“I’m not a big fan of beef stroganoff,” Jake gritted out the words as he sat at the kitchen table. He glanced to his left where Tom sat and received no response. The man was bad company, but not as bad as his wife. Her throat had been slit as she sat tied to her chair straps. She’d been the one with a mouth. He’d smiled as the three sat earlier around the table, while he inquired about Mary Jane. Talkative, just like my MJ. However, as his knife coasted along her jugular, she’d tipped her chair backward. She’d gone falling to the floor, while tied to the chair. As Amy lay dying, her head lulled and cheek kissed the floor. She bled out on the travertine tile.

But Tom had only been beaten with a meat tenderizer to the abdomen. And so he was better company when Jake decided to eat the dinner Amy had prepared for them.

“Well, I reckon I’d rather eat my meal with a lovely woman,” he told himself, grabbing Amy’s chair from the floor with her in it. Her body was stiff, rigor mortis forced her hands to clutch the armrest after only an hour. He picked up the chair with her dead weight. Her stiff body sat straight up, blood drying in her hair that was draped over her shoulder. With the way her face had been positioned on the floor, Jake had to turn her chair a little to the right, so that she’d be facing forward. Satisfied with her positioning, Jake pushed her in and on second thought, snatched a bright yellow towel from the counter behind her, and placed it around her neck.

“Better, don’t you think?” His southern twang would’ve been soothing had Amy not been a corpse.

Five minutes later, Jake had warmed the beef stroganoff on the stove. He then sat with Tom to his left, Amy across from him, and steaming plates of food before them all.

“Y’all gonna bow your heads?” He chuckled. He knew they couldn’t respond. He was just excited about completing his mission so that he and Mary Jane could start their lives.

He prayed to his God, thanking Him for keeping Mary Jane safe wherever she was, thanking Him that she’d always been such good company. “Unlike you motherfuckers,” he finished off and began to shovel food into his mouth.

“Wowwwwy!” Jake hooted. “I have never had food so good. And I have never really liked stroganoff.”

Music from his iPhone broke through Jake’s happy mood. He picked up his cell phone and placed it on speaker. “What?”

“Don’t you fucking what me, Jake,” Linda Curbelo growled.

“All right, bring that ass here, sweetheart. I’ll do it to your face. How ‘bout that?”

“Have you found her?”

“Have you?” he shot back.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve found another MJ for you. You’d like that wouldn’t you, Jake? What do you do after you kill them?” She gave a sinister chuckle. “Fuck them?”

“Free ‘em,” he mumbled. Desire began to consume him; he glanced at Amy’s lovely face and said, “Tell me about this MJ. Where can I find her?”

Linda sighed through the phone. “I’m not sure if Peter wants that, Jakob—I mean, Jake.”

Jake’s eyebrows pinched together. Words began to formulate in his psyche. Jakob. Jakob… Jakob W… Something in his mind was triggered and for a second, Jake attempted to recall just what kept popping into his psyche. It was no use. Concentrating on the present he asked, “Where the fuck is Mary Jane, lady?”

“Listen, I haven’t been able to speak with Peter to gather more orders. And when you headed down to Mexico, he was so pushy, I had to tell him that she’d been found. He’s gotten obsessed with her and that damn cop.”

“Fuck that cop.”

“I agree. Peter was overzealous and prematurely wrote Wulf a letter and sent it to me. He was fixated on having us kidnap Mary Jane and screw with Wulf’s mind. For now, continue watching Wulf since he returned to Los Angeles. Those idiot agents are hounding him. But we have to stay a step ahead of the game.”

“Rodger that.” He shrugged, shoveling more food, half listening.

“Jake, we have a great life ahead of us. Once we find Mary Jane and return her to Peter. My ex stated he’s willing to give me the computer codes to take over his share of our company. I just mailed him proof of sending a package to the girl’s cop friend. For all intents and purposes, Peter should receive proof that the package was mailed to Dylan Wulf, at which time he will believe you have Mary Jane. Maybe that will suffice, and we’ll be done with Peter altogether and get what we need from him. If not, we just have to figure out a plan to get you to take her to Peter or break him out to get to her—whatever. He’s a dog, with its tail between its legs. And I suppose, being in prison, he has nothing left to live for. Nevertheless, this entire scheme to ruin the woman’s life is beyond me. I don’t care as long as we get the computer codes, and then we can be done with Peter and his little puppet.”

Jake laughed. Right, return her to Peter. Linda Curbelo was confused. Jake worked with her because Peter said so. Now the bitch thought she was calling the shots since Peter got locked up. Well, she had another thing coming.

Linda wanted to use Peter’s obsession with Mary Jane for her own gain. She assumed Jake worked for her. No, he still worked for Peter Grienke. Albeit, he was compromising the task since he had an allegiance with Mary Jane as well. He allowed the woman to continue chattering while scarfing down food.

“I cannot use the system without him, Jake. Hopefully, the FedEx shipping proof will be enough for Peter to provide me with the codes. If not, Jake, I need you to continue searching for her and work harder to find her. Because as soon as Mary Jane is in his hands, Peter will give me the information I need to continue running our billion-dollar industry. We’ve got a buy-in in the Middle East. But I don’t fully trust the guy, so I’ll need you to assist me with running the deal. You’ll be promoted, like Lyle. You’ll get to help make the world a better place. You’ll assist in teaching chosen people to be more compliant. How does that sound?”

Jake was a loyal man, through and through, but that loyalty ended the second his eyes set on Mary Jane. No one in this universe loved her as much as he did. “Whatever you say, honey. I’m gonna go fuck with the cop, see what he knows.”

“But the Feds are watching him, Jake. You’ve been told to watch from a distance. Use those good recon skills.”

“Whatever you say.” He clicked the off button. There was one last order on the table. Peter Grienke wanted him to do the unthinkable. Jake wasn’t quite yet ready to follow through, and he sure as fuck wasn’t following Linda’s orders.

The music rang out again. Linda was calling back. He pressed the away button and concentrated on eating. After a good nap, Jake had a bull to wrangle with.