Crossing the Line (5 page)

“I doubt Gabby could even have taken the tip. She’s built like a third grader!” Chandra laughed.

“Fucking right I am,” Gabby grinned. “If I could go back in time and change my answer to what I want to be when I grow up I would say ‘I just want to keep growing after thirteen.’ I can’t even ride roller coasters half of the time.”

“Aw, poor baby,” Tracy said. She gave Gabby a little shove and the girl exaggerated the effect, acting as if she was thrown four feet.

“Okay, this is getting lame now. Why don’t we put on a movie or something?” Marcy suggested.

The others all agreed and began shifting positions so that they were all surrounding the television. While they looked through the assortment of DVDs that had been brought for the trip they all seemed to become instant film critics. Finally they decided on a romantic comedy with Adam Sandler.

“Okay, new drinking game. Every time someone calls that ugly dude hot or implies that he’s good looking we all take a shot,” Tracy suggested.

“I think Adam Sandler’s kind of cute,” Marcy frowned.

“Of course you do, he’s a Jew!” Lynne laughed.

“Hey, I don’t think every Jewish guy is cute. There’s no way in hell I would ever date
Jonah Hill.”

“Yeah, let’s be real about this, Adam Sandler’s kind of like the modern version of Robin Williams. He’s getting older, but he’s aging well. And he’s funny enough that you can overlook the fact that he’s not, like, hot,” Anna said.

“Fine! What should we drink to then?” Tracy conceded.

They sat in silence for a moment, considering what kind of game they could play to the movie. If not for the liquor and pot already in their systems they might have been able to come up with something sooner.

“How about we take a shot every time they do an obvious ‘sex appeal’ shot on an extra? Like a close up on a girl’s ass while she walks through the shot?” Marcy suggested.

“Oh, that’s a good one. Let’s up the ante, though. The person that calls it first takes one shot, everyone else takes two!” Anna suggested.

And so began a drinking game that, ultimately, would bring about the events that would unfold throughout the next twenty-four hours.

7

Thad and Fritz had separated from the rest of the group. They made their way slowly around the lake, sticking to the forest in case one of the girls happened to the look out the window. Once they were sure that they were a safe distance from the other men Thad set his backpack down and withdrew his .357 from it. He unlocked the bolt in the finger guard and began loading the revolver’s chambers.

Fritz sat Indian style with his back to a tree and began loading rounds into the clips for his .22. Neither of the men spoke as they prepared their weapons. They kept an ear out for anyone approaching. There was no way the others were going to go along with their plan if they knew all of the details.

After they had loaded the guns and ensured that the safeties were on they tucked them into their ankle holsters.
The night sounds around them made the scene seem surreal. Thad had never killed anyone, but he was fairly confident that it wouldn’t make him squeamish. Fritz, on the other hand, had experience in the field of murder. He came from a long line of thugs. His life in Gary, Indiana had been full of fights and the occasional murder had never bothered him.

“So when are we going to move in on them?” Fritz asked.

“Remember on campus when those whores party? Every time one of them passes out first they strip her and put her out on the porch. That’ll be our indication that they are all getting ready to fall out. We wait until we see them carry a naked bitch out onto the porch and then we start.”

“What if the others puss out on us? I mean, we don’t know how they’re going to react when the shit gets real.”

“That’s why we’re going to make damn sure they’re all guilty of a crime before we start killing. They’re not going to go running to the cops if they rape a bitch, right? None of them want to spend ten to fifteen upstate.”

“So we get in there and rape a couple of the bitches and then we pop them off so they can’t ID us to the police. That’s the plan, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have my money?”

Thad
nodded. He pulled the envelope from his back pack and handed it to Fritz. The other man counted the bills twice before shoving the cash down into the inner pocket of his coat. “That’s not what we agreed on.”

“Half now and half when we get back to school. I’m not stupid, man. I want to make sure you keep up on your end of things before I hand over twenty grand.”

Fritz nodded and thumped his hands on his thighs. “Okay, buddy, but you better not be fucking me. I won’t shoot you, I’ll cut your dick off and shove up your ass before I cut your goddamn head off.”

“I’m not fucking you. I’m a business man and I am good to my word. You keep your end of the bargain and I’ll keep mine.”

“Okay.”

“We’d
better get back to the others.”

“I hope Tommy found his way back. The last thing we need is that tweeker to jump the gun.”

“He’s probably passed out somewhere in the forest, man. I gave him some high grade shit this time. It would knock a rock star on his ass.”

“What if he OD’d?”

“I didn’t give him enough to kill himself. I’ve been feeding the kid just enough to keep him stoned for a couple of months now. He’s as hooked as a whore. And you know why whores don’t leave their pimps. Loyalty like that doesn’t come cheap, but it’s fucking priceless.”

Fritz was the only one out of either group that wasn’t a college student. His father had sent him away from the family when the heat was getting too close for comfort. Since arriving in Los Angeles he had been continuing to work for his father. His father had diverted some of their shipments so that Fritz could have a source of income. He had met Thad when the kid started encroaching on his territory. Thad had charmed his way into Fritz’s new posse. The kid was smart, ruthless and had some of the best drugs that could be found on the West Coast. After tonight he would know if he had what it takes to be a true member of the family, though. If Thad had what the balls Fritz was officially going to
allow him to become part of the enterprise.

Thad knew what it would mean to become a part of Fritz’s network. He would no longer have to worry about protecting himself or his profit. Fritz was connected enough that it would keep the flow of his product moving without issue. Sure, it would mean he would have to share some of his spoils, but being a part of a cartel was worth having to share his cash.

“Tommy should be coming down right in time for the fun to start. He’ll be there to help get rid of the bodies,” Thad said.

Fritz nodded his head. “Okay, well let’s get back to the others and keep watch on the house.”

8

An hour into the movie Ivy passed out. The others weren’t far behind her,
but she had officially lost the game. They waited until they were positive that she wasn’t going to wake up and let Tracy do the dirty work. She was the best at the game, as she had been playing for years with her high school friends.

Anna sat Ivy up and leaned her weight against the bottom of the couch. Tracy gently began rolling her t-shirt up. She pulled it over the drunken woman’s head and folded it before sett
ing it on the couch. Anna leaned Ivy forward and Tracy unhooked her bra. She set the bra on top of the shirt.

The removal of her pants was made quite a bit easier by the lack of shoes. “Little whore!” Anna giggled when the pants had been folded and set with the rest of Ivy’s clothes. Ivy was wearing a lace thong that kept nothing to the imagination. They took the panties and her socks off, everyone fighting back the urge to laugh.

Chandra, Lynne and Anna picked her up and carried her to the back door. Gabby stepped in front of them and shook her head. “I don’t think this is such a good idea, guys,” she said. “We don’t know what kind of animals there are out there. What if there’s a cougar or a bear or something?”

“Come on, Gabby, she knew the rules of the game. If you had been the one to pass out she wouldn’t be defending you, I promise you that,” Chandra said.

“I think Gabby’s right,” Marcy said. “For all we know there’s coyotes or rattle snakes out there. She could seriously get hurt.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine, we’
ll put her somewhere safe.”

“Like where?” Gabby asked.

“Like on top of the table. We’ll put her on top of the table and then we’ll be sure that she’s safe.”

“Set her down for a minute, guys,” Chandra said. They set Ivy down, propped against the back door. Chandra waved for them all to follow her across the room. Her face turned bright red with held in laughter.

“Okay, I think I’ve got the best idea ever,” she managed to say.

“What’s that?” Tracy asked.

“We should put her in that little row boat and take her over to the raft. We’ll put her on the raft and she’ll wake up in the morning three shades of hung over and stranded in the middle of the lake!”

“What if she rolls off?” Marcy asked. “She could drown.”

“The fucking raft is huge, it’s like twenty by twenty. And even if she
did
roll off the cold would wake her up right away. Come on, it’d make the game so much funnier.”

“She’ll get the shit bit out of her by mosquitos,” Anna frowned.

“We’ve got plenty of those spiral bug thingies. We’ll put three out there with her. That’ll keep the bugs away,” Tracy said. She grinned the huge grin only capable of someone who is seriously intoxicated. “Chandra’s right, this is the best idea ever.”

Despite the protests from Gabby and Marcy Ivy was being loaded into the row boat ten minutes later. Gabby and Marcy stayed in the house, absolutely refusing to have any part in the sick joke. Chandra and Anna rowed the boat while Tracy monitored Ivy to make sure she didn’t wake up.

Taking her off the boat and putting her on the raft was quite a bit harder than any of them had expected it to be. Their drunken condition didn’t help at all either. They finally managed to get her on the raft and rolled her to the center. Tracy busied herself setting up
several Off bug spirals. They reminded her of bad smelling snakes like her parents used to let her play with on the fourth of July. She also sprayed a healthy dose of bug spray on Ivy to make sure she didn’t get eaten alive by bugs.

Before they left Chandra produced a Sharpie and wrote “I love anal” on Ivy’s forehead and “Insert cock here”
on her pelvis just above
the beginning of her pubis region.
Tracy took a photo of it for their memory book and giggled.

The flash sent a chill up Anna’s spine. Even with the liquor
in her system she made the connection between the glimmering earlier in the day and the sudden stark whiteness of the digital camera Tracy had used. Her arms broke out with goose flesh when she considered the possibilities. Why would someone have been taking photos of them partying on the deck? She could understand why some peeping tom would have snapped pictures while she was skinny dipping, but none of them were naked at dinner.

She considered bringing the notion up to her friends, but decided that without any concrete evidence she would just sound like a paranoid drunk girl. Now she wasn’t sure it was a good idea to leave Ivy out in the open either, though.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked Chandra.

“Fuck yeah, I’m sure. She’s going to be pissed for a couple minutes, but she’ll laugh her ass off once she has time to think about it. This is like the greatest prank any of us have ever come up with,” Chandra said.

“
We took all the necessary precautions to make sure she’ll be safe and won’t get bitten up by the mosquitos,” Tracy said. “But if it’ll make you feel any better there’s a life vest on the boat.”

“Yeah, let’s put that on her. I really don’t want her to drown,” Chandra said.

Tracy pulled the vest from the boat and stumbled back over to where Ivy was lying. The girl had started to snore and more than once she reached down and scratched absently at her butt cheeks. Tracy put the vest on the sleeping beauty and kissed her forehead.

Anna was still reluctant, but she followed her friends to the row boat. They paddled their way back to the shore. Anna kept her eyes on the forest beyond the lake the entire time. She never caught sight of anything out of the ordinary, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.

9

Fritz and Thad walked a dozen yards ahead of the others through the thick forest. As they reached the edge of the lake Fritz stopped him and pulled him close enough that he could hear. “If you go through with this you’re crossing the line. There’s no coming back once you’ve crossed it,” Fritz said in an extremely hushed whisper. “Depending on how this all plays out you may even have to kill some of your buddies. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Thad nodded his head. “I’ll kill every last one of them if they try to fuck this up,” he whispered back. “These bitches are going to get what’s coming to them for fucking with my money.”