Chapter 2
Ten years later, in Chicago, Illinois…
It was a sunny, cloudless day in early June.
At a 7-Eleven convenience store, a beautifully restored red with red interior 1966 Pontiac GTO 2-door convertible, with Illinois tags and Cragar rims, was parked near the phone booth located at the corner of the store.
Tony "Jesse" Rodman restored this GTO with money he gotten from illegal means. Tony was a great mechanic but found a life of crime to be more profitable in a quicker way than being a grease monkey for a slave driver.
Relaxed inside the driver's seat of that GTO was Tony who for the past eight years insisted he's called "Jesse."
He was thirty years old with slicked-back black hair with long sideburns. On Jesse's left bicep was a tattoo of an old Western pistol thru his nickname "Jesse." Jesse's attire always consisted of cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and blue jeans with an old western revolver belt buckle - he thought of himself as an old western outlaw. On the passenger seat was a blonde shoulder-length wig.
On the dashboard were a radar detector and GPS.
In the backseat, sat Frankie Rodman, twenty-five years old, sleazeball with a criminal record, but not as long as Jesse's. He also had a tattoo of an old Western pistol thru his name "Frankie" on his left bicep. Frankie was Jesse's younger brother, and Jesse was his hero. Like his older brother, he always wore blue jeans but hates cowboy hats. He would do anything Jesse told him.
At the phone booth at the 7-Eleven, Rose Cain made a phone call. She was twenty-five years old; drop-dead sexy with beautiful light blue eyes, with a small mole above her right upper lip, short red hair. She had a red rose tattoo on her left hand. She was three months pregnant thanks to numerous drinks and unprotected sex with Jesse. But if the truth were known, she tricked Jesse into getting her knocked up, as she was madly in love with him.
Rose hung up the phone and strutted back to the GTO with a grin.
Rose opened the door and sat down in the passenger seat. "They believed every word I told them," she told Jesse as she closed the door.
"Sweet. We better hurry and make our next move," Jesse said while he started up his GTO.
He backed the GTO out of the parking slot and drove out of the convenience store parking lot and raced down the street.
Jesse raced his GTO down the street and weaved around numerous cars to catch another car way up the street. Jesse had previously trailed this car before pulling into the 7-11 store.
He finally slowed down and again tailed that silver Lexus HS Hybrid in the right lane. "Let's hope this works," Jesse told Rose and Frankie while he trailed the Lexus.
Rosie looked a little concerned it might not work and didn't want to hear the wrath of Jesse when things didn't go according to plan.
After Jesse tailed the Lexus for ten minutes, he glanced in his rearview mirror and saw two Chicago police cars that raced down the street after them. Jesse smiled, slowed down, and increased the distance between his GTO and the Lexus.
The two Chicago police cars raced in the left lane, and one got behind the Lexus, and the other one stayed even with the Lexus while in the left lane. Their lights flashed, and their sirens blared. The Lexus pulled over.
Jesse pulled into the left lane and drove away slowly so he wouldn't bring unwanted attention to himself.
Sidney Watson turned off his Lexus. I wasn't speeding. He thought to himself while he removed his driver's license and insurance card from his wallet.
He reached over and opened his glove box. He removed his car registration.
Sidney's eyes widened in panic when he saw a Chicago police officer at his door with a 9mm pistol aimed at him.
"Step out of the vehicle with your hands up," the police officer yelled from outside the car.
Jesse drove down the street and looked at his rearview mirror. He watched as Sidney stepped out of his Lexus and raised his arms in the air. "Worked like a charm," Jesse said then smiled at Rose. She looked proud of herself making Jesse happy.
"Sir, I wasn't speeding," Sidney told the officer with his arms in the air.
"Down on your stomach with your arms spread out," the officer yelled as he inched his 9mm Glock closer to Sidney.
Sidney almost pissed his pants as he got on his knees then got on his stomach. He spread out his arms; the second his stomach touched the street. He fought hard not to piss his pants.
Another police officer walked up and put his 9mm Glock in his holster. He removed his handcuffs off his belt. He slapped one on Sidney's left wrist then slapped the other one on Sidney's right wrist.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"
"Yes, but I don't know why I'm being arrested. I wasn't speeding and didn't do anything illegal. I swear," Sidney said with a stunned look.
"That's what they all say," one of the officers told Sidney.
A third police officer walked up to the other two police officers. "I found this under the passenger seat," he said then held up a plastic evidence bag with a one hundred bill inside.
Two of the police officers pulled a stunned Sidney up on his feet.
They walked him to one of their police cars.
They put him in the back seat.
Sidney thought he was in a nightmare when the officer closed the car door.
Twenty minutes later, Jesse, Frankie, and Rose broke into Sidney's first-floor apartment.
Rose and Frankie rummaged through Sidney's bedroom.
Clothes were dumped all over the floor.
Dresser drawers dumped on the floor.
A busted picture frame with broken glass was scattered all over the floor.
The rest of his bedroom looked like a hurricane came through.
Jesse sat at Sidney's computer desk in the living room.
He opened a desk drawer and rummaged through the items inside. He closed it.
He opened up another desk drawer and rummaged through it. He closed it.
He looked at the closed seventeen-inch MacBook Pro laptop. He opened it up and looked it over. He finally found the "On" button and pressed it. The laptop was up and ready in less than a minute.
It took Jesse five minutes, and he found Sidney's address book. Jesse turned on the printer and printed out the entire address book.
"I got it," he yelled out to Rose and Frankie who were in other areas of the apartment.
Three minutes later, Rose and Frankie entered the living room.
Jesse got up, and they left Sidney's apartment.
Sidney sat, scared and lonely in a small jail cell. He was in shock and couldn't figure out what happened to cause him to be arrested.
A police officer walked up to Sidney's jail cell. "You can make your phone call," the officer said while he unlocked Sidney's cell door. "Come with me," the officer instructed Sidney.
Sidney walked out of his cell and followed the office.
They walked past the many jail cells. "Hey, there sweet cheeks. Are you a virgin? I can change that," a heavily tattooed bald man said to Sidney as they walked by his cell.
Sidney was scared to death as he watched that creep blow him a kiss.
Sidney followed the officer to a phone on a wall at the end of the walkway. "You have one call," the officer told Sidney then walked about ten feet away and waited.
Sidney dialed a number. "Hello," Sidney's mother answered.
"Mom, this is Sidney," he said.
"Hello baby," what's going on?" she asked from the phone.
Sidney's lips quivered as he mustered up the courage to tell her. "I'm in big trouble," he told her as he refrained from crying.
"You need money?" she asked.
"No. I need an attorney," he said.
"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. Sidney's eyes welled up while he told her why he was arrested.
Jesse's GTO raced, about eighty miles per hour, south down Interstate I-57 in the left lane.
More than a month had passed down in Columbus, Georgia.
It was a hot, humid, and sticky July evening, and the distant boom of thunder filled the sky with a huge thunderstorm to the west.
Wally Spencer hadn't changed over the past ten years. He was still a skinny geek but now lived in an upscale apartment complex in Columbus called Ridgewood. His software engineer's job with the U.S. Army at Fort Benning had been a great source of income with the job security of being a civil servant. They never got laid off. He thought when he was offered the civil service position when he was at UIC.
Wally's apartment was clean and well organized. It was the same way Joey and Wall kept their dorm at UIC but was now furnished with expensive furniture. The Beatles song She Loves You played from a CD player in a bookcase in the living room. Near the bookcase is a computer desk with a twenty-four inch iMac computer.
In the kitchen, Wally prepared a salad in a bowl.
"It's you she's thinking of," he sang along with John Lennon.
Wally whistled the song and danced the salad bowl to the dining room and placed it on the table.
Wally danced to the living room where his college dorm Beatles poster hung on the wall next to the framed picture of Joey and the guys, taken by the professor on the day they left UIC, and a picture of Wally and his kid sister, Kathy – a biker chick near her Harley Wide Glide motorcycle.
Wally glanced at the picture of his college buddies.
They never had their every five-year reunion like they wanted, but stayed in touch by way of emails and other electronic means. But Joey did attend Wally's parent's funerals five years ago – the aftermath of a drunk driver on Interstate I-185.
"I finally got a hot woman," Wally told his pictured buddies. "And she's hot!"
Wally danced over and cranked up the Beatles tune on the CD player.
"She said she loves you," Wally sang along with John Lennon again, then whistled and danced his way back to the kitchen.
Unbeknownst to Wally, two Columbus police cars raced up to the outside of his apartment building. The cars screeched to a stop by Wally's Toyota Prius. Four police officers, one of them of massive size, jumped out of the cars and rushed up the stairs to Wally's second-floor apartment door.
At the far end of Wally's apartment complex parking lot, was parked Jesse's GTO.
Relaxed inside the driver's seat of the GTO was Jesse. Rose relaxed in the passenger seat, and Frankie relaxed in the back seat. They all drank Budweiser beer, the only beer Jesse will drink, munched on chips and watched, through the front windshield, as the police officers stood at Wally's apartment door.
Near Wally's apartment, he had very nosey neighbors. They're both in their mid-fifties and their whole life centered around spying on their neighbors. So, in their apartment, that woman and man peeked out their living room curtains watching the police officers at Wally's apartment.
Inside Jesse's GTO, Jesse, Rose, and Frankie watched with interest like they were watching an episode of Cops.
"And the show begins," Jesse said with a proud smile then takes a swig of Bud.
The police officers knocked on Wally's apartment door. "Columbus police officers," one of them yelled, as he knocked on Wally's door again. No response. The only thing heard was the She Loves You song that blared from Wally's apartment.
Inside his apartment, Wally sang while he lit some candles on the dining room table.
He walked over and dimmed the lights in the dining room, and it created a romantic atmosphere.
He glanced at his watch and smiled.
He waltzed over into the living room and turned off the Beatles song with his remote.
He heard someone while they knocked on his door, which caused Wally to get a huge smile. "I'm coming, Liz," as he danced to the door.
Outside his apartment door, the four police officers looked at each other, and they knew what this meant.
At a nearby apartment, the nosey man and woman peeked from behind their living room window.
"You're on Max," one officer informed the massive size officer, who nodded in agreement.
The massive size officer stepped back to the stair landing.
The other three officers removed their 9mm Glocks and got in position.
The massive officer rushed to the door.
Inside his apartment, Wally opened his apartment door just as the massive sized officer rushed inside.
The officer slammed into Wally with a thud, and they both tumbled to the floor.
Wally was pinned under the huge officer.
"Help! I can't breathe," Wally strained, as the officer's weight is too much for him to bear.
The other three officers rushed inside with their Glocks aimed to shoot.
They saw Wally squished under the massive officer. They chuckled as one of the officers placed his Glock back in his holster.
The other two officers stood guard while the massive officer got off Wally.
The massive officer and the other officer grabbed Wally by his shirt and turned him over on his stomach.
The massive officer kneed Wally in the middle of his back and Wally cringed with pain.
The other officer slapped a handcuff on Wally's right wrist then slapped the other handcuff on Wally's left wrist.
Wally looked stunned and confused as he cried out, "What did I do?" while they pulled him up on his feet.
"You know what you did!" replied one of the officers.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?" the officer said to Wally.
"Understand my rights? I think I have the right to know why I'm being arrested," Wally protested, as he was confused as to why he was being arrested.
"Come on, you know what you did. Don't play stupid with us," one of the officers commented. "No, I don't," Wally replied with a baffled look.
Inside Jesse's GTO, they all high-fived each other, as they stared at Wally's open apartment door and saw the officers with Wally.
"Great job, Rose," as Jesse leaned over the console and gave her a kiss on her cheek. She responded with an adoring smile.
"We have two down, and four to go, Jesse," Frankie commented from the backseat.
"The sweet smell of revenge," Jesse said as he rolled down his window and threw out his empty Bud bottle outside.
Rose and Frankie rolled down their windows and threw out their Bud bottles.
Jesse started up his GTO.
While he drove off, they watched Wally being escorted out of his apartment door by the police officers.
Jesse gave a cowboy yell as he slowly drove out of the parking lot.
The police officers escorted Wally down the stairs from his apartment.
While they escorted him to a police car, the sky opened up and dumped rain on them. They were soaked in seconds.
They rushed Wally into the backseat of one of the police cars.
Way off at the main road to the apartment complex Jesse's GTO roared down the street.
A police officer walked over from Wally's Prius to the other officers. "I found some evidence in the kid's car," the officer said as he showed them a plastic evidence bag with a one hundred dollar bill inside. It was under the passenger seat."
The officer looked proud, as they knew they caught the bank robber.
Later inside the Columbus police station, Wally looked stunned, as he sat at a desk while a female police officer typed up his arrest report. He could not figure out know how his life suddenly went down the toilet at the blink of an eye.
The officer stood up and motioned for Wally to follow her. Wally did.
She walked him over for his mug shot.
Wally looked scared to death as he stood in front of the mug shot canvas.
The female officer got behind the camera. She snapped Wally's mug shot.
Jesse's GTO raced down the I-75 south entrance ramp.
He squeezed his GTO into traffic on I-75 and cut off another driver. The driver blew his horn at Jesse's GTO.
He didn't care while he raced his GTO down I-75.
Inside the GTO, Jesse dialed a phone number that Rose read off the paper Jesse printed from Sidney's printer. He used a stolen cell phone from Chicago.
"Hello," Joey Austin answered.
"I need to speak to Ralph Moore," Jesse faked.
"I'm sorry, but you have the wrong number," Joey replied.
"My mistake," Jesse said then disconnected the call. He smiled, as the call wasn't his mistake.
Wally sat scared and alone on the jail cell floor, knees up with arms wrapped around them.
He looked around the cell that was furnished with a metal toilet, metal sink, and a metal bunk with a mattress that hundreds of other criminals slept on. I can't live here. He thought to himself.
He closed his eyes and recalled today's events and tried to figure out how he got himself into this trouble.
A police officer walked up to Wally's jail cell. "You can make your one phone call," the officer told Wally, as he unlocked the cell door. Wally got up off the floor, walked out of the cell.
Wally followed the officer to a phone at the end of the hallway. The officer waited while Wally punched in a phone number.
"Kathy, it's Wally. I'm in deep trouble and need your help," Wally said into the phone and looked scared to death down at the row of other jail cells where other criminals watched Wally with interest.
He looked pissed as it suddenly dawned on him what happened earlier today.
It was the next afternoon in Orlando, Florida.
Jesse pulled his GTO into "Orange Seed Motel, which was a small one-story motel with about thirty rooms way off on the West side of Orlando. The motel was in bad need of a paint job, but it looked cheap.
Jesse backed his GTO into a parking spot out of view of the office.
"Go get a room for about five days," he ordered Rose.
"Okay baby," she said, then leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.
"I'm fucking tired," Frankie said from the backseat. "I could use some Buds," he added.
"I'll have Rose get us some as soon as we get settled in the room," Jesse said.
From his GTO, they watched Rose as she walked to the office.
Rose entered the office where a creepy skinny male desk clerk with long thin greasy hair sat behind the counter. He read the latest issue of Hot Rod magazine.
He looked up at Rose and smiled, as she was the hottest girl that had entered this hotel in years.
"How may I help you?" the clerk said with a horny tone in his mine. Nasty thoughts of her flooded his head like a hurricane while he glanced up and down Rose's body.
"I need a room for myself," she replied with a sexy smile and could sense he had the hots for her. She couldn't care as she always used this to her advantage.
"Of course you do," he said as he glanced at her from head to toe.
"And I really would like a room all the way down the end of your building. I love my privacy," she said with a cute smile. "If you know what I mean," she added with a coy smile.
"I aim to please my fair lady. That will be thirty-five dollars a night," the clerk said while more nasty thoughts of her playing with herself alone in the room.
Rose tried to multiply five times thirty-five in her head, but couldn't do it.
"I need it for five nights. How much will that cost me? And please, don't break my checking account," she said and moved a little closer and gave her the sweetest eyes she could muster.
"I don't know why I can't give you a break," he said then added up the amount with his calculator. "How about one hundred and fifty dollars?" he asked.
Rose reached in her pants pocket and removed some cash. She counted out one hundred and fifty dollars and handed it to him.
He grabbed the cash and handed Rose the key. "Room thirty," he said with a horny grin.
"Thank you," Rose said with a sexy smile then turned around.
The clerk watched as Rose walked to the door and left. He wanted her so bad.
Rose walked down the front porch that housed all the rooms.
She walked to Room 30.
She opened the room and walked inside.
Jesse looked around. The coast was clear.
He drove his GTO to the parking spot in front of Room 30.
He backed his car into the spot so his Illinois tags would not be visible from the street. He turned it off.
He and Frankie got out of the GTO.
Jesse and Frankie rushed over to the rear of his GTO.
He unlocked his trunk, reached inside, and removed a duffel bag.
He closed the trunk.
They rushed over, with the duffel bag, and entered Room 30. Jesse closed the door.