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REGAN AND RED SAT NEXT to each other on the flight from Heathrow to Boston. Red’s mother and John Barnard sat two rows behind. Red listened as Regan poured out the story. Once Regan had finished, Red said, “I missed it all because of my carelessness. You know what, Steve? I’m never going to touch a chainsaw again.” The close friends laughed.
Red spoke again, “I need to ask you this, Steve.”
Regan said, “Shoot! Whatever you want to know.”
“About Caroline.”
“What about her?”
“What on earth possessed you to stay with her after you found out what she was up to? Found out what she was really like.”
“Man! I thought you knew me.”
“That’s no answer. Give!”
“I like danger. She was great in the sack. What else is there to know?”
“Yeah, okay, I know you well enough to buy that but...”
“But what? Buddy... ”
“That last night. With her, I mean. For fuck’s sake, Steve, you knew she was a crazy.”
“Thought you knew me. I always see the best in people.”
Regan smirked at Red. Red, using his remaining whole arm punched hard on Regan’s shoulder.
The flight attendant saw the punch. She admonished Red and could not understand why his companion was laughing so loudly. Regan laughed more after Red told the attendant, “Don’t mind me. I’m ‘armless.”
Regan sat sniggering with his hand covering his mouth. He gathered himself enough to say, “Guess that’s your new punch line.”
***
THE GROUP OF BRITISH subjects of Regan, his mother, Red, John Barnard plus three ‘minders’ who were special ops contractors vetted and hired by DCS Graham, settled into a pleasant Boston hotel for the third night of the trip. It was convenient to both hospitals scheduled to operate on Regan’s mother’s tumour and Red’s arm. One of the minders took charge of driving the rented SUV as he was a trained escape driver. Regan and Red had given him a name – McQueen, owing to his expertise in driving.
McQueen parked the large red Chevrolet SUV on the side street next to the main entrance of the hospital where Red was to be operated on. Red had an appointment to meet his surgeon for a pre-operative check-up. Regan opened the front passenger door and placed both feet on the ground. He looked up at an approaching pick-up truck as it sounded its horn. The driver’s window of the black truck powered down as it came level with Regan. The truck slowed so Regan was able to see the driver.
Regan heard the “whoop whoop” of a siren. It was a black and white Boston P.D. patrol car. A police officer hollered through a loudspeaker, “Sir, please move the car. You’re in a tow-away zone.” The black-and-white parked behind the Chevrolet SUV.
Regan blocked out the noise and kept looking at the driver of the black pick-up truck. The driver’s arm extended from the open window. Regan saw it belonged to Carlo Vitale. He also saw the gun in Carlo’s left hand. Carlo heard the cop too. He tossed the gun across to the front seat passenger. Carlo then pointed two fingers of his left hand at Regan. The undercover cop saw Carlo’s mouth open and heard the sound, “Pop! Pop!”
As the black truck picked up speed, Regan heard Carlo shout, “You know who the fuck I am. Next time, Regan ... next time ...”
Regan turned to Red and said, “Get better soon buddy. We have work to do.”
The End
