C. Box - Free Fire

Had he been conned? McCann couldn’t believe that. He was too smart, too street-savvy to fall for it. He knew too much. But why wouldn’t his business partner take his call? Why wouldn’t he pay up, as promised? If this was a legitimate transaction, McCann could slap a suit on the bastard and take him to court to get his money. A contract was a contract, and this was ContractLaw 101. But in this circumstance, McCann couldn’t handlethe problem through the courts. The irony of his situation gave him the sweats.

He’d spent hours waiting by the pay phone on the side of the supermarket for the callback that never came, his frustration and anger building by the minute. He debated with himself whether to go back and try again.

“Fuck it,” he said to himself as he reached out and picked up his desk phone and dialed.

"EnerDyne, Mr. Barron’s office,” the receptionist answered.

“This is McCann, again. I need to speak to Layton Barron immediately. Tell him.”

“Mr. McCann, I told you earlier. Mr. Barron is in a meeting and he can’t be disturbed. I’ll give him your message when-”

“Tell him now ,” McCann said. “It’s a matter of life and death.”

My life, McCann thought. His death, if there wasn’t some cooperation.

The receptionist hesitated, then put him on hold.

Okay, McCann thought. Either Barron came on the phone and explained himself, which meant the deal was still in play, or he sent the receptionist back with another delay or refusal. If that happened, there would be hell to pay.

Minutes ticked by. The lawyer began to wonder if the receptionisthad chosen to place him on permanent hold.

Finally, Barron came on the line, angry, and said, “You agreed never to call me here. Is this a secure line?”

McCann was relieved. “No. I’m calling from my office.”

“Goddamn it, we agreed-”

“I’ll go to a secure location, but I’m not going to stand around in the cold all day again. Call me in ten minutes.” McCannread off the number of the supermarket pay phone. Barronrepeated the number back.

At last, he thought, gathering his coat and hat. Finally, he would find out why the funds hadn’t been deposited into his account,as promised. He’d done his part, certainly. Now it was time for them to do theirs.

“Going again?” Sheila asked, sighing heavily.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said. “Keep-”

“Your goddamned door shut!” Sheila finished for him in a screech.

Mccann thought about Sheila as he walked down the sidewalk to the supermarket. His feelings were mixed, which surprised him.

Even though she was a piss-poor receptionist, he liked to look at her. She was more than a cartoon after all, he’d decided. She brought experience, sexual knowledge, and unabashed dutifulnessto his needs and desires. Her reputation as a former mafioso kept woman excited him. He liked being seen with her because it was scandalous and only added to his infamy in town. Her features were severe: very black hair, very white skin, fire-engine red, pillow-soft lips. She was a combination of sharp, soft, ethnic, sensual, and in-your-face. Even if she was on the summit of over-the-hill.

He’d always thought her exotic and amusing, but he was beginningto wonder if there was more going on with him. Was he falling for her? How could that be? He knew he couldn’t trust her.

She was a puzzle, though. How she went on and on about getting out of there but never seemed to pull it off. It made no sense. Leaving wasn’t that hard. An hour to Bozeman and the airport, that’s all the time it would take. And it couldn’t be just lack of money. What did a Bozeman-to-Newark plane ticket cost? Five hundred bucks? Surely she could afford that. So why did she keep leaving just to end up back in West Yellowstone?

The only thing he could figure out was that, despite her constantcomplaints, she liked it. She liked being the wildest vamp in town, the fish with the biggest, reddest lips in the small pond. He started to admire her a little and feel sorry for her at the same time.

Maybe, just maybe, he would take her with him after all.

First things first, though. He needed his money.

As he turned the corner he saw the pay phone blocked by a dirty white pickup. A big woman with a loud voice was on the phone. His heart sank. McCann approached the vehicle slightly panicked and checked his wristwatch. In two minutes, Barron had agreed to call.

She had curlers in her hair and was wearing an oversized parka. There was a cigarette in the stubby fingers of her free hand, and she waved it around her head as she talked. Her pickup was twenty years old, the bed filled with junk, the cab windows smeared opaque by the three big dogs inside, all of them with their paws on the glass and their tongues hanging out. He was vaguely familiar with her and had seen her death trap of a pickup rattling through town before. She collected and sold junk and hides. She had a sign on a muddy two-track west of town that offered $10 apiece for elk hides, $7.50 for deer. Her name, he thought, was Marge.

When she saw McCann standing there, obviously waiting for her and checking his wristwatch, she flicked her fingers at him. “It’ll be a while,” she said. “There’s a phone down the street outside the gas station.”

“No, I need this phone.”

Marge looked at him like he was crazy. “I told you it’ll be a while, mister. The phone service is out at my place. I got a bunch of business calls to make.”

She turned away from him. “I’m on hold.”

In a minute, Barron would call.

“Look,” McCann said to her back, “I’m expecting a really important call on this number. Right here, right now. You can call whoever it is you’re waiting for right back. Hell, I’ll give you the money. In fact, if you want to sit in my office and use the phone there, you can make calls all day .”

She turned slightly and peered over her massive shoulder with one eye closed. “If you’ve got a phone in your office, mister,why don’t you use it?”

He couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Lady. . Marge . .”

She ignored him.

Furious, he reached out to tap her on the shoulder to get her attention when the dogs went off furiously, barking and snarling, gobs of saliva spattering the inside of the cab window inches from his arm. He recoiled in panic, and she yelled for her dogs to shut the hell up.

Then she turned on him. “What the hell is wrong with you, mister? I’m on the phone.”

“I’m a lawyer,” he said, his heart racing in his chest from the shock of the barking and the flash of teeth. “I’m expecting an important call. It’s a matter of life and death. I need that phone .”

She assessed him coolly. “I know who you are, Clay McCann.I don’t think much of you. And you’re not getting it.”

He shot a glance at his watch. Past time. He prayed Barron would be a few minutes late. Or call back if it was busy the first time. But what if he didn’t?

The.38 was out before she could say another word. McCann tapped the muzzle against the glass of the passenger window in the drooling face of a dog. “Hang up now,” he said.

“You’re threatening my dogs,” she said, eyes wide. “Nobody threatens my dogs.”

Then she stepped back and jerked the telephone cord from the wall with a mighty tug.

“There!” she yelled at him. “Now nobody can use it!”

“Jesus! What did you do?”

“I just got started,” she said, swinging the phone through the air at him by holding the severed metal cord. The receiver hit him hard on the crown of his head.

McCann staggered back, tears in his eyes, his vision blurred. But not blurred enough that he couldn’t see her whipping the phone back and swinging it around her head like a lariat, lookingfor another opening.