The Memory Agent & Fool Me Once Read Free Page B

mouthpiece.
    She watches Brent smile on the computer monitor as she hears him
respond.   “What are we
celebrating?”
    “Eleven days,
six hours and thirty three minutes on stakeout.” Claire reveals.
    In the woods
near the cabin Duke saws a felled tree, with a handsaw, his muscles and tats
rippling in his sleeveless shirt.
    Riker,
carrying a box, joins Duke.
    “When do we roll?”   Duke
asks with anxious energy.
    “Very soon, baby brother.   Here, I got something for ya .”   Riker opens the box.   Inside are two wood handled revolvers,
both the same make and model.   “One
for me, one for you.”
    Duke is skeptical.   “What do
we need guns for?”
    “Intimidation.”   Riker hands
a revolver to Duke .   “Once we're done intimidating our way to a sparkly pay day, it's south we go.   Not too far from Mazatlan there's this biker bar right near the
beach.   A bunch of our old riding
buddies hang there.   Mexie owns it, remember him?”
    “Sure do.” Duke smiles, remembering.
    “He's gonna put us up.   A new life for both of us.”   Riker encourages.
    The jeep pulls up near the cabin.   Haley gets out and calls down to Riker.   “The Moose will be goose tomorrow.”
    Riker slaps Duke on the back.   “Tomorrow we roll, baby brother. Tomorrow we roll.”
    At the end of the day, Victoria and Brent lock up the jewelry store
while Claire exits the van.   Claire
peeks around the van watching them head home for the night.
    Claire turns her attention to the flower shop Blossoms, it’s still
open.   She goes in.   The wide variety of
flowers for sale light up the store with color and fragrance.  
    The shop owner assembles a flower arrangement while Claire looks
around.   She stops at a table
featuring perfumes for sale.   She
picks one up, a perfume that's name is displayed in Japanese characters, and
smells it.
    “Hmmm.   Such
a lovely smell.   Jasmine.”   Claire coos.
    “That's Forbidden.” The shop owner tells Claire.
    Claire is shocked.   “I'm not
aloud to sniff the merchandise?”
    The shop owner smiles.   “Forbidden is the name of the perfume.”
    “Forbidden.   Sounds
covert.”   Claire brings the bottle
to the check-out counter.   “I’ll take it.”
    “That'll be ninety two dollars.”
    Claire's eyes widen. “Seriously?”
    The shop owner glares a "yes, seriously" at Claire.   Claire hands her a credit card.   “I'm sure my Aunt Rita will be amused
that I spent ninety two dollars while stopping to relish the beauty and
fragrance of flowers."

 
    *****

 
    The next day Brent looks out the front window of the jewelry store; the
unsettled, dark grey sky portends a sense of foreboding.
    “Gloomy out.”   Brent says to
Victoria.
    “I'm going to go have a cigarette.”   She tells him.   Victoria heads into the back room and out the back door into the
alleyway behind the store.
    Dumpsters line the back alley.   It’s a cramped and claustrophobic space made more so by the tall
buildings on both sides.   A couple
of different alley veins, like the alleyways in Italy or Boston, wind into each
other.
    Victoria lights up a cigarette as she notices a motorcycle parked not
too far away.   Duke's
motorcycle.
    As she puffs, a gun cocks next to the side of her head.   She drops the cigarette and is about to
scream when Riker puts his hand over her mouth.   He holsters his gun, takes his smart-phone and shows it to
Victoria.   On his phone she sees a
photo of a young boy.
    “Is this your son?”   Riker
asks.
    Victoria nods her head yes.   Riker puts the phone in his pocket.   He grabs a small black velvet bag from another pocket and
hands it to Victoria.   “Fill this
up with as much jewelry as you can and bring it back to me.   If you don't do as I say and if you
alert that guard inside, your kid is dead.   He's not only dead , he will be tortured first .   Got it?”
    As tears well in her eyes Victoria nods again.   She hurries inside.
    Brent still