22 Caliber - A Stephanie Plum-inspired Story

Chapter Fifteen

I reviewed the files again and decided I needed the bond money to buy a new car. That meant I would need to bring in one of the high-level bondees, either Caden Kenchiro or Dorothea Pringle. I got out a quarter. "Heads, it's Dorothea; tails, it's Caden", I said. I threw the coin in the air and caught it. "Tails. Guess we are going after Kenchiro."

Caden was currently out of a job since he killed his former boss. He lived in a double-wide trailer in The Pines, a forested area on the outskirts of town. Lula and I had some experience with The Pines in the past and have found the dirt roads criss-crossing the forest confusing. The last time we were there we got lost and Ranger had to come to rescue us. While I didn't want to have to get rescued again, it gave me some level of comfort to know the Explorer had a tracking system on it and Ranger would get concerned and come find us if the car didn't move for a long period of time.

I drove down to The Pines. Kenchiro lived on the edge of the forest and after only half an hour of cussing I found his trailer. "I don't like the looks of this", said Lula. "The Pines are creepy and everyone who lives in them is creepy as well."

I parked in between Kenchiro's truck and his trailer. "How tough can it be?" I asked. "He's wanted for vehicular manslaughter. His truck is over there on the left. He's in his trailer over there on the right. As long as we keep ourselves between him and his truck, we should be okay. He won't be able to hurt us." I looked to see if Lula was buying it. I wasn't sure – she was rooting through her bag.

She found her gun and looked at me. "Where's your gun? Don't tell me you left it in your cookie jar again!" She put her gun in her pocket.

"I did", I said. "It's just as well. It doesn't have any bullets." That was the one thing on my mental shopping list I always seemed to forget to buy. I think I forgot to buy them purposely. You couldn't shoot anyone if you didn't have any bullets and I didn't like shooting people. It made my stomach feel squishy.

Lula and I got out of the car. I hung my cuffs out of my back pocket and shook my pepper spray to activate it. I put it in my front hoody pocket and walked up to the door of the trailer. I knocked on the door and we stood to the side while we waited for Kenchiro to answer. No one came to the door. I looked in the windows and saw Kenchiro sitting in front of the TV. I opened the door and called out "bond enforcement." Kenchiro didn't move. Lula and I crept over to him and watched his chest to make sure he was still breathing. He wouldn't be the first dead person I went to capture.

I took my cuffs out of my back pocket. I had one of the cuffs snapped on his wrist but before I could snap the other cuff on Kenchiro woke up and stood, yanked his wrist and my cuffs out of my hand and roared, "What the hell do you fucking think you are fucking doing? You're fucking interrupting my fucking sleep; you're fucking trespassing on my fucking property; who the hell do you fucking think you are?"

I got in between Kenchiro and the door and put my hand in my pocket to get my pepper spray. Lula put her hand in her pocket to get her gun. Lula stayed on the other side of Kenchiro, directly across from me. "We are your bond enforcement agents. You missed your court date and we came here to take you back to court to reschedule your date." I tried to keep my voice level and commanding, but facing six feet of angry male left me intimidated.

"I am not fucking going to fucking jail", he said angrily, and he charged at me like a bull charging a red cape. I stepped to the side before he knocked me over and Kenchiro ran out of the trailer and over to his truck. As he drove away, Lula shot at his truck a couple of times. Unfortunately she shot wide, winging me on the arm with one bullet and hitting Ranger's vehicle in the side mirror with the other.

She looked at her gun, then looked at me. "Grandma Bella's curse must still be working", she said. "You have the worst luck when it comes to cars."

"You hit me, too."

"Oh my God! That curse is really strong, isn't it?" Lula shivered. She looked at the blood seeping through my sweatshirt. "Do you want me to drive?"

I handed Lula the keys, pulled off my sweatshirt, went to the back of the Explorer and took out the first aid kit. We looked at the wound and decided I needed to go to the hospital to get a couple of stitches. Lula field bandaged the wound. We got in the car and Lula drove us back to Trenton. While Lula was driving I called Ranger.

"Babe."

"You know how you were really nice and you lent me the Explorer?" There was silence on the end of the line. "Well, it sort of got shot. It's okay, really, but it doesn't have a side mirror anymore. It's totally drivable. In fact we are driving it right now. But I wanted to warn you."

"Do I want to know what happened?"

"Probably not. But in case you should hear it from anyone else, I should warn you I also sort of got shot. I'm okay, just winged, but I think I might need a couple of stitches."

"I changed my mind. I want to know what happened."

"Well, Lula and I were apprehending Caden Kenchiro here in The Pines and he sort of got away from us. So Lula shot at him a couple of times, only she shot wide. She winged me with the first shot and hit your car with the second."

"She needs to take shooting lessons. You sure you're okay?"

"Yes."

"Do you need my help with anything?"

"No, thanks."

"If you change your mind, you know where to find me." And Ranger hung up.

Lula drove me to the hospital to get stitches. The day was getting quite late and I was tired. After getting cleaned and stitched up, I drove Lula back to the office and picked up another set of cuffs before heading over to Morelli's house.

When I got to Joe's I got a call from my mom. "What's this I hear about you getting shot? Rosie Black said you refused to stay overnight at the hospital and you were dripping blood all over the floor. Are you okay? Why aren't you staying overnight at the hospital?" I explained I was just winged my arm and there was nothing really wrong, it just needed a couple of stitches. I also explained there was no need for me to stay in the hospital, and that it really was nothing. My mom told me my clothes were washed and ready for pick up, so I thanked her and told her I would come over to pick up the clothes right away.

"Why don't you come for dinner?" she asked. "I made stuffed cabbage rolls. And I have pineapple upside-down cake. You should bring Joe." I thanked my mom for the offer, but turned it down and told her that I was coming just for an in-out visit, I was only picking up my clothes and would then leave again. There was a silence on the other end of the line. "I don't think I have ever heard you turn down pineapple upside-down cake before. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, just tired. This strep throat is really taking it out of me", I said. "I'll see you in a few minutes." I went in the house and changed out of my bloody shirt and hoody and changed my bloody jeans. There was no point in upsetting my mother unduly. I drove over to my parents' house. Both my mom and grandmother were waiting at the door. While I parked the car they came out to see me, laundry basket in hand. I took off my hoody to show them the size of the relatively small bandage. I reassured them again, and took the basket of clean laundry from my mom and put it in the back of the car. I thanked them for doing my laundry. When I went to get back in the car, my mom yelled "wait." She ran into the house and emerged a few minutes later with a foil-wrapped package. "Pineapple upside-down cake", she said. She gave me a kiss and told me to be careful. I got in the car and returned to Joe's.