“Oh my God,” Mack said, wrapping his arm around her. “I never thought I’d be seeing you anytime soon. Or think that we would meet over a wrestling match.”
Brenda appraised Mack when they broke out of the embrace. She couldn’t see much of him in the dark.
“I heard that you were here before me,” she said. “I just didn’t know for sure that it was really you.”
“Look, Brenda,” he whispered. “I know by now you must’ve heard that I killed someone.”
“Killed someone?” Brenda scoffed. “More like executed someone.”
“I didn’t do it,” Mack said earnestly. “I swear to you on my father’s grave. It was all a setup. I’m not sure Dimitri carried it out himself, but that was his handiwork.
“Then why did you run?”
“Are you kidding me? That guy controls the entire police force. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen how they act around here.”
Brenda stared at Mack. If she could see his face clearly, she knew she’d see the seriousness in his expression and the truth in his eyes. The Mack she knew had almost gotten himself killed in the line of duty. He could be tough, but killing innocent civilians he’d set out to protect wasn’t his style.
“So, what are you doing here?” she asked. “I heard you were at the bed and breakfast.”
Mack sighed.
“I knew something was off with the way that young lady was staring at me.”
“Yeah, looks like you’ve gotten sloppy. You shouldn’t have given yourself up like that.”
“I don’t think it’s all about being sloppy. This whole town belongs to Dimitri,” Mack gritted his teeth. “I was supposed to meet the guy that lives here. He’d disappeared without a trace. I only found the snake this morning.”
“Greg? Well, I didn’t book a meeting with him, but I’m also here to see him. For some reason, a description of him keeps coming up in the files.”
“Ah, the files. You must know how their policing is by now.”
“Yeah, looks like the whole force is trying to cover it up. A pair of gunmen tried to assassinate me.”
No one talked as the Palm Island cool breeze flew by.
“Looks like we’re on our own, now,” Mack blurted after silence.
“Yeah, very much on our own. What do you say we go in?”
“Yeah,” Mack scoffed. “Like we have a choice.”
They sneaked toward the back door, now able to hear the movements in the house.
“You’ve got a hairpin, right?” Mack asked as they got to the door.
Brenda gave him a withering look, but she gave it to him. It didn’t take long for the lock to turn.
“Ready?” Mack asked, eyeing her under the porch light on Greg’s back step.
Brenda held her gun close to her face and nodded.
Mack pushed the door gently and slipped in. Brenda quickly followed behind.
It can’t be said that they had a successful break-in. Although they had been more than careful, they didn’t see the camera staring right at them from the corner of the doorpost.
***
The back door led through the kitchen and then to a hallway with a series of rooms. Each of the rooms were empty, so they moved on, their guns trained. They moved into the living room, which was filled with posters and framed pictures of nude women and thugs covered in thick plumes of weed smoke.