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TWENTY-TWO

Tiled road cluster faded away as I took the turnpike to I-75 and aiia state line put itself behind a

Spring City was a shway 27 surrounded by lowh the cracks and creases in the convertible&039;s top I&039;d driven all the earing my pea coat and with the heat on

The dead, flat sky was a unifor only four tias or coffee or take a piss I didn&039;t want to risk driving such a distance on pain pills, so my stomach burned with too much aspirin

At the local Days Inn, I asked for a roo around back, away froave me 126

I pulled into a service station, hopped out of the car near a pay phone The wind bit into ht

I unfolded the phone bill I&039;d salvaged from Tina&039;s trash can, dropped the coins into the slot, and dialed the nu three times

"Hello?"

"Hello," I said "Is Tina there?"

"Who can I tell her is calling?" A Southern accent, not too thick

"I&039;h when I&039;d rehearsed it, but co out of my mouth, it sounded pretty weak

"She ain&039;t been there long enough to make old friends"

"Is this her brother Too She told Jeffers it was her brother Sure That e

"Oops My ive her a visit if I was ever in the neighborhood"

"She ain&039;t here right now Went out"

"Whoa, just my luck, huh? And the sky looks like snow too"

"She&039;s out right now Like I said She went up the mountain Won&039;t be back for a while"

I didn&039;t know exactly what "up the mountain" entailed, but it sounded like I was in for a wait

"I&039;m at the Days Inn, room number one-two-six," I said

"You&039;d better just call back"

"That&039;s not going to work I need you to take a s to do and-"

"That&039;s not going to cut it, Toet a pen and a piece of paper, and I want you to write this down Are you listening?"

"Yeah"

"Tell Tina I brought sos she wanted"

He went quiet on his end, and I tried to puzzle whether he was in on it or just confused

"Okay," said Toets in"

"Thanks, To about ot back in the car I&039;d simultaneously made contact with the kidnappers and let theht I&039;d found out where they were and who they were, and I had what they wanted

Very soon noould shoot them all stone cold dead and send Amber home to Danny

The cold was bad on my hand I finally relented, took a pain pill, and sat in the car until it took effect I bought a bottle of beer in the service station to help push it down

I pulled into the rental car place in case Tina had seen the Iuy behind the counter: "Gimme a car"

His look was so funny

"What kind of ride do you need, bud?"

Bud

"I&039; comfortable Price isn&039;t a probleuy had bad teeth Wait? What was it Toed

"Do you have a Suburban?"

Bad Teeth shouted into the back rooot that red Suburban?"

A female voice floated out of the back roo feller took it"

"What big fellow?"

"You know With all the hair and ar Looked like Fabian?"

"Fabian?"