NOT What I Was Expecting (27 page)

More from the deep
voice on the other end. 

“That doesn’t work
for me,” Luke said with an authority in his voice I’d never heard before. 
“It’ll have to be some place more public,” Luke continued.  “There’s a loading
dock at the Build-N-Fix-It that’s for contractors only.  I use it all the
time.  There are people around, but it’s not crowded.  How about there?” 

The deep voice’s
answer seemed to go on forever.  Luke’s face was hard and unreadable.

“Where I can see
him,” Luke said.  “And I need to talk to Fry before we hang up.”  There was a
long pause.  Finally, Luke said, “Just sit tight, man.  We’ve got it covered.” 

CeCe whimpered and
tears spilled out of my eyes before I could stop them.  The urge to reach right
through the phone line and hug Fry tight overwhelmed me.  CeCe sobbed into her
hands and leaned against me. 

“Noon,” Luke said
and hung up the phone. 

“What did they
say?” I asked. 

“They didn’t go
for a drop.  They want to check out the painting before they let Fry go,” Luke
said solemnly. 

“Oh no!” CeCe said
sounding panicky. 

“No worries,” Luke
said smiling an almost convincing smile.  “Now that I’ve spoken with them, I
can tell it won’t be too difficult to outsmart those brain surgeons.  I’m just
going to need a little help, that’s all.”

 “We can help,”
CeCe and I said in unison.  Luke’s smile was genuine this time. 

“Thanks but you
aren’t exactly what I had in mind,” he informed us.  

 “What did you
have in mind?” I asked offended. 

“Someone who can
easily take down a 200 pound man,” Luke clarified.

Oh, yeah, okay
then.  That’s not us. 

“Deputy Ben!” CeCe
almost screamed. 

Luke shook his
head, “No police, remember.” 

“But he’s off duty
today,” CeCe elaborated.  “He wanted to take me to the Aquarium of the
Americas, but I made an excuse to get out of it.  He was being so sweet I was
feeling guilty about pumping him for information.  He’s just so wonderful, you
know?”

Guess the crush is
back on.

“Well,” Luke reasoned,
“I do only have a few hours to round up someone.  Do you think you could get
him over to your place now?  Can you trust him not to report it?”

CeCe bit her lip,
unsure of how to answer that.

“I think he’s our
best shot on such short notice,” I said.  “He fits your requirement, and I’m
sure CeCe could turn on the charm and get him to our place now.  Once he’s there
just lay it out for him.  You can be pretty convincing, and I should know,” I
smiled at him. 

Luke flashed a
wicked grin as he commented, “Maybe, but not convincing enough at times.  Okay,
it looks like he’s our best chance.  CeCe, give him a call and have him come to
your house as soon possible.  We’ll meet him there.  Make sure he wears his
civvies, no uniform.  Oh, and ask him to wear a baseball cap, if you can work
it in.” 

Luke headed back
to our house, and since I was driving, CeCe was able to concentrate on working
her magic on Deputy Ben when she called him on her cell.  When she hung up, she
had the strangest look on her face. 

“What?” I asked
trying to keep my eyes on the road. 

“I think he might
actually really like me,” she swooned as she looked at me bug-eyed.  “I mean, since
we’ve been spending time together he’s been really sweet.  He told me over
dinner the other night how he’d just gotten out of a strange relationship that
ended badly a few months ago, so he was doing his best to keep his distance
from me and every other female.  He said he really enjoyed spending the evening
with me at the sisters’ Neighborhood Watch meeting, which is why he asked me to
dinner.  You know, I thought he was going to pump me for info about Luke, but
he never mentioned him.  He didn’t ask anything about you, didn’t even mention
Fry, or Fry’s on again/off again tail.  Do you know that he just agreed to
everything I asked him?  He’s coming over at a moment’s notice, he totally
swallowed my lame excuse, and he agreed to wear a baseball cap because I told
him he looks cute in one.” 

“It was only a
matter of time.  You
are
completely irresistible you know,” I said with
a big smile. 

“I hope he
forgives me for this later,” she said sadly. 

“Of course he
will,” I said lightly, but I wondered the same thing.  It was kind of a rough
way to start a relationship. 

“We’ll get Fry
back, and then I’ll deal with it,” CeCe said firmly.

Once we were back
at our house, I quickly put in a call to the sisters to beat our 30 minute deadline. 
We didn’t want the sisters to follow through on their threat to call the police
if they hadn’t heard from us following Luke’s chat with the kidnappers, and we
had no doubt that the sisters would do just that.  I assured them Luke had
everything under control, and when they sounded skeptical about keeping quiet,
I told them he had asked for help from Deputy Ben.  Since they felt it was a
smart move to include Ben, who was able to call in the police at a moment’s
notice, they agreed to keep their original agreement and let Luke handle it.

We didn’t have to
wait very long before Deputy Ben arrived.  I have to admit he really is an
extremely handsome guy.  CeCe greeted him at the door, and he looked so happy
to see her.  Nice. 

He saw me in the
background.  “Hey, Maggie.  Feeling better?”

Huh? Oh, right. 

“Yeah – yeah,
thanks,” I said weakly, knowing he was about to discover our lie.  CeCe had her
arm linked in his as she walked him into the living room where Luke was
waiting.  The deputy’s face hardened as soon as he saw Luke sitting on the
sofa. 

Luke stood to
shake his hand, but Ben’s hands went to his hips as he said, “When did you get
back?”

“Yesterday,” Luke
answered honestly.  Ben’s eyes flashed to CeCe suspiciously. 

“You’re wanted for
questioning,” Ben advised him.  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to take you in.”

“Wait,” I said
probably a little too loud. 

“It’s okay,
Maggie,” Luke said to me calmly before turning to Ben.  “I’ll go with you to
the station and answer all your questions if that’s what needs to happen, but
first there are a few things you should know.”  Luke sat back down on the sofa
and motioned to a chair.  “Please,” he said.  Ben didn’t move.

CeCe took his hand
and looked pleadingly into his eyes.  “Please, Ben,” she said.

Oh, now it’s Ben.

“Just let us
explain,” she encouraged.  “We need your help.”  She batted her eyelashes at
him on the last sentence.  I cringed, but he seemed to melt.  I will never
underestimate the power of her lashes again.

 “My help?” he
repeated more than a little confused.  He sat in a chair, “What’s going on?”

We started at the
beginning trying not to leave anything out.  He seemed to be catching it all
even though we were talking on top of each other a lot.  Well, CeCe and I were
anyway.  When the story ended up where we were at that moment, we sat back to
let him digest everything.  Ben sat motionless staring at the floor.  You could
practically see the wheels turning in his head.  Eventually, he looked up at
CeCe who was sitting on the arm of his chair and said, “I’m going to have to
verify this story before I make a decision.  You can understand that, right?”

CeCe smiled,
nodded, and batted her eyes again.  This so unnerved him, he almost dropped the
phone he was pulling from his pocket. 

Hah!  Go ahead,
CeCe!   

Ben waited for someone
to answer on the other end and then said, “Hey Danny, it’s Ben.  Look, man, I
need you to pull some information and arrest records for me on two guys.”  Ben
looked down at the pictures and information in his lap that we had given him
and read it off to his buddy at the department.  When his friend confirmed the
connections we had told him about, Ben said, “All right, thanks a lot.  No,
that’s it.  Just following a lead.  Later.”

Ben looked around
at all of us, “I hate to say it, but you were right not to involve the police. 
If they’ve already killed twice to get that painting, I doubt they’ll hesitate
to take out Fry if they suspect you aren’t following their instructions.” 

I involuntarily gasped
at his words, and CeCe’s hand flew to her mouth.

“Sorry,” Ben said,
quickly taking CeCe’s hand. 

“That’s what I
thought too,” Luke said seriously.  “If I can count on your help without police
involvement, I think we can get this all wrapped up in the next hour or so.”

“I’m in,” Ben said
thoughtfully.  “Let’s walk through it again.” 

“I’ll be waiting
at the contractors loading dock at the Build-N-Fix-It,” Luke said smoothly,
“with you milling around outside like a customer.  They show up at noon with
Fry in their car.  One of them walks over to me to get the painting and the
other one stays outside with the car and Fry.  The guy with Fry will be waiting
for the word that they have the painting, and then he lets Fry go.  Since we
don’t have the original painting, we have to take them out before the trade
gets that far.  I’ll take the guy by me, and you handle the guy by the car. 
Once they’re both out, Fry’s free, and you can call it in.  Pretty straight
forward.” 

Ben  nodded. 

Um, I think they
forgot something. 

“What do CeCe and
I do?” I asked eagerly.  Luke shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and Ben
cleared his throat.

“We’re probably
lookouts,” CeCe offered.  “You know, backup in case they need us to jump in and
help take out one of the men.”

I nodded solemnly
at her, and we both looked back and forth between the guys waiting for
confirmation. 

Still waiting. 

Luke smiled at me
and said, “Would you two mind getting us something to drink while we hammer out
the details?” 

“Sure,” CeCe said
sweetly. 

“Sure,” I said suspiciously. 
Once we were in the kitchen, I whispered to CeCe hysterically, “They’re going
to tell us to stay far enough back that we don’t get involved in the rescue.  I
just know that’s what he’s going to say.  These are the men who kidnapped Fry,
and he doesn’t even want to let me get in one good groin kick?  How will I
sleep at night?” 

CeCe tried to calm
me down.  “If they think we should just be lookouts, we probably should listen
to them.  They know what they are doing, especially Ben.  If they think we
should let them handle it and just be there to back them up if anything goes
wrong, then I say that’s what we should do.” 

I looked sullen. 

“And no whining,”
she added.

“I guess,” I said
reluctantly. 

We arrived with
the drinks, and Luke smiled his most charming smile at me.  Too charming. 
“What?” I asked. 

“We’ve agreed,”
Luke began all charming, “that you and CeCe need to stay here while we go to
the Build-N-Fix-It.  It will be . . . .”

 “Forget it!” I
angrily cut him off. 

“Just let me explain,”
Luke said calmly. 

“I don’t want an
explanation,” I argued.  “I want to come.  I can’t just sit here.  If anything
happens to Fry or you, I just....” 

“Or Ben,” CeCe
added sincerely.

“I couldn’t handle
it,” I ended and unexpectedly burst into tears.  This probably wasn’t helping
my case, but I couldn’t stop. 

“Maggie,” Luke
said softly.  “I’m sorry you’re upset, but you’re not coming.
 I
couldn’t handle it if anything happened to you.” 

“Or CeCe,” Ben
added. 

“Don’t leave us
here!” I blubbered.  “Fry needs us!” 

Luke put his arm
around my shoulder and firmly pushed me down on the sofa. 

“We’ll call you as
soon as we have Fry,” he said as he moved towards the door motioning for Ben to
follow.  Ben moved quickly to follow him, but CeCe was faster.  She jumped in
front of him and planted a big one right on his kisser.  When she backed away,
his face was shocked and then overly pleased with himself.  He put his arm
around CeCe’s waist. 

“Take care of
Maggie, and tonight we’ll celebrate,” he said, and they were gone.  The silence
after they left was deafening and evidently paralyzing, because I couldn’t seem
to move or speak for a good solid minute.  On the bright side, at least I
stopped blubbering. 

“Maggie?” CeCe
said tentatively. 

“Did he
really
say
take care of Maggie?” I exploded.  “I don’t need to be taken care of.  I’m
fine!  I just cry sometimes.  So what!” 

“Don’t attack
Ben,” CeCe said defensively.  “He was just trying to help.” 

We stood there
glaring at each other with our hands on our hips for a few beats, and then I
said, “We’re not really staying here are we?” 

CeCe snorted, “Of
course not.”  We did a sweeping low five and headed for the door.

CHAPTER 21

CeCe and I drove
across town at a slow crawl to make sure we gave Luke and Ben plenty of time to
be out of the parking lot before we arrived.  We parked by the entrance
farthest away from the loading docks.

As we walked
through the big automatic sliding doors, I turned to CeCe, “Now remember, we’ll
get as close as we can without being seen and just wait to see if they need our
help.”

We had discussed
our game plan on the drive over, and that was our plan in its entirety. 
Uncomplicated and right up our alley. 

“They’re going to
see us.  I just know they’re going to see us,” CeCe said nervously through
clenched teeth as we walked across the store. 

“No, way.  We’ll
stay out of sight.  Besides we blend, so no problem,” I assured her.

Just then we were
serenaded by a wolf whistle from a guy on top of a stack of lumber.  CeCe
turned to me with clenched fists as she glared.  I looked around.  Okay, so I
didn’t see a lot of other women in the contractors section.  All right, not
another woman of any kind.

“Hmmm,” I mumbled. 
Then I saw it.  There was a long line of hooks next to the break room door with
green aprons and caps hanging on them.  “This way,” I said pleasantly to CeCe. 
I walked up and put on one of the apron/cap sets hanging on the wall.

 “Oh, unh-uh,”
CeCe said looking at me as if I had lost my mind.

I didn’t have time
to reason with her, so I hissed, “Just do it!”

CeCe rolled her
eyes but quickly donned a matching green apron and cap.  We were still shoving
our hair up in the hats when a clock on the wall caught my eye.  Noon. 

“Hurry!” I
whispered as I began speed walking toward the loading dock.  We were about to
walk outside onto the ramp when I saw Luke standing on the ground level parking
lot with his back to us.  CeCe saw him too.

 “Where’s Ben?”
she whispered.

 “I don’t know.  I
don’t see him,” I answered.  We peeked around the corner of the opening for
another second. 

“There’s nowhere
to hide out there!  It’s all just open!  What are we going to do?” CeCe asked
frantically.

I made a snap
decision.

“We’re going to
climb up in that bucket lift thingy,” I said.  CeCe peered around the corner
again and then jerked back inside.

 “That crane
thing?” she asked, maybe a little more bug-eyed than usual.  “Are you crazy?” 

“We can duck down
in the bucket thing on the top and peek over the sides,” I explained.  “We’ll
have a bird’s eye view.  It’ll be perfect!  Besides, there’s really nothing
else out there to hide behind.”  I tried to make it sound like my idea actually
made sense. 

“And how do you
propose we get there without being seen?  It’s got to be a good 40 feet of open
space to get to the thing,” CeCe said dramatically.

There were some
big boxes stacked next to us.  I picked up one and handed it to CeCe. 

“Here, this is
light,” I instructed.  “Hold it up in front of your face, and we’ll just walk
right over there.  We look like employees.  No problemo.”

“Brilliant! 
Sometimes I love your devious little mind,” CeCe said with an evil laugh.

I picked up the
box that was stacked under CeCe’s box and held it up in front of my face.  Oh,
Lord.  This one was not light.  Actually, it was
extremely
heavy.  I
started to tell CeCe to hang on a minute and let me find another box, but she
was already walking toward the lift thingy.  Crap.  Muscles don’t fail me now. 
We didn’t have that far to go.  I could make it.  Please God.  Oh, dear Lord! 
I broke out in a sweat, my arms started to shake, and I think I might have
passed a little gas.  We made it around to the far side of the machine.  I
decided to sneak a peek at Luke.  He was still staring intently at the road.

CeCe was looking
too.  “Ben?” she mouthed at me.

I shrugged and
motioned up with my thumb for her to climb up the steps into the bucket part. 
I followed her half carrying, half pushing the ridiculously heavy box.  Once we
were out of sight and had given each other a little high five, we stealthily
peered over the side of the bucket.  We were about 15 feet up and a little too
far back to be in Luke’s peripheral vision.  Perfect.  I checked my watch.  It
was 12:05pm but still no kidnappers.

“Where are they?”
I whispered to CeCe. 

“They’ll be here,”
she whispered back.

I’d always been
bad at waiting, and curiosity got the better of me.  I looked in the boxes.  CeCe’s
had light bulbs and mine had metal pipes.  Figures.

“Here comes a
car,” CeCe said excitedly.

I popped my head
up next to hers.  It was a small tan car with Fry in the back seat on the
passenger’s side.  The car pulled up about 20 feet from Luke with the driver’s
door directly in front of him.  Hoss and Little Joe got out of the car.  Hoss
sauntered over to Luke, while Little Joe stood outside next to Fry’s car door,
scanning the parking lot suspiciously.  Luckily, he didn’t look up. 

My heart started
to beat a wild rhythm when I saw both men had guns drawn.  This had been a
mistake.  We should have called the police.  I felt the panic swelling in my
throat.  Luke pulled the cylinder with the fake painting from his jacket.  That
was the signal for Luke and Ben to each take down their guy.  I squeezed CeCe’s
hand.  At that moment, a young man dressed in an apron and cap like us pointed
a gun into the back of Luke’s head.  I saw Hoss laugh as he said something to
Luke.  A third guy on the kidnappers side and still no Ben.  My adrenaline was
pumping, and I felt half-crazed.

“We’ve got to do
something!” I whispered hysterically and dug my fingers deep into CeCe’s hand. 

“What?” she
whispered frantically.  “They’ll see us coming if we try to run over there.”

My eyes shot to
the boxes.

“Throw something
at their heads,” I hissed. 

“It’s too far,”
CeCe said. 

“Now!” I snapped
at her.

CeCe grabbed two
light bulbs, I grabbed a pipe, and we chucked them with all our might at the
men who had guns on Luke.  Of course, all our might actually amounted to not
very much might at all, so my pipe clanked uselessly on the ground and CeCe’s
light bulbs smashed into a thousand pieces a good 10 feet from the men.  Both
men did turn their heads toward the noise, though, and Luke made his move.  I
held my breath.  Luke turned his body to the side in a flash.  One guy got an
elbow in the throat, and the other guy got a fist.  Then a few more things
happened so fast, I’m not exactly sure what they got, but then they were both
kissing the concrete.

We looked out at
the car and saw that Ben not only had his guy on the ground but also already in
cuffs.  Where did he even come from?  He’s what my eldest Uncle would call a
sneaky little son-of-a-bitch.  CeCe and I couldn’t quite find our vocal chords,
but we grabbed each other around the neck and started jumping up and down.  All
of a sudden there was a loud beeping sound, and we seemed to be moving.  At
first CeCe and I didn’t stop our celebration, but then it became clear we
were
actually moving.  Feeling a little conspicuous because of the loud beeping,
I glanced at Luke.  He barely glanced in our direction, saw two employees and
returned to helping Ben cuff the two gunmen on the ground.

 “Turn it off,”
CeCe said offhandedly to me. 

“Where?” I asked.

We both turned to
look at the control panel thing.  There were lots of knobs and buttons, but no
words or arrows of any kind.  Not good.  We looked up to see exactly where it
was that we were going, since we seemed to be picking up speed.  If we kept on
this course, we would go straight across the parking lot and into a big, deep
ditch that was between the parking lot and Oakman’s busiest street. 

CeCe looked at me.
 “Oh no!” she said with feeling.

The big red button
looked like the obvious choice to me, so I pushed it.  The bucket extended up
about ten feet higher.

 “No, no, no, no,
no, no,” I said.

CeCe sat down on
the floor of the bucket.  She has a problem with heights. 

“Stop this thing!”
she yelled.

I started pushing
and turning everything.  Our beeping noise turned to a ringing noise, but we
didn’t slow down.  We were almost halfway across the parking lot towards the
street at this point.  I looked back helplessly at Luke.  He and Ben were
standing next to each other with three piles of men at their feet, staring at
us.  They look so confused.  I’m sure they were wondering what those crazy
Build-N-Fix-It employees were doing.  The wind blew my cap off with a strong
gust.  Recognition swept across their faces as CeCe struggled to her feet.

I smiled at Luke,
shrugged with uplifted arms, and waved at him.  I saw his lips moving, but I
couldn’t tell what he was saying.  Just as well.  I probably didn’t want to
know.  Luke and Ben took off running towards us.  They’re really fast.  Go you
guys.  In a few seconds, they were close enough for me to hear what they were
yelling. 

It sounded like,
“Can you stop it?”

I shook my head
and went back to pushing buttons. 

“We’re going to
tip over in the ditch!” CeCe screamed.

I looked.  Oh
yeah, we were getting close.  Um, help.  I looked back.  Luke and Ben were
gaining on us fast, but there was no way they’d have time to catch us, climb
up, and stop this thing. 

Now they were
yelling, “Jump!” 

“Jump?” we
screamed back. 

“Jump out!” Luke
clarified.

Oh, no, no, no.  I
didn’t like the sound of that.  I saw a tree coming up ahead.

“Duck!” CeCe
yelled. 

“No, no,” I said,
“grab on!”  The lowest branch was just in reach.  We wrapped our arms around
the branch and let the crane thing pass under our feet.  “You got it?” I asked
CeCe breathlessly. 

“Think so,” she
said with strain in her voice. 

“Don’t let go,
CeCe!” I ordered.  “We’re pretty high up.”

There was a loud
crash as the bucket lift thing hit the ditch and tipped over.  The bucket
crashed onto the street on the other side, and the ringing sound became more of
a moan.  Luke and Ben skidded to a stop under us. 

“Let go.  I’ve got
you,” Ben yelled to CeCe.

CeCe obediently
let go, and Ben seemed to catch her effortlessly. 

Luke yelled,
“Drop, Maggie.  I’ll catch you,” but I saw the look on his face.  I didn’t miss
the tone in his voice, either.  He was mad, and I didn’t want to go down
there. 

I kicked my legs
up around the limb and said, “No thanks.  I think I’ll stay a while.” 

“Come down,” Luke
said between clenched teeth. 

“No.  I’m sensing
a little hostility down there, but the birds and squirrels are my friends,” I
observed. 

“Little help?”
Luke asked CeCe.

“Mags, you’ve got
to come down,” CeCe encouraged.  “The humidity is awful up there, and you know what
it does to your hair!  Now cowboy up, and get down here!”

Luke shot CeCe a
look and questioned, “Cowboy up?”

“Do you want her
to come down or not, now shush,” CeCe answered in a loud whisper through
clenched teeth.

“Hey, you guys
know I can hear you, right?” I asked, since their little interaction wasn’t
helping my concentration.  My arms and legs were getting tired, so I decided I
should end this on a high note with me choosing to let go rather than falling
because I couldn’t hold on any longer.

 “Okay, here I
come.”  I let go and fell into Luke’s waiting arms.  He immediately stood me up
and hugged me tightly.  That was much better than yelling.   

My brain processes
were settling down, and I remembered, “Fry!”

CeCe and I ran for
the car.  Fry was leaning casually against the side of the car with a big grin
on his face. 

We both slammed
into him at once squeezing a big, “Oooomph!” from him.  “Hello ladies,” he said
laughing.  Fry was thoroughly enjoying the attention.  We were still crying,
hugging, and kissing him when Luke and Ben walked up. 

“Let him breathe,
will you?” Luke said laughing. 

“Mind your own
business, Becnel,” Fry said warmly, pulling us both to him. 

“Did they treat
you okay?” I asked Fry through my sniffles, inspecting his face for bruises.

“Yeah, they
actually seemed nervous that they might damage their bargaining chip,” Fry
replied.

“Thank God for
that,” I whispered, burying my face in his chest.  Fry extended his fist first
to Luke and then to Ben to do the fist bump thing. 

“Thanks dudes. 
Sincerely.”  Then to Luke he said, “Killer Karate or whatever moves.  If I
wasn’t such a pacifist I’d want to know how to do that.  It was so cool,” he remarked
as he looked over at the men on the ground.  “They’re the lowest of the low.” 
We all nodded in agreement with that verdict.  “I saw them throw trash out of
the window twice.”  His voice rose to yell, “You goddamn litter bugs!”

We all laughed,
and Fry added innocently, “I’m serious.  I saw them.” 

I turned to Luke
and asked, “Who’s the guy that came up behind you?”

“I’d like to know
that myself.  I wasn’t expecting him,” Luke said scratching his head. 

“That’s their
cousin,” Fry informed us. 

“Cousin?” Ben
asked. 

“Yeah,” Fry
agreed.  “Evidently he lives somewhere nearby and was open to some fast cash. 
For some reason they didn’t really trust you to come alone, so they brought
some back up.”  Fry turned to me excitedly, “Did you see Luke take both of them
out.  Hy-yah!  Badass, that’s what he is.”

Luke rolled his
eyes and turned toward the road, because we could hear sirens coming now. 

“It’s about time,”
Ben said sounding aggravated and looking at his watch, “It’s been almost five
minutes since I called it in.  Too slow.”