“No,” Harris remarks.
“Peter, can we?—”
“Stop!” Peter hisses at me as he moves to follow Harris. “Just suck it up, okay?”
Shoulder to shoulder, Peter and Harris walk toward the gas station and vanish through the front door while the other Volto hands me a set of car keys without saying a word. Then he turns and walks toward the vehicles, and after a single moment of debate, I follow.
How did I end up here again? When I said I’d never see Harris again, I meant it, but here we are. My stomach writhes like a nest of snakes has taken up residence there and my heart beats painfully slowly in my chest. All this stress is surely shortening my life span, but I’m at a loss for what to do.
Reaching my designated car, I watch the other Volto slip into his and shut the door, leaving me to the cool, quiet silence of the late-night air.
My argument with Peter leaves me on edge. Time and time again, I’ve fought to get him help for his addictions, but no matter how much progress we make, we somehow always slide right back to where we are. Now I have to drive to an unknownlocation with Harris and hope this really is the end of it all. As I slump into the driver’s seat, my heart starts to race.
Harris splitting Peter and me up again has to be for a reason, and it unsettles me. He already knows I’ll do anything for my brother, so is there something else he’s going to demand of me while holding my brother’s life over me? And if he does, will it be worth it when Peter’s out here acting like I’m the unreasonable one?
As I mull it over, Bradley’s card suddenly pops into my head and I yearn to be back in bed tracing those gold swirls until I fall asleep.
Wait… Bradley.
Could he be my ticket out of this?
He told me to call the next time we were going to rob somewhere, but that clearly isn’t going to happen. But if he’s someone linked to what happened to the rest of our group, would I just be drawing the Grim Reaper right to my doorstep?
If so, maybe I can work out a deal. I don’t care for the diamonds or the gems or any of the shit we’ve stolen. I just want to get my life back with my brother, and a car full of gemstones should give me enough to bargain with that man.
I hope.
Slipping my phone out of my pocket, I type a quick text saying there are no more jobs, but we’re moving the diamonds. When it comes to putting in Bradley’s number, I freeze. I don’t have his card with me, and replaying the number in my head trips me up on the last digit.
It was a two… or a seven. Was it two? Maybe a seven? Both look right in my mind even as I replay tracing the gold letters with my eyes.
Shit.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I glimpse Harris and Peter exiting the gas station, both wearing their respective masks. The urgency of Harris approaching my car after patting my brother on the shoulder has me typing in the two and hitting send, then shoving my phone back in my pocket. If it’s wrong, then it doesn’t matter.
It’s not like I’ll be able to reply to a text or call with Harris in the car.
The car door opens, and Harris slips inside. He leans forward and taps the screen of the GPS until a route flashes up on the screen. The car next to us revs its engine, then pulls away with my brother inside, and my heart starts to pound.
Grow up, he told me.
Bastard.
Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for him, and he has the nerve to throw it all back in my face.
“Drive,” Harris barks, his voice twisted by the mask’s tech.
“You can’t see it, but I’m rolling my eyes right now,” I reply bitterly as I start the car. At the exit of the gas station, our route takes us left while my brother’s car goes right, sending a shiver down my spine as I watch his vehicle get smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.
“Where are they going?” I ask as we pull onto the highway. “My brother, where are you sending him?”
“They have their own instructions,” Harris replies. “Just drive.”
“Where are we going?”
“Shit, your brother was right. Do you ever stop asking fucking questions?”
“Excuse me for trying to understand this a bit better. You drag me and my brother out of bed at shit o’clock in the morning and force us into helping you rescue your fucking diamonds…” I shake my head with a deep sigh, channeling all my panic into anger. “Do you have something on him?”
