The guy shields his eyes from the sunlight as he's been inside the dilapidated building for a two days now. "Come on, man," he looks at Mason while pointing towards the car's trunk.
"In," Mason presses the muzzle of the gun against the back of his head.
Having no choice, he does as he's told, barely having time to position himself when it's slammed shut.
Just as Mason slides behind the wheel, his cellphone rings. He glances at it then reluctantly answers.
"Mason?"
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"What are you going to do with him?" the voice asks in a high pitched tone.
"Don't worry, he'll be taken care of," Mason ends the call, tosses his device into the passengers seat then lurches into traffic, nearly sideswiping another car in the process.
Suddenly startling awake, she lurches upright in bed when an "Elena" comes from behind her. Her eyes dart around in an attempt to get her bearings. Seeing Damon's blue eyes raking over her scantily clad body, wearing only Bonnie's baby doll pajamas, she quickly pulls the sheet up.
"What is it?" she glances at the clock on the bedside stand.
"It's after 9 o'clock, I thought we should do a little reconnaissance then we can hide out somewhere in the building till they lock up. If we're lucky, maybe we can do a little snooping? I need to get a look at those books, some pictures to back up my story."
"And what about Ric? Did you forget him?" she retorts bitingly.
"If we can get the goods on the mayor, we can make a trade, Ric for the information."
"And how then will you have a story if you give away your evidence? And how will you publish anything without said evidence?"
"We won't let them know how much we have. We make copies, keep some, give some up," Damon shrugs as if it'll all be a piece of cake.
"This is so like you. You put on the metaphorical happy face and never want to discuss anything. We don't know what lengths the mayor will go to, to keep this quiet? It's Richard Lockwood, he could easily know some very bad people."
"What do you mean it's so like me?" he starts to round on her when she stands up and starts to put Bonnie's robe on.
"Just what I said, you pretend there is no issue and then stick your head in the sand," she moves so close that the tips of their noses are nearly touching. "We could end up dead; so could Ric if we don't play this the right way and then I'll never get my money for turning your ass in."
"So this is all about money to you?" he tightens his hand into a fist.
"No it's not all about the money. I don't want to die and I don't want you to either. So please, let's go have a cup of coffee and see if we can come up with something that won't end with both of us dead."
"Fine," he finally agrees and walks out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. After putting the coffee on, he pulls out a skillet to make some pancakes. As he waits for the oil to heat, he can't help but think about what she said about him brushing off things that are important to her...
"How did Ric know about this place?" Elena stoops down to pick the lock while Damon takes in the scenery. It's a small house considering how wealthy the Lockwood's are but it's sitting in a bald spot in the woods, the beach just a few hundred feet to the west.
"It's been some time ago. He said that Mason showed up and in a bid to get him out of there, Richard wrote the address down on a piece of paper and shoved it in his hand. After they left the room, Ric snatched the tablet and using a pencil, he made an etching revealing the location. He said the Mayor always presses hard when he writes or prints."
"Yes," Elena turns the knob and looks up at Damon with a shit-eating grin on her face.
"You're going to have to teach me that trick," he winks at her and gestures for her to go inside.
Richard's place consists of a living room, dining alcove, galley kitchen, bath, and bedroom. It is relatively clean and moderately furnished. Small square oak table, four ladder-back chairs, comfortable overstuffed couch, coffee table, and one recliner. He has an electronics system in the living room with a large curved TV, stereo system for surround sound and a computer with a huge monitor. In the lone bedroom, there's another large TV mounted on the wall. There's an office with a large desk, expensive leather chair and shelves lining one wall, filled with books.
Damon searches the kitchen first, looking for anything that may lead them to Ric while Elena rifles through a stack of papers that are on his desk before moving to the drawers, maybe they'll be an address book. Frustrated at their lack of progress, she gets up and pulls some books from the shelves, thumbing through the pages before returning them to the shelf.
It's rather hard to imagine Richard here, he likes the opulent lifestyle, the décor seems far too laid back and normal for the man.
And then her thoughts go to Ric, how could he have gotten himself along with her and Damon into such a godawful mess?
Damon appears in the doorway. "Listen to this," he punches the playback button on the answering machine.
"Hey baby, this is April. Give me a call back."
Beep
"Richard, it's Carol...you know, your wife. Are you there? Hello? Hello?"
Beep.
Damon flips the machine, copies the security and special message codes. "We can access his message from an outside phone. Maybe...?"
Finding nothing in the study, they move into the bedroom, going through drawers, leafing through magazines and considering the photographs on his dresser. Surprisingly enough, they're his family, his wife Carol, their son Tyler and Richard's kid brother, Mason, a real street punk.
Lastly they find themselves back in the kitchen. "Nothing," Damon slams his fist on the countertop in frustration. "Maybe we'll have better luck downtown? My gut instinct is to wait till 5:30 or so, just before they lock down the building for the night."
Elena shrugs her shoulders and walks outside. After locking the place up, they get in the car to leave.
She watches Damon slip on a pair of aviator sunglasses, before spinning out of the driveway as if he is Bruce Wayne in a Maserati.
As Damon navigates the freeway, Elena's staring out the window at the hills and valleys. It's beautiful, the expanse of green holds more hues than Crayola could ever create crayons for. The land rolls as it always has, as if it feels that time and space are one thing, that it moves through the ages as much as to the horizon.
Suddenly a thought occurs to her. "I should probably check in at Jeremy's office, he's no doubt wondering if I'm having any luck hunting you down."
Damon gives her a quick glance. She can't help but notice how his grip tightens on the steering wheel.
"Chill, I'm not ready to turn you in... not yet anyway," she adds with a hint of levity.
"Thanks," he gives her a disgruntled look. "I'll drop you off." he exits the freeway and a few turns later, he pulls into a convenience store parking lot about a block from Jeremy's business.
Looking over at him, she opens the door. "Do you want to wait for me?"
"Yeah, I'll wait. I'm going to go inside and get a soda or something."
"Sure," she steps out and with a nod, she hurries to her destination, pulling the door open and is met with a welcome artic blast from the air conditioner.
"Elena," Anna looks up and smiles.
"Hey, I thought I should check in. This bounty hunting thing is rather interesting. I've got a lead on Damon, I followed Stefan but it didn't pan out. I know him well so I have a few other places to check. Are there any other FTA's out there that maybe I could get a little practice on?" she fills a water glass from the dispenser and sits down in front of Anna's desk.
"Sure, most of our agents work on several cases," she hands Elena a few folders. "You might as well pick one. Some are easier than others. Memorize the names and addresses and hook them up to the photographs. You never know when you'll get lucky. Last week Matt Donovan was at the park watching his kid play little league ball and recognized the guy in a couple bleachers in front of him as a skip, a drug dealer actually. We would have been out a lot of money had Matt not been there."
"So you post bond for people like that?" Elena thumbs through one of the folders.
"Drug dealers like to stay in their areas. Junkies depend on them, they make a good deal of money. If they don't show up for court, they eventually resurface."
"Um is Jeremy in?"
"Sure," Anna raises her eyes to meet Elena's, she buzzes to let him know that there's someone to talk to him.
"Elena," he looks up from his computer. "Any luck with Salvatore yet?"
"Not even a hello, I mean we're family and all..."
"I'll take that as a no."
"Can you spare me a couple hundred dollars?" the chair makes a scraping sound as she moves it to sit.
He starts cackling before he even raises his eyes.
"I'm being serious here." Elena glares at him.
"Yeah no," he shakes his head back and forth. "And don't try that blackmail crap on me again. You tell - I'm dead then neither of us gets any money."
"Come on, just a couple hundred bucks so I can eat."
"And what if you don't get him? Then I'm shit out of luck."
"Don't you worry your black little heart, I will turn Damon in."
"Forgive me if I don't share your positivity. And remember I only agreed to this lunacy for a few days. If you don't turn Salvatore in - in time, I'm letting someone else go after him."
"If Elena needs money, give her Aimee Bradley?"
"Isn't she the one who used to hang around with you and your buddies in high school?" Elena looks up.
"Yep, she's the one. Walked out of Macy's with a diamond necklace."
"Give me her folder, an updated picture then I'm gone," Elena follows Anna to the outer office and waits while she sorts through a drawer of files.
After thanking Anna for her help with Jeremy, she pushes through the door and back outside to the blistering heat. The air is thick and muggy, the sky hazy. The sun prickles on her exposed skin so she quickly hurries back to the convenience store to meet Damon.
His head snaps to the side when she opens the door and slides inside.
"Well?"
"We need to find Aimee Bradley and turn her in so I can prove to Jeremy that I can do this kind of work."
"Aimee Bradley? What did she do?" he looks at the photo that Elena hands him.
"Walked out of Macy's with a diamond necklace. Pretty valuable too, five grand."
"How in the hell did she manage to do that? Store security and all?"
"No idea," Elena reads the report.
"Current address?" Damon hands her back the photo.
"Let's go to it, who knows, maybe we'll get lucky?" Elena points to it on the police report."
"Sure why not, it's not like we don't have anything more pressing," he replies with more than a hint of sarcasm.
"Shut up," she growls eliciting a smirk and a chuckle from Damon.
"Did they recover the necklace? If not, it's probably sitting in one of the pawn shops on Bay Boulevard," he looks at her briefly before turning the corner to go to Aimee's last known address.
"It doesn't say," Elena peruses the report.
"On second thought, if she's there, I don't want her to see me, she could mention it to the cops," he makes a u-turn at the next corner. I'll get off at Bonnie's then you can have at her."
A short time later, he pulls into the parking area, shifts into park and gets out. "Take care of my car."
"I will, I'm a good driver."
"Like the time you jumped the curb and nearly hit me?" he raises an eyebrow.
"That was an accident, there was a bee in the car. I didn't want to get stung, I'm allergic." she pulls an epi pen out of her purse to prove it.
"Okay, I believe you..." he watches her slide behind the wheel. As she starts to back out, he signals for her to roll down the window.
"What is it?" she looks annoyed.
"Be careful okay?"
"I will," she smiles then whips the car around and careens onto the road.
"You can do this," she tells herself when she parks the car on the car across the street from the house. When she reaches the place, she sucks in a fortifying breath then raps on the door and to her great surprise, Aimee Bradley herself is standing in front of her when it opens.
Pulling it closed behind her, Aimee steps onto the porch. "Can I help you?" she asks, taking a long pull from her cigarette before blowing the smoke in their faces.
"You absolutely can, you're coming with me," Elena spins her around and snaps on a pair of flex cuffs to bind her wrists.
"What the hell are you doing?" she fights and tries to pull free.
"I'm taking you to jail," Elena tells her matter-of-factly.
"You can't do this, what right do you have to kidnap me out of my own home?" Aimee shrieks.
"I'm a bounty hunter," Elena takes her arm, walks her across the street, opens the back door, nudges her inside and fastens the seat belt to secure her.
Elena drives till directly to the police station. When they arrive, she gets out, wraps her hand around Aimee's upper arm and urges her forward.
Once inside, she identifies her fugitive and signs the required paper work while a police officer snaps the flex cuffs and leads Aimee away.
Pleased with herself, she exits into the flow of traffic and makes the turn towards Jeremy's office - she's going to get paid for her work.
Thank you all so very much.
This year's holiday DE story is done. 'Waiting for a Star to Fall' should start posting in November.
Chapter title: 'Bounty Hunter' by Molly Hatchet.
My friend Mariah April May returned from a long hiatus. I'm sure she'd love to hear from some of you.
Have a wonderful day.