"This morning, authorities issued an update on the escaped convicts known, until now, as the Fox River Nine. Chicago Mob boss John Abruzzi was gunned down outside a Washington, D.C. motel last night after investigators received a tip from an informant. The other eight escapees are still at large and considered dangerous. A Florida man wanted in..." Michael turned off the radio.
"I didn't think Abruzzi'd be the first to eat it" I said.
"I have a feeling we're in for lots of surprises"
"They said eight are still out there. So much for faking our deaths" Lincoln said.
"I bought us some time. That's what counts. How much further?" Michael asked.
"Seventy, eighty miles"
"Good. Means we should be hitting the Double-K Ranch by this afternoon.
"Or we can keep driving, pick up LJ and hit Panama"
"We can't hit Panama. We can't hit anything. We can't do anything without the money. We need to find Charles' stash"
"I know some other guys who are thinking the same thing"
After another hour driving we finally made it into Toole.
"Tool-e" Lincoln read the sign.
"I think it's "Too-ella"" I mused.
"Hell of a town"
"Small is good. Means the ranch'll be easier to find. All we gotta do is get that money, and be out of here by nightfall" Michael said.
"Nice" We drove down the street stopping at a payphone, where Michael looked down at the phone directory.
"Well, guess what. No listing for a Double K Ranch" I sighed and stopped a local man.
"Excuse me. Do you know where I might find a Double K Ranch?" I asked.
"What do you call it?"
"Double K Ranch" I repeated.
"No"
"You from around here?"
"Yeah. Born and raised. There's no Double nothing"
"Great. Thank you" The man walked away and I turned to Michael and Lincoln.
"Looks like Westmorland spent his last breath blowing smoke up your ass" Lincoln said.
"There's one way to find out. The county keeps property records. Every plot is mapped out with dimensions. It's public record. But if there is a tax assessor's office here..." Michael walked to the corner and I saw a massive building. "..it's gonna be in there. In the municipal building"
"Lot of cops in there, Michael" Lincoln said, and I saw that there were indeed a lot of police about that building.
I walked into the building by myself, as we thought that I was the least recognisable one out of the three of us. I walked through the being checked by security and walking through the metal detector without a hitch.
I found some stairs that looked promising and finally came across a book full of maps. I flicked through it looking through the contents.
"Karl Kokosing. Double K" I murmured. I looked around me, to see a clerk looking at me.
"1213" I flicked to that page."Where's 1213? For god's sake, gimme a break"
"Seifert, I need to speak with you" I heard the clerk say, and I panicked flicking through from page 1212 – 1214
"Hey, Seifert!" I noticed that 1213 had been ripped out and sighed. I walked up another flight of stairs and looked out the window, to see T-Bag walking away from the building, I ran down the stairs, avoiding the clerk and smiling politely to the guard.
"Have you got it?" Lincoln asked, as I reached them.
"No, someone else does" I said, pointing at T-Bag.
"Son of a bitch is still alive" We ran after T-Bag.
"Hey, Pretty!" Michael shouted.
"What the...?" Lincoln threw his arm around T-Bag's neck, walking with his.
"What are you gonna do, scream? Hm?" We rounded the corner and Lincoln threw him down on the hood of the car.
"How the hell are you still breathing?" T-Bag groaned, as his hand hit the car.
"What the hell did you do to your hand?" I asked, looking closely at it. It looked like it had been re-attached.
"Easy, easy...I recently had some work done"
"Where's the map?" Lincoln shouted.
"Easy, easy, easy! I don't have it"
"Well, where is it?" I asked, as Lincoln searched him.
"I'm telling you, I don't have it"
"Don't have it, huh?" Lincoln grabbed T-Bag roughly.
"You were there, I saw you" I said.
"It was gone when I got there. Why don't you keep your pooch away from me, I'll tell you everything I know" Michael indicated that Lincoln should back off.
"It's the kid. He has it. I saw him this morning. I needed some help. We made a deal, all right? He said that he would dig, I told him where he could get a map at" Lincoln grabbed him by his stupidly died hair.
"What kid? What kid?"
"Out" Lincoln said to T-Bag, after we had driven a little way.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Where'd you say Tweener was headed?"
"Up on the main drag. He's supposed to find a shovel" Lincoln took the keys from Michael and unlocked the trunk.
"In"
"No" Lincoln got out his gun "No, no, no"
"In" I tapped on the trunk and T-Bag reluctantly got in.
"You're coming back, right? You're coming back?" I slammed the trunk shut.
"Yup" I said quietly. We walked away leaving T-Bag banging on the trunk.
I entered the store and heard a bell ring above the door announcing my arrival.
"We're closed!" I heard someone shout, I looked at the floor and saw a baseball cap and a bat, I signalled for Michael to come in and the bell rang once more, I pointed to the bat and he understood, as a man came out from the back room and locked the door. I saw a flash light and shovel on the counter.
"Sorry, bud. We're closing up early today" He stared at my face for a while "Hey, hold on. Stay right there"
I heard a groan and when the man looked back at us, Michael hit him. The man grabbed Michael around the middle and somehow managed to take me down as well. I scrambled to get up as he got Michael in a choke hold. I ripped one of his arms away from Michael's neck and twisted it around his back. He dropped Michael and Lincoln came in then, kicking the man in the ribs, I dropped him on the floor, and Lincoln got his gun out.
"Where's the kid? Where's the kid?" He shouted.
"He's back here" I said, helping Michael up.
"Get up. Come on, tough guy. Let's go" Lincoln said to the man.
I walked to the door, that I heard Tweener behind, I saw that he had been hit over the head as he looked disorientated.
"Come on" I said, as I untied him. Lincoln tied the man up where Tweener was previously.
"What are you doin' here?" Tweener asked.
"Had to come for you, buddy" Michael said.
"How'd you know?"
"T-Bag" Lincoln grabbed him and shoved him against the wall.
"Hand over the map!" He demanded
"What?"
"The map! Hand it over"
Tweener chuckled. "He told you I had it?" I slammed my hand into the wall.
"For God's sake" I shouted, and stormed out of the store, hearing the other's follow me back to where we left T-Bag.
"We are gonna sort this out right now" Michael opened the trunk, and T-Bag lay there with a scrap of the map on his chest which read 1213.
"Tell me that's not what I know it is"
"It is. But don't worry. Before I destroyed it, I committed it to my photographic memory"
"Coming from a compulsive liar, I find that a little hard to believe"
"I'd have tattooed it to my body but I didn't have the time. Whenever you strip search a lifer, you should always check his coin purse" Lincoln yanked him out of the trunk.
"Tell us where the money is!"
"Now, let's not dissolve into threats, all right? I'm gonna take the high road here. Suggest a mutually beneficial arrangement. I have the information. You have the manual requirements necessary to unearth Westmorland's buried booty. We're partners"
"And why is that?" I asked angrily.
"Because as of this moment, I'm your map" He sauntered round the car and got in the back seat.
"So, then, yo, we split it five ways, right?" Tweener asked.
"Wrong. Get in" Lincoln said pointing to the trunk.
"Whoa, whoa..."
Lincoln shoved him towards the trunk. "You're not worth 1 mil. Get in!"
"Okay!" Tweener got into the trunk and closed it on himself. And I reluctantly got in the back seat, as far away as possible from T-Bag.
"You know, in uh, in Thailand, they got a black market where you can get any kind of surgery you need, even a hand transplant" I grimaced.
"That's disgusting" I said.
"You're sick, you know that?" Lincoln said.
T-Bag smiled "Keep going there. The turnoff's just up here somewhere"
"Before or after Sheep Road?" T-Bag hesitated and checked behind.
"What's the matter, Theodore? Did you forget?" I mocked.
"How could I forget a road called Sheep? It's after. Don't you feel all warm inside now that we're working together?"
"We aren't working together. You're just here to lend a hand" Michael said.
"Wait, wait, wait. Slow down. That was it. That little bitty road right back there" Lincoln slowed down and reversed.
"How far is it from here?" Michael asked.
"A quarter mile, if I remember the scale properly"
"Let's start walking" I got out the car eager to get away from T-Bag and walked with Michael and Lincoln through a field. After a couple of minutes walking, we started walking up a hillside, T-Bag fell behind but we didn't wait for him.
"Where now?" Michael called.
"Right up there. The hill borders the property. The K.K is on the other side"
"First thing I'm gonna do with the money: buy new shoes" Lincoln said.
"Second thing: Tacos" Michael said.
"Third thing: ice cold beer"
"Fourth thing: a little toothpaste"
After a little while of them listing things they wanted, with me listening amusedly, smiling at some of the things.
"Look, stakes marking the property line" I said, pointing them out.
"Should be dead ahead. Can you see the silo?" T-Bag joined us at the top of the hill, where all of our faces had a mask of disbelief, because where the silo should be was a huge housing development.
"The bastards built over it"
"It's gone"
AN: Another chapter done :) I always feel bad for Tweener in this one, cause they forget about him in the trunk. Bless him, but then again he did snitch on them in prison, which was a pretty stupid thing to do. But anyways what did you think?