seen them parked out front of the plant. Someone would put it together if their bodies were found out there, wouldn’t they?
Ron glanced at the two of them in his rearview mirror. What the hell were they doing? You never knew what kind of idiocy the two of them were engaged in. He didn’t really want to get out in the heat now that his air conditioning was finally cooling things off, but they were just sitting there and he wanted to get home and relax. Finally, Ron opened the door and went back to the car.
They just sat there watching him until he was all the way up to the side of the car. Then Eli rolled down the window, looked up at him and said, “Hey man, we gotta talk.”
“Really?” Ron glared down at them. “I thought we were out for a fucking picnic.” The two of them just stared up at him like a couple of children. “Well?”
“Man, we gotta talk about the operation. About the money. There’s no way we can make a hundred grand that fast.” Eli felt like he should get out of the car, but he was safer behind the wheel, where he could drive away if he had to. Ron looked exasperated, like he looked the day they picked up the hitchhiker.
“Christ. Just do the math for crying out loud. You two lazy sons of bitches just need to get off your asses. Stop sitting on the couch, polishing your goddamned bong all day. That’s the problem.”
“No, man, you don’t understand. We’d have to make two trips a day to even have a chance at something like that. There’s just no way we can do that. What if one of the trucks breaks down? Besides, it’ll look funny. It might draw attention.”
“How many trucks a day go into that place? Huh? No one is ever going to notice you two showing up twice.”
“Look man, we just need to cool it a little.” Eli hesitated at the thought of mentioning the hitchhiker. Then he added. “Man, some guy found a leg out in the desert and the cops are onto it. We gotta be cool about things. We can’t go stirring shit up.”
“Oh Jesus Christ, you two lazy assholes need to focus for five minutes on getting some goddamned work done and maybe this whole thing will be over. Both so stoned all the time it’s amazing you two can remember to wipe your asses.” Ron stood with his hand on his hips, hunching over to peer into the car, ready to scold them no matter what they said.
Finally, Eddie got out on the other side and looked over the roof at the red faced Italian. “All we’re saying man, is we think you went too far with that kid. Now the cops have found him and they might figure shit out if we’re not careful. We need to ease into this thing before we get too carried away.”
“Let me tell you two little fuckers something. If I don’t start seeing a return on my investment, you’re going to think I handled that hitchhiker with kid gloves. You ain’t seen nothing. Frankly, I don’t care where you get the money, but two weeks from today you’ll either hand me a hundred grand, or I’ll beat the both of you until one of you shits it. Are we clear?”
Eli ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “Man, who the hell are you? What is your fucking problem?”
Ron had had enough. He was supposed to leave the other one alone, but Eli was fair game. He reached into the car, turned the key off, took hold of Eli by the hair and shirt and dragged him from the car through the open window flopping him out into the dirt. Before Eddie could even see what was happening, Ron was kicking Eli in the ribs and rolling him across the road, screaming at him the entire time. “Listen you little bitch. Never mind who I am.” With each word Ron would send another kick into Eli’s crumpled body and roll him over in the sand. “You little cocksuckers are really starting to piss me off.”
Ron stood over Eli and watched him writhe in the dust. Eli stared up at him out of one eye, but all he could see was a massive silhouette against the bright sky. Eddie watched the whole thing from where he stood, feeling safe somehow with the car between