Meet At Joe's

16 You Can't Always Get What You Want Part 1 But If You Try sometimes

POV: Roger

Cool. A job in the mountains. And I get to narrate. Have you readers of our earlier adventures missed me? It has been almost twenty years. Not to worry, I'm older, but definitely not wiser. Anyway, after Pixie called me and brought me up to speed, I packed up a bunch of essentials meaning weed and assorted pharmaceuticals and headed out. This was going to be fun.

I found the car parked on 50, made the call, and waited for the dude to show. Yeah, I smoked a joint while I waited. You can't be too relaxed when going into a tense situation.

The dude showed and asked, "Roger?"

"The one and only," I assured him. "And you must be John." I offered to bump fists.

"I was expecting someone younger," he offered explaining his hesitation.

"Geez, man! Way to rub it in. You know, I was expecting someone smarter, but you don't hear me making a big deal about it."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything," he apologized.

It's okay, man. You can't always get what you want, but I'm here to see you get what you need."

He took me to where we could spy on the cabin from the woods, and we assessed the situation. There was a large open space surrounding the cabin making it impossible to get any closer without being seen. I asked if he knew how many dudes were inside. He was unsure but he thought there was at least one other guy besides the two who had abducted Victoria. He called her Julie. I'd have to get used to that.

"What do you think?" he asked. "Can we sneak in and get her, or do we make a frontal assault?"

I considered his suggestions and decided both were too risky even for me. "We don't know the layout well enough to try either of those things. What we need is a guy on the inside to get the lay of the land."

"Do you have a plan for doing that? I don't think going up to the door pretending to be magazine salesmen will work."

"Yeah, we're going to have to be a little more clever. I'm thinking we wait till one of them leaves to go for supplies or whatever. I'll follow him and find an excuse to talk to him, maybe sell him some weed. Get him to trust me and let him know I'm no friend of Johnny law. Perhaps they may be looking for more muscle to join their group. You can never have too many henchmen or too much dope. I'll offer them whatever I think they need. I'll play it by ear. One way or another I'll learn something."

We agreed I should wait at the car and that he would call me when one of them headed out. I'd be ready.