Blacktop Wasteland(74)

“You think you slick, don’t you, Ronnie?” Beauregard said.

When they had scoped out the rendezvous spot Beauregard had noticed a few houses up the road a piece. A few trailers and some single-story ranchers. Most of the homes had cars sitting in the driveway. A few of them even had garages.

Red Hill was six hours away. Depending on what kind of vehicle he boosted and how much fuel was in it, he could make it and only have to stop once for gas. He had a little over $200 in cash on him. That had him hitting Red Hill around eight, give or take an hour. He could have Kia and the boys out of town by nine. Boonie could patch up his wounds. Then he could deal with Mr. Ronnie Sessions and Mr. Lazy Mothersbaugh.

Beauregard walked across the meadow. He slipped among the pines like a wraith and headed north.



* * *



There was a paucity of cars on the road as Ronnie crossed the state line into Virginia. Reggie had reclined the seat and drifted off to sleep. He hadn’t spoken a word since they had come down off the hill.

“Hey, you hungry?” he asked Reggie.

“No,” Reggie said.

“You gonna be like this all day?”

“Like what?”

“Sitting there like the goddamn Sphinx.”

“I just keep thinking about that day we went by Bug’s house when he pulled a gun on you. Put the barrel right up against your guts. He was willing to kill you in front of his wife and kids for coming by his house without calling. I keep wondering what he gonna do to us for killing his homeboy,” Reggie said.

“First, if I had known you was gonna keep talking that shit, I wouldn’t have said nothing to you. Second, Beauregard is dead,” Ronnie said.

“You sure he dead? Did you go down that hill and make sure his neck was broke? Oh, wait, I know the answer to that,” Reggie said.

“You know what? Shut up. Go back to sleep,” Ronnie said.

Reggie shifted in the seat and turned his head to the door. Ronnie pushed a button on the radio, but nothing happened. He stared straight ahead trying to ignore what Reggie had said.

“I got him. I know I got him.”

Reggie started laughing.

“Oh, you know you got him? Do you? I’ll tell you what I know. I know that you double-crossing Bug and that Lazy guy done killed us. You know that, right? You’ve fucking killed us. Bug is gonna come for us. He’ll come for us and he’ll kill us like cockroaches. And if he don’t, then Lazy and his boys will. We are so fucking fucked,” Reggie said. He crossed his arms and stared out the window.

“Reggie, that’s not going to happen. Trust me.”

“Trust you? Quan trusted you. Kelvin trusted you. Bug trusted you. Shit, Jenny trusted you. How’d that turn out for them?” Reggie said. Ronnie put his hand on Reggie’s knee.

“They weren’t my brother. Look, even if I didn’t get him he probably broke his neck rolling down that hill.”

“You always say trust you but you always just making shit up as you go along,” Reggie said in a voice as placid as a frozen lake.

“Did you want to go back to being poor white trash? Huh? This van is carrying twenty-eight rolls of platinum. Bug said every roll is ten pounds. Even if we get fifty cents on the dollar that’s enough money to get us out of Virginia and set up somewhere where every road ends up at the beach,” Ronnie said. Reggie didn’t respond.

“He was going to give it all away, Reggie. All of it. Three million dollars’ worth of second chances just gone,” Ronnie said. Reggie moved Ronnie’s hand off his knee.

“We always gonna be trash, Ronnie. Money ain’t gonna change that,” Reggie said. Ronnie opened his mouth to offer a rebuttal to Reggie’s assertion but none was forthcoming. The truth had a strange way of ending an argument.



* * *



They drove in silence for a few miles. Ronnie opened his mouth to say something to get Reggie’s mind off their current situation when the burner phone started vibrating in his pocket. Ronnie almost ran off the side of the road. Why were they calling so soon? He checked his watch. It was a little after five in the morning.

“That’s them, ain’t it?” Reggie asked.

“Nah, it’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” Ronnie said. Sweat spilled across his forehead like an oil slick.

“You better answer it.”

“Shut up, just let me think, okay?” Ronnie said. The phone continued to vibrate. Ronnie drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. The phone stopped vibrating. Then almost immediately it started again. Finally, Ronnie reached in his pocket and answered it.

“Hey.”

“Rock and Roll. I thought you was ignoring me. You almost hurt my feelings. Where’s the van? My man say Shade is pretty pissed it didn’t make it to Winston-Salem. He asking the boys that was guarding it what happened but he don’t much like they answers. He pulling they teeth out until he gets some answers he do like.” Lazy chuckled. “Now I’ve gotta say, you boys keep impressing me, but weren’t you supposed to call me when the deal was done? I thought we had an understanding,” Lazy said. Ronnie let that last sentence hang in the air for a beat before he answered.

“Here’s the thing. That fella Beauregard? He stole the van.”

“I know that. That’s what I told y’all to do,” Lazy said.