Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Later in the day, Maliki showed up with groceries. Along with the food and other necessities, he had brought a phone for Kennedy. Handing over the phone, she took it, sat down at the kitchen table, and quickly set it phone up, then she waited for her saved files to load.
To her amazement, Kennedy found a video from that night.
Her finger must have hit record when she was using the phone to see what was happening.
It wasn’t the best angle. They could see all the men in the room except Mr. Angelini, but his voice could be heard.
They could see his hand holding the gun, but there wasn’t an angle that allowed you to see his face.
They heard George state that a man named Jonny Bianchi in Minnesota had stolen the money.
Cree and Maliki found the comment about George getting caught gambling interesting. That could explain why the two men were on the reservation.
“The Seven Clans Casino is on Red Lake, and a lot of high rollers come in for the high-stake games,” Maliki reminded Cree.
Cree was already thinking of all the ways they could use the information they’d gained from the video. “Do you think this Bianchi character could be a local at the casino?”
“Let me make a call to the casino. I know a couple of the casino’s VIP hosts.” Maliki stepped outside, leaving Cree and Kennedy waiting and wondering what their next move would be.
Kennedy moved away from the table, busying herself with putting away the groceries.
Her stomach was in knots. She had been serious two nights before when she told Cree and his cousin that she was done.
That hadn’t changed for her. She needed Cree to get her across the border as she felt that was her only chance at getting away from the situation.
Maliki came back inside with information that eased some of the butterflies in her stomach. “Seems Johnny Bianchi is a frequent flyer at the casino and hotel. He’s also rumoured to have mob ties.”
Cree felt it was just a coincidence they ended up at Red Lake, but he still wanted to kill the two men. The reservation had plenty of area to get rid of a couple bodies. “I still think we need to do away with the two men hunting Kennedy.”
“It would be better if you got off the reservation. You could take advantage of the opportunity. While those two are busy looking for this Bianchi fella, you and Kennedy can take off,” Maliki suggested.
The last thing he wanted to do was kill two men and hide their bodies.
It wasn’t that he wouldn’t do it, he just didn’t want to have to do it.
Cree heard his cousin loud and clear. He didn’t want anything to come back on him. This wasn’t Maliki’s problem, it was theirs. “We would still need to make sure Dino and Chuckie are distracted. We need to make sure we have a clean getaway.”
Maliki nodded toward the girl. “Kennedy gave us the best suggestion.”
“Me?”
“Yes. The idea of causing a scene so they can be detained by the tribal police.” When Cree stared at him, Maliki chuckled. “You were thinking it. She just said it.”
Cree nodded. He could definitely cause a scene with the two men. When he suggested it, Maliki told him no. “If you get into an argument with Dino and his buddy Chuckie, they’ll know what you look like.”
“I don’t follow.”
“They’ll be gunning for you. If they see you riding out with a female, they might put two and two together.”
“I don’t think they’re that smart.”
“Do you want to chance it?”
No.”
“I can get an off-duty cop to create the distraction if need be. That’ll give us reason to detain them and time for you two to slip off the reservation.”
Maliki pulled out a paper map and laid it on the kitchen table.
He helped Cree plan out a route that would get them to Montreal in four days.
“With the weather we’ve been experiencing, you can’t jump across the border from here.
There’s another storm coming bringing icy conditions and freezing winds.
You can, however, make the run from Red Lake to Bad River Reservation. ”
Cree looked at the map. Bad River was roughly six hours away. “That doesn’t get us into Canada, Maliki.”
“Hear me out.”
“I’m listening.”
“So am I.” Kennedy walked over from the kitchen to see what they were looking at.
Maliki barely glanced up at her as he showed Cree what route he figured out. “If you run to Bad River, that’s six hours.”
“I can do six hours easy,” Kennedy cut in as she sat down at the table.
“From Bad River, you head to Sault Ste. Marie.”
Kennedy followed Maliki’s finger as it ran along the fine lines of the map. She was fascinated by it. Never being one to travel, she had no need to use any form of map, except the GPS on her phone to find places in her local area.
“From there, you head to Deep River and into Montreal.” Looking up at Cree, Maliki watched his cousin follow the course on the map. “Four days, Cree, and you have Kennedy back in Montreal.”
“Where would we cross the border?” Kennedy asked, still staring at the map.
“Here.” Maliki put his finger on the map. “Sault St. Marie.”
“How many hours a day?” she asked, waiting for Cree to say something.
“All but the last day, six hours without stopping.”
“And the last day?”
“Four hours,” Cree finally spoke.
“So, we add an hour for fuel, food, and the bathroom.”
“Once we make Sault Ste. Marie, we’ll be in Canada and we won’t have to push so hard.
It’ll just be the first two days.” Cree liked the route.
Pulling up each area on a weather app, he looked at the daily forecast and road conditions, scribbling down the high and low for each day.
He made notes about wind conditions, precipitation, and chance of snow and ice.
“I don’t like the forecast. Even during the sunny days, it’s freezing temps. We can’t run in that for four straight days.”
“Could you do it for two days, just to get across the border?” Maliki knew Cree could make the run without any issue. His cousin was worried about his woman. Maliki couldn’t blame Cree, because if it was him, he would be concerned for his woman in this situation.
Cree looked from Maliki to the map, back to the notes he’d made, until he finally locked eyes with Kennedy, who nodded. He knew she wouldn’t say no. He took her hand when she reached for his. “We’ll need better gear.”
“Give me sizes and I’ll get everything you both need. I hate to say it, but you, Kennedy,” Maliki levelled a hard look at her, “can’t leave the house until you guys are ready to go.”
“I can stay inside and out of sight. That’s not a problem for me.”
Cree again focused on the map and weather predications.
If the weather report was correct, they would leave Red Lake and head to Bad River Reservation in two days.
The high that day would be twenty-seven and clear.
They would have to deal with winds, but those would be minimal, and there was no snow in the forecast. Two hundred seventy-nine miles meant two gas stops.
“Kennedy, when we leave here and head to Red Lake, we won’t be able to stop for the night until we get to our destination.”
“I can make it. I made it from Hill City all the way here in a day. Well, a hundred miles out, but still, I did that. Don’t count me out, Cree.”
“I’m not. I’m making sure you know the commitment we’re both making by leaving the safety of Red Lake.”
“When do we leave?”
“In two days. So, you can’t even take a step outside until we leave.”
“That’s not a problem.” The last thing she wanted to do was get back on the bike in freezing temperatures, but it was better than staying on the reservation with Dino and Chuckie nosing around.
“Tell me again the entire trip.”
“Okay. We’ll head out from here and head to Bad River.
We’ll spend the night in Bad River, unless we decide to keep going farther.
From there, we’ll head here.” Cree pointed to Sault Ste.
Marie, in Ontario, Canada. “That leg of the trip will take us six hours. It’s three hundred thirty-five miles. We’ll have to make three gas stops.”
“What’s the temperature for the second day?”
“It looks like the high will be twenty-eight.”
Kennedy nodded. “And from there, where are we headed?”
“From Sault Ste. Marie, we’ll head to Deep River. This will be our longest day. It’s almost seven hours.”
“How many miles?” She needed the numbers to make sense of what he was asking her to do.
“Three hundred sixty-four miles. Three gas stops.” Glancing down, he found the temperature for that day.
“It’ll be twenty-six degrees that day.” Cree glanced up at Kennedy before continuing.
“The last day, we’ll run from Deep River to Old Town in Montreal.
Four hours. That will be our shortest day. ”
Cree felt it was a solid plan. They might not have better weather than what was predicted. They were eight days out from her birthday, and he’d promised Kennedy he’d have her in Montreal to spend it with her brother. He hoped he wouldn’t have to break that promise, and now, it seemed he might not.
Kennedy rapped her knuckles on the table, telling herself she could handle four days on the back of the bike.
Even if it killed her, she’d suck it up and deal with whatever Cree needed her to do.
“Maliki, my boots are good, but I could use warmer socks, gloves, and if I could get some thermal underwear, that would be perfect.”
Cree smiled at Kennedy trying to pull off the image of a hardened rider. He was sure she’d manage the four days no matter what the weather threw at them. Pushing off from the table, he kissed her then left with Maliki to grab the things they would need for the trip.