She nodded frantically. “Yes, I’m sure. Small bills please.”
The teller clicked on her keyboard, and Callie took the opportunity to summon the tether. She held her breath and focused on the teller’s face, jealousy bloomed as she desperately wanted to be her. She exhaled quietly in defeat. The tether refused to surface.
I don’t understand why now of all times the tether won’t work! It always came when I was desperate to switch, and now, nothing.
The teller placed the small stack of bills and change on the desk between them. “Would you like an envelope?” Callie stared at the teller.
Is she stupid? Why would I need an envelope for so little money?
Callie shook her head and snatched the money off the counter, stuffing it in her satchel. She rushed back outside without a backward glance.
She drove around the small downtown area slowly. Her eyes scanned the buildings she passed until she found the one she was looking for. The car clunked to a stop in the parking spot, and a small haze of steam escaped from the cracks of the hood.
The bell above the door dinged as Callie pushed hard against it, causing it to slam against the wall with a loud bang. The man behind the counter jumped from his seat, on high alert until his eyes rested on Callie.
His dirty white tank top had smears of oil and food particles. His jeans looked both too small for him and too large at the same time. His arms were covered in dark curly hair that extended all the way up and blended into his chest and back hair. The baseball cap he wore covered a completely bald head, and the emblem on it was the silhouette of a woman on her knees.
“Woah there, cowgirl! You break it, you buy it.” He squinted his eyes at her. His cheeks rolled around as he talked. As Callie approached she could see he had chewing tobacco in his mouth. A nearby Styrofoam cup was half filled with black liquid, and flecks of dip lined the inside of the cup up to the edge.
“Sorry it looked heavier than it is.” She made her way to the counter and casually glanced at the guns behind the glass barrier.I don’t know anything about guns. I need to appear likeI know what I’m doing.There weren’t many options. Some of the guns looked like they would take both of her hands to fire.
Another one had a revolving barrel. It looked pretty straight forward to load and shoot. The wooden handle would easily fit against the palm of her hand, and the short barrel would provide her the ability to conceal it.
“I would like to buy that gun right there.” She added her fingerprint to the array of smudges on the glass.
“That one there is $200. Do you need ammo as well?” The man opened the sliding glass panel behind the counter and retrieved the small gun. He held it out to her, and she wrapped her hand around the handle. The weight caused her hand to drop slightly before she recovered, adjusting to the slight, yet heavy, weapon.
“Yes, please.” She kept all emotion from her voice, but she felt powerful holding the gun. It was a different kind of power than what money and position had provided her all these years.
“This is a 380, good for a girl your size. Should do the job to protect you.”
“Mm-hmm.” She gave the man a closed-mouth smile, closer to a line across her face, but she was trying to remain pleasant to not raise any suspicion. The last thing she needed was for the police to get involved.
“I only take cash for gun purchases.”
“Not a problem.” She answered too quickly, and the man responded with raised eyebrows.
“The gun with ammo is $250,” He replied and turned around to grab a box of ammo off the shelf from the wall behind him. Callie threw open the satchel to pull out the correct amount of money. She was careful to not pull too much out so that he didn’t see how much money she was carrying.
She placed the cash on the counter and picked up the gun.I’m going to need to be as close as possible if I want to succeedin killing Jenkins.She thought.That traitor!The ache in her stomach turned to a boiling rage as she felt the weight of the gun in her hand.This is all your fault! You pushed me to do this!She wanted to scream but smiled instead and maintained her composure, as always.I’m going to make you pay, Jenkins.
The man counted the cash and pushed a button on his register.
“Need a bag for this?”
“Nah.” Callie scooped up the box of ammo and stuffed both in her satchel.
“So where are you headed? Leaving town?” The man closed up the glass door and locked it back up with the small silver key and resumed his barstool perch. He grabbed the cup and spit out a black liquid. Callie’s stomach turned as she watched it ooze down the side of the cup and settle on the glass display case.
“Just passing through, heading out west. I have a family out there with a ranch and they want me to come home to work.” Callie lied; she didn’t want to give this man too many details.
The man nodded his head and smirked. “All right, good luck out there, Callie.”
“Thanks,” She mumbled as she turned to leave.
Inside her car, sweat trickled down her face as she calculated in her head the amount of cash she had left. It was $275. That wasn’t much, and she was going to need to figure out a plan to acquire more money—once she killed both Jenkins and the person in her body.
Ideally, she would be able to get Pamela to agree to the switch after taking out Jenkins. But a backup plan was needed.
