“Come on in” Doris motioned for Ruby to join her in the car.Ruby stared at Doris skeptically. After Doris promised to help her, she made a couple of phone calls and an old man pulled up with a black van.The van reminded Ruby of the black van that was used to kidnap people in movies. She casually slipped her hand into her purse to ensure she still had her pen knife. “Come on kiddo, I don’t have all day” the driver honked impatiently With shaky hands, Ruby climbed into the van and squished into the seat beside Doris. “Why do you act like you’ve seen a ghost?” The man laughed raucously and pulled out of Doris’ garage. “Don’t pay attention to him,” Doris rolled her eyes. “This is Elijah, he worked at the company before he started working for a top security company”Ruby replied by moving her head. Elijah’s job explained why he had deadly looking weapons at the back of his car.The car was tinted so Ruby felt a little settled with the fact that no one could see them.
Doris stopped at a laundromat. “Do not say anything” she mumbled to Ruby.Ruby was too tired to reply. Her feet hurt badly, wearing sandals had been a bad choice for when she was going to walk a long distance in the heat. Also, she felt sweat trickle down her back through the scarf. Doris pushed the bell and let herself in. The laundromat seemed very busy, a couple of people were using the washing machine. “Can I help you with anything?” A young lady walked up to them with a friendly smile “I’m here to see Ricardo,” Doris said in a thick Spanish accent.Ruby almost gasped and hit her head, it felt like she was the only one who didn’t take foreign languages seriously in school. “Can I have your name?” “Just tell him Wonder is here”The lady nodded and asked them to sit. They watched her move to the back of the washing machines lined up and assumed there was an office there. “I would introduce you to him as a distant relative who was traveling and only stopped be
Grumpily, Ricardo led the ladies to his truck. His pick up was scheduled for late evening but Doris instead he drove by the warehouse. She changed her mind about seeing the warehouse from a high rise building. “I don’t know how I’m going to fit you guys into the trunk of the car. Do you think you’re invisible?” “What do you mean?” Doris asked with a frownHer patience grew thinner each time Ricardo spoke. All he did was complain and ramble on about how Wyatt was going to send him to prison. “When I drive to the warehouse, my vehicle is going to be thoroughly searched” he replied disdainfully “And you didn’t think to tell me about this before you brought us to the parking lot? Don’t you know it’s risky for me to be seen out here?” She demanded, hands on her hips, a scary scowl on her face “You’ve been shouting all day, your presence alone has altered my line of reasoning”Doris was about to reply when Ruby had more than enough. “Enough!” She yelledShe got ugly s
“What do you have in your trunk?” The guard asked“Just some washing machine. I’m here for a pick up, I’m the owner of the laundromat” Ricardo answered. He tried his best to keep a stable voice as he gripped the steering wheel for his dear life “Of course I know who the heck you are” the guard responded with disdainWorking hours under the sun and having to search people’s vehicles eventually wore him out, he was tired. He moved to the little desk he had and pulled out a book. He flipped through it, his eyes running through each page quickly. “Your pickup is scheduled for five o’clock in the evening, what the hell are you doing here? It’s just three o’clock. You’ll have to wait two more hours” “That’s the issue my dear friend” Ricardo smiled wryly and wiped his hands on his pants.His hands had gotten sweaty and slippery from gripping the steering wheel too much. “My wife is holding this dinner for her prayer crew at five and she asked me to help her get some groc
Ricardo held his breath as he got to the last checkpoint. He stopped a distance as he saw some guards gathered at the checkpoint. “What is the problem?” A muffled voice asked from the trunk of the car. He assumed the voice was Doris’. “The last checkpoint is unusually crowded today” he called backBeads of sweat began to form on his forehead and he reached for his rosary. “If things are too risky, you can turn this vehicle around and let’s get the hell out of here” the muffled voice saidHe assumed this voice belonged to Ruby, Doris was almost fearless and won’t back down from anything.The ladies muffled voice went on and on for two minutes straight. It was difficult making out what they were arguing about but he was relieved he wasn’t stuck in the trunk of a car with someone like Doris as a companion. He decided to wait a bit to see what was really going on. When they had so many guards it meant two things, either they had a bad situation or someone was trying t
Without caution, the guard pulled tarp off the machine. Ricardo stood by him with hands to his back, he feared he could burst out in tears any minute. “Don’t you work at the laundromat?” The guard askedThe guard looked fierce so Ricardo couldn’t look him in the eye. “Yes, I do”“We’d have to search what Is inside the washing machine” the guard said and motioned for the men to help bring the machine of the car. He felt more pee in his briefs and closed his eyes. It was game over for him. The guards carefully placed the machine next to the guard. “Why are the machines awkwardly heavy?” One of the guards asked with a frown and rubbed at his hand. “Open the doors of the machine” the guard orderedRicardo turned away from them. He couldn’t bear to see what happened next. The guard reached for the door of the machine was was pulling it open when his walkie-talkie buzzed. “We have a situation at the gate,” a crackled voice said.“We need back up!”The urgency
The rest of the journey went smoothly, most of the guards were seen running about. Ricardo had tried to ask what was going on but the guards were too busy to give him an accurate answer. He got his pickup without any questions and was asked to deliver it before nightfall. He sighed in relief when he saw the familiar line of shops. He was so scared that he made sure he wasn’t being followed by anyone. Carefully, he let the ladies out of the car and ordered that the workers return the dryers back to the shop. “I think I’ve done you ladies more than enough favor and I ask that you kindly leave immediately” it sounded more like a command but his eyes held otherwise, he was tired and wished Doris would have a little mercy on him. “Oh please,” Doris waved her hands and walked to his office.She had called for Elijah to come to the spot where he dropped them off, he told her he was going to take a little while so they had to wait at Ricardo’s office. Ricardo groaned as he watche
The door creaked as she let herself into the house, she had thought of a plausible excuse but none was coming to her head. After Elijah dropped her off, she turned her phone on and watched as messages began flooding her phone. She sighed when she saw Nate had sent her sixteen messages, he was worried about her and she had caused him so much pain.She didn’t bother opening the message as she feared what was inside. She got a couple of messages from Esme and Ethan, those she wasn't willing to open at all as she knew they carried bad news or they were going to ruin her mood. Ethan had refused to speak to her no matter how many times she had tried to contact him, Cassie and some of the ladies asked her to give him space as they had noticed he had changed a lot. “Why would you do that to me?” She stopped in her tracks as she turned to face the direction of the voice. Nate was in the living room although the lights were turned off. She felt her heart sink immediately, his voice w