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.