Chapter 24

Fucking Geronimo. Fucker walks right up behind when I’m about to go back in that goddamn room and says, “Get her ready. We are going.”

Rae was still trying to figure out what the hell that meant when she opened the door and, boom, all hell broke loose. All the sudden, she was on her ass on the catwalk and well that bitch got hers when old Geronimo put all 260 pounds to the door after it knocked her back. Then he stepped in and put her down with that fucking backhand of his.

“Get her ready.” Yeah, right. The first thing Rae had to do was get a new pair of flex-cuffs on her. Hell, she didn’t know if Geronimo even noticed that the woman wasn’t cuffed. Fucking bitch! You give someone an inch and they take a fucking mile. She didn’t know where she’d learned that old saying, probably from her mom, but ain’t it the truth.

Rae had cut the woman’s hands loose “so I can touch my baby, please,” and what does she do? Knocks my ass over and tries to run. So then while Miss Priss was out like a light on the mattress, Rae got a new pair of flex-cuffs on her and got everything in the room rolled up and out of there so Danny could take it all out to the Dumpster. Man … when she saw his face, he couldn’t even look her in the eye. Hey, a couple of days of babysitting and, wow, big money Florida vacation whoopee! My ass.

But the no-talking rule was still in effect so all she could do was give him her look, and even if he didn’t turn to see it, she knew he could feel her eyes on the side of his face ’cause his skin was turning red right there on his neck and cheeks like it always did when he knew she was pissed at him. What the fuck did you get us into now, Danny?

Well, she kinda knew the answer to that one now, didn’t she? Hell, she’d been texting Kelsey since like day fucking one and her girlfriend had been getting all the news back to her.

having fun in the sun yet?

no.

sup?

no gd fun. lotta shit.

huh?

d n another of his big ids

u in trouble?

not yet. but coming.

u not into illegal again.

yep. but this 1s big.

Rae had been trying to keep the messaging to a minimum, afraid fucking Geronimo or one of his braves were gonna catch her, but shit, this last couple of days things were getting out of hand. She’d slip out of the room when the pregnant princess was asleep, but the Indians had a hawk eye on Danny and her. All they could do was whisper and, of course, he was giving her the “everything’s gonna be all right” line from that old-timey Loggins and Messina song that he said he loved because it had his name on it.

He’s so full of shit. He played that song from his iPod the first time he’d taken her down to Crystal Lake and they were making out in some car he said he didn’t steal from the country club lot but then admitted later that he did and had to get it back before Sunday checkout. Back then it was kinda romantic, “Danny’s Song,” and all. But every time they got into some sketchy situation he’d come up with that “everything’s gonna be all right” again and it was getting real old.

how big?

big.

how illegal?

damn illegal.

Rae knew Kelsey was worried about her. They’d been friends forever and she was the only one Rae could really talk to about her mother and how pissed Rae was that she’d died and left her all the fuck alone. Kelsey even said that if Rae wanted, she’d tell her own mom and they’d like adopt her, make her one of the Preece family. But that was all fantasy and Rae had said, “No way.” She could take care of herself and did.

Even when the worker from child welfare services showed up, she’d been able to shine them on and get them off her back and say she was with relatives. It was bullshit and her so-called aunt had just backed her story but let her stay in the trailer by herself—and why not? Rae was a hell of a lot smarter than any of her so-called family and got that job at the country club—like they needed another mouth to feed anyway. Kelsey was always there and she kept Rae’s secrets and they kept their friendship. But Kelsey also had a sense when Rae was in trouble and knew this time she was in deeper than usual.

big illegal trouble in FL?

d’s shit again.

it’s not about a preggo judge got snatched down there?

says who?

all over the tv rae plz don’t say it’s that.

ok. no say.

Fuck! So the bitch had been telling the truth about being a federal judge. Independent corroboration, right? She’d heard that one a few times on those law-and-order shows and now her best and only true friend was giving it to her. If it had hit the news stations up in Michigan, then it was big stuff. Then this morning, she’d heard that overhead garage door open for the first time since they’d brought the woman in. Rae got up from her bedroll on the floor and carefully cracked the door to peek out.

A silver Chrysler 300 was pulling in and she watched as it stopped and Danny got out of the driver’s seat. Shit. What? He’d gone out and stolen another car? Since it looked brand-new, Rae wondered if he’d taken it right off the car lot like he’d done that time in Traverse City. That time, she’d caught him staring at a Cadillac Escalade the dealership was pimping by putting it up on a ramp out by the roadside. Thing was six feet above all the other cars on the lot like a trophy, and Danny would just stare at it when they passed by on their way to the country club. She knew, just knew like radar, that he was challenged by the damn thing and was trying to figure out how to steal it.

Sure enough, maybe three weeks later, she gets off work and Danny calls her cell and says, “Meet me out back by employee parking.” When she gets out there, he’s sitting in the driver’s seat of that big black Escalade­. They spent the night smoking reefer in the thing down by the point and making love in the back with the tailgate open to the lake. The next day, he ditched it, taking only the mag wheels, which he said he could sell in a heartbeat.

So she had no doubt about the Chrysler 300 down there even though Danny didn’t say a word when she slipped out of the room and went down to find out what the hell was up.

It was then that fucking Geronimo cut her away from Danny and without a word ushered her back up the stairs like some cattle dog cutting her out of the herd. He said,“Get her ready,” and the shit hit the fan.

Hell, Rae couldn’t even take her vacation clothes with her. But carefully, she put her cell down the front of her panties and just slightly up inside her so those morons couldn’t tell and wouldn’t dare search her there. Then they’d all piled into the Chrysler 300 after Geronimo had physically picked up the woman, carried her down the steps, and stuffed her into the trunk.

Now, Danny was driving with Geronimo in the front telling him where to go and Rae was in the backseat with the fucking braves. She’d made damn sure she was next to the window so she didn’t have to squeeze between the two Indians like a white meat sandwich. Off they went.

They hit the interstate in twenty or thirty minutes, Danny driving­ the speed limit and using his turn signals to merge and the whole nine yards. Then they were on this wide, multiple-lane road for what seemed like hours. Rae stared out the window and couldn’t even tell which direction they were going. Then there was a long, clean stretch of nothing­—and she meant nothing.

They were on an interstate called I-75 and on either side was nothing but open land that looked like wheat fields stretching out to the horizon. She let herself relax but kept thinking about the text to Kelsey and her phone and whether she’d remembered to put it on vibrate. Then she giggled, considering where it was tucked. When Rae looked over from the window, she could see Danny staring at her through the rearview mirror.

“Something funny, Little Squaw?” Geronimo said the first words out of his mouth to her since he’d told her they were leaving.

“There’s not a goddamn thing funny about this whole shitstorm, asshole,” she’d let loose, surprising even herself, and adding, “now that the no-talking rule is obsolete.”

“Obsolete? I like that,” Geronimo said to Danny more than her. “That’s one smart-mouth woman you got there, bro.”

Danny said nothing but readjusted the mirror so he didn’t have to look at Rae.

“Yeah, well, bro,” Rae said to Geronimo, in for a dime now, in for a dollar. “You’re the one who broke the no-talking rule.”

“Don’t matter now,” the Indian said.

Rae felt the man next to her move, almost involuntarily, just a flinch of nervousness.

“And why not?” she asked.

Geronimo only shrugged his thick shoulders. Rae felt something flicker in the back of her head and actually felt the prickling sensation on her neck and she knew that feeling, rare as it was. She’d felt it that day in the car on the railroad tracks. She’d felt it a couple of times when one of her mother’s boyfriends came stumbling into the trailer, searching for something, probably sex, when Rae was there alone and had to skinny herself under her bed and practically stop breathing until the fucker gave up and left. And now she was feeling it again and recognized it as fear.

She and Danny were way the fuck out of their league this time. It wasn’t some one-day quick-hit deal and everything’s gonna be all right this time, because now they were involved in the kidnapping of a federal judge. And when it finally was all over, was Geronimo really going to just let them walk? Give them the money and let them go on their happy Florida vacation, knowing they could identify him and his little band of Chippewa brothers?

Shit, she thought as she stared out the window at a thousand acres of Everglades swampland. No different than going out to the Sand Lakes Quiet Area down by Kalkaska, she thought—pure untouched nature. You get a few hundred feet off the trail in that oak and pine forest and nobody’s ever going to find your body. Same here, she thought, looking out at honey-colored saw grass that ran all the way to the horizon.

She squirmed a little in her seat and felt the cell phone tucked up half inside her and thought of her friend Kelsey. At least she’d know where to dig for their bones.