Chapter 23
It was eleven in the morning.
Jesse’s GTO and Lenny’s Corolla drove down Interstate I-40 about thirty miles from Gallup, New Mexico. It was quiet inside both cars as they drove down I-40 five miles over the speed limit.
The sound of a group of Harleys drove up fast in the left lane behind them.
Joey heard the Harleys and got curious.
He looked at the left lane and saw the eight “THE RATTLERS” motorcycle gang from I-40 in the left-hand lane. Joey looked intimidated as he remembered them from Tennessee with the beer can incident.
The Rattlers raced past the GTO and Corolla and headed down I-40.
Back in Phoenix, Angie drove her rental car to Sammy’s neighborhood. It was a peaceful middle-class housing development where a lot of young professionals lived.
Angie drove up to Sammy’s house, and it looked quiet.
She parked four houses down the street from Sammy’s house. She turned off the engine and waited.
She opened up a Burger King paper bag and removed a cup of coffee and Whopper hamburger. She knew it was a bad meal to eat, and she doesn’t eat this way all the time.
She sipped her coffee. She would hang out here until the banks closed.
Two hours passed, and no activity at Sammy’s house. Angie was bored out of her mind. Stakeouts appeared adventurous in the movies, but in real life, there were hours of boredom while you waited for the event to happen.
Someone knocked on Angie’s driver’s window, and she jumped startled. She looked and saw an old man about seventy-five years of age outside her car door. He looked pissed.
She rolled down her window.
“What the hell are you doing in front of my house?” the old man said pissed.
Angie reached inside her purse and flashed her badge, hoping he wouldn’t notice she wasn’t a Phoenix Detective.
“Detective Williams. I’m watching a house down the street. So I hope you don’t mind me being in front of your home,” she told him.
The old man strained to while he looked at her badge. He could make out the detective’s badge, but couldn’t read the fine print.
He stepped back and realized he might be trouble. “Yes, ma-am. I hope you catch them,” he said, then rushed off across his front yard and went inside his house.
Angie chuckled while she rolled up her window.
She went back to her boredom and kept an eye on Sammy’s house.
Jesse’s GTO and Lenny’s Corolla drove south on Interstate I-17 towards Phoenix. They were twenty miles south of Flagstaff and just stopped for gas, and everything is going smooth. No cops seemed to be interested in them. Jesse was happy. But Rose still had her doubts that she didn’t want to continue with his scheme.
In Chicago, a public defender sat with Sidney in a room at the jail.
“We go to trial in three days,” he told Sidney.
“What are my chances of them believing I’m not guilty?” Sidney asked.
“Not good,” the public defender replied.
Sidney looked like he wanted to cry.
Hours later back at Sammy’s house, Angie sat in her car. She looked at her watch, four-thirty in the afternoon. No activity at Sammy’s house. This was a bust. She thought to herself and started up her car.
The old man peeked out his living room window and watched as Angie drove off down the street. He looked disappointed, as this was his entertainment for his boring life.
Nighttime fell upon Phoenix, and the city was lit up.
Jesse’s GTO and Lenny’s Corolla drove down Interstate I-17 into Phoenix.
Inside the GTO, Rose had Jesse’s GPS in her hand and typed in Sammy’s address from Sidney’s printed address book.
“Drive south on Interstate I-17 for ten miles,” the computer-generated female voice said, and the GPS viewfinder showed I-17 with an arrow that pointed south.
Rose reached down and placed her black wig on her head.
Elsewhere in Phoenix, Angie sat in a restaurant near her hotel. She ate dinner alone and looked so lonely and missed Wayne and Lela. She hoped this would end soon as she didn’t know if she could stand any more of this.
Forty minutes later, it was quiet inside Sammy’s house. A moment of silence, then the silence is broken when window glass is broken in the rear of the house.
Jesse’s GTO and Lenny’s Corolla were parked in Sammy’s driveway.
Jesse cautiously entered Sammy’s living room from the hallway with his revolver drawn.
He scanned the room. It was safe, so he shoved his revolver into his pants.
Frankie and Rose, in her black wig, entered from the hallway and they escorted Kathy, Joey, and Lenny.
“Put them on the couch,” Jesse ordered.
They walked Kathy, Joey, and Lenny over to the couch. Frankie pushed them onto the couch and chuckled as he loved the power he had over them.
Jesse paced and thought. He stopped. “Frankie, move my GTO into his garage and Roth’s car down the street. Hide it at that strip mall. Lock the garage door when you come back.”
“Okay,” said Frankie, then he walked away.
“Frankie,” Jesse called out.
Frankie stopped and turned around.
“Get us some beers,” Jesse said.
Frankie nodded in agreement and walked into the kitchen were he exited through the door that led into the garage.
“Make us something to eat, Rose,” Jesse demanded.
Rose walked away, and Jesse’s orders were started to annoy her. Joey and Kathy noticed from the couch.
Jesse eyed Kathy, Joey, and Lenny with a smirk.
An hour later, in Sammy’s dining room, Jesse, Frankie, Rose, Kathy, Joey, and Lenny all ate spaghetti that Rose cooked up.
Dinner was finished, and Rose washed the plates in the kitchen. The duffel bag over in the corner by the entrance to the kitchen.
In the living room, Jesse watched his American Outlaws DVD again from Sammy’s lazy boy chair.
Joey, Kathy, and Lenny sat on the couch bored to death and scared.
Frankie sat on the floor near them.
Joey looked at Kathy. She looked away, still pissed for him for calling Angie.
From the kitchen, Rose rolled her eyes, as she’s sick and tired of that movie.
Sammy drove his Silver Honda Insight down his street. All he could think about was seeing his two college buddies and spending time with them. He decided to cut his Los Angeles vacation short.
He pulled into his driveway and stopped at the garage door. He pressed his door opener. Nothing. The door didn’t open.
He pressed his door opener again. Nothing. It’s broke again. Sammy thought while he put away his garage door remote.
Jesse looked concerned while he jumped up from the lazy boy chair and rushed over to the living room window.
He peeked out the curtains.
Rose peeked out of the kitchen curiously.
“He’s home early!” Jesse said. “Hide in the kitchen,” he yelled out.
Frankie jumped up and motioned for Joey, Kathy, and Lenny to follow him. They did.
Jesse rushed over and quickly unplugged the TV and DVD player.
They hid in the kitchen while Sammy put his key in the lock of the front door.
“I hope Sammy grew out of that problem,” Joey told Lenny who nodded in agreement.
“What problem?” Jesse asked curiously.
“Oh nothing,” Joey replied.
The front door opened and Sammy entered his living room and trailed a suitcase behind him. He had his cell phone clipped to his belt and a bag of groceries in hand.
He closed the door. Then something struck him as odd. He had this strange feeling in his gut.
Jesse appeared out of the kitchen and yielded his revolver.
“Hello Sammy,” he said while he strutted over to him.
Sammy jumped back and slammed into the door and dropped his bag of groceries. A glass jar of salsa broke, and a carton of milk busted open and spilled on the floor. It was a mess of milk and salsa on the floor. Then Sammy cringed and looked down. He pissed his pants.
Jesse walked up to Sammy. He saw the huge wet stain on his crotch.
“So that’s your problem?” Jesse said then chuckled.
Sammy’s face turned beet red, as he was embarrassed.
Jesse snatched Sammy’s cell phone off his belt and shoved it in his pocket.
“Take anything you want. Just don’t shoot me,” Sammy pleaded and hoped he wasn’t going to die tonight.
Jesse grabbed Sammy’s arm and escorted him to the kitchen.
They walked into the kitchen.
Sammy saw Joey, Kathy, Lenny, Frankie, and Rose. His eyes widen in shock.
“Joey? Is that you?” Sammy asked as he wasn’t sure since Joey was bald.
They all looked at Sammy’s pants and saw he pissed himself.
Frankie busted out laughing and pointed. “He pissed himself,” Frankie cried out while he looked at Sammy’s crotch.
Joey, Kathy, Lenny, and Rose felt sorry for Sammy, who tried to hide his wet spot with his hands.
Jesse laughed along with Frankie.
“Can I please change my pants?”
“Frankie, take piss boy to his room so he can change,” Jesse told him.
Frankie grabbed Sammy’s arm and walked him out of the kitchen.
“Rose, go clean up the mess by the front door,” Jesse told her.
Rose walked to the front door.
Sammy changed clothes in his bedroom under Frankie’s watchful eyes.
Rose cleaned up Sammy’s dropped mess.
Jesse restarted his movie and watched from the lazy boy chair.
Joey, Lenny, Kathy, and Rose watched from the couch.
Five minutes later, Frankie escorted Sammy into the living room.
Rose got off the couch and pushed Sammy down next to Joey.
“Get Frankie and me some beers,” Jesse ordered Rose.
She looked upset being Jesse’s slave but knew she couldn’t resist. She walked into the kitchen.
“Sammy, I thought you weren’t coming home until tomorrow?” Joey asked.
“I decided to cut my trip short to spend more time with you,” Sammy replied.
“Big mistake,” Joey added.
Sammy stared at Joey’s bald head. “You’re bald, what’s going on?”
Rose walked and handed Jesse an opened Budweiser beer can. She walked over and handed Frankie an opened Budweiser beer can.
Jesse sipped his beer.
“What’s going on?” Sammy asked while he looked at Joey and Lenny.
I’ll tell you what’s going on, piss boy,” Jesse said.
Jesse got up and walked over to the couch.
He grabbed Joey by his shirt and pulled him off the couch.
Jesse sat down next to Sammy, which intimidated him. He put an arm around Sammy and proceeded to tell him about his mission.
Angie couldn’t sleep so she drove her rental car down Sammy’s street. She was bored and got curious.
She stopped at Sammy’s house.
Sammy’s car was in the driveway, and the living room light was on.
She drove off down the street.
Later that night, Jesse and Frankie slept on sleeping bags near the front door.
Rose was in the kitchen and drank coffee while she watched the hostages. Before Jesse and Frankie went to sleep, he had a talk with Rose and let her know that if they escaped again under her watch – she might not survive.
Kathy, Joey, Lenny, and Sammy sat on the couch with their hands and ankles bounded by duct tape.
“I don’t want to be a bank robber,” Sammy said while his eyes welled up.
Kathy looked pissed at Joey. “I still can’t believe you called that Orlando detective. Why?” she asked him.
“Sorry, I thought it would help us with the information I learned. Besides, that detective believes I’m innocent. Maybe she can help Wally, Ricky, and Sidney,” Joey said.
“They’ll kill us for sure after they’re done with us,” Kathy said. “I hope you figured that out by now,” she added.
Joey felt bad.
Kathy looked away from Joey and looked at the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Rose sipped her coffee and looked at them. She heard all and rubbed her tummy. She turned around and walked to the kitchen window.
She looked worried while she stared out the window.
Back in her hotel room, Angie stood at her window in a hotel bathrobe and stared out it while she talked into her cell phone.
“You have one more day. If you don’t get Austin, I want you on the next flight tomorrow night. My budget can’t tolerate anymore wild goose chases. Understand?” Lane said through her cell phone.
“Yes sir, I fully understand,” Angie replied. She looked worried while she disconnected the call. She made another call.
“Hello, honey,” Wayne answered her call.
“Hey. Listen, I’ll be coming home after tomorrow,” she told him.
“Did you finally catch him?” he asked.
“No. Lane ordered me on a flight tomorrow night,” she said.
“Great. Lela will be so happy to see you. That’s all she’s been talking about,” Wayne told her.
“I can’t wait to see the both of you,” Angie replied.
“I’m going to get some sleep,” she replied. “I’ll call tomorrow night when my flight lands in Orlando,” Angie said the disconnected her call.
Angie looked worried while she walked over and put her cell phone on the bedside table.