That was when my cel phone rang.
I knew it wasn’t smart.
Ike, Vance, Bobby and Matt were al in the other room, not to mention Tex and Duke. I had so much protection, it was an army of protection. I could have walked in there, I could have asked, I could have taken the risk.
But I didn’t. The risk was too great.
The risk was Lottie.
See, my phone said, “Lottie cal ing”.
I flipped it open and the minute I put it to my ear, Vince said, “Got your sister. You don’t want what’s supposed to happen to you to happen to her, you meet me in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven on Louisiana and Pearl. No tail, no protection, right now. Got me?”
Disconnect.
Fuck.
Fuck, f**k, f**k.
At that point in my life, I was beyond worrying about the f-word.
I stood in the kitchen and wasted two seconds deciding.
Then I grabbed Blanca’s keys that were on the countertop and hightailed it out the backdoor.
Blanca parked in the back drive, next to the garage. I saw her do it when she came back with the groceries. She drove a silver Honda Accord, it was newish and it was nice and I real y hoped she didn’t mind me stealing it. I hoped more that I’d be alive to find out.
The 7-Eleven on Louisiana and Pearl was less than a five minute drive away but I stil made it in record time.
I pul ed in, there were a bunch of cars in the parking lot and I saw one at the end with people sitting in it, Lottie’s blonde hair visible.
I got out, pocketed the keys and walked to it.
Vince got out too, dragging Lottie across the driver’s seat with him. She was pale and trembling visibly, eyes wide, hands obviously cuffed or tied behind her back.
“Jet, you shouldn’t…” she started.
I was within reaching distance. Lottie was shoved forward before she could finish. My arm was grabbed and I was pushed into the car through the driver’s side. This al happened in seconds, I didn’t even make a noise.
I could see Lottie was on her knees and struggling to get up without the use of her arms. Vince had the car idling and we rocketed out of the 7-Eleven parking lot so fast, he narrowly missed her.
He drove like a crazy man and I held on for dear life but stil had my head together enough to check and see if I could open the door and throw myself out of the car. I didn’t figure it would kil me, it would hurt but would leave less mental scars than what Vince had planned.
There was no handle and no lock.
Wonderful.
I could throw myself at him, force an accident, but I wasn’t buckled in and an accident, at the speed he was driving, might kil me so that idea was out the window.
I decided to try to talk my way out of it.
“Vince…”
That’s al I got out. He whacked me with the back of his hand against my mouth and I immediately tasted blood.
Guess talking was out too.
I decided to wait for my opportunity. There had to be one, there just had to.