140Story - Day 61

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap
       Sorry this installment is late, I've been busy. 

poured me my first two fingers of Scotch.  A good bartender knew when to shut up, and Scully was a hundred different kinds of good.
    I drained another one dry and set it carefully on the bar.  In my other hand I held the thumb drive Kelly had slipped me, turning it over and over.  It was a talisman, holding secrets I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
    I couldn’t go back to my place, Telrik had it wired like a switchboard, and since it had been dark for a while I was pretty sure the public library was closed
    “Hey Scully,” I called out, my slurred words surprising me.  I was pretty hammered after all.  “You got a computer around here?”

I blinked, and tried to focus on the screen.  Scully kept his computer in his office, as dark

140Story - Day 60

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

I lost my edge.  Telrik was in my head now, making me doubt every decision.  It’s what they intended, of course, and I knew it.  But knowing didn’t make the doubt any less real.

I found my nerve at the bottom of a glass.  I sat in Scully’s, I didn’t know what time it was and I didn’t particularly care.  After I downed three shots within ten minutes of sitting down Scully had been rationing me.  I wasn’t cut off - not completely anyway - but Scully was keeping me from the kind of blackout drunk I thought I needed.
    He did his bartender chores a few feet away, leaving me to my silence.  When I walked through his door hours and hours ago he hadn’t asked me any questions, he just greeted me with a nod and coarse ‘Hey, Lily,’ and

140Story - Day 59

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

against using you as bait.  It’s dishonorable to a former colleague.”
    “But you did it anyway.”
    He shrugged again.  “Nature of the business.  I think you’ll probably hear from Burton sooner rather than later.  Let him know we haven’t forgotten about him.”
    “I haven’t either,” I muttered.
    For a moment it looked like Michaels might offer to shake hands.  He thought better of it.  “Good luck, Lily.”
    “Go to Hell.”
    With a wave he took his leave.  I glanced up at the security cameras, knowing that Telrik was far from done with following me.  If I was going to find out what was on the thumb drive Kelly slipped me, I’d need to slip them entirely.
    Problem was, I thought I’d been free from them this entire time.  But they’d played me.  Played me good.  I lost my nerve.

140Story - Day 58

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

keep their cool, but one by one they all turned to look.
    Kelly talked to the two men in suits, and cast a glance over his shoulder at me.  The men nodded and led him off.  The remaining Telrik stooges in the bus station abandoned all pretense and cleared out, almost a quarter of the people inside.  One of them approached me, pulling back a cotton hoodie and peeling off a false mustache.  He was heavyset, dark, and pale.
    “Michaels,” I hissed, unable to disguise the hatred in my voice.  “Or whatever your real name is.”
    “Sorry for all the subterfuge,” he said, and didn’t seem sorry in the least, “but when we deal with multiple assets its best to maintain distance from the company.”
    “He’ll never cooperate,” I said.
    Michaels shrugged.  “He already has.  For the record, I argued

140Story - Day 57

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

go of my hand.  “I’m going to let them have me.”
    “Surrender?” I gasped.  That wasn’t like Kelly at all.
    “I didn’t say that.”
    He stood slowly, jutting his chin towards the front door.  Two men stood outside, both in suits, both looking as out of place as a tiger at the South Pole.  Kelly’s eyes scanned the bus station, and each time he spotted a Telrik stooge he nodded.  I was gratified to see my count matched his.
    He took my hand again and squeezed.  “See you on the other side, sweetie.”
    As he walked to the front door I pocketed the thumb drive he’d slipped me.  That was Kelly, always two steps ahead.
    The two Telrik stooges at the door couldn’t disguise their surprise when Kelly presented himself to them.  The others in the bus station tried to

140Story - Day 56

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

did have my back.  All it took was for Telrik to wait long enough, for me to let my guard down enough, to get an opening.  One small gap in my attention to exploit.  They took what they got and ran with it, full speed.
    “I’m sorry,” I said.  I meant it with all my heart.
    Kelly smiled his sad little smile and clasped my hand in his.  “It’s all right, Lily.  Hiding out was only prolonging the inevitable.  Better to take action than keep on the way I was.”
    I wanted to cry.  But I didn’t.  “I don’t think they’ll come in here.  Too many witnesses.”
    “But with all these cameras they’ll be able to follow us anywhere,” Kelly said.  He glanced at the ceiling.  “You can bet they’ll have drones everywhere.”
    “So what do we do?”
    Kelly let

140Story - Day 55

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

was covered with them.  Not an inch of the station was outside camera range.  Not even the spot where I had taken cover.
    “They’ve been playing me for weeks.”  I felt like an idiot.  “Michaels is Telrik.  Has to be.”
    I looked to Kelly for reassurance, for his measured assessment that I was wrong.  He was nodding.  “It’s the only answer.  They’re pushing me out into the open.  One way or another.”
    “And you’re letting them?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from him.
    Kelly only nodded again, then checked the doors.
    “But they’ve been after you for two years,” I hissed.  “Why are you doing this now?”
    “Because you finally took their bait,” he said with a sad, resigned smile.  “They knew there was no way I’d let you get caught in the middle all alone.”
    He always

140Story - Day 54

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap
 
to get to the bus station from here?”

I did.  We parked three blocks away - illegally - and walked in through the back of the station, where the passengers got on board.  The place smelled like exhaust and stale crackers and people at the end of their rope.  We belonged.
    “He’s got dark hair, heavyset, kind of pale,” I said softly.  “Looked like he might need glasses but he wasn’t wearing any when we talked.”
    Tense as an overwound spring, Kelly scanned the lounge, nodding slightly.  “He and I have met.”
    Oh no.  I retreated, ducking behind a vending machine and putting my back to the wall.
    In a moment Kelly was by my side, concern and suspicion in his eyes.  “What’s up?”
    “You never said you knew him,” I craned my neck, scanning the room for...
    Surveillance cameras.  The place

140Story - Day 53

 I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

weasels like Burton?
    I didn’t let him see my pain, I just nodded as if that were the answer I’d been expecting all along.
    My phone beeped and a text scrolled across the screen.
    ‘Clr. M33t @ bus stn. I find u.’
    Kelly read it with me, and frowned.  “So we just trust him?  What if he leads Telrik right to us?”
    Being cautious is always good.  But there are times prudence veers far into paranoia’s territory.  I had a feeling Kelly’s had been living there for the past two years.
    “Do you know how to get to the embezzled money?” I asked.
    Kelly nodded.  “But the second I do, Telrik will hand the whole thing over to the Feds.  And I’m screwed.”
    “I’m pretty sure Michaels can get around that.”
    Kelly considered this for a few moments.  “You know how

140Story - Day 52

I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

the city.
    Minutes ticked by and we sat quietly.  The sun went down and we didn’t say a word.  No one was following, it seemed.  We had given them the slip.  I hoped.
    From time to time I looked over at Kelly.  He was too thin, and even a lengthy shower hadn’t cleaned him up completely.  He looked more homeless than undercover.  But the man I once knew was in there, not too far below the surface.
    “Why didn’t you get in touch?” I asked, after hours of silence.
    Kelly pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and considered his words.  “I wasn’t sure.”
    “About me?”
    He nodded and my heart broke all over again.  How could he think I would ever be a part of the Telrik machine?  How could he put me in the same category as corporate

140Story - Day 51

I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

jackass in a tinted-window sports car pulling into a handicapped spot up front.  Ten seconds after that to slip the paper printed circuit into the space between the window and the door, and we were off.
    Yes, Telrik would eventually swarm the car, especially if he stayed put for a long time.  But then he shouldn’t have parked in a handicapped spot.  Karma.
    I spent two hours doing everything I knew to throw a tail, aside from stealing another car.  If Telrik were following us without benefit of that tracking circuit switching cars would do no good.
    Finally, after exhausting and meticulous work, I backed into an empty patch of asphalt between two dumpsters in an alley in Southtown.  If Telrik still was on us they’d have to come at us from the front, through the worst neighborhood in

140Story - Day 50

I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

taken care of the phone.  But I still had the pictures Telrik had given me.  In my purse.  I handed the envelope to Kelly, who ran his fingers along every seam.  He pulled the bottom fold down, revealing a flash of tiny circuitry, printed on paper.  New tech, something I wasn’t familiar with.
    “Gotta admit, that’s some clever thinking,” he said.  “They gave you this two days ago?”
    I nodded.  My face burned hot with embarrassment.  They’d gotten me.  From the very beginning.
    “That’s a long con,” Kelly muttered.  “What do we do with it?”
    My first thought was to ditch it.  Crumple it into a useless ball and toss it into the gutter.  But I had a better second thought.

It took all of ten minutes to find a busy supermarket parking lot.  Five more minutes to find the

140Story - Day 49

Oops, I missed a day.  Sorry, I was distracted.

  I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

left, then took my foot off the gas.  Kelly now held my phone, staring at it, waiting for the next instruction.
    ‘UR bng followed.  Lose them,’
    I checked my mirrors.  Nothing.  I looked left, right, up, down, and Kelly did too.
    “Where?” Kelly muttered.
    “Doesn’t matter,” I said, slamming the pedal to the metal.  “We evade.”
    The force of acceleration tossed Kelly backwards, and he landed with a grunt.  I took a left, a right, sped up and slowed down.  Doubled back.  Everything I knew to expose a tail and nothing worked.
    “What if they don’t have to follow us?”  Kelly muttered as he stared out the back window.
    “You mean a tracker?” I snapped.  “We only stole this car a couple of hours ago, how would they...”
    “Your phone?” Kelly’s voice was a whisper.
    I shook my head, I’d

140Story - Day 48

  I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

‘Rdy 2 tlk? Rply 1 ltr. -M’
    Kelly gave me a hard stare.  If I were him I’d have been suspicious too.
    “I think it’s from Michaels,” I offered, holding out the phone to him.
    “We need his help,” Kelly replied, more to himself than to me.  “Reply with a ‘Y.’”
    I did.
    Nothing happened, though I thought something would.  Even Kelly looked around, as if he were expecting someone to emerge immediately from the shadows.
    When the phone beeped again, it startled me so much I nearly dropped it.
    ‘S on Shoreline.  L at second light.’
    Kelly craned his neck to see.  “This street is Shoreline.  Don’t tell me that bastard already knows exactly where we are.”
    “That’s why he makes the big bucks,” I said as I pointed the car South.
    At the second light I took a

140Story - Day 47

  I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

you’re never entirely certain if you’re being tracked.  You can spot a person, or a car, or even a drone if you pay close attention.  But if they’re tracking your cell, or monitoring your logins... the person doing the tracking doesn’t even have to be in the same country.
    We ditched the stolen car once we were miles out of Downtown, and promptly stole another.  When we were miles past that point we ditched it and stole a third car.  That was the one we drove back into town.  I hoped the entire exercise wasn’t being monitored in some operations center.  Backed into an abandoned lot in the industrial district; we’d run out of places to hide.
    My cell beeped, an odd warble I’d never heard before.  It was a text, from a number I didn’t know.  It read

140Story - Day 46

  I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

probably a college student, lugged bags of groceries from an open car door to his low-rent apartment.  The car was still running.
    In a matter of seconds I was behind the wheel and Kelly was in the passenger seat.  I drove off slowly, calmly, as if we were just out for a drive instead of committing grand theft.
    Kelly turned and scanned the road behind us.  “No tail.”
    “Not in a car or truck, no,” I said.  I’d been scanning my rear-view too.  “What if they’ve got eyes on the buildings?  Or drones?”
    He sighed and slumped in the seat.  “This sucks when you don’t have back-up.”
    I nodded.  “You ever hear of a tech guy named Michaels?”
    Kelly gave me a hard stare.  “Yeah.  How do you know him?”

The problem with modern electronic surveillance is

140Story - Day 45

  I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

guys are with Telrik or Burton.”
    “What if there’s no difference?” I asked.  “What if Telrik is using Burton to get the money back?”
    The idea took Kelly a moment to process.  “I never thought of that.”
    Hugging the wall, Kelly moved for the other end of the alley, pistol in hand.  I followed with my own pistol drawn, scanning above and behind us.  It was like the old days, me and Kelly against the world.
    “Can you still hotwire a car?” Kelly asked softly.
    “Older models are better,” I said, “quicker.  But, yeah, pretty much.”
    Crouching, he eased one eye around the corner.  Turning back, he had a smile on his face.  “Suppose I found you one with the keys still in it?”
    We both concealed our weapons and emerged from the alley.  Not thirty feet away some kid,

140Story - Day 44

  I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap
 
the ground.  Kelly turned right, I turned left and kicked another agent as he flicked the switch on his radio.  I jabbed two fingers into his throat and grabbed the radio.  Kelly took out his second stooge with a series of incredibly vicious liver punches and an eye gouge.  Kelly played to win, not to be noble.
    We weren’t out of the building more than fifteen seconds and we had taken three of them out.  The element of surprise was gone now, and I could feel eyes on me as I followed Kelly across the street and into an alley.  He ducked behind a dumpster, breathing hard.
    “No shots fired,” he said.
    “You think they’re going for recovery?”
    He ran a hand across his lips, his eyes darting from one end of the alley to the other.  “Depends if these

140Story - Day 43

  I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

out.”
    “Fire escape is too slow,” I said.  “We’d be sitting ducks.”
    Kelly’s eyebrows raised.  “Drain pipe?”
    I shrugged.  “Only other option’s the front door.”
    Kelly thought for a moment.  “If you were them, would you expect us to use the front door?”

Kelly went first.  He always went first.  It wasn’t chivalry, he didn’t trust anyone else to take point, but he did trust me with his back.
    The stairway was empty, but there were shadows out the building’s front door that shouldn’t have been there.  Kelly tapped me twice and raised three fingers.  Two. One.
    Kelly tugged the door open, catching a Telrik stooge by surprise.  Before the man could touch his radio or reach for his gun Kelly punched him square in the jaw.  I saw the man’s eyes flutter, he was out cold before he hit

140Story - Day 42

  I'm writing a story 140 words at a time and posting the results here daily.  Can I sustain interest?  Will I lose the narrative thread?  Find out in this next installment of Bullets Ain't Cheap

so I’d keep quiet.”
    “And you’ve never touched a penny of it?”
    Kelly shook his head.  He was as stubborn as they come.
    “So why is Burton coming after you now?”
    “His father’s dead,” Kelly explained.  “A few weeks ago.  Not job related, he’d been in the hospital for a few months.”
    “And Burton wants your share,” I said.
    Kelly nodded slowly.
    There was some movement on the street, not part of the regular ebb and flow.  Nothing I could put my finger on, but my interest was enough to send Kelly to the door leading to the rooftop.
    “What’s going on?”
    “Not sure,” I said slowly.  I counted three vans.  Which was three more than I had ever seen on the street before.  “I think they made us.”
    “Two shadows on the building across the way,” Kelly said.  “Rooftop’s