He kept his eyes on the road, his expression grim. “That’s the problem. It’s the best idea so far. Remember, when you storm off, don’t go into any alleys or closed end streets. Stay on the main drag.”
She chuckled. “We don’t have much of anything but that in town.” She thought of the old oyster processing buildings on the outskirts of town. They’d made sure to make the ‘fight’ in the more secure area, but still, there were a few alleys there, including the one she routinely used to travel between her docked boat and the main boardwalk.
Reed’s voice came through the small walkie talkie he’d loaned Ephraim. “I’m breaking off here. Gonna park in the bank’s lot and head to the center.”
“Roger. Going to the center of Avenue I.” Ephraim responded and headed for the café they’d agreed on. He went over the planswith Sophie for what seemed like the dozenth time. “We argue, you head down the street at the corner, and I start to follow then act like I’m disgusted and head the other way.”
“You then double back and get behind Wood, who we hope has started trailing us.” She said and looked for the dark blue car they’d seen before. It wasn’t anywhere behind them. “What if he doesn’t follow us?”
“He will.” Ephraim said and made a turn toward town.
They made a few unnecessary turns in hope that Wood picked them up and followed them. Sophie saw a couple of cars that held on to them for a couple of miles then turned off and sighed. “I don’t think he’s caught the bait.”
“We’ll still go through with the setup, just in case. You up for it?”
She smiled, a little wobbly maybe, but still a smile. “I’ll give it my best.”
He found a place on the street to park, making sure he had plenty of room to pull out in a hurry. Then they got out of the car and walked a couple of inches apart, as it they weren’t on the best of terms. When they got to the corner, Sophie surprised him by wheeling around and, putting her hands on her hips, almost shouted. “You never trusted me!”
He recovered quickly and went into the affronted boyfriend mode. As they argued, he realized she was using him as a sounding board. It was as if she was talking to the man she’d loved and been hurt by in the years past.
“Why’d you not tell me? I might have helped?”
“Because it was my problem to solve!” He shouted and she stepped away, her eyes suddenly large. Was he getting into this too much?
“Well, you go ahead. I’m done!” she turned and headed down the street, as they’d planned. He yelled after her and took a few steps then waved his hand in apparent dismissal and startedwalking back the other way. He was a couple steps away from the car when he turned and went into a coffee shop. The walkie talkie squawked and he took it from his pocket.
“Yeah.”
“Don’t see anybody yet.”
“I’m in the coffee shop, going out now.” He exited the shop and looked around. No one familiar was on the street, just a couple of teenagers horsing around and a woman with a baby in a stroller. Huh. Where was Wood?
He headed down a side street, intending to get in front of Sophie and insure she was safe. When he rounded the corner that would bring him back out to the street connecting him with I, he felt a rush of air, a sudden pain in his head and then nothing.
Sophie, out of breath from rushing down the street, slowed. She’d expected all of this to play out quickly and she’d walked two blocks already. What was her next step? Keep walking? Turn around? They hadn’t discussed that in their plan.
“Keep walking.” The cigarette scented voice came from behind her and she felt a hard point dig into the bandaged area on her side.
She closed her eyes and started praying Ephraim hadn’t been killed. She walked with Wood, her eyes on the dark gray car parked at the end of the block.
“Did you see Ephraim?” she asked and he laughed. “Yeah, I saw him, but he didn’t see me.”
“Is he dead?”
“No, not yet. My boss wants to see it happen. If not, he’d have been dead a week ago, before you found him.”
It all made sense now, the focus on her, the fact that he hadn’t tried to injure Ephraim when she was attacked.
“Who hired you?” She asked and he laughed again, then coughed wetly in her ear.
“No, no. I ain’t sharing that. Now, when we come to the car, you get in the front, nice and quiet.”
She followed his directions, all the while praying that Ephraim and Reed would find her.
Ephraim cameto with a start and a fierce headache.
“Collins, wake up.”
