I give Simon a little smirk, which he returns, and we both share in a greedy and evil look between us.
Simon tosses me his keys. "You drive."
I nod and walk quickly toward Andrea, taking her by the arm and steering her toward the front passenger seat of Simon's BMW 760i.
"Put her in the back with me," Simon says, and my stomach clenches tight. Simon is on the opposite side of the car, and I give him a short nod before he's disappearing inside. I take the moment to turn and look at Andrea. Her eyes are shining back at me with confidence, and she gives me a tiny smile. She's telling me it's fine. She can handle herself.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle this, though. Not if that fucker does anything to her.
I get in the driver's seat as Andrea hops in back with Simon. I start the engine and say, "Where to, boss?"
"Head over to 8th and Devine," he says, and a quick glance in the rearview mirror shows me he's looking down at his smartphone.
Warehouse district, I think to myself. Block after block of abandoned buildings, dirty streets, and dark alleys. Perfect place for a kidnapping to occur.
While I drive, Andrea keeps up a running chatter, sounding perfectly buzzed on the supposed drug I dosed her with.
I'm going to dance my ass of, just wait and see.
Oooh, I hope I make enough in tips to get a small microwave for my apartment.
I'm going to be so tired tomorrow, but this will be worth it.
Simon ignores her, working over his phone, but his lips curve up in a smirk. He thinks this is hilarious. He's taking a woman off to her doom and her running banter amuses him.
Andrea never looks at me once in the mirror, and her chatter starts to die down. Her head lolls back onto the seat and she mutters, "I'm a little tired. I'll nap on the way there."
Simon glances over at her, reaches an arm out, and curls his hand around the back of her neck. Pulling her toward him, he pushes her head down and she's gone from my line of sight. "Just rest your head on my lap, baby."
My fingers curl into the steering wheel so hard, I'm afraid they'll break from the tension. He's got fucking Andrea's head on his lap … probably nestled up against his dick … and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.
Simon goes back to messing with his phone, and I breathe a little easier. Looks like he has more important things to do than fucking around with a drugged stripper.
Another ten minutes and I turn onto Devine Street. Just when I hit the intersection with 8th, Simon reaches over my shoulder and points. "Pull into that alleyway on the right."
I make a slow turn and creep the Beamer down the dark alley that runs back a couple of hundred feet past an old warehouse. At the back corner of the building, it expands into a small parking lot surrounded by the backs of other buildings. There are two tall light posts on opposite corners of the lot, but the lights on one are burned out completely. There's a black Mercedes G500 parked under the burned-out lamp, so I pull the car over there and park a few spaces away. However, I pull the car in perpendicular so the headlights of Simon's car illuminate the area.
When I put the car in park, I turn around to look at Simon in the backseat. "How do you want to play this out?" I ask.
"She's out cold so pop the trunk. Roll the window down. Stay in here until I get the money, then I'll tell you when to bring her out."
Relief courses through me that Simon didn't pull Andrea out with him. It was a brilliant idea of hers to fake being passed out from the drug.
"Sure thing, Simon," I say and roll down the window.
He gets out of the car and at the same time, I see the driver's side doors open in sync on the Mercedes. A huge, beefy guy gets out from behind the wheel. I don't see any obvious gun on him, but that doesn't mean he's not packing. From the backseat emerges a tall, slender guy of about fifty years old. He has thinning, blond hair, pale skin, and a hawk-like nose. He's dressed in an expensive suit, which he buttons the jacket on as soon as both feet on are on the pavement.
I do a quick scan of the area and hope to hell that Mike has his team setting up right now. There's the alley that leads back out to Devine that's open, and one other alley off the west side of the parking lot. My guess is they'll be coming in from that way, as it's closest to our vehicles and completely dark, but I'd bet money they have undercover cars parked right out on Devine as well.
The buyer reaches into the backseat of the Mercedes and pulls out a small, leather satchel. Simon walks up to them, they do a short handshake, and Simon takes the satchel. I watch as he opens it, counts through the cash that's in there, and then turns to me.