Jeff,
finds himself in Atlanta Magic
Town
Chapter 27 of Magic Town ...
Monday 9:38 PM: A Scary Night Out
Jeff decides
he wants to be seen in public with Nancy Nancy
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Author contact: Chris Lamela,
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Magic Town, Chapter 27
Monday
9:38 PM: A Scary Night Out
A half-hour later they were in one of those TGI Friday’s knockoff places
drinking beers together at the bar with plates of food just being served to
them by the bartender. They chatted, teasing each other. The bartender was an
older woman who kept looking over at them. Jeff thought for sure, here goes the congressman thing again.
She leaned over to a man sitting across the bar from Jeff who had
occasionally looked over at Jeff, glanced over her shoulder at him. Yes, definitely that congressman thing.
A moment later Jeff looked up. The bartender was standing in front of
them. “Excuse me,” with a motherly expression, “how long have you two been
married?”
Jeff looked to Nancy
The barmaid looked over Jeff’s shoulder, leaning forward as though
peering at something behind Jeff and Nancy. Jeff turned to look behind him but
didn’t see anything.
“There’s a man who keeps peeking out from behind that wall, like he’s
looking over here.” Both Jeff and Nancy turned around but didn’t see anyone,
turning back again to the barmaid.
“There he is again!” she pointed over Jeff’s shoulder with a concerned
frown. They turned around again, saw nothing.
“Hold on, let me go have a look,” Jeff stood up.
“I’m sure it’s nothing, I’ll be right back.” Jeff stood, leaned giving Nancy Nancy
Jeff came around the corner, he heard a familiar voice, “Yo, Jeff, here
man.”
Jeff walked toward the voice, peering into the dark corner the room
lights had missed.
“Jesus, Pick! What are you doing here?”
Pick reached out, tugged at Jeff’s arm, pulling him into the dark
corner.
“What are you doing here, how did you find me?”
“Shhhhh, quiet man. I got a call the minute you walked in here. This
city has eyes, man.” Pick looked around the corner, pulling back.
“What is it, what are you doing here?”
“I heard about what happened at the club today, bad scene man. Everyone
blames you and word is that there’s a hit out on you. You shouldn’t be here. You
should have gone home. There’s going to be trouble. You need to come with me.”
“I can’t come with you, I’m here with Nan– –
I mean Shonna.”
“Dude, I know about Nancy
“Look, I can’t do anything without her.” Jeff pulled back from Pick, looked
around the corner. There was no sign of her, the barmaid leaned over cleaning
glasses, the place where they sat cleared away.
“What the hell? Where did she go?” Jeff started to walk toward the bar, Pick
pulled him back hard. Jeff spun around, “What’s going on? Where did she go?”
“To the Lady’s Room, I dunno. All I can tell you is that we need to get
you the hell out of here. Come on.” Pick pulled at Jeff’s arm as he turned to
go down the hallway toward the kitchen. As they reached the double swinging
doors a waiter pushed through holding a large tray of food, tripping on Pick’s
feet he fumbled forward, the tray bobbling around, he deftly shifted his hands,
in a half-second had the tray balanced on his other hand, he turned to scowl at
the two men. “Sorry man,” Pick murmured as they continued pushing though the
swinging doors.
The kitchen was a long brightly-lit room with a stainless steel table in
the middle, stoves on each side with men busily attending pots, flames flaring
up over pans twirling flipping in skilled hands. They pushed themselves through
with hardly a notice from the room of focused intensity until they were on the
other side. Pick pushed through another door as they emerged into the cool dark
air with a single stark lamp on the side of the building.
“Okay, man, this way,” Pick panted.
“Stop. Pick.” Pick stopped, turned
toward Jeff in the stark light. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me
what’s going on.”
Pick paused looking intently into Jeff’s face as though grasping for
words. “Oh, what the hell. Okay. You know about today right? At the club?”
“I should know, I was there.”
“Well then, you know that they mayor made it out of there, right?”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard.”
“Well, he figured out that you snuck out of the club like you did, so
you must be the one who set the whole thing up. Is that right?”
“I guess. I mean it was a whole bunch of us.”
“But it was your idea, right?”
“How could anyone know that?”
“Like I said, this town has eyes. It has ears, too. The point is that
the mayor has offered a bunch of money to anyone who makes sure you never leave
town. That’s why I said you shoulda gone home.”
“So you’re saying that there’s someone who is trying to kill me tonight?”
“No, someone’s going to try to kill you right now!”
“You mean they are in the restaurant?”
“You probably saw him, he was across the bar from you.”
“Yeah, I guess, a thin man with graying hair. Him?”
“Yes, he’s a very dangerous man. Does special projects for the mayor.
Outside of Antonio’s thing, kind of a freelance.”
“Special projects. You mean kills people.”
“Yeah, something like that. Look, we gotta go.”
“I need to go back in to find Nancy
“No, you can’t. You have to follow me,” Pick insisted turning to push
across the small fenced area toward the gate.
“Pick wait!” Pick turned around again. “Look, I don’t know. I don’t
really know you. How do I know I’m safe with you?”
“Oh, man, don’t tell me you don’t trust me!”
“Well…” Jeff paused looking for words. “I mean, you probably told people
about my little store slut. I mean how else would they have known?”
“I might have said something to Perkins or somebody. Hell, I thought it
was funny, we was getting a good laugh out of it.”
“And now you’re telling me to follow you? That there’s some guy in there
who wants to kill me?”
Pick reached to push open the gate. “Yes, you have nobody else right now
who wants to help you, I’m all you got. Now come on! And be quiet!”
Jeff stepped forward away from the light through the gate following
Pick. He stopped, peering over his shoulder. He could smell the Pomade in
Pick’s hair, the silver hat band on Pick’s hat the only visible element on the
dark man in this light.
Pick crouched down, Jeff following his queue. “Over there, look.” Across
the parking lot Jeff could see a man in a black Cadillac in the darkness, his
silhouette showing in the faint light shining on the fence behind the car. Just
then the man who had been sitting across the bar from Jeff approached the car,
leaning over, talking to the driver. They couldn’t hear any words. Jeff watched
as the man standing motioned over to the restaurant, turned, walking back to
the building.
“Oh, Jesus,” Jeff whispered, “they’re waiting for me! Where the hell is Nancy
Suddenly there was a sweep of lights across the parking lot as a car
turned into the lot from the street. Jeff looked to see it was a police car
pulling very slowly, very deliberately into the parking lot. The police car
crawled along a row of cars, turning to come back the next isle.
Jeff peered into the darkness as the police car came near the building. Nancy
Pick hissed, “Man, it’s in action, leave it be!”
“But it’s Nan– –”
“I know it’s her, but she’s doing her thing! Just sit and watch! And
don’t do that again!”
They watched as Nancy
Jeff felt his heart sink. What the hell was going on? Why did she leave
like that? What was he supposed to do now?
They waited in the darkness.
Silent.
A couple came out of the restaurant, making it toward their car, a
minute later they were gone, soon followed by a man who definitely looked like
he had at least one too many. He stood near the door, pulling out a cigarette,
fumbling with his lighter until it was lit. Soon a cab pulled into the parking
lot, a minute later his charge was loaded, a few seconds later gone.
Pick kept looking toward the street, as though intently looking for
something.
Watching.
Some kind of signal?
Finally Pick turned to Jeff, “Okay, show time.”
“Show time?” Jeff whispered back.
“Do you trust Nancy
“Yeah.”
“I mean, do you think that she’s on top of this?”
“I don’t know. It didn’t…” Jeff’s voice trailed off as he realized he
didn’t know what to think.
“Come on. Stay with me.” He gave a quick tap on Jeff’s shoulder. “Come
on.”
“I don’t know about this, that guy’s gonna wanna kill me, are you sure?”
“Yes! Now come on!”
They walked around the building but away from it toward the center of
the parking lot.
Jeff glanced over his shoulder, saw the man from the bar coming out of
the restaurant, walking toward them. He could feel his heart racing as he
watched the man closing in on them, reaching into his coat pocket.
Suddenly Pick turned to Jeff, “I said you are a pussy!” as he shoved
Jeff.
“Man, what are you doing?”
“And if you ever say that to me again, I’ll hit you again!”
Jeff stood shocked at this as Pick walked up to Jeff with a swing to
Jeff’s stomach. Jeff doubled over from reflex when he realized that Pick had
pulled his punch.
“What’s the matter, you’re not man enough to fight?” Pick yelled.
Jeff glanced over his shoulder, saw the man in the graying hair slow his
pace, as though he was hesitant. Jeff stood up, “Oh, is that the best you can
do you stupid bastard!” He took a swing at Pick who ducked, swinging to hit
Jeff on the shoulder, again his punch pulled.
“I’LL SHOW YOU!” Jeff screamed as he reared his right arm landing a
punch onto Pick’s chest a little harder than he meant.
Two men came out of the restaurant, seeing the commotion one ran back
into the restaurant, “Fight! Fight!”
The gray haired man was stepping back as people streamed out of the
building, Jeff and Pick continuing their faux battle, definitely getting into
it, each showing more skill at the theatrics with every fake swing they hurled.
Suddenly a police car came roaring into the parking lot, the Cadillac’s
tail lights illuminated as though the brake had been pressed, the car coming to
life as it jerked forward turning into the path of the police car CRASH! the police car crunched into the
Cadillac’s driver door pushing the car into two cars parked along side where
the Cadillac had pulled out from.
Jeff and Pick stopped, looked at the carnage that had just occurred as
three more police cars roared into the parking lot, spreading around the
parking lot away from the crash, the restaurant patrons scattering all running
back toward the building.
Jeff looked over to see the man in the gray hair pulling back into the
shadows, suddenly he reversed direction, walking back again toward the parking
lot. Jeff craned to look. Peered across the parking lot at the man walking,
slowly raising his hands at his sides. Jeff smiled as the figure came into the
light because sure enough, pushing the man from behind was a familiar form.
One of the police cars drove up to them, two policemen jumping out of
the car. After a short exchange of words, one stood in front of the man as the
other hand-cuffed him, turning him, pushing him face down onto the hood of the
car. The cop reached around the man, rifled through his coat, pulled out a
pistol laying it on the hood of the car, pulling out a second pistol, laying it
next to the first one. Even at this distance Jeff could see the silencers on
the guns.
Jeff could clearly hear the cop
reading the man his rights, something about attempted murder and laying in wait
followed by leading him around the car, pushing him head-first into the back
seat.
Pick and Jeff had stood twenty feet away watching all this commotion,
both craning to look across the parking lot as an ambulance pulled up. Two
officers pulled a man with blood streaming from a large gash in his cheek from
the wrecked car. The man stood in a daze as an officer stood in front of him
talking, the other officer stepping around the man putting on handcuffs.
“Looks like those two are going to spend the night away from their
families, huh?” Pick laughed.
Jeff looked over to see Nancy
“Well, mister Pick, you did a good job. You took the queues very nicely.
This was very tidy. I thank you. You will receive a reward for this, I’ll make
sure you get credit for the capture on this guy. We have been looking for our
man there,” as she motioned to the car with the gray-haired man sitting in the
back seat, “for a six years.”
Finally Jeff found his voice as he cleared his throat. “Who was he?”
“They called him the Janitor.”
“The janitor?”
Pick interrupted, “Yeah, he is a baaaaaad dude! How many do you think
he’s got Nancy
She shook her head, “No way to know, but he was the mayor’s go-to guy.
We guess maybe a dozen, but no way to know. We will probably never know.” The
three of them stood in the darkness as the police car holding the gray-haired
man pulled away. Jeff peered across the parking lot to see a paramedic putting
a bandage on the other man’s face.
“So what’s going to happen to these guys?”
They all turned to watch the ambulance
backing out of the parking lot swerving to let a tow truck come into the lot.
Slowly the restaurant patrons filtered inside as the police cars pulled away
until there was only the tow truck driver leaning underneath the car to hook it
up.
“Well, Pick, thanks again,” Nancy
“Hey man, at least nobody shot at you, right?”
“Yeah, I sure had my share of that today. Hey, man, thanks. Really. You
probably saved my life.”
Pick gave his huge grin, “No my friend, I definitely saved your life!”
All three gave a loud laugh that sustained for many seconds as they felt
relief pouring into their laughter.
“Okay, guys, I’m outta here.” Pick turned, in a second he was out of
sight.
“Come on, let’s get you back to the hotel.”
They walked back around the restaurant, Jeff could see Nancy
The car was silent driving through the darkness on the short drive back
to the Hilton. When they arrived they got out of the car speechless, into the
lobby without a word, up the elevator in silence, arriving at the room in
perfect quiet.
They walked into the room. Jeff continued into the bedroom, flopping on
his back onto the bed.
“How you doing?” she whispered.
Jeff sat in silence looking up at the ceiling, no energy to reply.
“Quite a day, huh? I thought we were done with all that. Thank god for
Pick.”
He turned his head toward her. “So you guys had this, like, all worked
out? You had this all orchestrated?”
She gave a small laugh. “You’d think so with how it worked out, huh. But
no. I had no idea Pick was there. When you left the bar to go talk to him I
suddenly recognized the guy across from us. He was one of the men coming out of
the house on Saturday that we didn’t recognize. One of our team ID’d him from
the photos we took.”
“So what did you do?”
She paused looking into Jeff’s eyes, frowned. “I knew there would be
only one reason why Pick would be there, that his being there was no social
call. When I recognized the Janitor I put one-and-one together, figured out
what the heck was going on.”
“So your going outside, leaving with the cop?”
“It was to make it look like I was leaving. And it worked. At least I
think it did. If the Janitor knew who I was he wouldn’t have made his move. So
I had to make it look like I was gone.”
“How did you know that Pick would take me out back?”
“I’ve known Pick for a while, I just knew.”
“And what about him taking me to the center of the parking lot, like a
big sitting duck?”
“I was over under some trees. I was signaling him what to do. I needed
him to take you into the open. It was the only chance that we could cuff this
guy in the act.”
“And what about the fake fight scene?”
She laughed out loud. “That was pure Pick. God that guy is smart. He saw
me coming around, but the Janitor came out sooner than I planned so he was
trying to buy time, caused a distraction so the Janitor would be watching you
and not see me sneaking around behind him. If you two had just been standing
there the Janitor would have walked right up to you and probably killed you
both.”
Jeff laughed. “So other than you signaling him to go to the center of
the parking lot everything else was just made up?”
Jeff sat up, “Man, I have got to pee. Give me a second.” He sat up,
walking to the bathroom.
“Leave the door open!” Nancy
When Jeff came back out Nancy
“One of us has too many clothes on,” she chided.
Jeff felt a sudden euphoric sense of abandon as he pulled at his
clothes, jumped onto the bed straddling Nancy
They lay facing each other as his eyelids drooped quickly followed by
the sounds of his regular breathing.
In an instant he was asleep.
She lay watching his sleeping face in the soft light of the bedside
lamp, wondering at the man that so haplessly fell into her life.
Jeff awoke to the door opening as Nancy
She leaned over to her right, elbows bent holding two hot cups, setting
them down on the dresser, brought him his coffee, set the plate of pastries on
the bed sitting down next to him. They sipped, nibbling in silence.
“You’re going home today.” He looked at her without a reply. “I want you
to know that’s okay.” She took a sip of coffee. “That’s where you belong.
Actually you belong anywhere that’s away from all that danger.”
“Look, I want you to––”
She reached over putting her fingers to his lips. “I want you to belong
here,” she said dreamily, “god I want you to belong here. Not here, Georgetown
“You just start, the rest works itself out,” he said thoughtfully.
“But don’t you understand? We are here right now in a little bubble. The
Jeff Nancy bubble. No groceries or
laundry or cats that need to be let out.” He nodded waiting see where this was
leading. “If you were here, or in DC, we would have to learn how to do all that
stuff together. And I would worry that we would get so busy doing all that
grocery and laundry and cat stuff that we would forget about each other. There wouldn’t
be all this great sex!”
“Yes. That happens. It just
happens. Let me tell you, when you throw a couple kids into the mix the sex
becomes a rare treat sometimes. But you’re right, things do change. It’s not
really as bad as it sounds, your needs change as the relationship changes. As…”
he paused to find the right word, “as the relationship matures, I guess. If we
loved each other, if we really cared about each other that would all be okay.
It would just happen.”
She sipped, sipped again. “No, it wouldn’t be okay. Not after this.” She
sipped once more, “This has all really given me hope, though. You have no idea
what it did to hear those words from you.” She smiled, “Besides, you owed them
to me.”
“Owed them?”
“Yes, you were supposed to deliver nine words at the meeting yesterday,
but I counted, you only said six.” He smiled at her lovingly knowing where this
was going. “There were three words missing!”
“And ‘I love you’ were the missing words? Was I supposed to say,
‘Gentlemen and ladies, this enterprise is disbanded, oh and I love you?”
She laughed hitting him on the arm, “Yeah, that would have really set a
different tone, huh? The point is that now your contract is fulfilled! You said
nine words!”
“I don’t care about the other words, there are only three that matter to
us!”
She laughed, “Yep, you got that right!” reaching over taking his cup,
sweeping the dish of pastries onto the floor swirling her arms around her
slipping from of her clothes, she rolled over on top of him.
She pulled up with him inside of her, “Please say the words again!”
He reached up to kiss her as her breasts lay against his chest
whispering low and breathy.
“I love you.”
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