Salt & Pepper Ch. 04

"Who's going to drive you, then, Boss. Don't you want me any more?" He sounded genuinely sad.

"Don't you get bored just waiting around? I haven't gone out for weeks."

"Whatever you say, Boss," he said, but he still sounded sad.

Salt's mind was boggling. Things were spinning out of control and she didn't know which way up was. She felt like she was floating in space, beginning when James, as the little man turned out to be named, bowed as he opened the back door of a black Lincoln Town Car. At least it's not a stretch limo, she thought. Pepper opened the door opposite and let himself in beside her.

The two of them sat in silence, millions of thoughts racing through their minds, but too confused to articulate even one. Salt realized the back seat was sealed off from the front and knocked on the glass. James pushed a button on the dash and spoke into a mike, "Yes?"

"Can't you lower the glass?"

"There's a control on the door." Indeed there was a manifold of controls on the door: for the partition, a bar that opened on demand, radio, TV, and CD, climate controls, and God knows what else. Just before the car tuned onto Grant Avenue for the final stretch before the trailer park, a mobile phone rang in the front seat. James answered and spoke into the speaker. "We're supposed to stop off at the Mall for a minute. Help yourself to the bar. I'll be right back." He parked and disappeared for ten or fifteen minutes while Salt and Pepper played with all the controls and finally settled on beer and a DVD of a movie that shouldn't have been released, since it was still playing in first run theaters.

James returned carrying two cell phones and chargers. You guys are on the family calling plan, with Benjamin and me." He showed them two additional phones that he was going to keep for the boss and himself. "Be sure to keep them charged."

"We aren't allowed to have cell phones in school."

"Set them to vibrate; nobody will know. You need anything, just call."

"Anything?"

"Well, just about anything."

The car was about to turn into the trailer park, and Salt cried out, "Wait. You can't drop us off in there. Please James, drive around the corner to let us out."

"Whatever you say, Miss."

"Miss? Please call me Salt."

"Yes, Miss Salt."

Before allowing them to debark, James took a couple of minutes showing them how he'd programmed the phones. The main thing was that there was an emergency button that would ring all the phones at once. "If you're in trouble of any kind," he whispered, "push the button and then hide the phone in your pocket. We'll be able to listen to what's happening—everything you say, and the phone has a built-in GPS, so we'll know where you are."

"Get serious. It's not like we have 'enemies,'" Salt whispered with a conspiratorial wink.

James stopped the car, set the brake and turned to face the back seat. He looked at Salt so long that it made her uncomfortable before finally saying, "You may not have enemies, Miss Salt, but if you're Benjamin's friend, his enemies have a habit of being your enemies."

"Oh." Salt couldn't for the life of her imaging what made James suddenly look so spooky. It would have been different if she had been with James and Benjamin the day before when they were visited by one of Benjamin's men, accompanying Martin DiJulio. DiJulio, it turned out wanted to put a contract on Salt. It was his house that she and Pepper had "trashed and profaned" (his words).

"Let me get this straight, you want me to whack this girl because she got laid in your bed?"

"My marital bed."

"Isn't that a little extreme?"

"I don't think so."

Benjamin turned and asked James, "Is this the same girl Pepper told us about?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay, listen to me DiJulio, and listen good. You will not take this thing of yours any further. If you bruise the girl, I'll cut you. If you cut the girl, I'll amputate you. If you harm one hair on her head, I'll have your head. Is that clear."

"Who do you think you are?"

"I know who I am. Apparently you don't." He turned to James again. "Get this asshole out of here."

This is what was going through James head as he wondered if he should tell Salt about it and decided not to. No point getting her all in a sweat about nothing.