Terri Austin - Diners, Dives & Dead Ends

“Sullivan didn’t try to stop you from leaving?” he asked as he resumed his seat.

I shook my head. My neck was sore, my ribs bruised, my face was swollen, and my shoulder throbbed, but as I looked at Axton, I was more content than I had been in over a week.

“When we saw the SUV pull into the drive, we set off the alarm,” Eric said.

Steve looked up at me. “I grabbed the paintball gun from the cargo space and ran through the woods. The second Henry and Sullivan got out of the car, I nailed them.”

“So that’s why Sullivan was covered in pink and green splotches. You’re my hero.”

He grinned his crooked grin and blushed.

I grabbed Axton’s hand. “Now your turn. Tell us everything.”

“And start from the beginning,” Eric said.

“Okay, so, like, I went to this club and the next day I asked you to take my backpack. Remember, Rose?”

“I remember. Where was the club?”

“In this warehouse, well it used to be a warehouse. But now they have poker and stuff.”

“Where was located?” Eric asked.

“In the city. And it was a pretty dicey neighborhood. But the people there were dressed up in really nice togs.”

“Here you go, honey.” Ma handed him a chocolate chip cookie she’d pulled from her quilted tote bag.

“Thanks.” He let go of my hand and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth and washed it down with a swallow of beer. “I can’t tell you why I was there, you know, for personal reasons.”

“It’s okay, we already know the trouble Pack is in,” I said.

“Really? Because he told me it was a secret.”

“Yeah, well, we got it out of him.”

“Rose has been working every angle to find you,” Steve said.

“Thanks, Rose.” Axton tipped the bottle in my direction.

“I had a lot of help. Anyway, back to this club.”

“Right. So Pack got me the invite. I went to get info on Sullivan. You know about him?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, while Sullivan and Henry watched the poker game, real stealthy like, I sneaked into the back room.”

“Clever. Then what?” Roxy asked.

“There was a laptop sitting on this desk, so I removed the hard drive.” He leaned back and nodded, a little grin on his face.

“Then what?” Roxy asked. “Are we going to have to pull each and every detail out of you? Just tell us the story already. Jeez.” I could tell she needed another piece of gum or a new patch or maybe both.

Axton looked a little hurt. “All right, keep your panties on. So, I removed the hard drive, stuck it in my jacket pocket, and made like the wind.

“Then I drove back to my house and called Pack with the good news. But Pack was, like, pissed. He didn’t want me to take the whole thing, he just wanted me to hack into Sullivan’s computer. Like I had that kind of time.” He looked at Steve and Eric. Eric shook his head and Steve scoffed.

“But then, I noticed this big ass SUV following me around. That’s why I gave you the backpack, Rose. After I came home from work that night, I heard a car pulling up in front of the house. I looked out the window and there it was, the SUV, and it was blocking my car. Then I saw Henry.” He took a long drink of beer. “So I ran to my room and jumped out the window.”

I huffed out a frustrated breath. “I could just slap Joe. I asked him a dozen times about that night and not once did he mention a very large man in a very large SUV looking for you.”

Ax shrugged. “You know he’s a little scattered. He can’t always remember stuff.”

“Wait a minute,” Ma said, “how did they even know who you were?”

“Sullivan told me his entire club’s set up with cameras. So they saw me steal the hard drive. Plus, I think they already knew who I was. I used Pack’s invite to the club and they had my stats, you know? It was freaky, them knowing so much about me.”

I thought about the files I had stolen. Yeah, Sullivan knew exactly who Axton was.

“Anyway, I ran through the neighborhood and hid behind some bushes. That’s when I called you, Rose. But I saw the SUV trolling the street, so I hung up and hopped the fence and lost the phone in a drainage ditch. I decided I better keep moving, in case I was, like, captured, which I totally was, by the by.”

“Where did you go?” I asked.

“I hid out in someone’s shed, and the next morning, I hitched a ride to Sunset Lake. Packard and I worked that out ahead of time, if I got in trouble, go to the old lake house my family used to own.”

I held up a hand. “Whoa. Packard knew where you were?”

“Yeah, he didn’t tell you?”

That jackhole. “No, he didn’t. Sorry, Ax, finish your story.”

“So I broke in and was there four days. I couldn’t call you because the phone and electricity had been shut off. But they had some bottled water in the garage and some canned veggies, so I made do.”

“How did Sullivan find you, hon?” Ma asked.

“I don’t know. Saturday afternoon, I’m on the deck soaking up some rays, next thing I know, Henry’s hauling me out to the SUV.”

“I saw a picture of you bound and gagged, Ax,” I said.

“Did they hurt you?” Eric asked.

“Henry smacked me around a little. ‘Where was the hard drive? What had I done with the hard drive?’ Then Sullivan played good cop. If I told them where it was, they’d let me go home. But I kept quiet.

“They only let me have water. No food. But then yesterday afternoon, Ron comes in with a sack of burgers and bunch of video games. Wouldn’t tell me why.”

I squeezed his hand. “I called Sullivan yesterday, told him I had access to the hard drive. I wish I had called him sooner. I’m so sorry, Ax.”

He squeezed back. “It wasn’t your fault.” Ma passed him the cookie bag and he let go of my hand again to eat.

“By the way, look what I found when I searched the house.” I unzipped my backpack and pulled out the files, then reached into my belt and snagged the USB drives I’d stolen from Sullivan’s desk.

“This is Pack’s file,” Eric said, taking it from my hand and paging through it. “It has all his financials. How much he makes, what he owes, credit reports. Plus, there’s personal info in here. Stuff about you, Ax, and your mom, random pictures of everyone in the family. It wouldn’t have been hard to find out about the house at Sunset Lake. People do what’s familiar.”

Ma angled her head so she could read through her trifocals. “Here’s a file on Martin Mathers. And another on Arthur Briggs. ”

Eric whistled and rubbed his head. “The mayor? Man.” He blinked a few times then looked at me. “What have you done, Rose?”

“She did the only thing she could do,” Roxy said. “She took out an insurance policy.”

“I thought I could make two or three copies of everything and put them in different — hopefully safe — places.”

Steve looked up at me. “That’s good thinking.”

Eric rubbed his hands together. “Okay then, I guess we should start scanning all this crap.”

“I know I don’t have an appointment,” I told the receptionist for the third time, “but I need to see him today.” I pointed to a chair in the waiting room. “And I’m going to sit there until I do.” I flounced away and sat down next to a side table piled high with news magazines.

I had already left Dane four messages. The optimistic side of me said he was probably tied up in court or busy with a client. The rational side said he was avoiding me.

I picked up a magazine and flipped through the pages, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything. The copies of the files burned a hole in my bag. I barely kept myself from checking every five minutes to see if they were still there.