Georgie felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out of his pocket. Jasper was constantly checking the mirrors for cops. “What the fuck?” Georgie was reading his phone, “Ain’t this something?” He passed the phone to Jasper while he steered the van off the main road and onto a dirt one. They bounced along as Jasper read the text. Jasper looked confused.
“I don’t understand. What the hell does this mean?”
“I guess we’re about to find out, brother! I got a place we can hide out until tonight.
“Do you think she’s being set up?”
“No idea. This is Whitey we’re talking about. Anything could happen.”
***
Lauren texted Darla. She hadn’t heard back from her about the video footage, and all she wanted was simple confirmation that Whitey would leave Jasper alone. On top of that, Georgie still hadn’t responded as to where Jasper was hiding.
“Misty, please take my phone and call Darla. Maybe she knows where Jasper is hiding out. I’m getting really nervous and need some answers.”
Misty took the phone and started scrolling. As she scrolled, the phone started to ring, “It’s Peter.” She held the phone out to Laura, and Laura shook her head as she tried to focus on the road.
“I don’t want to talk to him. Not right now.”
As Misty went to reject the call, she accepted it by accident.
“Lauren, pick up the phone!” It was Darla’s voice. Lauren skidded the car to a halt and grabbed the phone from Misty’s hands.
“Darla, I knew you were fucking my fiancé, but calling me from his phone, really?”
“Lauren, shut up. This is important. Peter’s dead and Jasper will soon be dead if you don’t listen to me, closely.”
Lauren covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself from screaming.
“If you want to see Jasper, you need to meet us on the roof of the Triumph Tower Three building. Be there at 11:30pm, Lauren. Do not be late.”
Then the phone went dead. Dead like Peter.
***
Whitey stood with his gang, going over the plan. They were out back, facing the road that leads to the Triumph Towers. Darla was watching from the window. She needed to do one more thing before their meeting tonight. She needed to find the deed.
First, she checked all of the obvious places. She checked the closet and Whitey’s desk. Darla knew that office fairly well. She had spent nearly every day of her life there since that fateful night she killed Brad. Whitey had a safe, but something inside her told her the deed wouldn’t be there. Whitey liked to think he was smarter than everyone. He would do something creative. Then she saw it, and cursed herself for not seeing it sooner.
Darla got up from the desk, and went and sat in Whitey’s chair at the head of the long meeting table. Straight ahead in her line of vision was the set of heavy carved doors, but just to the right was a fireplace, and on top of the fireplace was a large urn, raised up on a pedestal. The urn was said to carry the ashes of Whitey’ dead father. She jumped up and headed over to the urn, glancing nervously outside to see Whitey moving his hands around, and pointing in various directions. He looked like a football coach instructing his guys on how to run the ball and play the field.
The coast was still clear, so she dragged a chair over to the fireplace, slipped her heels off, and climbed on top of the chair. Carefully, Darla tried to twist the top off the urn, but it wasn’t budging. Did Whitey fuse it on? It was entirely possible that he sealed it, but she had to keep trying. As she wrapped her arms around the heavy urn to shift it some, hoping to get a better grip, she felt the urn itself shift off the pedestal it was mounted on. At first, she thought it was attached, but it wasn’t.
Instinctively, she slid the urn off the pedestal and felt all around it before picking it up in her hands. The pedestal was large in size to accommodate the urn, but it wasn’t heavy. It was hollow inside. The bottom of the pedestal was covered in green felt. Each side of the pedestal had an ornate wooden rectangle that stuck out from the frame of the pedestal. As Darla turned it over and over, she examined the four base pegs underneath the pedestal. She tried to screw them off. Three didn’t budge, but the fourth slid off when she pushed it a certain way. Once off, the peg hole revealed a button. Darla pressed it and one of the rectangular panels popped open. She couldn’t believe her eyes! Without hesitation, she stuffed her hand inside and pulled out the fucking deed! “Think you’re so smart, Whitey Smith.”
She could hear the men outside getting rowdy. They were mentally rallied up for tonight. They’d party and fuck like it was their last night on Earth. This is how they always acted when there was a big score going down. Her hands moved fast to put everything back, exactly as it she found it. He’d be back in the bar soon enough, and she needed to hide the deed as quickly as possible, and now that she had it in her hot little hands, the game was changed.
***
Darkness had fallen and it was two hours before the scheduled meeting. Jasper and Georgie parked the van in a dark, shadowy corner. Looking around, they made sure they were alone before grabbing the duffel bags full of guns, “Georgie, this doesn’t make sense. Where is everyone?”
Georgie’s eyes shifted back and forth as they made their way to the Triumph Tower Three Building. The building was still under construction, but the freight elevator was working so they could get construction materials up on the higher floors. “I don’t know, Jasper. I don’t like this. Something doesn’t feel right. Whitey wouldn’t want to meet on a roof, away from his guys. How the fuck is this going to happen?”
Once on the roof, they headed toward the side of the building that faced the road toward the Brass Monkey, “Actually, it will work. If he comes from the road, we may be able to snipe him.”
“And what about Darla? We taking her out too?”
Jasper shook his head, “Not if we can help it. No reason to, but if she ends up a casualty, so be it. Just make sure we don’t hit Lauren.”
Georgie nodded and broke out the binoculars. He looked for clear lines, “I don’t know, Jas. We’re pretty high up here. Hold on. Someone is down there.”
Jasper moved toward Georgie and pulled the binoculars from him, “That’s Lauren! And that’s Misty! What the fuck? I thought Darla had Lauren?” They looked at each other in disbelief. “Georgie, call Lauren. I don’t like this.”
Georgie grabbed his phone and started dialing. Once the phone was ringing, he passed the phone to Jasper. Jasper took it, and as soon as he heard her voice, he spoke fast, “Lauren! Where are you? Please do not tell me that you’re walking into the Triumph right now.”
Lauren stopped moving and looked around, “Jasper, where are you? I’ve been worried sick. Peter is dead! I thought you were dead too, or close to it! Where are you?”
Jasper clenched his fist, “Lauren, I need you to get out of here. When this is all over, I’ll come find you, but I’m fine. You need to go now, before they use you to get to me, and now you even have Misty with you – you both need to go now!”
“No. I’ve been waiting to see you. I’m not leaving without you, Jasper.”
Jasper scowled toward Georgie, but he knew Lauren was stubborn, “Ok. Be at the front.” Then he headed back to the freight elevator, after taking a gun with him.
“What the fuck are you doing? This thing is already so screwed up!” Georgie yelled.
Jasper held out a hand to him, as if to say, “Keep calm.” He would only be a minute, but the clock was ticking, and they had no time for this. He’d grab Lauren, kiss her, tell her he was fine, and send her and Misty off to safety. That was the plan.
***
“So, I’ve decided you’ll stay here when I go to the meeting with Mauriello.” Whitey was getting dressed to leave.
“Whitey, I need to go with you. He’s expecting both of us. It’s part of the deal.” Darla tried to keep her cool with this sudden news. “Besides, he sent a text. He doesn’t want to meet at the back road. He said he wants to meet on the roof, and he said the two of us to only come, and we can bring two men.”
“Oh, he said all that?” Whitey looked at her suspiciously.
Darla nodded, then rose to help him with his leather jacket. As she put it on his broad shoulders, she let her hands roam his body, feeling it. “He did. This will go fine. Just let me be there so he doesn’t get suspicious. I know how to take care of myself. Let me help.”
He didn’t trust her. She was acting strange.
“Let me see the texts and the phone number they came from.”
Darla nodded and went to retrieve the phone. Luckily, she was smart enough to change the phone number to Marta’s, a number Whitey didn’t know. There was the text, with everything she said it stated. When Whitey checked the number, he saw it was one he didn’t recognize, and while he knew it was possible it was a fake, he didn’t have the time to smoke out Darla’s lies. So he did the next best thing. He called the number.
A man answered in a gruff tone, “Don’t you fucking call me again. Be where you’re supposed to be, when you’re supposed to be there, and bring me what you owe me.” Then the line went dead.
Whitey handed the phone back, and Darla secretly thanked Marta and her husband for covering the line. She smiled to Whitey as if nothing was unusual.
“Ok then, let’s head out, but once we get there, you make sure you stay out of the way, Darla. Oh, and we’ll be bringing more than two men.”