now she knows our rendezvous spot too? Do you have rocks in your head, you stupid piece of shit?”
“What was I supposed to do with her?” Clyde asked, shrugging expansively.
“You know goddamn fucking well what you were supposed to do,” the redhead snapped. “You just didn't have the balls to do it.”
“You guys can all take a deep breath and relax,” Billie said, trying to sound reassuring. “I'm not going back to tell the cops anything about you. I'm having way too much of a good time to bail out now. I figure I'll just ride along with you until they catch up, and after that, it won't matter what I say to them, right? You'll be headed to prison either way, and I'll go back to my boring old life, and that'll be that.”
“I ain't goin' to prison,” the blonde said in a small, quavering voice. “Not ever again.”
“Oh, 'that'll be that,' huh?” the redhead snarled at her. “So you really think we're gonna just keep draggin' you along with us so you can slow us down, is that it, you ridiculous cunt?”
“Don't go calling me
a cunt!” Billie answered hotly. She'd always hated that word and the kinds of men who used it. “I'm trying to tell you that you don't have to worry about me. I'm on your side.”
The redhead shot a vicious look at Clyde, who responded with a now-you-see-what-I've-had-to-put-up-with gesture.
“Let's get a few things straight here, sugar tits,” the redhead growled, grabbing her by the wrist and twisting it. She let out a yowl that was more surprise than pain. Why was he being so nasty to her?
“First of all, you ain't 'on our side,'” the redhead continued. “We're crooks an' you ain't, which puts us on opposite sides. Second, you're really dumb enough to think when all this is over, you're just gonna go back to the way things were? Bullshit. You knew we were gonna knock that bank over an' you didn't tell no one. You even helped us get away. Those pigs'll book you as an accessory faster than you can spit.”
Billie felt an uneasy flutter in her stomach. She'd been so caught up in finally having an adventure that she hadn't thought about that part. Hadn't she suspected them enough to wait in her car next to the bank? For that matter, hadn't she lied to Panzie about seeing them in the bar earlier yesterday? In retrospect, she realized that it would be hard for her to claim she was an unwilling hostage or a victim of circumstance. She might be in real trouble.
“Yeah, didn't think that through too good, did you?” the redhead sneered, seeing her expression change. “An third, you've seen what we look like. Which means if we turn you loose, you can give detailed descriptions to the cops, an' they can do a quick search for guys with records who match those pictures. An' then our rap sheets are pinned to the walls of every police station an' FBI field office from coast to coast, an' we're screwed. So just what the blue fuck makes you think we'd let you live, huh?”
Billie felt her previous excitement quickly drain out of her, replaced with genuine fear. She hadn't believed that Clyde had it in him to kill her, and she wasn't sure the short blonde man would either. But as she looked into the redhead's eyes, she realized she couldn't bring herself to think the same of him. He seemed like someone who would commit murder easily if it suited his purpose, and she felt herself start to tremble.
For the first time, she seriously considered the possibility that she might die, and she thought about what that might feel like. The concept made her feel like she'd been dunked in a tub of ice water.
“Hang on,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm and steady. “There's no need for you guys to, uh, rush into anything where I'm concerned. I mean, maybe I could even help, y'know? Like, if you let me go, I could give the cops the wrong descriptions on purpose. I could give them fake names, too, and tell them I heard you guys mention you were headed for, I don't know, California or Canada or something. I could throw them off, give you guys a chance to get a head start...”
The redhead snorted derisively. “Right, sure. Pull the other one an' I'll whistle Dixie out my asshole.”
“You really don't have to kill me,” Billie insisted. “I promise. We can figure out something else.”
“Look,” Clyde said, “maybe killing her isn't the way to go. Do we really want to be facing murder charges if the cops catch up to us? That could be the difference between a ten-year stretch and life or the gas chamber.”
“You just sayin' that 'cause you're a pussy,” the redhead said.
“I'm a thief,” Clyde said. “And I'm a damn good one. But what I'm not is some bloodthirsty psycho who'll kill an innocent girl just because she's an inconvenience. I don't need that shit on my conscience. If that makes me a pussy, so be it.”
This gave Billie a bit of hope. Despite all of Clyde's tough talk and threats earlier, it seemed like she'd been right about him. If he was willing to face down the others when it came to the prospect of killing her, maybe she might have a chance at getting out of this alive after all.
“Well, I've killed plenty of people for plenty of fuckin' reasons,” the redhead retorted, “so if you can't handle that action, you can leave it to me. But don't try to convince me that leavin' her alive is somehow the smart play here, 'cause it clearly ain't. She's a liability, an' she's got to go. Period.”
“I ain't in a hurry to be an accessory to murder either, man,” the blonde chimed in, “but he's right. If we ain't gonna take her with us, then just lettin' her go so she can blab to the cops about us would be goofy. It don't seem like we got much of a choice here.”
“Of course we've got a choice,” Clyde said. “We can keep her around as a hostage, instead of committing a capital crime and fucking ourselves completely. If the cops do get too close, we can just hide behind her and threaten to blow her head off unless they back off. It's not like they're going to blast holes in a civilian just to put us down.”
“They definitely won't,” Billie agreed quickly. “That sheriff you saw wouldn't let them. He's had a crush on me since we were kids, he'd never...”
The redhead's arm moved so fast it was a blur, and before Billie had time to move or react, his meaty palm smacked her across the face hard. She reeled backward and almost fell on the bed, her cheek stinging.
“You ain't part of this discussion,” the redhead spat, “so shut it. An' don't start havin' no thoughts 'bout screamin' for help or nothin' like that, or the last thing you're ever gonna see is that pillow while I smother you to death with it. Nod if you fuckin' understand.”
Billie nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. She hated crying, and she usually never did it in front of anyone, but this time she couldn't help herself as she thought about whether these might be her last few moments on earth.
“There's no need for that shit,” Clyde said. “Knock it off.”
“Now you're gonna act protective of her?” the redhead balked. “Seriously? You seem to have gotten pretty goddamn attached over the past couple of hours. Which is a damn shame, 'cause from where I'm standin', it looks like we got a two-to-one vote to mop the bitch an' be done with it.”
“Did this suddenly become some kind of fucking democracy?” Clyde retorted. “Because last I checked, I'm still the leader of this outfit, and I say we leave her alive.”
“What 'outfit,' dickhead?” the redhead asked. “Our plans for starting our own MC are down the toilet. If we're smart, we'll forget about that an' head down to Mexico to disappear with the cash. We can chill out on a beach somewhere surrounded by cheap hooch an' hot mamacitas, an' wait for everythin' to blow over.”
“Fine, if Mexico's the plan, then Mexico's the plan,” Clyde said. “That works for me. You're right, staying in this country with the law after us would be silly. But it still doesn't mean I'm going to let you snuff her.”
The redhead sighed, putting his hands on his hips. “Look, I get it, okay? She's obviously cute, an' we all saw how badly you wanted to fuck her last night. You don't wanna waste a hot piece of ass. So how 'bout you just tie her down, gag her, an' take a few turns with her if it's so important to you, huh? Shit, maybe I'll even go for a ride myself. Then we can do what we gotta do an' put this whole thing behind us.”
“You're a sick asshole,” Clyde commented.
The redhead's eyes filled with black murder and his entire body tensed as he slowly walked over to Clyde, getting right in his face.
“Fuck her or don't,” he said, “but I'm gonna snuff her either way, an' I promise a punk like you ain't gonna be in no position to stop me.”
“You don't want to tangle with me,” Clyde said evenly. “Think it through.”
“Oh, I don't, huh?” The redhead shoved Clyde hard.
Before Clyde could respond, the blonde positioned himself between the two men. “Guys, stop it! If we turn on each other like this, the whole thing'll fall apart an' the cops'll get us for sure.” He turned to the redhead. “If he's so set on keeping her as a hostage for a while longer, maybe you an' I can split off on our own for a while. That way she won't be slowin' us down, an' the pigs will have more than one target to focus on.”
The redhead glared at Clyde. “Yea
h, maybe that's the way to go. I could use a break from this cocksucker for a while anyway. We can meet up in two days at that truck stop we talked about before. You know the one, right?”
Clyde nodded. “Fine. Let's do that. It'll give us a chance to cool off, and then we can figure out a plan for getting across the border.”
“Just remember one thing, though,” the redhead added. “By the time we all meet up down there, she'd better be gone. Kill her or find some other way to get rid of her, but she ain't comin' across the border with us. If you show up an' she's still with you, I'll murder the fuckin' both of you.”
“I'm not scared of you,” Clyde said.
The redhead stared him down with eyes like a shark's. “You fuckin' well should be, asswipe.” He turned to the blonde. “Come on, let's blow. We need to find a new ride.”