“We are married,” he said back, the gentle voice gone. “I don’t give a shit what some court papers say. We were married in front of God, and that means we’re always married.”
“I don’t want to get into that,” Katie snarled back. “It makes no difference right now. We can argue, or we can talk and see if we can make this work out for both our benefits, and maybe remember why we got together in the first place. The alternative sucks for both of us. Your call.”
Another pause. “All right. Where?”
She smiled. “You know where Burton Island is?”
He exploded again. “I don’t know where anything is in this fuckin’ shithole state!”
“Now Brendan, calm down,” she chastised him in a pleasant voice, further taunting him. “I wouldn’t want you to have a heart attack.” Once he quieted, she told him how to get there, and where to wait on the island. “I’ll see you at three o’clock.”
“Three in tha morning? Why so late?”
“I need time to get there, dear. I didn’t pick a place right around the corner. And neither of us want to attract attention.”
“OK, sure. But what about your boyfriend?”
“Carson?” She smiled. She wanted to further bait Brendan, but there was no reason she couldn’t give Carson a hard time. “He’s a grunt, some blockhead sailor-boy who’s too dumb to know his ass from his elbow.” Carson giggled and stared at his elbow for a second with the most confused face he could muster, and Katie hoped she wouldn’t break out laughing at his expression.
“Yeah? Then why’d ya fuck him?”
“Hey, a guy can be stupider than a bag of rags and still be a good lay,” she told him, knowing that would piss him off all the more. “But he bailed. Said he couldn’t get mixed up in this kind of thing because he couldn’t risk his pension, something like that. I don’t know, he probably can’t do anything more than work as a bagger at the Food King, so he needs that money. Anyway, I’ll be coming alone, and I’m trusting you to do the same.”
“OK, I’ll be alone,” he said. “I’ll see you at three. Anything else?”
“No, that covers it.” The line went dead.
“Good talking to you too,” Katie said to the phone. She pushed the rolling desk chair away from the desk and looked at Carson. “How’d I do?”
Instead of giving her a direct answer, Carson stood up. “This,” he said with mock-gravity, pointing to the middle of his arm, “is my elbow, and this is my ass.” He turned and pushed his butt out towards her. “And you can kiss it. Stupider than a bag of rags, huh?”
“Brendan’s always had this belief that the military is made up of people who barely graduated high school – if they were lucky. I thought if I kept him in that mindset about you, he won’t consider you a threat. I doubt he knows what you did to those two men yet.”
“It’s fine,” Carson said, “and probably a good idea. It’s the whole ‘walk softly and carry a big stick’ thing. Good call.”
“Thanks. So, we just wait here?”
“Well, I’ve got some brake lights to fix before we go.” He checked his watch before plopping down on the bed. “Yeah, we’ve got a few hours. We should probably get some rest – it’s never as smooth or easy as you expect.” He paused before lifting his head. “You know what I’m going to do, right?”
Her nostrils flared and the anger from having to listen to Brendan’s bullshit bubbled to the surface once again. Her determination surprised her, even after today’s events, but she wasn’t backing down. “Yeah, I know. And I told you – I don’t care as long as he never bothers me again.”
Carson looked at her for several seconds, as if trying to determine how much of her statement was bluster and how much was substance. Katie’s eyes remained fixed on his, accepting his implicit challenge. Finally, he looked away.
“OK, then.”
***
Carson sat in the passenger seat of the Chevy as Katie drove north on Route 1 towards the Indian River Inlet Bridge. It wasn’t a long drive – less than 10 miles – and Carson’s game face was already in full force. He was glad Katie knew enough to be quiet right now. Just like earlier that day in the cabin (which seemed like eons ago), he needed no distractions while he worried endlessly about tonight’s mission.
He didn’t trust Brendan at all when he agreed to meet Katie alone. Like most bullies, he came across as a coward who only seemed tough when he had the upper hand, and a hired goon or two would give him just that. Plus, he’d want to put on a display of his power, and what better way to do so than to have subordinates kidnap her once again while he watched smugly.
That wasn’t going to happen, not while he was on duty.
A couple hundred yards after crossing the bridge, Katie made a left to take Inlet Road, which was the primary access to several marinas on the north side of the river. Carson waited, noting the different landmarks one by one until the car passed the last marina before the bridge to Burton Island. Here, there were few lights and, more importantly, it put the driver’s side of the car in a position to hide Carson’s door from any prying eyes.
“Here,” he said to Katie. As discussed, she slowed to under 15 miles an hour, giving Carson the opportunity to open the door and bail out. He rolled expertly, just like he’d done during dozens of deployments, laying still in the sandy grass along the side of the road watching the taillights move away from him. Go.
He sprinted across the road back towards the marina in a crouch, doing his best to stay out of the glare of
