Chapter 5: Riding Double

When they finished searching everything inside the unit, they put what they had opened away. Then Connor got the bike out, started it running, and closed and locked the door.

“Only a small amount of gas. Need to fill it. Okay now. Riding double on a bike isn’t a big deal. You hold onto the driver and kinda move your body with his. Don’t resist the natural movement of your body on the turns, follow what the driver does. Your body will do it naturally. You ride on this seat, called the pillion—or even the ‘bitch seat’ by some people. See, you can lean back against the trunk too. I’ll get on and you hop on behind me—see how it feels. Put your hands on my hips to start so you can feel the proper motion, and later, you can use the handgrips. I’ll ride slow around the area so you get a feel for how we move. Okay? Let’s get your helmet on and secure.”

Nervously, Drew nodded. “It must be noisy when we ride. How do we talk to each other?”

“Don’t have much experience there. But the helmet we bought for you has speakers and a mike built in like mine. We Bluetooth it to the radio and then we can talk to each other.”

Drew nodded and then climbed on.

“See the foot rests where your feet are?”

“Yeah.”

“You gotta keep your feet on them always. That keeps me and the bike stable.”

“Got it.”

“Okay, hold on. Let’s ride a bit.”

After several minutes of slow riding, Connor left the storage place and stopped at a gas station, where he filled the tank. Then they went back to the motel.

“I’m gonna call that guy I told you about. I’ll arrange to meet him at that park we passed a mile back up the road. I’m gonna ask you to do something that you might not want to do. Could you kinda be like a fake guard? Stand in the trees and hold a gun so that he can see you if I call? The pistol won’t be loaded. It’s just for show in case something unexpected happens.”

Drew took on a determined expression and set her jaw.

“I can do that.”

“Great! Let me call him.”

When Connor finally reached his contact, they arranged to meet the following afternoon.

The following day, Connor prepared for the meeting by bringing several dozen bags of weed and ten hundred-bills with him. The two also cleaned everything out of the storage unit except the cabinet and the list of Connor’s dad’s customers. He got to the meeting site fifteen minutes early and Drew positioned herself in the tree line near the picnic table where Connor was stationed.

The man arrived, alone as Connor had requested.

“Hello, Mr Garcia. I’m Connor Martin, and you haven’t changed much from how I remember you from a couple years ago.”

“Hello, Connor. Very sorry about your dad. Must have been really tough for you.”

“Sure was.”

“You have a few grateful guys who worked with your dad, you know. You could have ratted them out to the cops but you didn’t. Even when they managed to track down Archer. I know that they tried to get you to ID him but you played it cool. He appreciates that. So you said that you have a proposal. Does that mean that you found your dad’s money?”

“Yeah, it does. Listen, I’m a runaway now. Ever hear of this new stupid high-school program where they force the kids to go to school naked?”

“Sure. There must be a news story about it almost every week.”

“Okay, they just started it in my school and I refuse to take part. I plan to find somewhere I can go where they don’t have it...”

“It’s a national law...”

“Right, I know. For public schools. Maybe I’ll try to find some kind of private school but I’ll need money for that and here’s where you can help me—and I can help you too. All Dad’s money that I could lay my hands on is in hundreds and for a teen, I, for sure, can’t do anything with them. What I’d like is to get them into a bank and get a debit card to access the money. But that takes an adult. Second, I found that Dad had a stash of weed.”

Connor opened the bag and showed Garcia the baggies.

“There are 237 one-ounce bags of this stuff. I’m sure it’s high quality. I Googled the name on the cards in the baggies, ‘Chocolope Fem,’ and it’s supposed to be good. I don’t want it and if we can agree, I’ll just give it to you. Here’s what I’d like. I have 14.2 grand in hundreds. I’d like a bank account with card access. In return, I’ll give you four grand of that amount and, hey, how about giving Archer a grand too? I feel sorry that he got tracked down. Or you could keep that grand too. And you get the weed. No idea of its street value.”

“Ah, maybe about three Cs per ounce retail these days. That’s more than 70 grand, son. You sure?”

“Totally. Dad really liked you, said you were a straight shooter. He wanted to get me involved in his business, but I had misgivings. I want to close off that part of my life now and start fresh. Don’t need a fortune in good bud to do that.”

Garcia reached his hand over for a shake.

“You got a deal, son. Thanks for your comments about my honesty; I do try to play fair in my business. But you should be aware that there are banking laws and IRS regulations that come into play when about nine grand in cash is used to open an account.”

“See? That’s why I need an adult. Can you make it work?”

“Sure. I can launder it through my legitimate business, open a subsidiary business banking account, and give you control of that. I can bury any potential tax hit with my business losses. I have an excellent accountant.”

“How about doing this then? First, I’ll get the weed to you. You set up the bank account. When that’s done, contact me and I’ll bring the cash. Then could you electronically transfer the agreed amount to the new account and turn it over to me?”

Garcia thought for several seconds. “Yeah, that should work. Let me tell you where to bring the bud. What’s your ride? Are you even old enough to drive?”

“Dad got me a license and a bike, so I’ll be riding a Honda. It has lots of storage on it.”

Garcia nodded and then gave Connor the address he should go to.

Two days later, Connor got the call that the account and transfer were ready and he should come to Garcia’s business office. Confirming that the area was safe, he decided to take Drew with him. They could shop for riding gear after he was done with Garcia. When they got there, he had Drew wait at the bike while he went inside.

“Hi. We’re all set,” Garcia said when Connor entered his office. “Have the cash?”

Connor took out the money and Garcia flipped through the strap and the remainder.

“Looks good. Say, Archer was incredibly happy with your gift, and the ‘organization’ [he made air-quotes] was very impressed with that gesture, son. You did him a solid there and the boys appreciated it. Need a shady favor, you got it.”

Connor nodded.

Garcia pointed to the computer screen. “I’m logged in to the site where your money is coming from. Your phone has internet, I assume?”

“Yeah.”

“Go to the bank site now and here’s the login info. Log in now and go to the transactions screen.”

Connor did that.

“See the hundred dollar balance? Need to put money in to open accounts. Okay, it’s transferred. Refresh your screen.”

He did and saw that 9,300 dollars was in the account now.

“I see the deposit.”

Good. Here are two debit cards for the account; you’ll need to activate them and create pins. You can do that later. But you need to change the account’s password to make the account your own. Do that now, okay?”

Connor did.

“Even though this account is linked to my business, it’s fully yours to control, okay?”

“That’s great ... thanks so much. We’ll be leaving the area but I’ll try to keep in touch with you. Here’s another gift, the key to Dad’s storage unit. You might be interested in the business records he left there and the contract for it lapses in May. And tell Archer ... and the others, that if the cops ask me again about Dad’s associates, that I have no idea who they might be.”

“Very good, son, and good luck in building your new life.”

They shook hands and Connor left.

Back at the bike, as Connor mounted and started it, Drew told Connor, “There’s a seedy-looking guy who’s been surreptitiously watching me or the bike. Don’t look now, but he’s over at the alley to the left ... Oh, he’s getting into a car there now. I think he’s gonna follow us.”

“Huh. Is he alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go to that fast-food place we passed and see what he does.”

Connor pulled into the parking lot of the fast-food restaurant a half-mile away, parked in a slot across from the building, and shut down the bike. The car pulled in a few spots away and the guy jumped out and ran over to them.

“Hey kid, you were at Garcia’s. I think you’re a courier of his. I want your backpack, what you have in your pockets, and what’s in your bike storage.”

“Get lost. I’m not a courier.”

The guy pulled out a pistol. “You’ll do what I say...”

Suddenly he reeled back; he had just gotten hit in the head by a thrown stone.

Connor was on him in an instant, slamming the edge of his hand on the guy’s pistol hand forearm. The pistol dropped to the ground and Connor kicked it away as he drove the heel of his hand into the guy’s nose and followed up with a blow of his elbow to his solar plexus. As he fell back against the car parked behind him. Connor kicked him in the groin. He was wearing riding boots. The guy collapsed onto the ground.

“Come on, let’s go,” he called to Drew as he hopped onto the bike. Neither had even taken off their helmets.

“Drew, wow, that was an awesome shot!” Connor exclaimed as they pulled out of the parking lot.

“Yeah? Well, you were scary yourself. Krav manga? Wow!”

“Nah, just filthy street fighting. Told you before. Don’t give ‘em a chance to get back up.”

“He was bleeding from his nose and mouth, I saw.”

“The palm heel strike. That can cause a facial bone fracture. Breaks blood vessels for sure.”

“Can it kill someone?”

“Not that likely. If bone fragments get shoved into the brain, that might cause enough damage to be lethal. I didn’t hit him with full force, though. But your quick thinking to throw that stone—how the hell did you even have a stone?”

Drew laughed wryly. “When he followed us into the lot, I saw where you were gonna park. The planting border there had all these white landscape stones. I grabbed a two-three-inch one just to have a weapon available. When he pulled the gun out, I kinda waved my arm to distract him for a second so he wasn’t aiming it at you. With the gun not pointing at either of us. I could throw the stone.”

“Shit! You thought of that whole strategy in a second or two?”

“Oh sure. I play soccer. You need to be able to anticipate and strategize instantly and on the fly the whole game. It rules how I think now.”

“Damn, Drew, you’re fuckin’ impressive, you know? Hey, how’d you get so good at rock-throwing ... and don’t tell me that’s a soccer skill too.”

She giggled. “One of the ways I amused myself while staying in my hidey-hole was throwing rocks at targets. Got real good at it, too.”

“For sure. Jeez, you’re dangerous too, Drew!”

“We make a good team, don’t we. Hey, back in Garcia’s place...”

“All set. Money’s in our own account and we have debit cards.”