The Hitman’s Phone – Chapter V

V. The Retrace

It hurt to open his eyes but Tony knew he needed to open them.

“Hon,” he heard a woman’s voice say from somewhere in the distance. Was it an angel? He couldn’t say for certain but he guessed that if he were, in fact, dead there would be no angels greeting him.

“Tony,” he heard the voice again. It was a familiar voice. It was his wife’s voice.

He opened his eyes and sat up but wished he hadn’t done either.

“Hey there,” she smiled a comforting smile. “How are you doing?”

At the moment, he wasn’t sure. He had no idea where they were or what was going on. “Where are we?” he asked hoarsely.

“We are at the hotel,” she went to the bathroom mirror to finish getting ready.

“Hotel?” he asked.

“The garage called and said they fixed our car. We can go pick it up and take it to the dealership.”

“Car? Dealership?” he couldn’t help but repeat the words that seemed to be key in her sentence. Car. Dealership. Truck. It was starting to come back to him now. Job. Gun. Car. Garage. It was all coming back to him quickly. Phone. Job. Gun. “What day is it?”

“Day?” she asked.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Jackson brought you here about 11:00pm last night. You were already out of it.” She bit her bottom lip. “He gave you some fool prove, didn’t he?”

He closed his eyes and thought. “There were three shot glasses…”

She walked over to him and put her arm around him. “I am so sorry. So much for being afraid of me. He used to pull that stunt with all my boyfriends I brought home. He called it a truth serum. When you drink it you can’t help but tell the truth.”

Tony felt his face go pale. “What?”

She smiled and kissed his check. “Relax, you passed the test. He said all you talked about was starting a family with me.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. It would be embarrassing to be undone by a homemade truth serum moonshine.

“He gave that concoction to high schoolers?”

She scrunched her nose and nodded.

“I am getting a clearer picture of your family and why you left home.”

“Yeah, well, judging by the state you came home in, I’d say he has enhanced it.”

Tony brought his hand up to his face and rubbed his forehead. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.”

“Oh, then maybe it is the same stuff,” she said and went back to the mirror. “Anyway, the garage called. We need to go pick up the car and drop it off at the dealership.”

The car. His gun. This would be day four. Still within the cushion time but he was feeling a bit disoriented. He needed to get his hands on his gun again and get some control back to the situation.

“Do you want to jump in the shower real quick?” she asked.

He nodded and flipped the covers back. “Um, where are my pants?”

“About that,” she said and walked back into the room again. “You didn’t have any pants on when Jackson brought you home. I ran to Wal-Mart this morning and picked you up a pair.” She tossed a pair of trousers at him. “I also got you a new shirt and jacket to meet my folks in.”

He nodded. “Wait,” he said. “What happened to my jacket I was wearing yesterday?” He instinctively felt for the phone in the inside pocket but sure enough, no jacket, no pocket. No good.

“When Jackson dropped you off last night you had a shirt on.”

He looked down. “This isn’t even my shirt.”

She nodded. “I noticed that.”

“I need…” he needed to get control of the situation fast. He took a deep breath and thought. The phone was necessary for him to let his employer know the job was done and no need for a clean-up crew to be sent in. Before that though, he absolutely needed his gun to actually complete the mission. “I need to get dressed so that we can get the car and take it to the dealership.”

“Right,” Cheyenne said. “You going to shower then?”

He took a deep breath and then took the quickest shower in his life. Cheyenne wasn’t even sure if the water had time to cover his body. “You’re not nervous about meeting my folks today, are you?” she asked when he walked out of the bathroom fully dressed and ready to go.

Meet her folks? He had forgotten that was also on the day’s agenda. This was probably the worst assignment he had ever been on. No wonder he was retiring.

They picked up the car and she drove it to the dealership. Once they arrived, she jumped out of the truck. “Do you mind moving our stuff out of the car to the truck?” she asked. “I need to talk to Jackson for a minute.”

Mind? He preferred it. At least that worked in his favor. He also wouldn’t mind if she took Jackson down a notch. So far, he wasn’t enjoying having a brother-in-law.

She walked inside and he quickly went to work. He tossed all the camping gear onto the ground and opened the spare tire compartment. There was his gun just waiting for him. Just to be sure, he unzipped the case and felt inside. The way this trip was going he could not be too careful. It was certainly still there. He put it in the tool box of the truck and then tossed all the camping gear in the back. This was only day four. He had possession of his gun and regaining control of all his faculties. He could complete the mission that night after dinner. But he wanted that phone back with all his notes and the number to call to confirm completion. Sure, he planned to dispose of it after the mission but not during the mission. He looked at the building. He needed to talk to Jackson.

Whatever Cheyenne and Jackson were discussing in the office, they stopped when Tony peeked in.

“Hey, brother,” Jackson smiled. “Good news, you passed the test.”

“That’s great,” Tony said but didn’t even try to match the smile. “About my jacket I was wearing, where is it?”

“You don’t remember?” Jackson asked.

Tony held out his hands as if it was obvious. “Wouldn’t be asking you if I did, bro.”

Jackson smiled and then stiffened. Tony was pretty sure Cheyenne kicked him under the desk.

“Look, we were at the bar last night,” Jackson started taking the matter a bit more serious.

Tony scoffed. “I don’t go to bars.” Which is true. He never liked being out of control of a situation and a bar had too many variables.

“You went to this one last night,” Jackson started again. “They have a mechanical bull in it and you insisted on riding it.”

“That doesn’t sound like me,” Tony said the same time Cheyenne said, “that doesn’t sound like Tony.”

“You insisted on riding it last night,” Jackson said again a little annoyed that he had to keep repeating himself. “But, bro,” he emphasized the last part, “you have no sense of balance. It kept bucking you off. But you were determined to ride the sucker. You have some stubbornness there.”

“Okay, that does sound like Tony,” Cheyenne said.

Tony’s brow furrowed.

“I believe your phone flew out of your pocket and some woman picked it up for you. After you were bucked off, you went to her to get it and her boyfriend made some snide comment about your riding skill. You didn’t take too kindly to his words and pushed him. He pushed you back. I stepped in,” he looked at Cheyenne “you’re welcome,” and then back at Tony “and stopped you from fighting him. I mean, you look like you could take him today but last night I’m pretty sure you were not on your game.”

“So, what happened to the phone?” Tony asked not really caring for the play by play.

“Well, the screen had this big crack down the middle and you seemed pretty upset by it. You said you needed to take it to the doctor.”

Cheyenne bit her bottom lip to stop from smiling. She stopped when Tony looked at her.

“You kept going on and on how it was important it get fixed. Your retirement depended on it. You emphasized that I had no idea the importance level of this phone – your words not mine.”

Today Tony agreed with last night’s Tony assessment of the situation.

“That’s when I knew it was time to get you back to Cheyenne so we started to leave. But that jerk that gave you a hard time was giving his girlfriend a hard time. They were in a corner and he was yelling at her. You didn’t care much for that so you interrupted him. He didn’t care much for the interruption so this time there was no stopping the fight. That’s when you took off your jacket.”

“Oh,” Cheyenne gushed. “And they say chivalry is dead.”

Tony couldn’t help but sit up straighter at her compliment. He even cracked a smile.

“You dropped your phone and I believe you both stepped on it a couple of times before I could pick it up for you. The screen had several cracks in it.”

Tony’s smile disappeared.

“Since the fight was in the bar, the cops were called. I pulled you out of there as quick as I could. Forgot to grab your jacket on the way out. But I have to say, even though you can’t hold your liquor you can hold your own. Pretty sure that other guy was going to have some marks on him this morning.”

Tony wasn’t sure if he should be offended at the comment about the liquor or proud that he was the victor of a fight he couldn’t remember. “So, where is my phone now?” he asked hopeful the narration was concluding.

“Oh, well,” Jackson continued the story, “we were in my vehicle because you were in no shape to drive.” He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at his sister. “I thought it best to get some coffee in you before I dropped you off at the hotel.”

“I bet you did,” Cheyenne mumbled.

He ignored her and continued. “We stopped at a gas station and I told you to wait in the car.” He looked at Tony. “You did not wait in the car. When I got back with your coffee you were nowhere to be found. I had to track you down. You were walking down the road mumbling something about finishing the job and getting the job done so you could retire. Apparently, you really want to retire and start a family with Cheyenne.”

“You do?” she asked. “I mean, you want kids?”

“We have never discussed it but,” he thought about it, “yeah, I guess I do. Not right away because I like having you to myself right now but someday it would be nice.”

She moved closer to him and kissed him.

Ahem, Jackson cleared his throat. “I really don’t need to see this.”

“What?” Cheyenne asked. “This bothers you?” She gave Tony a passionate kiss.

“Yes,” Jackson said disgusted. “I don’t need to see you two make any kids.” He gagged.

Tony smiled. “Sorry, bro. Now, what about my phone?”

“Oh,” Jackson said glad to get back to the narrative. “So, I found you wandering down the sidewalk. I pulled up along side you and you would not get in the car. You kept mumbling about your job and… stuff.” He didn’t want to go back down the family discussion again. “I had to literally shove you in the car. The coffee spilled all over my car and you,” he sounded annoyed at this part. “Before I knew it, you had taken your clothes off and thrown them out. I picked them up and stuck them in my backseat. I had an old workout shirt in the back that I made you put on so that I could get you through the hotel lobby. And I dropped you off into Cheyenne’s capable hands.”

Nothing about his story sounded familiar to Tony. “And the phone? Is it still in your car?”

“Maybe,” Jackson said. “Let’s go see.”

They went to the car and searched it thoroughly. No phone.

“Maybe you stuck it in your pocket again?” Cheyenne offered.

Tony looked at Jackson. “Where are my clothes?”

Jackson bit his bottom lip. “The thing is, they much like my car, smelled like coffee so I I threw them away.”

Tony blinked at him. “You threw my clothes away?”

“You spilled coffee in my car.”

“Where are the clothes?” Cheyenne asked stepping between the two.

“This way,” he led them around back to the dumpster. Tony glared at him. So far, he was not enjoying having in-laws. He climbed in the dumpster and found his clothes but no phone. When he climbed out he wanted to change his target and kill Cheyenne’s brother instead. Surely someone would pay him for this job.

“You must have dropped it while you were walking,” Cheyenne said saving her brother once again.

They went to the gas station from the night before and Jackson pointed in the direction he had found Tony. After several minutes, Cheyenne called out, “Found it!” She picked it up from the gutter. “Wait, this isn’t your phone, is it?” She looked back down at the gutter. “Surely, there can’t be two phones in the gutter?”

Tony looked at it. “It’s it.” He was relieved that he found it but worried at its condition.

“I don’t remember that phone.”

Of course she didn’t remember it. She never saw it before. His personal phone was packed in a bag for the trip. He looked at her and didn’t want to lie. “I got it for work,” he said holding his breath.

She narrowed her eyes and thought about it. “Oh,” she said in a way that made him exhale with relief. “Looks like you are going to need a new one.”

He nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” Since he couldn’t tell her the truth the next best thing he could do is agree with her. He looked at his brother-in-law.

“See?” Jackson smiled. “All’s well that ends well.”

Tony wasn’t as confident as Jackson in that summation. He still had a job to do. But at least the hitman had his gun and his phone.