The large, broad-shouldered man approaches, lifts up my shirt, and retrieves the bloodied package and hands it to Franklin.
“Hmph.” Franklin tilts his head to the side, a faint bit of disbelief showing through. “How’d you pull it off?”
“It’s better not to ask questions.” I boldly tell him the same thing he’s told me when I got curious about stuff in the past. I shouldn’t speak to him like this, but I’d rather avoid divulging any details if I can. It keeps everyone else involved safer. There’s absolutely no way I’m going to admit Josey or Claire played a huge role in helping me.
Franklin laughs, which surprises me even more. “Fair enough.” He examines the package for a brief moment and tosses it across the table toward me. “Keep it.”
Not exactly the reaction I was expecting. Why was he so hell-bent on having me find it if he was willing to just let it go?
“What?” I say in disbelief.
“For your trouble.” Franklin takes a long drag from his cigar and sets it onto the ashtray. Smoke billows from his mouth and he continues, “You’ve proven yourself quite resourceful, Johnny.”
Am I supposed to thank him? He and I both know that this was a setup, but neither one of us seem to want to admit it.
Franklin cranes his finger toward the man behind me, motioning for him to come over. Franklin whispers something into his ear.
“Yes, sir. Consider it taken care of,” the man responds, and then disappears out the door I entered from.
Panic rises within me at the idea of him going after Josey, but on the slight chance that he isn’t, I can’t react, because then Franklin would absolutely know he was in on it. Instead, I remain as unaffected as possible.
Still, there’s the lingering uncertainty of what happens next. “Are we, uh, good?” Meaning, is he going to go back on our prior arrangement and rope Billy back into this line of work? Or is something worse going to happen that I haven’t already considered? With Franklin, it’s like a game of Russian-fucking-roulette.
Franklin’s dark eyes glare at me. “For now, yeah. Take the package and get out.”
I do as he demands, swiping the stupid thing off the table and leaving without another word. I shove it into its home in my waistband for hopefully the last time. I pick up my pace without seeming too eager to leave.
I bust through the door and it takes my eyes a second to adjust.
“You good?” Josey’s voice appears as my sights settle onto his big figure.
Relief settles over me along with the urge to freaking hug and thank him for all he’s done, but I can’t.
Instead, I grip his shoulder firmly. “Yeah.” I try to telepathically say all the things I want to, and in a way, it’s like he does the same. “I’ll catch you later.”
I leave him behind and drag my phone out of my pocket, following through with what I had promised Claire. I swipe over to the text screen and thumb a quick message.
Me:I’ll be home soon.
And for the first time since all of this started, I feel like I might actually be able to pull this all off.