CHAPTER FIVE

Ruby had taken a seat, pondered for a moment, and then straightened up on Snyder's rickety couch to brace herself and prepare to receive the news.

"Alright then.. Spill it, Snyder", she said finally, after going through her anticipation ritual.

Another deep breath from Snyder.

"Okay, so. The bad news is. I didn't see any drug play or sales going down. So, I got nothing.."

Ruby had a look on her face that said, 'What could be worse?' 

"And…?"

Snyder shut his eyes. "Promise you won't laugh.."

Ruby's face was already forming a subtle smile. "Wait. Is this worse news or funny news? Cus, I'm not sure why I have to promise not to laugh.."

".. Just promise, Ruby.." Snyder still had his eyes closed.

Already chuckling, Ruby said, "Okay, Snyder. I promise.."

"Okay. So, the other news is… The stripper who performed last night, her name was Coochie, I think. She was really good.. And.. Towards the end of her performance, she.. she stuck her hand in her pussy and asked anyone who wanted a taste to come forward.."

Ruby was already smiling wildly. "And…?"

"And.. I don't know what came over me, perhaps the electrifying nature of the performance or just her beauty, but. I was first.."

Upon hearing this, Ruby burst into laughter, throwing herself to the ground, rubbing her belly, rolling around, and cackling loudly.

"You promised not to laugh, Ruby.."

Amidst bouts of laughter, Ruby managed to say, "I know. But, this. It's. It's too much.." And, she kept laughing.

As Ruby laughed at him, Snyder immersed himself in his thoughts. It wasn't his fault that he had been so enraptured by the thrilling and arousing performance from that hot stripper last night. She had simply been too good. And, he couldn't tell if it was lust or actual love, but, he knew that he'd felt a slight, tingly feeling of affection for her, and wished to see her again. Hopefully, this time, more. Privately.

By default and without even a fading shadow of doubt in her mind, Mercedes knew she was being followed. From the club to her house to wherever else she went, she knew that there was always someone keeping close tabs on her. She was convinced about this because, many times, she'd find that a certain car or truck would follow her around, and while it had scared her at first, she had learned to normalize this occurrence, knowing under whose surveillance she was, Aleksandr's, and she had been left with no other option but to learn the slick, Fast and Furious ways of evading and shaking tails.

Presently, she was driving her Blue Toyota Corolla down the road, headed for a destination that was a secret she had carefully guarded ever since she met Aleksandr Matiç and his Russian mob family; protecting it jealously and going the extra length to keep it as far away from him as possible. 

Now, looking in the rear mirror, she took note of the cars behind her; a black Ford truck, a red Honda Civic, a silver Nissan Altima, and a white Honda Accord. She did this every time she went out, without fail, but she always carried this check out with extra care whenever she was going to the secret location where she was headed now.

"Okay, then. Let's see which one of you is the tail.." Mercedes muttered to herself before sliding her key in, turning her car's ignition, and veering onto the road.

After taking two lefts and a right, she looked in the rear mirror again. This time, the Ford truck and Honda Civic were gone, leaving the Nissan Altima and Honda Accord. 

She took two more rights, and, the cars were still behind her. She parked, and noticed that the Altima drove past her, but, the Honda Accord parked as well, keeping a good distance. 

"Hmm.. Last man standing, huh?" She was now almost sure that was the tail.

She moved forward, took one more left, parked again, and entered a pharmacy to buy something she didn't need, just to kill time. When she came back out, she looked from the corner of her eye and saw that the Accord was still in sight.

"Bullseye", she said, as she walked to her car. She'd found the tail. Now, she had to shake him.

And so, she restarted her car and moved on, and sure enough, the Accord followed. 

She kept moving while making sure to get in between cars erratically, to make it harder for her tail to keep track of her. Then, she got to an intersection with a red light. 

"Perfect. Just perfect", she said to herself, as she saw her tail about 5 cars behind on her left side. 

As soon as the light went from red to green, Mercedes unexpectedly and riskily sped through the intersection, going through to the other side and leaving her tail with a ton of cars in his way.

"Booyah!!" She yelled triumphantly as she punched the air while speeding away. 

Having lost her tail, she drove quickly and arrived at her destination, concealed her car, and hurried into the building. As she walked, she put her hand in her pant pockets to get the keys. This was a secret she'd concealed for years, never revealing it to anybody, because this was the only thing that mattered to her that hadn't been taken by Aleksandr, and she was convinced that if the evil tyrant were to get wind of it, he would take it by force from her, as he had done since she got to know him.

Racing up the steps and arriving at the door, Mercedes's heart was racing, and she hurriedly unlocked the door, and glanced to her left and right, just to make sure, before darting into the room.

Inside, it was dark, even though it was still afternoon. Window blinds were dropped and no light bulbs were switched on, but the place looked neatly arranged, clean, and nice. It looked like everything was in order. But, where was 'she'? 

Mercedes hoped nothing bad had happened. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if anything bad had happened. It would break and mangle her. In the back of her mind, Mercedes knew that there was nothing to suggest this, but still, she was scared.

As she pondered and walked slowly towards the bedroom, she had prayers on her lips. "Please, God. Please.."

She opened the bedroom door as carefully as she could and switched on the room's light. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw her precious secret lying in bed. The figure on the bed had been asleep, and had been startled by the switching on of the light bulb, but when it was clear that it was Mercedes, the one on the bed relaxed and smiled sweetly.

"Mercedes.." She said cheerfully. "You came.."