Shark of Spades

The Mind of Me

Before Evan could try to convince me to make positive reforms on my soul, I grabbed my briefcase, giving my gloves a slight tug and my sunglasses a readjusting before walking towards the door.

"Hang on a second," Evan said just as Jack added, "Where are you going, Card?"

I  turned to face them, but I wasn't really focusing, as my mind was throwing around plans in a rapid-fire way that was making me feel  overwhelmed. "First, I'm ditching the car. They'll have a report on it by now. Then I'm making my own arrangements as to where I'll be temporarily staying." When they both protested, I shrugged. "Evan, the two of us together make too large of a target."

"Well, what about me?" Jack asked, still grinning but managing to look irritated at the same time.

"For one, you're going to make me eat breakfast. Two, you're too hands-on for me."

Jack blushed slightly as both of us recalled the kiss, but Evan looked really confused. "Wait, what happened between you two?"

"Later," I called out, shutting the door behind me and listening for a second to hear the two of them physically fighting inside. Great. Just what I needed, two immature idiots.

***

I ditched the car on a shallow slope that led to a nearby river, a spot where it would take a few days to be discovered (but discovery was inevitable, as I was counting on it to rain early next week). That way, the car at least had a chance at finding its way back to its rightful owner.

Then I hiked back up the slope, briefcase in hand as always,  and made my way towards the center of town, from there pivoting and heading for the local library, which I almost passed up. Once in, I asked to use a computer, and the librarian, eyeing me suspiciously but unable to refuse, pointed me in the direction and gave me the key-in.  From there, I logged on to the search engine and pulled up a map of the town, locating all trains stations, subways, bus stops, biking paths, and the like. After checking out those options, I did a search for all  the nearby hotels. There were eight of them within a ten block radius of my current position, leaving me to narrow down the choices.

I  finally picked one on the south side of the library, about one block closer than a hotel of a sister chain to the east. After selecting my target, I booked a room in five of the seven other hotels (all under  different names). I logged off, nodded at the woman (who was still glaring at me; what's her problem?), and went on my way.

Once arriving at the hotel, I asked the secretary if she had any open rooms, and she said she had thirteen singles; one on the first floor, three on the second, two on the third, three on the fourth, two on the fifth,  and one on both the sixth and seventh. I chose a fourth floor room (being closer to the exits was great, but Evan and Jack would foresee that and check the first and second, or possibly the sixth and seventh because they were using that reverse psychology trick) and took the  elevator up after paying under the name Zachary Wilde. I opened the door with the key card and did a hallway scan before entering, locking, and  bolting the door behind me. Then, without letting go of the briefcase, I went over to the window and made sure that I hadn't been slacking off on my observational skills. True to my nature, a truck was parked just  behind a dumpster, both four stories below my window.

Satisfied, I put the briefcase in the oven after removing a length of rope and  knotting it firmly around the foot of the bed. From there, I checked the  time. By now, it was almost four o'clock. Jack and Evan would probably  begin the search for me now in order to hunt me down for tonight's game.  Luckily, I already had a plan.

I exited the hotel, briefcase in hand and key card in my pocket, along with a sizable sum of money, and made my way over to the sister hotel to the east and a block south. Once  there, I mentally charted my path to the library and took my time walking, heading north for a block and then west for a block and continuing the process until I sensed someone following me. So I sat down on a bench and waited, one hand inside my jacket and fingering the gun, the other clamped firmly onto my briefcase.

While waiting for them to approach, I silently applauded myself. Since they'd been  following me for at least two blocks, they knew that I was coming from the southeast. Their two most likely options of tracking me down would be to search southeast or the northwest. And yet, I came from the south.

Hopefully, they wouldn't locate me before I was ready to move on, but if they did, I had a plan, so I wasn't worried.

***

They approached me two minutes later, just as I was standing up. "You guys ready?"