J. Gonzalez - They

“She’ll talk to us,” Frank said. He was almost finished with his pasta. “She’ll be freaked out over what happened at the Family Cupboard. Especially when she finds out that Tom Hoffman was shot.”

Mike nodded. “If the police haven’t picked her up yet, she may be willing to talk to us. I think it’s worth a chance.”

“And what if we get caught?” Vince asked. This was the forefront question on his mind. If they got caught, they were screwed. “Why can’t we just go to your friend Billy with what we have now?”

“Because if we can find Mary Ann and get her to cooperate, we’ll have somebody that is removed from us who can verify everything,” Mike said. “As for getting caught, that’s a chance we’re going to have to take.” He glanced at Frank, then back to Vince. “Plus, I think we’re going to have to do something equally as risky.”

“And what’s that?”

“Leave you here.”

Vince almost laughed. “Oh. So you guys are paranoid that I’ll get you shot at again, huh? You’d rather leave me alone and let the assassins get me while you’re not around, right?”

“Not at all,” Mike said. He turned around so he was facing Vince. He was almost finished with his burger but he made no attempt to eat. “Frank and I know what we’re looking for, we know what questions to ask. Besides, somebody at the Family Cupboard might have recognized you, too. You were once a local boy, you know.”

“Yeah, and I haven’t been back here in fifteen years.”

“Doesn’t matter. There might have been an old teacher or neighbor back at the Family Cupboard that you forgot about. We can’t take that chance. If somebody recognized you, the police will know about it. They’ll be able to go to the local high school and pull your old class photo out and have it in every squad car by now. If you show up with us, you might be spotted. There’s less chance of Frank and me being recognized the way we look now. We’ll drive over and we’ll be quick about it. It should take no more than a few hours.”

“And what if they recognize the car?” Vince asked.

“We’ll rent a car here in town,” Mike said. He looked at Frank, who nodded. “We’ll leave the other vehicle here. Frank and I will drive to Lancaster County in a new vehicle. We’ll make an attempt at finding Mary Ann. If we find her, we’ll get her to come with us and talk. We won’t go armed, and we’ll go under our real names. We’ll be less likely to run into trouble in Lititz should we get picked up by the police.”

“I don’t think we will, though,” Frank said. He finished his pasta and began attacking his salad.

“No, I don’t either,” Mike added.

“And what am I supposed to do?” Vince asked.

“Stay here,” Mike finished his hamburger and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Seriously. Lay low. Watch TV. Whatever you do, don’t leave this room.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bad idea?” Vince asked. He felt nervous about the prospect of being alone. “I mean, splitting up like this?”

Mike shrugged. He rose to his feet and set his plate aside. “I don’t know what else to do. It shouldn’t take too long for Frank and me to go to Lititz and do some poking around.”

“We could try to bring Mary Ann back with us,” Frank suggested.

Mike opened his wallet and began rifling through it, purging it of all the documents that contained his alias. “We could,” he said. “We’ll have to play it by ear, though.”

“What if those guys come here and try to kill me again?” Vince asked. This is what Vince feared the most. He’d been thinking about the routes they’d taken in Lancaster County, and he didn’t recall seeing anybody tailing them to the Family Cupboard. It was almost as if the men that shot at him had known he was going to be walking out of the Family Cupboard and they’d positioned themselves accordingly. He mentioned this to Mike and Frank. “Think about it,” he said. “They were waiting for me. They came right at me. I was their target, not Tom Hoffman, not Reverend Powell, not you. They were after me .”

“I know, but I don’t think they’ll make a third attempt so soon,” Mike said, replacing his wallet. He put his sport coat on. “We managed to kill the men who attacked us today, Vince. That had to have been a tremendous set-back for them.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they weren’t expecting it,” Frank said. He hadn’t finished his salad yet, but he began setting his plate aside. “Did you recognize any of those guys today?”

“No.” Vince shook his head. Their faces flashed in his mind, and he felt a twinge of guilt. He hadn’t wanted to kill anybody but he had, and he felt sick about it.

“The guy that shot at you in Irvine wasn’t one of the three today?” Mike asked.

“No,” Vince said, trying to remember. “The guy in Irvine was older. He had darker hair, was a little taller.”

“These guys looked young.” Frank put his coat on.

“They did,” Mike agreed. He reached into his bag and brought out his Glock. He looked at Vince. “Just in case.” The implication was obvious.

Vince nodded. Mike set the gun on the nightstand by the bed.

“We’ll find our way back to Lititz,” Mike said. He pocketed a room key and stood with Frank. “Give us until nine p.m. I have my cell phone with me. If we’re going to be late, I’ll call you. You’ll be fine. Frank and I won’t take any unnecessary risks. We’ll be in and out of there as quickly as possible.”

“And what if you aren’t back by nine and I haven’t heard from you?” Vince asked.

“Take the first flight back to Irvine,” Mike said. “Leave tonight. Don’t even check out, just leave.”

“You have enough cash?” Frank asked.

Vince nodded. “Yeah.”

Mike buttoned his coat. “Get back to Irvine and wait. Take our stuff with you. If you haven’t heard from us in three days, call my wife.” He rattled off the number. “Tell Carol about the safe deposit box.”

“Then what?”

Mike’s features turned grim. “Then, we wait to see what happens.”

VINCE DOUBLE LOCKED the door when Mike and Frank left. Then he changed out of the suit into a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

He flopped down on the bed and turned the TV on. He channel-surfed idly for twenty minutes. Daytime TV was all soap operas and talk shows. Vince grew bored with it after awhile and turned the TV off.

I need a shower , he thought. He rose to his feet and headed to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later he felt refreshed. As he finger-combed his hair, his mind recapped the confrontation at the Family Cupboard parking lot. He’d been going over the events in his mind since it all happened, and he still didn’t know how they’d been tracked down. It was obvious the way those guys had suddenly come out of nowhere and began casually walking toward them that they’d been watching the place for a while. We were probably followed there . I wonder if that means they watched us last night at Reverend Powell’s. It was a distinct possibility. If that was the case, why hadn’t they stormed Hank’s house last night? Maybe they knew we were armed .

That didn’t make sense, though. If they knew that Frank and Mike and Hank were armed, why did they bother with the attack at the Family Cupboard? The more Vince thought about it, the more confused and scared he got. It was as if they’d just sprung out of the ground, guns in hand, bent on killing. Thank God Frank had been aware of what was happening. He must have noticed something was going amiss. Vince hadn’t been aware of anything until Frank’s body slammed the first assassin.

As Vince exited the bathroom the fight replayed in his mind. He hoped they hadn’t been recognized. The shootout at the Family Cupboard had happened so fast that the few people that witnessed it were probably too scared to remember faces. He hoped Tom Hoffman and Reverend Powell were all right.