The Pick Up

Everyday starts with the promise of a surprise....Especially in my line of work... It had been a day since I had been given the demand to raise 6 million dollars for the safe return of Emily Strunk, MS. PANTIES 2019.

This morning ,I was in the bathroom passionately kissing my wife, Sepia..

"Kevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvinnnnn, I do have to go to work today....I have a house to show....We keep up all this kissin and we are going to wind up back in the bed...Didn't I give you enough last night?" she asked..

"Is that a trick question?" I asked, ignoring her and continuing to kiss her passionately...

Running my hands down her soft silky panties...

"Mmmmmm that was a trick question...Wellllll we have two hours to kill, if we hurry we might.." she said...

But before she could get the sentence finished....My phone rang...

"Awww who is that?" I said angrilly...

Sepia eased out of my embrace...

"You'd better get that baby and calm yourself down..."she said softly,looking at my boxers ,which were standing out like a circus tent...She smiled and shook her head.....

"Awwwwww poor baby...I'll take care of that when I come home tonight..I promise.."she said..

and kissed me softly and then walked into the bathroom and closed the door..

I picked up my phone , which I had turned off all night...I wanted nothing to interrupt Sepia and I last night..(Her phone was off too..)

"Hello!" I said.

"MR.MORRIS, I HOPE MR. FABERSHAM HAS RAISED THAT SIX MILLION DOLLARS...I WANT IT DELIVERED TODAY!!  TODAY IS THAT UNDERSTOOD??" said the voice..

"You want it delivered where?" I asked..

"TO MAKE SURE I HAVEN'T BEEN COMPROMISED....I'VE HAD HIM WATCHED....I KNOW HE WENT TO HIS PARTNERS YESTERDAY AND I KNOW HE TOOK OUT SIX MILLION DOLLARS....I WANT IT DELIVERED IN AN OLD SUITCASE TO YOU...IN A PUBLIC PLACE...JOSIE'S....THAT'S THE FIRST STEP...YOU'LL RECEIVE FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS
LATER!" came the voice.

"Now you wait...How do I know you haven't killed Ms. Panties already...Put her on the phone or I'm not doing a damn thing!"I said.

A video of Emily Strunk in a black lace mini skirt appeared...There was a gun to her head...I could see a man's arm..He was white...but that's all I could see...The arm had a mermaid tattoo on it..

"Mr. Kevin Please...Please...These guys are serious...Please give them what they want.." she said.

The video vanished..

"PROOF ENOUGH?  NOW ARRANGE TO MEET MR. FABERSHAM AT JOSIE'S AT 5:00 pm this afternoon and await further instructions." came the voice.

The voice was once again distorted by an electronic decoder...but something about the way whoever this was talked to me seemed very familiar..very familiar..I just couldn't put my finger on who it was..

Sepia came out of the bathroom...She was fully dressed now..

''Who was that?"she asked..

''The Kidnapper...He wants me to meet Dag in Josie's at five to pick up the money..."I said.

"I thought .." said Sepia.

"I did...It's already handled.."I said.

Sepia looked at me with her soulful eyes..

She kissed me passionately once again...

II-

Kool Kat sat in Pakistani Sam's apartment enjoying some fried chicken and a bottle of beer...

"You got any hot sauce Sammy?" he asked.

"Over there on the counter Walter..You aint no guest.."said Pakistani Sam as he prepared the bills in an old suitcase....

"Damn this is some good chicken..you fried this up yourself?" asked Kool Kat..

"Sure did..in addition to being a confidence man...I was also quite a cook in my day.."said Pakistani Sam..

"You're just a jack of all trades huh dude?" laughed Kool Kat..

"And a master of some."said Pakistani Sam..

Both men cracked up laughing...

"Come over here...This is six million dollars in fifties, twenties and a few hundreds....Check it out and count it yourself to be sure.." he said..

Kool Kat , a street wise former enforcer counted the money....He inspected it...

"Damnnn man...If I didn't know these were fake bills...I'd swear they were the real thing...You were good.."said Kool Kat..

"Not that good.. The FBI and The Secret Service figured me out...Sent me to Club Fed for a few years."said Pakistani Sam..

''Oh well..that's part of the game."said Kool Kat..,

"You were lucky Walter...You never did any time did ya?" he asked..

"Nope...Not even a parking ticket...."said Kool Kat, who had no priors..

"Hanging around Kevin has been good for you..." he said.

"Very good...Pays well too,even though I don't need the money." he laughed..

"Yeah..I heard you hit the lotto a few years back.a couple of million..Imagine that..a guy like you."said Pakistani Sam...

"Yeah,imagine that?" laughed Kool Kat , who finished up his beer and the last bit of fried chicken, took the suitcase and smiled at Pakistani Sam..

"Thanks Sammy." he said.

"Give Kevin My regards." he said.

III-

At Josies, Dag Fabersham sat nervously with the suitcase Kool Kat had given him at my office earlier in the afternoon...His very real case of six million dollars was locked safely in a safe at my office...No one knew it was there or it's contents...

He walked into Josies with a suitcase full of the very phony six million dollars supplied to us by Pakistani Sam. Also in the suitcase was a tracking device.. Just in case these kidnappers weren't that sophisticated.

"What do we do now Kevin?" asked a nervous Dag..

"Relax...I suspect our kidnapper is somewhere in this bar, watching us...To make sure I made contact with you.."I said..

Dag looked frightened...

"WHAT?" he said..

"Yes...Whoever has to be sure we made contact and relay back to the boss that I have the money."I said.

I had my five men stationed  through out the bar watching everybody..

Not an easy task when the bar was packed and everybody was on their phones....

Clerow, Owen Todd and Sean Jackson were in an unmarked car outside..They were to follow me.. I had on

a smartwatch and it had a tracking device..

Peeping Tom and Lockpick Johnson were back at headquarters

 monitoring the entire thing..

Just like that...my smartwatch rang..

"MR MORRIS...PROCEED TO THE PARKING LOT  WITH THE MONEY AND YOU ARE TO MEET ME AT THE ABANDONED TRAIN STATION...THE ONE THAT IS SCHEDULED TO BE REBUILT...YOU KNOW THE ONE...OH AND TAKE YOUR SMARTWATCH OFF AND GIVE IT TO MR.FABERSHAM....WHEN YOU GET TO THE PARKING LOT YOU WILL FIND A RENTAL CAR WITH THE KEY IN IT...IT WILL BE A RED FORD FOCUS...YOU WILL NOT BE TAKING YOUR CAR...TAKE OFF THE SMARTWATCH AND HAND IT TO MR.FABERSHAM...NOW GO TO THE RENTAL CAR.NOW!" said the voice.

I did as I was told... Naturally my car had a tracking device...So did my smartwatch...Without that I couldn't be traced..Except for the tracking device in my suitcase.

I walked out to the parking lot...The Red Ford Focus was there..

With the key in it.. I got in...It had that new car smell...

My guys weren't aware I had left the bar in all the commotion... Clerow, Owen Todd and Sean Jackson didn't know I was in the Rental car..They were looking for my car ,so they couldn't follow me..
Just like that...The Kidnapper had out maneuvered me... That didn't happen too often if at all... Only one man I knew of  could think on this level and he was safely behind bars...

I followed the instructions and took off....

At my headquarters....Peeping Tom had picked up the conversation...

"This guy is good, but we got Kevin's car on the traffic cam..We can still track him.....Lockpick...call Mr. Jones...We are going to need his help on this.." said Tom..

"I'm dialing his number now.."said Lockpick Johnson.

IV-

Josies was still jumping when Lt. Sissy Van Buren walked in..

"Hey Gus" she said.

"What'cha drinkin Sissy?" asked Gus..

"My usual...Uh Have you seen Kevin lately?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact...You just missed him..He just left here about a half hour ago.."said Gus..

"And he was okay?" asked Sissy..

"Looked fine to me..Why? He in trouble?" asked Gus.

"He could be...an old acquiantence of his recently escaped from prison.."said Sissy.

Too bad I hadn't run into Sissy earlier...Too bad my phone had been off the night before when she and Sharon tried to call me...I might have preceded with this a little differently...

It was a warm ,Moonlit spring night...

It felt dingy and dirty driving into an old abandoned subway station near the edge of town...

I walked in with the suitcase...

A scruffy looking white man in a plaid shirt approached me..

"Drop the suitcase and step away.." he said.

It was Dan Steele...but I wasn't going to acknowledge that I knew who he was...I wanted to be able to walk out of here alive tonight and with Emily...

"I want to see Emily Strunk...Show her to me or you get nothing.."I said.

"I'm right here Kevin."came a soft voice....It was Emily...She was wearing the tight jeans and the even tighter top that showed her huge breasts.. The same thing she was wearing when I last saw her a few nights before..

"You alright Emily?" I asked..

"I'm fine." she said and she walked over to me..

I put the suitcase down...

The white man opened the suitcase...He looked at the money and he transferred it to an old mail sack...

Out played again...Now we couldn't trace the money...but I figured they'd do this..He said nothing..

I took Emily by the hand..

"Come on baby..let's go.."I said..

She laughed..

"Okay."she said.

Something seemed wrong..This guy didn't appear to have a gun and he didn't say a word...

I never saw the hyperdermic needle in Emily's hands...I felt the sharp piercing in my neck...and I felt the entire world go spinning around as I dropped to the ground..

I was slowly losing consciousness as a familiar figure walked over to me...

"MISTER MORRIS...WE MEET AGAIN!!" said Cyrus Tickle...

I looked up...I was completely paralyzed now..

"Y--Y-YOU!!!" I said..

"YES ME...SEE, Emily or EMMA..that's her real name ....Is my niece...This whole charade was designed for me to finally get you...and get my revenge....You're going to be dead in a few hours and I have a nice six million dollar payday on top of that...Oh how swayyyy Mister Morris.." laughed Mr. Tickle..

I should have known this was him....The Master of deception...

No one knew where I was...No one could track me...He had left no stone un turned...He had out thought me once again....

I was paralyzed and losing consciousness...I was in deep trouble now...I didn't know how I was going to get out of this..

I looked up at the moon in the skylight...That's the last thing I remember.

(CONCLUSION NEXT)