30 One Last Job

The little red car roared with a satisfying exhaust note. At the top of its rev the engine crackled and popped. Nathan gave it a few more revs before stepping out of the driver side. He had certainly delivered on the request for a cornering car.

The vehicle he fished up was an RX-8. Made by Mazda, and powered by a rotary engine. Not my cup of tea, but I had always had a bit of a soft spot for the black sheep of the rotary family.

"Remember, gloves and a mask at all times."

Nathan restated his point while he removed his own ski mask.

"We can't afford for even one hair to get into this car. If you get the chance when this is all over you should torch this thing."

"I don't know man I'd feel bad burning this one. Looks like it's in good condition."

"It's a 2010 model with a little over one hundred grand on the clock. Not bad all things considered. We only need it for one night so I'm sure the apex seals will hold."

I crossed my arms a bit impressed that Nathan had some knowledge of the car he handed me. It wasn't the hardest thing to learn, but non-car people typically didn't know much about what made an RX-8 tick.

"You know much about cars?"

"Maybe as much as you kid."

He smiled coyly before reaching in and shutting off the car. He tossed me the keys and closed the door.

"I used to run around in a sixties GTO. Sadly, I ditched it along with a lot of my personal stuff in storage before taking the job with Kirin's dad. Haven't had a lot of free time to do much with cars in my current job."

"Fair enough."

I did a walk around. Checked out the outside, and the engine bay. Of course, I had gloves on the whole time. Everything looked decent, and it sounded fine when Nathan pulled up.

"Should be good for the job. Again, it's not like we need it after that. Put it in the garage so no one spots it."

He rolled the metal doors up, and I rolled the car in. I felt bad knowing I'd have to ditch it, but it had to be an acceptable loss. In the office Kirin, and Johnny were loading mags for our new toys. We didn't get to much loot, but we did get to replace the Mossberg. Johnny had lost it in the insanity leaving the house in North Dakota.

We now had another Mossberg shockwave, and Johnny was currently getting to know an mp5 that fired 9mm rounds. On such short notice, without rising any red flags, it was the most we could get. That was fine with me. I didn't expect to be able to get a hold of anything crazy anyways,

Of course, a rocket launcher would have been damn great, but take what you can get I suppose. Johnny finished loading another mag and set it aside while Kirin went through a bag of newly acquired ammo boxes.

I left the car pocketing the keys to the new getaway vehicle. Everything was coming together so well, and I hoped to God it would keep going that way. Nathan and I came to the office just as the other two finished up with loading mags.

"This will be the last day you two spend in this garage. We need to move all the stuff we had in here just to be on the safe side."

Kirin turned to me after he finished speaking handing off the Mossberg.

"What do you want to do with the three-oh-two?"

I fished around in my jacket pockets before producing a key. I tossed the key up, and he caught it effortlessly.

"If you guys make it out can you come and move it? Drive it to the South end of the bootlegger's trail. After we do our part Ill dump the RX-8 there and take off in the Mustang."

Kirin handed off the key to Nathan lamenting that he didn't know how to drive stick. Regardless the two of them agreed to try to deliver the car if they were alive to do it. I thanked them and asked for a moment outside with Johnny.

We left our guns inside and stepped out. It was cold. Fresh powder had coated the ground. Mid December tended to do that around here. For as much as I liked the Northern climate I was looking forward to heading South with Jess for college.

"It's you and me one more time Johnny."

He nodded smiling warmly. He shivered hard against the cold and held his hands tight against him in his hoodie.

"It's almost sad to think this will be the last time we do something like this..."

We both exchanged wild open-mouthed smiles.

"... Almost."

I added on the end. He and I both laughed then paused lingering in the moment. The sky was gray. A dull muted gray that accented the white that covered the ground. It was pretty in its own weird way. The warm months always had some much color, and the Winter months always had this odd gray scale look. I liked it. I wouldn't say I preferred it, but it was a cool change.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something Johnny."

"What's that?"

"Where are you going after this? If you don't mind me asking."

He shook his head, and pulled the hood on his hoodie up.

"Of course, I don't mind. I'm going to Florida. I want to open a bar right on the beach."

I half snorted and half laughed sharply.

"Wow you got that figured all out. How did you come up with that one?"

"I hate the fucking cold. I want to be as far away from it as I can. I never want to see snow again. I also want to never have to do anything crazy like this. I'm going to live a lazy life on the beach with my bar. No one to tell me what to do, and I can do whatever I want."

I nodded smiling ear to ear. Johnny had such simpler needs then I did. I wasn't totally sure what my needs were, but the Secret Service still felt like the right call for me. I patted his shoulder and pulled him into a hug he wasn't prepared for.

"One more job and it's all done. You better keep in contact with me after this shit."

He gave a surprised laugh and freed his hands to hug back.

"Anytime you're in my area drinks are on the house. For you, Kirin, Nathan, and Jessica. You guys won't pay a dime at my place."

"You got to live through this with me before we can do this."

"I got you dude. I'm on your back like it's my own. It's been that way since we started. You had mine and I had yours."

We broke the hug. Without his warmth suddenly, the air was a little colder, but I didn't mind too much.

"Now can we go back inside? Freezing my nuts off out here Jack."