Page 16 of Stand By You
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 understandwhy 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-conditioninghad 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.”
