I'm a fool to kill you

FIFTY-ONE

Jerry drove us to the warehouse building where we had found a body in the dumpster during the Ocean’s 11 — what should I call it? Caper? Case? How about. . adventure?

He pulled into the abandoned parking lot, and I wondered if the other car would be so obvious as to follow us. They did. Apparently they didn’t care if we knew they were following.

‘What now?’ Ava asked. ‘We drive around the parking lot?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘just around the building.’

‘Gotcha, Mr G.’

Jerry accelerated around the side of the building, the other car following. Jerry kept going, turned around the back wall, then braked and put the car into reverse. The tires had squealed as we drove around the building. When they came around the back wall we were coming at them, backwards.

I watched through the back windshield as Ava covered her head. The other car’s driver’s eye went wide and he slammed on his brakes. Jerry did the same, but he tapped ours. He wanted there to be contact, and there was. . just enough to jar the two men in the other car.

The three of us had braced ourselves, so damage from the impact was negligible.

‘Stay in the car!’ I shouted to Ava.

Jerry was out, and I got out a split second later. The men in the other car threw a monkey wrench into our plans by recovering more quickly than they should have. They weren’t out of the car but had guns in their hands — big ones.

‘Get down, Mr G.!’ Jerry yelled.

If I got down that would have left Jerry to face the two armed men alone. I remained on my feet.

The man in the driver’s seat aimed at Jerry without even opening his door. He was going to fire through the windshield. Same with the second man, only he was aiming at me. We weren’t going to get a chance to ask these assholes anything.

I raised my little gun to fire, but Jerry was much quicker on the trigger.

Jerry fired four times. There was no point in doing less, not when two men were intent on killing you. I’d learned that much from him.

The windshield starred, the cracks traveled to both ends, but it remained in place.

Jerry ran to the driver’s door, yanked it open and pointed his gun. I did the same on the passenger side. Both men were dead.

‘Sorry, Mr G.,’ Jerry said.

‘For what?’ We looked at each other through the car.

‘Killin’ ’em before we could talk to them,’ he said. ‘But they were pros. . sort of. They had their guns out already.’

‘Sort of pros?’

He straightened and we looked at each other over the car.

‘If they were real good they wouldn’t have followed us into the parking lot,’ he said. ‘They woulda known somethin’ was up by then.’

I leaned on the car. Jerry reached in and took out their guns, just in case. He set them on top of the car. 45’s, like his.

‘We gotta go through their pockets,’ he said.

‘I know.’

‘I’ll do it if-’

‘No,’ I said. ‘I’ve got mine.’

We both leaned back into the car and relieved the bodies of their wallets and whatever else was in their pockets. We left the change. We’d look the stuff over later. I was about to withdraw from the car when I noticed the right hand of the passenger. He wore a silver ring with a snake on it.

‘Jerry.’

‘Yeah?’

‘His hand. The ring.’

‘Yeah?’

‘These are the two guys who put the cab driver in the hospital.’

‘That’s not good,’ he said.

He walked away from the car. I started to, but at the last minute took the ring from the dead guy’s hand and put it in my pocket.

‘What about the trunk?’ I asked.

‘It’s a rental, but there’s no harm,’ he said.

He pushed the driver’s wallet and things across the top of the car toward me, then grabbed the keys from the ignition and we opened the trunk. It was empty as a rental car’s trunk should be. No luggage, no nothing, just a spare and a jack.

Jerry slammed the trunk.

‘I’ll check the back and then we gotta get out of here,’ he said.

‘Right.’

He opened the back door and searched the back seat, sliding his hands into the cushions. Nothing.

‘That’s it,’ he said.

We turned back to the Caddy, and Jerry looked down at where it had come in contact with the other car.

‘Sorry, Mr G.’

‘We can get it fixed.’

‘Then let’s get out of here.’

As we walked back to the car Ava opened the back window and asked, ‘Can I get out now?’

‘No!’ we both shouted.