Page 70 of Jobe

“So he just fuckin’ left Mackenna on her own out here?”

Shane nodded and said, “He had to make a call, man. Chances are the Sixers are after Gabby and he could only take one on his bike. He called it in, said Mackenna ran off towards the woods. He gave her his gun, though.”

“Oh, Jesus, you’ve got to be fuckin’ kidding me! She’s got no goddamn idea how to fire a gun. Jesus, she’d be safer with a bat!”

Vinny stepped up, putting his hand on Jobe’s shoulder, passing his strength to his friend. Shane nodded toward their night vision goggles and said, “With those, you’re going to be a step ahead of us.”

Tony reached into his bag and pulled out two more, tossing them to the two detectives. They had just started across the path when Jobe’s cell phone indicated a text.Tnis crts

“Are there tennis courts near here?” he asked, showing the others his phone.

“About two hundred yards straight through the middle. But how do you know that’s her? It could be someone who has her phone.”

Fuck,he thought. Then his phone vibrated again.Soldr boy

A wave of relief almost dropped him to his knees as he saw her comment. “It’s her. Only she calls me this.”

Nodding, the men ran silently through the woods toward the tennis courts. Jobe noted the terrain was a million times easier than the rough treks through Afghanistan and, yet, he would trade anything tobe on a mission that did not involve Mackenna.Stay safe baby. Stay alive.

* * *

The black, starless night made running arduous for Mackenna. The rain had begun again, quickly soaking her, and she pushed her long hair away from her face as she moved out of the grove of trees and found herself near the tennis courts. She pulled out her phone, sending a quick text to Jobe, knowing he’d be looking for her. After texting with wet, cold fingers that she was at the tennis courts, she sent a secret message so that he would know it was her.

Looking beyond the courts, she could make out a walkway bridge nearby, so she headed toward it looking for a dry place to rest. Her foot caught on a limb in the path and she tripped falling flat on the ground. Looking down, she could see a tennis racket at her feet, long discarded with its strings broken.

With the rain slowing down, she struggled to her feet in the slippery mud, holding onto the racket to give her leverage to rise.

“Well, look what we’ve found. We may have lost Tito’s woman, but we finally got the main bitch.”

Mackenna startled, her feet slipping again in the mud causing her to land on her ass. Twisting around to see who was speaking, she could barely make out a man, dressed in black, stepping slightly from the shadows coming from the faint light pole near the courts.How did he find me?

As though he could read her thoughts, he held up a small electronic box in his hand. “You think that badass boyfriend of yours is the only one with shit? You’ve got a tracer on your shirt.”

The cold was penetrating as she continued to shiver, desperately trying to make sense of his words.Tracer?

“Come on out, girl,” he ordered.

Mackenna’s brow crinkled in confusion and then in shock as a young woman stepped into the faint light. She gasped, both in surprise and hurt. “Paulina. What have you done?”

“I had no choice, please believe me. You can’t know what it’s like. What they do to you. But once you’re in, you gotta stay.”

Chest heaving, Mackenna stared the young woman in the eyes. “We all have a choice, Paulina. We all can choose.”

The young girl’s face fell as tears joined the raindrops on her cheeks. Looking back at the man still standing nearby, Mackenna licked her lips wondering where Jobe was.

His hand lifted, a gun pointing right at Mackenna as he said, “Yeah, bitch. And Paulina here made her choice. She stuck a tracer on the back of your collar and made sure your goons were out.”

The memory of Paulina hugging her earlier, bolted back into Mackenna’s mind. Her gaze stayed on the gun as her body shook with a combination of fear and cold.

Tank’s gun! It must have dropped when I fell.Hoping it was too dark for him to see what she was doing clearly, she tried to drop her gaze to the ground but was unable to see anything. Her fingers still clasped the racket. She was afraid to drop it for fear he would shoot at any movement.

Suddenly the pounding of feet could be heard and for an instance Mackenna imagined Jobe rushing to the scene to save her. Instead, another man, all dressed in dark clothing, came into view.

“Jazzie, Jazzie! Where the fuck are you?”

Jazzie turned, his face angry at the intrusion from Waldo. “What’re you doin’ here? You’re supposed to be after Tito’s bitch.”

“She’s gone. I saw Tank drive off with her on his bike.”

---