“Okay, look, we have a big problem here.” A.J. walked back, kneeling down by the side of the bed. lightly slapping Brian’s cheek with the back of his hand.
“Your damn right we have a problem here.” Eva began, pushing A.J.’s hand away from Brian. “The problem is that your friend passed out again because he’s bleeding from a stab wound in his arm.”
“Yeah well we got worse problems then ol’ Rok here deciding to take a cat nap.” Cracking his knuckles A.J. stood up and began pacing back and forth, his dark eyes wild.
“Jesus A.J. what the hell is your problem.” I hissed, standing up ready to challenge him on the issue with more then words if it came down to it. “I mean c’mon, what could possibly be worse then this?”
Glancing over at Eva A.J. grabbed me by the shoulders pulling me in close and whispering in my ear.
“When Brian was stabbed he was weak and in pain so he couldn’t walk and I had to drag him back here to the hotel.”
“So?” I whispered back, watching Eva over A.J.’s shoulder as she threaded a large sturdy needle with thick waxy looking thread from the hotel sewing kit.
“So you idiot, in the process we had to get rid of anything that was weighing us down.”
I shrugged.
“We had to get rid of the backpacks.”
Standing back from him our eyes met in the glow of the lamplight and everything became clear.
“Hello?” Eva waved her arms around snapping the both of us back to reality.
“Listen you two, I don’t know what the hell is going on, and I really don’t think I want to know.”
“Trust me you don’t.” I mumbled.
“Anyway,” she shot me a look that could have killed “All I know is that he needs help. And the best time to get this wound sewn up is right now, while he’s out cold so that he doesn’t feel the pain. So, which one of you is going to get over here and help me?”
“We can’t.” A.J. walked over to his pile of clothes on the floor, digging around until he came up with the blonde wig.
“What do you mean you can’t?” As she spoke she waved the needle and thread around in the air. Then she looked at me. “What does he mean you can’t?”
“Um-“ I stuttered, wondering if someone could kill a man with a needle and thread?
“What I mean is, we have to go and take care of some business. So you are going to have to handle this on your own.” As he spoke A.J. worked quickly extracting a black wig, shaped like a bad bowl cut, from his suitcase before sitting down on the floor to lace up his shoes.
“Here dimwit, “ He tossed the wig to me. “Put this on.”
“No way, this wig will make me look stupid. If I’m going to wear a wig then I want the blonde one.” Standing up he stomped his shoe the rest of the way on before getting up in my face.
“You look stupid no matter what so shut the hell up and put the wig on NOW. Or I’ll give you another one of those,” he pointed at my black eye. “So that you’ll have a matched set.”
Throwing my hat to the ground I pulled on the wig and secured it in place.
“Hey not bad. All you need now is a beanie with a propeller and your good to go.” Eva huffed shaking her head at me as A.J. pushed a black long sleeved t-shirt into my hand.
“Don’t listen to her.” He brushed the bangs down so that they were in a straight line across my eyes and stood back. “Okay now put on the t-shirt, and hurry.”
Looking at Eva as she pushed the needle into Brian’s flesh she paused.
“What?”
“Are you going to stay in here while I change?”
“Is he serious?” She motioned to A.J. and both of them laughed. “Look Ringo, you have the body of a fifteen year old girl who hasn’t seen the sun in a year so don’t get all worked up that I might attack you or something once your shirt comes off. I sort of have more important things going on right now. Like trying to sew a straight line through your friend’s flesh.”
Rolling my eyes I yanked off my t-shirt throwing it at her before pulling the tight black t-shirt over my head.
“Okay,” A.J. flipped his wrist over glancing at his watch. “We’ll be back in an hour. Will you be okay until then?”
“Do I have a choice?” Eva didn’t look up as she pushed the needle again through Brian’s flesh pulling it up and giving it a few good tugs to make sure it was secure before repeating the motion again.
“Nope.” Patting Brian on the leg A.J. gave Eva a crooked smile that she returned.
“Then yes, we’ll be just fine. Go do what you need to do.”
Grabbing my arm A.J. lead me across the room to the balcony doors.
“How the hell are we going to get passed Trent again?” I asked as he pulled back the heavy damask drape.
“We’re not.”
“What do you mean we’re not?”
Giving the balcony door a tug he slid it open.
“After you my friend.”
* * *
“Shit, it’s cold.” I whined, rubbing my arms as we walked quickly down the dark narrow streets.
“You are such a freaking pussy Carter.” Pulling off his coat A.J. slung it at me.
“I’m not a pussy, I just have poor circulation or something.” I smiled sliding my arms into the sleeves.
“Okay, turn here.” Shoving me to the right I followed A.J.’s lead as he pressed himself up against the cold stone wall, looking to his right and left before sliding gracefully into the shadows.
Blinking, I squinted up my eyes real tight trying to make out which direction he went.
“A.J.?” I whispered, inching my way along the wall.
“Just shut up Nick and follow the sound of my voice.” He whispered back.
Images flooded my mind of Brian and A.J. only hours before, making their way down this same dark street, Brian moaning in pain as they tried to outrun the man who had stabbed him.
“-I said stop you dummy.” A.J.’s voice seethed as I tripped falling forward splashing into a puddle in the darkness.
“What part of stop didn’t you understand?” Untangling himself from me I realized that I had tripped over A.J. who was now stooped down on the ground below me.
“Sorry.” Shaking the water from my palms I reached out into the blackness.
“Ouch, shit. Okay you poke me in the eye again and you’re a dead man.” He barked before shoving me hard and making me fall forward into the puddle again.
“I'm sorry, I couldn’t see where you were.”
“Okay, well now you know.” A thin narrow beam of light shone in my face making me jump.
“You have a flashlight?” Grabbing for it A.J. yanked it away from me shining it in my eyes. “All this time you had a freaking flashlight and you didn’t use it?”
“Listen Nick just shut up for two seconds okay.”
“But-“
“Shhhhhh.”
“But-“
“I’m pretty sure this is where we were when we ditched the bags.” He went on, ignoring me as he waved the light up above my head. “Look.”
Turning around, both of us stared at a thick smear of blood on the wall behind us.
Brian’s blood.
“Bingo.” A.J. smiled grabbing onto my arm as he doused the light.
“Hey we need that light, turn it back on.”
“No, we can’t afford to have anybody see it and call the police. Just follow me.” Tugging on my arm I crawled along beside him until we came upon some sort of metal grate on the wall of the building opposite us.
“Can you feel that?” A.J. pulled my arm forward placing my hand on the cold bars of the grate.
“Yeah I feel it?”
“Okay well I stashed the backpacks behind it. So on the count of three we both are going to pull as hard as we can. You got me?”
“Yeah, I think I can count to three.” I said in a smarmy voice.
“Yeah well I didn’t want to expect too much out of you, wouldn’t want anybody to think you could take care of yourself for two minutes.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Means that you act like you are an invalid and that Rok is your nursemaid. Okay ready one-“
“Oh no, no. You can’t say something like that and not expect to have to back it up?” Letting go of the grate I sat back on my heels.
“Nick I don’t have time for your shit right now so just help me get this thing off so we can get the backpacks and get the hell out of here.”
“I don’t act like Brian is my nursemaid? Besides, we hardly even hang out anymore he’s always hanging out with you?”
“Why do you think he hangs out with me? He hangs out with me because I don’t need him to take care of me the way you do.” Reaching out A.J. grabbed my arm pulling it forward and placing my hands back on the bars. “Now hold on to this and pull on three. One, two-“
“He hangs out with you because you forced him to be your thieving sidekick and he’s probably afraid you’ll turn him into the cops if he doesn’t do what you say?” Pulling away from his grip I stood up.
“Is that really what you think? You think that Brian is so saintly and godlike that he couldn’t possibly be lured into the darkness by his own mind?”
“Shut up A.J.” I turned to leave but was stopped by his firm hand on my shoulder.
“Let me tell you something Nick. This whole thing, every single job that we’ve pulled off from the planning stages right on through to the execution of the job have all been Brian’s idea. Not mine.”
“Bullshit.”
“You think I’m lying?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m not. So get your ass over here and help me get the backpacks out of this hole before you fuck everything up for the guy you claim is your best friend.”