Mack

It had been a crazy week and I’d found out the information that I was looking for, even if in the end I didn’t actually want to know about it. It wasn’t good news and I would have rather been out of the loop a little bit more.

My worst fears were realized and instead of it being local or state cops that were looking for me, it was the feds. I moved around a lot and I made sure to never do too much work anywhere, especially at home. The deal with Tony was one that I had done because it was quick and too easy money to say no to. That was my problem half of the time, I couldn’t say no to a good opportunity. I could see them coming and I wanted to take advantage of them. This usually ended up meaning that I was going to have to go away for a bit.

I should have been worried about my freedom. That was what was in jeopardy, as well as some of my money. I always had enough put up for a rainy day, so really my only true worry was what was going to happen with Danny. She hadn’t been brought into it yet, but that didn’t mean that if we kept seeing each other it wouldn’t happen that way. I knew that eventually they would come for her and try to use her against me. I had to be the one to tell her first, though I didn’t want to and I didn’t know how. I’d never confessed my sins before.

It was a hard pill to swallow, but one that I had to come to grips with. I was going to have to leave and the straight-laced woman was not going to go along with it. I had a feeling that if she knew what I did for a living and how I made my money, she wouldn’t talk to me. She was always on the right side of the law and even when I tried, I found myself falling back to the bad side. It just seemed to be where I was supposed to be, no matter how much I tried to do the right thing. The downward slide was inevitable for me. It wasn’t that way with Danny. She always did the right thing.

So I decided that I had to see her. Danny and I had a lot to talk about and the longer I put it off, the more dangerous it was all going to become. I had to get out of here quickly and she was either going to have to come with me or not. Either way, whatever happened, it had to happen soon.

I tried calling her on one of my burner phones and she didn’t answer. I reasoned that maybe she didn’t know who it was and that’s why she wasn’t answering. I didn’t like to use my regular phone all that much anymore because I was sure that it had a tap on it, but I risked it because I had to see her. I wanted her to meet me somewhere because I didn’t want to lead them back to her house. But none of this could happen if I didn’t get ahold of her and get a chance to talk to her in the first place.

She didn’t answer the next five times I called her and I have to admit that I was getting a bit upset about it all. I don’t know if she was paying me back for not answering hers. But I’d told her what was going on with that. I thought she’d understood. Never did I think that the FBI had gotten to her. For one reason or another, it just wasn’t on my radar for some reason.

Finally she picked up after I’d been calling for hours, but she sounded strange right off the bat. I don’t know what it was exactly, she didn’t really say anything, but Danny wasn’t acting like herself.

“I don’t think I can see you tonight and I think I’m going to be busy the next couple of weeks. There is a lot of testing going on at work and I have to stay later than usual.”

“So you don’t want to see me at all for a couple of weeks?”

“Maybe longer, sorry Mack it was good catching up with you though. Maybe when my schedule is a little clearer, we’ll be able to get together again.”

I couldn’t believe what she was saying. Was she really that quick to get rid of me? After everything we’d been through and what I was going through currently, I couldn’t believe that she was ready to walk away. She didn’t even know any of my troubles and she was already ready to walk away. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn’t tell her what was really going on.

“I don’t know what’s going on Danny. What happened since I saw you last?”

“It was just a little fun Mack. You know that it wasn’t supposed to be more than that. Last time it ended much the same way, we just drifted apart. Let’s not make it any more complicated and harder than it has to be. Okay?”

I didn’t know what to say and I just kind of nodded my head to no one in particular. I was in the back of the car by myself and Ernest was looking at me with concern. I suppose it was all across my face. I’d never been so gutted in all of my life. All of the fantasies I had of me and her running off together were quickly getting squashed. She didn’t even want to take the time to see me now. How had I been so wrong?

“I hope you get to that paradise you used to talk about when we were younger Mack. You deserve that.”

She hung up and I was left far more confused than when I started. I didn’t know what it was that she was talking about. It was like Danny had been talking in riddles and she was always the straight forward type so I had to think that something was off.

I wanted to go to her and have her tell me all of that to my face. She was always second guessing us now, but I was sure if she was in front of me, she wouldn’t be able to feel that way. All I had to do was get my hands on her and I would convince her. But then what? How was I going to convince her to come run away with me? I wouldn’t do it for her and now I was expecting her to do it for me? It didn’t seem like I had much choice about how it was all going to go down, but I didn’t think that it was going to end well. Everything was up in the air and that made me nervous.

With or without Danny, I still had to make a plan to get out of here. I don’t know where I was going to go yet, but I thought about the small islands off the coast of Hawaii that we’d always talked about going to. She wanted to see the black sand and I always argued that paradise wouldn’t have black sand. Was she giving me a sign and if she was, that meant that someone had gotten to her.

I was assured by my guys for the third time that no one had been able to get to her, so maybe her telling me that was just her way of saying goodbye.

Now I didn’t know what the hell to do and I was running out of time to do it. The feds would be on my back soon enough and I were going to have to figure something out.