I’d been thinking about how easily Magilla found us, and how easy it would be for Ajax and John Wesley and his crew--if they weren’t teamed with Magilla--to find us, too. So I said, “We need to move stakes and go to Emma’s, stay with her until we convince her we have to do this.”
I was expecting an argument. It didn’t happen. Hondo said, “Okay.”
Marcus said, “I’ll stay here. Call and let me know how it goes.”
**
Hondo said, “Take Sunset to Malibu.” Emma lives in the Colony.”
I said, “You going to call and let her know we’re coming?”
“Probably better if we surprise her with this.”
I figured that was right. Just then, my cell phone rang. It showed: Gaylord’s Magic Auto Repair.
Gaylord said, “Ronny, I finally got your pickup repaired. Can you pick it up today? I’m crowded for space over here.” I put him on speaker so Hondo could hear and I wouldn’t have to repeat things.
I said, “We can head that way now.”
“Good, and when you come, go by the train depot and ask them to order me another trainload of Bond-O. After working on your pickup, Bond-O stock went up sixty percent. Long as you’re around that’s where the bulk of my portfolio will stay.”
“Ha-ha, funny man. See you in about an hour.”
“Bring an armored truck. You’ll need that much money,” And he hung up.
When we got to the repair shop, Shamu was waiting out front, looking pristine and perfect. There was no evidence of any bullet holes anywhere. Hondo parked the GTO in back and he and Jett came out the front with Gaylord.
I gave him a check and he folded it and put it in his shirt pocket, then gave me the keys to Shamu. He said, “Try, please try to keep her out of harm’s way for a day at least.”
“I doubt that you’ll ever see Shamu in here again. It was just a freak accident this time.”
“Oohh, suuure. Well, she should run a little better now. I tuned her up for you, no charge. I’ll say one thing, your pickup can get up and boogie.”
“Thanks, Gaylord.” He went inside the shop and we crawled into Shamu, with Jett in the middle.
As we pulled out and headed toward Emma’s, Jett said, “What a great truck.” I liked her, I really, really liked her.
**
Finding a place to park in Malibu is no easy thing, but we got around it by dropping Hondo off at Emma’s home and driving around until he came to the street and let us in the gated parking area. We got out and followed Hondo to the door. I could hear music inside.
Emma opened the door and greeted us wearing only the bottom part of a thong bikini. “Come in,” she said. She led us down the hall and I have to say that watching her walk was a treat.
In the living room there were a half-dozen beautiful women sitting or standing around, all with bloody marys and hand-rolled doobies. They were all topless. Ah yes, Hollywood.
“Don’t step on your tongue,” Hondo said to me.
Emma looked at Jett, “So, this is our mystery girl.”
Hondo said, “Her name is Jett Sunday.”
The other women came over as he talked and introduced themselves to the three of us. Emma said, “In case you’re wondering, we’re a support group for each other and we use our hands and eyes to check each others’ bodies for any flaws and we note them for correction. It’s helped make us what we are,” she said and smiled.
My hand shot up, “I’ll be happy to help. I’ve got good hands, sensitive fingers.”
Emma made that snorting, hiccupping sound and said to the six-foot blond beside her, “I told you he was just so funny, didn’t I?”
The blond came over and gave me a big hug and a tweak on the cheek. “You said he was funny; you didn’t say he was so good looking.”