The Open Road

Chapter 21

Bob

Currently, I was certain of three things. My butt was suffering from internal bleeding due to the hardness of the construction bricks that were currently cushioning it, the hospital guards had alerted the authorities, that is, if they had recognized me and finally, Darren, my young ambitious brother, was coming after me. I audibly gulped, what had my life come to? How do you go from being one of the richest men in the country to riding on the back of a construction lorry? My situation seemed to be growing worse and so far, I had not accomplished anything.

At least you haven't been caught...yet.

My subconscious had a point. I was not in a cell awaiting transfer and I was not dead. I suppose those were things I should be grateful for. My mind conjured up the image of Jack and I stuck in that supply room with nowhere to go. We could have easily been caught then. What are the chances of us finding a way out of that place twice? And the construction vehicle just passing by as we were looking for an escape?

Perhaps my father had been wrong. Perhaps God did exist.

I threw a glance towards Marie who had already befriended our fellow comrades on the lorry. She was currently planning her vengeance on Jango. After Sue abruptly ended our conversation, I had relayed what she had told me to Jack and Marie. Both agreed that a spy was among us and that is when it had hit Marie. At first we thought that she had swallowed a fly (given her pained expression and how her mouth had widened in shock) but then she had let out a loud cuss, a very inappropriate cuss. Everyone went silent at the profanity, some grimaced, others smiled in amusement. Marie had proceeded to throw a tantrum before giving a whole speech about how ghetto people were like the Italian mob and how this meant that there was a strict code of silence. Then she started collecting ideas of how to punish Jango from her new friends. I stopped paying attention after one of the young men suggested the "frying of balls". As it turns out, there are a lot of eerie ways a man's genitalia can be destroyed.

I had tossed Sue's burner phone off the vehicle after our short conversation. I had watched it fall to the ground and c***k open, it's battery sticking out like a broken bone. I had already created a rather strong bond with it and had even surprisingly grown fond of it's piercing ringtones and startling vibrations.

"Don't worry, I will get you another one." Jack reassured me, patting my back in attempt of giving me some sort of comfort with the parting away of the only connection to Sue that I had.

"Shouldn't you guys dispose yours too?" I inquired.

If Darren was coming after me, he would use them to find me. I was not sure about Jack though. If Jango was indeed the traitor, then there was no way he knew about Jack. What if Darren had hired someone to tail me all along? How sure was I that Jack was on my side? I quickly glanced at Jack who was currently toying with his own phone, his face etched with worry. If he was the traitor, then he was one hell of an actor.

I averted my gaze from Jack just in time to catch Marie wrapping up her conversation with her new pals. She slowly stood up and used the bricks to navigate herself towards us.

"Move Lightskin..."

Jack's lips quirked upwards, a smirk replacing his deep frown.

"You can sit on my lap..."

Marie threw a glare towards Jack who responded by lifting his arms in surrender. He then proceeded to scoot further from us creating a space for Marie.

"It must be easy being a woman huh?"

"Try pushing a baby out of your v****a and then we will have this conversation again..."

A few of the men chuckled.

"Hey Bob, is it me or does every woman in this country use the birth and the menstrual card to win arguments?"

More men chuckled. I bit back a laugh.

"We wouldn't have to if your species actually listened to us...Hey Bob, do you remember that time when Adam gave birth to humanity? Oh wait, that was Eve..."

This time everyone laughed, including Jack.

"You are something Marie..."

I angled my head to examine Marie. She seemed flustered. Almost as if she was pleased with the comment.

"So Bob, what were you saying about our phones?"

"I think Darren might use you guys to find me...But if Jango is the traitor-"

"Jango is the traitor. Trust me on that one. As for the phone sich, I change my lines after every two days. Too many people are after me."

Both Jack and I started at her, astonished by the life she led. It dawned to me that I had it better. Sure I had been jailed five years for a crime I did not commit. There was also the tiny issue of me orchestrating an escape plan during my sixth year because my fiancee was currently engaged to my younger brother. Basically, my life was s**t but still, Marie had it worse. She always seemed to be running from something or was it someone? According to Sue, Marie had made certain deals that had placed a target on her back. Everyone who was anyone had been conned by her and due to this she had stopped scheming for the big guns and reduced her con operations to the street level. Sue had told me stories about how Marie single handedly raised her and her other four siblings when their father abandoned them and their mother died from substance a***e.

Marie had saved them and now, she was saving me.

"Is it weird that everything that you say turns me on? Even that sad part about how you don't have a life?"

A few of us chuckled. It was like watching a sitcom on TV on a lazy afternoon. Without the discomfort of jagged brick on your butt.

I watched Marie, curious as to how she was going to respond. Without warning she lurched forward and grabbed a handful of Jack's shirt. She then bashed her head into his face.

There was a collective gasp from everyone who had witnessed the act. After the shock had worn off, we all broke into laughter. Well, apart from Jack and Marie. Jack was busy nursing his currently bleeding nose. Marie was busy glaring at him.

"I'm warning you Lighstskin, I'm not your type."

She whispered it but we all heard it. The young men were giving Jack pitiful looks. After a while, silence draped our surroundings. One by one, the young men begun to leave the vehicle. Every time they lowered their bodies and dropped to the asphalt, they would wave and blow a kiss towards Marie.

"You made quite the impression on them..."

Marie turned towards me and smiled.

"Have you seen how I look? Of course I did!"

I averted my gaze towards Jack who was still tending to his nose. He had placed a handkerchief on he wound. I had never met a man who carried around a handkerchief.

"Hey Marie...I was wondering, after all this is over, can I take you out on a date?"

I let out a low whistle. Jack was no quitter. Marie muttered some profanities under her breath and ignored it altogether.

Well that is what you get if you go after Marie. Come to think of it, was Sue not the same when I had first met her? Tough and callous, never giving me the time of day. Thinking of Sue made me think of Darren and how now he knew that Sue and I had been in contact. Would he hurt her? I had seen the bruise on her face, what was to stop him from hitting her?

Why was Sue not running?

Closing my eyes, I tried to calm down, convincing myself there was nothing I could do to help her. Images of her on the floor trembling in fear of Darren's abusive nature formed in my head. I could even hear Kim crying, pleading for Darren to stop.

Stop hurting mummy...stop hurting mummy...

"Bob! Bob! Jump now!"

My train of thoughts vanished. Someone was vigorously shaking my shoulder. I glanced upwards at a frantic Jack.

"We have to get off the lorry...This is a routine check point..."

Jumping off a moving vehicle full of bricks. What could possibly go wrong?