Chapter 17
Jesse drove his GTO down a busy four-lane road in Lakewood, Colorado, which was on the west side of Denver.
He turned his GTO into the parking lot of the Vantage Apartment complex located in Lakewood, Colorado.
Across the street from his apartment complex was a Super Target store.
He drove his GTO through the lot and found an empty parking spot close to Lenny’s apartment building.
He backed his GTO into that spot. He turned off his engine.
Rose sat in the passenger seat and wore a black wig. She also wore short pants. They were short, and her butt cheeks protruded out while she walked. She also wore a button-down top without a bra. Her nipples were erect and visible. This would give any regular guy an instant hard-on if they saw her.
They waited.
Frankie handed Jesse a beer from the backseat.
Jesse opened it up and took a swig.
Twenty minutes and two beers later, Jesse’s eyes widened with joy when Lenny walked out of his apartment.
“Go do your magic baby,” he told Rose then winked at her.
Rose leaned over and gave Jesse a kiss on his lips.
She opened the passenger door and left.
Jesse and Frankie watched Rose as she walked towards Lenny.
Lenny walked through the lot, with his iPhone clipped to his belt, through the parking lot and he got to his Sandstone colored Toyota Corolla.
He sensed something.
He looked and saw Rose while she walked towards him. He noticed her short shorts and her tank top. He really liked what he saw.
He stepped away from his Corolla.
Rose saw Lenny as he approached him. She knew she had a chance to make this plan work.
When Lenny got eight feet in front of her, she smiled at him.
Lenny saw her smile but could care less as he concentrated on her short shorts.
Rose got four feet from him, and she faked a trip with a little scream while she dropped to the pavement. While down, she discreetly unbuttoned her top to allow more exposure of her breasts.
Lenny looked concerned as he rushed over to Rose.
He looked down at her and noticed she didn’t wear a bra.
Rose moved, and he saw part of her breasts. He loved the sight. He reached down and grabbed her arm and helped her up. Rose gave him a warm, loving smile.
“Thank you, you’re such a gentleman,” she said.
Lenny saw that her knees were dirty from the pavement. “You got some dirt on you,” he told her.
She looked down at the knees then looked at her.
“Wipe them off for me. My back hurts a little from that fall,” she lied to him.
Lenny smiled while he leaned down. He slowly wiped off her left knee. Then he slowly wiped off her right knee. The whole time he was doing this, he realized he was inches from the crotch of her shorts. He started to get a hard-on. He stood up and looked at her eyes and glanced down at her breasts.
He saw her nipples through her tank top material. That was all it took. He had a significant erection.
“My name is Christina, I just moved in this complex yesterday from St. Louis,” Rose bullshitted him as she stuck out her right hand for him to shake it.
“Lenny Roth,” he said while she shook her hand. Lenny glanced back down at her breasts.
Rose moved her left hand, and Lenny saw the red rose tattoo. At first, he thought nothing of it.
She noticed he looked at her tattoo. She held it up and showed it off. “Do you like my tat?” she asked while she held out her hand.
He looked at it again. Then it dawned on him. He remembered something Joey said during his phone call. Some girl with a red rose tattoo on her left hand will flirt with you. She’ll get friendly for a couple of days then ask for a ride to a bank. Don’t do it! She’ll set you up to rob it. Joey’s voice echoed in his head.
He looked suspicious and scared of Rose and quickly pulled his hand back.
Rose noticed his sudden change in attitude and got concerned.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Rose asked while she stroked his arm.
Lenny got nervous and started to sweat.
Rose got extremely concerned.
“I have to go!” Lenny said while he looked scared and ran off.
Rose watched Lenny run away. He almost tripped over his feet as he made a beeline to his car.
Rose rushed back to Jesse’s GTO and tapped on his window.
He rolled it down. “What’s wrong?” he asked when he noticed her concerned look.
“He ran off scared after he saw my tattoo,” she said.
“Shit! I don’t like the sound of this,” Jesse said from inside his GTO.
He leaned over, opened up his glove box, and removed the two revolvers.
Jesse turned around and handed Frankie a revolver who tucked in into his pants.
Jesse tucked his revolver in his pants and opened his door. He quickly got out.
Frankie also got out of the passenger door.
Jesse and Frankie ran in the direction Lenny ran.
Inside his Corolla, Lenny fumbled with his car keys.
He dropped them on the carpet by his shoes.
He picked them up, and his hands trembled while he tried to insert the key into the ignition. He started up his car.
Someone tapped on his door window. “Ahhhh!” he screamed with a bit of a girlish scream.
He looked and saw Jesse at his window, and his revolver tucked in his pants. Jesse tapped on the handle of his revolver. “Hello, Lenny. Remember me?” Jesse said then pretended to smoke a joint.
Lenny heard someone tap on his passenger door window. He jumped startled and turned and saw Frankie at the passenger door.
Frankie waved at Lenny and pointed to his revolver tucked in his pants.
Lenny turned off his Corolla.
Jesse opened Lenny’s car door. “Come Lenny. I’ve driven all this way across the country to see you,” Jesse said while he tapped on his revolver tucked in his pants.
Lenny got out of his Corolla.
Jesse slammed his door shut.
He removed Lenny’s iPhone and shoved it in his back pocket.
Jesse put an arm around Lenny and pretended to be his buddy.
“Lenny my old buddy. I’m so happy to see you. It’s been, what, ten years?” he said when squeezed the top of Lenny’s shoulder muscle.
Lenny cringed in pain.
Rose walked up.
Jesse motioned for Frankie to come to him.
Frankie acknowledged and walked over. “Get the duffel bag,” he said then he handed him his car keys.
Frankie ran back to the GTO.
He unlocked the trunk, removed the duffel bag, and slammed the trunk closed.
He ran back to Jesse with the duffel bag in hand.
“Let’s go inside and relax. I believe you live in Apartment 2684?” he asked Lenny.
Lenny nodded Jesse was correct and looked scared that they knew his address.
Jesse escorted Lenny to his second-story apartment. Frankie and Rose tagged along.
Angie was in one of the unmarked Ford police cars while she down Interstate I-25. This Interstate would be quicker. She thought as she watched the city of Denver fly by while she drove. She looked to her left and looked at more of the Denver area.
She looked ahead, and her eyes widen in a panic, as she didn’t want to explain how she wreaked a Denver police car. Traffic was stopped. She slammed on her brakes and screeched to a stop one foot from another car. She put the Ford in park, opened her door and got out.
She stood by the door and saw that traffic was stopped for over a mile. Way up ahead, there was a major traffic accident. It was the result of a young man that drove his speedy Mazda 6 coupe ninety miles an hour down I-25.
He weaved in and around cars as he thought he was invincible. He weaved too close to a Chevrolet Equinox and clipped its front fender. That then caused the whole chain reaction that resulted in five cars demolished and on overturned semi-tractor trailer truck. Four people were killed, three seriously injured, but that thoughtless young man that caused the accident survived.
Angie sat down in the Ford police car and turned off the engine.
She waited, as she knew it would be a while and didn’t have a choice as she was between exits.
Lenny had a lovely two-bedroom apartment with a nice size kitchen with a dining room and living room. He furnished it with modern furniture and had the largest iMac computer available – a twenty-seven inch iMac.
The door unlocked, and Lenny entered with Jesse, Rose, and Frankie.
Lenny closed and door.
Jesse locked it.
Lenny sat on the couch, scared to death, and about to pee his pants any second. Rose, with the wig off, sat next to him.
Jesse and Frankie talked in the kitchen.
“Go move my GTO to that Target across the street. “I can’t take the chance of the cops finding it here,” he instructed Jesse. He took the duffel bag from Frankie and dropped it on the floor by the cabinets.
“Okay,” Frankie said as he always obeyed Jesse. He remembered the day he didn’t. He was eight years old, and Jesse told him to go down, get him some ice cream at the store. Frankie refused, and Jesse popped him in his mouth and split his lip. He swore to always listen to his older brother.
“And get some beer,” Jesse said while he pulled out two twenty dollar bills from his pocket and handed it to Frankie.
Rose and Lenny watched as Frankie walked to the front door and left.
Jesse lit a cigarette then walked into the living room with his revolver tucked in his pants.
He walked up to Lenny and blew smoked in his face.
Lenny wheezed and coughed.
Rose looked at Lenny. “You okay?” she asked with a hint of concern.
“I have asthma, and cigarette smoke bothers me,” Lenny said then removed his inhaler from his pocket. He inhaled his medication.
Jesse took another drag and blew smoke into Lenny’s face.
Lenny coughed again.
Rose looked bothered. “Quit Jesse!” she scolded him.
Jesse chuckled at Joey then paced as he pondered on what to do now that Lenny knew they were coming to see him.
Traffic on I-25 finally moved as they cleared the accident. It took longer as three of those air medical helicopters had to land to fly the seriously injured people to a local hospital.
Angie finally made her way to the Lakewood area.
She turned down the street by Lenny’s apartment.
She drove down the street and turned into Lenny’s apartment complex parking lot.
She drove the Ford through the parking lot and found an empty parking spot – ten cars down from the place where Jesse’s GTO was parked.
She waited in the Ford.
Inside Lenny’s apartment, Jesse walked up and sat down next to him on the couch.
Jesse glared in Lenny’s eyes, and that scared him.
“Why did you freak out when you saw her rose tattoo?” Jesse said to Lenny as he got inches from his face.
Lenny just looked scared in Jesse’s eyes.
“I want answers” Jesse yelled in Lenny’s ear then grabbed him by his throat and squeezed the air out of him.
Lenny gagged as Jesse choked off his air supply.
“Joey called me,” Lenny strained to say while his air supply was being cut off by Jesse’s hand.
Jesse removed his hand. “Did you say Joey called you?” Jesse asked as he wasn’t sure he heard correctly.
“Yes. He said some girl with a rose tattoo on her hand would become very friendly with me. And then she would trick me into robbing a bank for her,” Lenny spilled his guts.
Jesse stood up, concerned. He paced around while he smoked on his cigarette.
“This Austin creep is ruining my plans. Why couldn’t he just run and hide for the rest of his life?” he said with a pissed tone as he paced around the living room. He was in deep thought as things have changed, and he needed to come up with a new plan.
Inside the unmarked Ford police car out in the parking lot, Angie looked at the passenger seat and at the bag of food she got at Burger King. She was now hungry.
While she leaned over and opened the bag, she dropped her hamburger on the passenger floor.
While she bent down to pick it up, she didn’t notice Frankie while he walked to Lenny’s apartment building with a Target bag in hand and four six-packs of Budweiser under his other arm.
She unwrapped the hamburger and took a bite.
She took another bite just as Frankie entered Lenny’s apartment.
She didn’t notice.
Frankie entered Lenny’s apartment with the Target bag and the four six-packs while Jesse paced in the living room.
He walked over and entered the kitchen.
He removed two beers from one of the six-packs then walked over and opened the refrigerator.
He placed the rest of the beers inside.
He opened the beers and walked into the living room.
He handed Jesse a beer.
Jesse gulped his beer and looked worried.
“What’s the matter?” Frankie asked.
“That dork from Orlando called Lenny here and warned him about us,” Jesse said pissed.
“I thought you said he wasn’t a threat?” Frankie said a little disappointed in his older brother.
“We’ll things change in this line of work,” Jesse replied then swallowed some of his beer.
“Are we going to call it quits?” he asked Jesse.
Jesse thought for a second. “No way,” he replied as he was determined to complete his mission.
Back on Interstate I-70, Joey and Kathy rode their Harleys just inside Denver’s city limits.
Joey looked nervous as they got closer and closer to Lenny’s place.
Jesse and Frankie sat at Lenny’s dining room table and sipped their beers.
Rose sat with Lenny on his couch in the living room. He slowly dozed off to sleep.
“We’ll still have Lenny perform his task,” Jesse said.
“What about Phoenix?” Frankie asked.
Jesse thought for a second and looked at Lenny in the living room. “We’ll take him with us. Complete the Phoenix job and dump them in the desert before we get to Mexico,” Jesse said.
Frankie smiled as he liked that plan. He always wants Jesse’s ideas and never disagreed.
They finished their beers, and Frankie got up and walked over to the refrigerator.
He opened it up and removed two cold beers.
He walked over and pulled the tabs on the cans and handed one to Jesse.
They walked into the living room.
Lenny woke up by the sound of Jesse as he walked past by the couch.
Jesse walked over to Lenny’s fifty-two-inch HDTV.
Next to it was a bookcase full of DVD and Blue-Ray movies.
On top of the bookcase was a DVD player.
Jesse smiled then left and walked into the kitchen.
He opened up the duffel bag and reached inside and removed the “American Outlaws” DVD case. He kissed it and smiled.
Jesse walked back to the couch and hovered over Lenny. “Put this movie on,” he said then smacked Lenny’s face with the DVD case. “I’m going to take a piss. It better be started by the time I get back,” he said then handed the DVD to Lenny who grabbed it.
Jesse left the room and walked down the hallway to the bathroom.
From the couch, Rose rolled her eyes. “Here we go again with that stupid Jesse James thing,” she said.
Lenny looked curious at her comment, and she noticed. She thought for a second and decided to tell him the story. “Tony here received a head injury when he was in prison. After he got out, he visited the Jesse James Farm in Missouri. He had some stupid revelation that he was really Jesse James. You know reincarnation,” she told him.
“Interesting,” Lenny said while walked over to the TV. He grabbed the remote next to the DVD player and turned on the TV and DVD player. He inserted the DVD into the player and started the movie.
He walked back to the couch and sat next to Rose.
Jesse walked back from the bathroom and sat down next to Lenny and put his arm around him. He smiled when he saw his movie started.
Frankie walked over with four opened beers.
He gave one to Jesse, Lenny, and Rose.
Joey and Kathy rode their Harleys south on Interstate I-25. They were ten miles away from Lenny’s apartment complex.
Angie sat in the unmarked Ford. Her cell phone rang, and she answered it. “Detective Williams,” she said into her cell phone.
“It’s Detective Tibbets. How’s it going?” he asked from her cell phone.
“It’s quiet and hasn’t seen my suspect or the others,” she said.
“The banks are closed, so I don’t think they’ll make a move tonight,” he told her.
She looked at her watch. “You’re right,” she said.
“I’m tired anyway and could use some sleep,” she said.
“Return the car, and I’ll drive you to a local hotel,” he told her.
“Okay. I’m on my way,” she said, then disconnected the call.
She started up the Ford and drove away.
She drove out of the parking lot and turn onto the street.
She drove away.
Fifteen minutes, Joey and Kathy pulled into Lenny’s apartment complex parking lot.
They drove through the parking lot and eventually found Lenny’s apartment building and stopped when they saw an empty parking stall.
The empty parking stall Angie used earlier to stake out Lenny’s apartment building.
They parked their Harleys there and shut them off.
They placed their kickstands down and stretched.
“Let’s go save your friend,” Kathy told Joey.
They walked through the parking lot and headed to Lenny’s apartment building.