Highway to Vengeance: A Thomas Highway Thriller (21 page)

I closed the phone before he could reply,
tossed it into the dumpster, and headed back to the cab.

“Where to, my friend?” the cabbie asked once
I’d climbed in.

“The Body Shop in Mission Valley.”

He turned to look at me, his face scrunched
up in an exaggerated manner. “That’s like thirty miles away.”

“Whatever. Just take me there.”

“Are you sure? Cuz if it’s titties you want
to see, there’s quite a few places closer than that. I know one
right down the street, they—”

“Just shut up and drive,” I said, my tone
more harsh than I’d intended. But the last thing I needed right now
was a cabby giving me crap.

“All right man, chill out. It’s your
dime.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT

I had the cab driver drop me off a couple
blocks away from The Body Shop, just to be safe. I gave him a
generous tip to make up for snapping at him earlier and sent him
away. He implored me to call him personally if I ever needed a cab
again and then drove off.

It was just after 2AM when I walked up to
the front entrance. The bouncer from the last time I was here was
manning the door.

He was standing in the exact same
position—arms crossed at his chest and a stupid little grin on his
face—as though he hadn’t moved in the last week. He reminded me of
a modern-day cigar store Indian.

Not surprisingly, his frisk was just as
intrusive as it was my previous visit.

“Twenty dollar cover and two-drink minimum,”
he said.

I pulled a twenty from my pocket, handed it
to him. “Is Misty here tonight?”

He glared at me. “Do I got a sign on my
chest that says information?”

I stared back at him, projecting complete
indifference. He held my eyes for a couple of seconds before
becoming skittish and turning his gaze towards the street. Turns
out he wasn’t as stupid as he looked.

“I think she’s still here,” he said, his
voice stripped of all his prior machismo. “Ask Mike, behind the bar
next to the DJ. He’ll know for sure.”

I kept my gaze focused on the much bigger
man for another beat, then turned and headed towards the bar
without saying another word.

I walked through the mostly empty club
without looking at either the girls onstage or the men watching
them.
Sweet Child O’ Mine
by Guns ‘n’ Roses was blaring on
the sound system, and the music combined with the smell of spilled
beer and old sweat exacerbated my surly mood even further. I
arrived at the bar next to the DJ and sat down, unable to imagine
being less aroused.

“What can I get ya, friend-o?” the bartender
said, yelling to be heard over the din. He was older, pushing
fifty, with longish, gray hair and scraggly beard.

“Are you Mike?” I said.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Because I need to know if Misty’s still
here.”

“And who are you, exactly?” Mike said, his
voice more amused than indignant.

“An old friend.”

Mike gave me a look that said he’d heard
this song and dance a million times before. “Is she expecting
you?”

“No.”

“Sorry, pal, but we don’t play that sort of
game around here. If she’s not expecting you, I can’t—”

“Just go back there and tell her a friend of
Dave Willis is here to see her, okay?”

His demeanor changed immediately. “You’re
friends with Willis?”

“That’s right.”

“Hell, why didn’t you say so in the first
place? Hold on. I’ll be right back.”

Misty came out a couple minutes later with
Mike by her side. She had a bounce in her step and a large smile on
her face that I was pretty certain was real, unlike her breasts.
Her scant outfit of lacy bra and dental floss panties showed off
her incredible body, which, combined with a cute, surprisingly soft
face, should have placed her far out of Willis’s league.

I chuckled to myself, once again marveling
at Willis’s effect on women. I just didn’t get it.

“Well, here she is, in all her splendor,”
Mike said, displaying her as though she was a prize on a game
show.

Misty smiled and struck a pose, playing her
role to the tilt.

I couldn’t help but laugh. I nodded my
thanks to Mike but he didn’t move. I reached into my pocket and
pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to him.

“My pleasure, sir,” he said before taking
off.

“Do you remember me?” I asked her.

“Not really,” Misty said. “Mike told me
you’re friends with Willis?”

“Yeah, I was in here with him a couple
nights ago. We were drinking at the bar when you came up to
him.”

She tilted her head slightly then her face
lit up. “Oh yeah, I remember you. Are you looking to score with me
or something? I don’t think Willis would be too keen on that.”

“Actually, I’m just looking to make you a
deal,” I said. “You mind if we sit down?”

“As long as you’re buying.”

“Sure. What’ll you have?”

“Red wine,” she said.

“Any particular brand?”

“Nah, Mike knows what I like.”

I fetched the drink for her and brought it
back to the table she’d chosen. It was in the corner of the room,
away from the rest of the patrons. A perfect spot to talk.

“You feel like making five hundred bucks?” I
said after she’d taken a sip of her wine.

“Depends on what I have to do for it,” she
said without so much as a pause.

“Just spend the night with Willis at a hotel
of your choosing. On me.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” I said. “You just need to call
him and talk him into showing up once we get there. He can’t know
I’m involved.”

“Why not?”

“Does it matter?”

“Hell yes,” she said. “If you’re looking to
jump him or something, I don’t want any part of it.”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. I
promise. I just need him to help get me out of some trouble.”

She considered this for a moment, then said,
“All right, why not? Hell, throw in a couple bottles of wine at the
hotel, and I’ll do it for free.”

“Quit playing around,” I said.

“I’m not,” she said. “I’m totally serious.
I’m a stripper, not a whore. Besides, there’s no need to pay me for
getting a piece of Willis. I’ll take some of him however I can get
it.”

I shook my head and laughed softly. Killing
a drug lord and getting betrayed by the same people that had asked
me to do it was one thing; it came with the territory. But a
stripper turning down money? Now that was some crazy shit.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE

An hour later, Misty was sitting on the
couch with yet another glass of red wine in her hand and her
breasts pushing the limits of her shirt. We were watching TV in a
suite at the W Hotel near the Gaslamp Quarter, within view of Petco
Park. I was sitting on a lounge chair in the corner of the room,
away from the window, trying in vain to keep my eyes off her
chest.

She had called Willis from the room shortly
after we arrived, and she barely had a chance to describe the
situation before he said he’d be right over. Luckily for me, he was
so predictable about some things it was pathetic.

“So how do you know Willis?” Misty
asked.

“We played baseball in college together,” I
said.

“That’s cool.”

“What about you?”

“I met him at the club about six months
ago,” she said. “It was my first day. As soon as he saw me, he
walked right up and asked me if I wanted to fuck him after my
shift. I said no, but he kept asking and eventually I gave in. To
tell you the truth, it didn’t take much convincing, really. I just
didn’t want to make it too easy for him.”

I laughed.

“What?” she said.

“I just don’t get it. I never have.”

“Get what?”

“How he scores with all the ladies,” I said.
“I mean, look at you. You’re a good-looking girl, to put it mildly.
I’m guessing you can have basically any guy you want, right?”

She shrugged. “Pretty much.”

“So why Willis?”

“It’s just something about him,” Misty said.
She finished off her glass of wine and poured herself another one.
“He’s cocky, but in a good way. There’s just something attractive
about the idea that you’re going to do whatever he wants you to,
simply because he tells you to. Like that first night. Plus he’s
not an asshole, unlike most of the other guys that come in. Deep
down, he’s a good guy, even though he tries to hide it most of the
time.”

“I guess,” I said. But I didn’t really
understand. Not at all. It must be a girl thing.

“It’s hard to explain the attraction,” Misty
said. “But some guys have it and some guys don’t.” She took another
drink of wine. “Actually, most guys don’t.”

She set her wine glass down and I realized
she was looking at me differently than she had been earlier. More
intently. Actually seeing me for the first time all night.

“What?” I said, weary of the attention.

She smiled. “You have it too, you know.”

“Yeah, right,” I said, laughing off my
embarrassment.

“I’m serious,” Misty said. “It’s not as
obvious as it is with Willis, but it’s definitely there.” She ran
her finger along the rim of the wineglass. “In fact, I’ve got a
couple of friends I could call if you want to turn this into a real
party.”

Ignoring the rustle in my groin, I said, “I
appreciate the offer, but I’ve got other things to take care of
tonight.”

She shrugged. “Your loss. But the offer’s
always there. You know, in case you change your mind someday.”

“I’ll remember that,” I said, my discomfort
growing exponentially with every passing second. I wasn’t sure
where to steer the conversation next. Luckily I was saved by a
knock on the door.

Still smiling, Misty stood up and crossed
the room. “Who is it?” she called out in a crooning voice as she
approached.

“Prince Charming,” Willis said from the
other side of the closed door.

She laughed and turned the handle and swung
the door open to reveal Willis standing in the doorway.

“Prince Charming my ass,” I said as he
stepped in the room. “More like Prince Asshole.”

Willis scoffed and walked towards me. He was
shaking his head slowly from side to side in mock consternation. “I
should have known this was too good to be true.”

“What?” I said. “You aren’t happy to see
me?”

“Considering what I thought I was coming
here for, not really,” he said.

Misty was watching us with an amused look on
her face. It was obvious she knew she was the third wheel in this
situation. Irony at its most delicious.

“Well, I guess I’ll leave you guys to your
little lovefest,” she said. Then, shifting her gaze to Willis,
“When you’re done with your boyfriend, here, I’ll be in the
bedroom. Getting myself warmed up.”

She turned and walked into the bedroom,
swaying her hips even more than usual. Willis waited until she
disappeared behind the closed door to turn his attention back to
me.

“You mind if we make this quick?” he said.
“I’ve got business to attend to.”

“Fuck you,” I said, smiling broadly.

He laughed. “Just kidding, man. So how’d
your night go?”

“The first half went according to plan, but
the second half, not so much.”

“What happened? Bad intelligence?”

I shook my head. “No. The intel was
flawless. It allowed me to take care of Montoya without any
problems. It was after I killed him that things went to hell.”

“How?”

“The group that set the whole thing up
ambushed me, tried to take me out for good.”

“No shit? What did you do to piss them
off?”

“I just wasn’t in their long-term plans, I
guess.”

Willis laughed. “I assume you took care of
them instead?”

“Hell yeah,” I said. “With extreme
prejudice.”

“Stupid fucks,” Willis said. “They should
have known better than to mess with you.”

“Damn right.”

“Did you happen to keep any of them alive
long enough to get any information?”

“Unfortunately, no. I barely made it out
myself.”

“So you don’t know why they wanted you
dead?”

“No,” I said. “But it’s easy enough to
figure out.”

“Oh yeah?” Willis said. “You think you got
it wired?”

It was obvious from his tone that he did
too. Probably had from the moment I told him what had happened.
Hell, on some level, he probably knew what they were going to do
from the moment I first explained the situation to him.

But I decided to humor him anyway so I
nodded.

He held out his hands. “You’ve got the
floor, Einstein. Enlighten me.”

“It’s pretty simple, really. I figure they
wanted me dead so when the evidence pointed to a case of simple
revenge, there would be nobody around to dispute it. That way, even
if Homeland Security thought something wasn’t kosher, there
wouldn’t be anything they could do about it. Of course, there would
have been a couple of inconsistencies, but the evidence against me
would have been overwhelming.”

“The best kind of conspiracy is one that
leaves no witnesses,” Willis said.

“Plausible deniability taken to its
inevitable extreme,” I added.

“Exactly,” Willis said. His lips were pursed
and he was nodding his head. “Not bad my friend. Keep it up and
people might start mistaking you for a thinker instead of just a
grunt.”

“God forbid.”

Willis smiled. “So what’s the plan now?”

“I’m not sure yet,” I said. “I figure I’ll
set up a meeting with Agent Holland, tell him what I know. Let
Homeland Security go after Pittman.”

“You don’t want to take your own shot at
him?”

“Honestly? I’m done with this revenge shit.
And even if I wanted to go to war with Pittman’s organization, I
wouldn’t know where to start. I don’t know a damn thing about him;
where he came from, how to contact him, or even what his real name
is. Hell, he might as well be a figment of my imagination for as
little as I know about the guy.”