Chapter 5
“Have you seen these two men before?” Nick asked Jillian, handing her the printed photos.
She took the pages with trembling fingers and studied the images noticing how young the two men were and how casually they were dressed before looking back at Nick.
“Never,” she said. “Are these the two men you saw take Travis on the surveillance footage?”
“Yes. By the way they are dressed, we think they’re in their early twenties and are skateboarders,” he explained. “Have you ever taken Travis to the park and he’s been interested in watching that type of sport?”
“No.” She shook her head emphatically and handed the photos back to him. “We don’t even go to the park. He plays around the gated community or when he is at day camp.”
“I see. So, he wouldn’t know these two guys,” Nick said.
“Not at all,” she confirmed.
Nick thought for a moment. “If he was asleep on the taller one’s shoulder then I believe they must have given him something to knock him out.”
“You think they drugged him?”
“I do,” Nick affirmed.
Jillian chewed on her nail and stared at him for a long time before she finally spoke. “I can’t sit here knowing Travis is out there somewhere in the hands of those two or someone worse. I must get out of here and find him.”
“How do you propose doing that?” Nick asked. “You can’t drive.”
“You can.” She pushed herself to a standing position and hobbled toward the back of the guesthouse. “I’ll be back as soon as I change into something I can wear to go out in public.”
“You look fine to go riding in a car,” he said.
“Maybe to you, but I represent the McGinty’s and there is an unspoken code I must uphold,” she explained, turning around to look at him. “Even if I don’t get out of the car, I could be spotted by someone from the gated community…”
“Of course,” he said. “You know best.”
“We should start by visiting Carlos and talking to him.”
“If you say so.”
And with that she disappeared into her room.
When she was gone, Nick gave Swede a call to see if he’d had any luck in finding more information on the Subaru that Travis was traveling in earlier.
Somewhere in South Miami …
“I don’t understand why the kid hasn’t woken up yet,” Wizard said, pacing the living room of the house they had been instructed to come to the night before. It was in a ritzy neighborhood; far more glamorous than the neighborhood he’d grown up in with a single mother and a missing deadbeat dad.
He stopped in front of his accomplice and demanded. “Why hasn’t Carlton shown up yet to get the kid?”
“Calm down.” Slick dropped the video remote control on the sofa beside him. “We did what he told us. We put the patch on the boy, and he said not worry if it made him fall asleep right away.”
“That was twenty-four hours ago,” Wizard pointed out.
“The boy was out like a light in no time. I’ve never seen anyone with diabetes fall asleep so quickly after getting their meds.
How could his dad treat him like that? Do you think the story Carlton told us was legit?
What if he lied? What if we’ve killed the kid. ”
“We haven’t killed him.” Slick got up and walked to his friend. “Listen. Carlton paid us to do a job. You heard what he told us about the boy and his sorry ass dad. We both know what it’s like to grow up without our dads. And we sure as hell know what that’s like.”
Wizard shook his head. “But this boy had his dad. We should have thought twice before we took him on Carlton’s word. What do we really know about him?”
“Carlton is a legit PI doing Child Recovery. It was more than his word. You saw the medical records he had,” Slick said. “Some people are in denial. They want their kids to be perfect, and they don’t want to acknowledge there’s something wrong. Even if it’s something like diabetes.”
“But couldn’t he have killed the kid by not giving him his medication?” Wizard argued. “I don’t know much about it, but it seems to me the kid could have died without it. Something doesn’t seem right. What if we tipped him into a coma or something by giving him that patch?”
“Nah dude,” Slick said and went back to sit on the couch. “Carlton said the patch would give him just the right amount of what he needs.”
“If you say so,” Wizard said, the whole thing was freaking him out. Not just because Slick was so cool with what they’d done but because he was having second thoughts about it.
“Relax, dude,” Slick said, picking up the remote. “Let’s make the most of their rad gaming system before Carlton shows up to collect the kid.”
Wizard headed over and dropped down on the couch beside him and picked up the other remote. They began playing. “I have to say this is a pretty swanky house, but whoever set it up only furnished that one bedroom for the kid. They didn’t even consider us. The other two rooms are stark empty.”
“That’s because we aren’t supposed to sleep,” Slick reminded him. “We’re supposed to keep watch here on this couch, playing our games. We asked for this high-end video equipment, remember. That was part of the deal.”
“But do we get to take it with us?” Wizard said. “No. It has to stay here.”
“I can’t help it if I couldn’t talk Carlton into letting us have it,” Slick said.
“I say we double cross them and snatch it while they aren’t looking, while they’re getting the kid out of the house,” Wizard said.
Slick shook his head. “Don’t be stupid,” he growled. “You want someone coming after us if we take it? Besides, we have to ditch that car before we get back to the city. What would we do with the system? You think we can carry this system on our bikes?”
“Man, oh man,” Wizard sighed in defeat. “I hope Carlton shows up soon. I have to be at work this afternoon.”
“He’ll be here. He knows our time constraints,” Slick said, jumping up from the couch when a noise came from the bedroom. “I think someone might be awake.”
He ran from the living room to the bedroom and slowly opened the door. However, he found the boy still asleep, but the window sheers were blowing from where the air-conditioning had turned on, knocking a knickknack off into the floor. He picked it up and placed it away from the edge.
He checked on the sleeping child’s pulse and was rewarded with a strong, steady beat. His mind at ease, he pulled the covers around the boy, closing the door behind him.
“What was it?” Wizard asked, meeting him in the hallway.
“Curtains billowing from the air-conditioning knocked a trinket off the nightstand.”
“Huh.”
“You know, one of those unimportant things our grandmas like have sitting around. Nothing to worry about.”
“Oh. Cool.” Wizard nodded. Then he snapped his fingers. “Why do we have to wait around here for Carlton to arrive. The kid’s out cold. Why can’t we just leave.”
“And not get paid?” Slick said. “I don’t know about you, but I am not going to give up my cut of the dough the man owes me. That we’ve earned. We’re the ones who took all the risks. Just so Carlton could deliver the goods.”
“Yeah, man, I guess you’re right.” Slinking down the hallway, Wizard went back to the living room and plopped down on the couch.
Slick went into the kitchen and fixed two sandwiches for them along with chips and sodas before joining his pal. “At least we can have a satisfying meal while we wait. And enjoy being in this fine abode. Dude, have you have seen a place so nice?”
“No. Too bad we can’t see our mom in a place like this,” Wizard said. “It’d be so much better than the walkups we both grew up in they still live in.”
“You can say that again,” Slick called from the kitchen.
They were almost finished eating when the front door opened and a broad-shouldered man entered.
At six feet Carlton was an imposing figure.
Slick and Wizard called him ‘Little Italy’ because of his dark curly hair and olive skin.
And they didn’t mind doing odd jobs for him for extra cash on the side when he needed help.
But this was the first time he’d asked them to do anything of this nature.
“Hello, fellas,” Carlton greeted. “How has it been going?”
“Good,” Slick said. “The kid is still sleeping.”
“Excellent,” Carlton replied. “Just as he should be. That patch has a time-release element which is making him sleep.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of bills, counting out the precise amount for each of them. “Fifteen hundred for Slick and fifteen hundred for Wizard. I know where to find you both if I need your services again.”
“Let’s hope you won’t,” Wizard said.
“Come again? Don’t you like doing this kind of job?” Carlton asked.
“But I’m not so sure about this whole diabetes thing and the patch. I don’t know if the kid should be sleeping so much,” Wizard said. “Are we sure he is okay?”
“He’s fine,” Slick said. “I checked his pulse when I was in there earlier. It’s good and strong.”
“See,” Carlton said and patted Wizard on the shoulder. “Nothing to worry about. You are too kindhearted, that is a good trait to have.”
“Thanks for the bucks,” Slick said.
“You guys go ahead and get out of here,” Carlton said. “I’ll take care of cleaning up the place and see to the kid.”
“Thanks,” Wizard said. “I have a shift I can’t miss. Don’t want to lose my job.”
“Make sure you have everything you brought that is yours before you leave because you can’t come back for it later,” Carlton warned.
“We brought nothing but ourselves,” Slick said.
“What are you going to do with that gaming system?” Wizard asked.
“Return it to the rental place where I got it,” Carlton said.
“Oh,” Wizard said before he followed Slick out the door.
The sun was shining brightly when they stepped outside, and they hurried down the street to where they parked the Subaru.
They rolled down the windows to air it out as they left and headed toward the interstate, following the signs back to North Miami to the location where they’d left their messenger bikes and they could ditch the car.