Chapter 6:

            Griswold spent the whole ride back in silence as she studied Andelay’s profile. When the three reached August’s house and headed inside, Griswold sat down on the couch and continued to flip through the folder. About half an hour later, she flung it down on a wooden coffee table in exasperation. “Nothing!” she said. “There is absolutely no useful information in here!”

            Jamie walked into the room, eating one of Elizabeth’s cookies and holding two others in her left hand. “Really? Nothing?” she asked.

            “Other than the fact that she’s got a body count of thirty-six and was able to escape a maximum-security prison in Russia? No,” Griswold replied drily.

            Jamie’s eyes grew wide and her jaw stopped mid-chew. “Wait,” she said. “Are you serious?”

            “Unfortunately, yes,” Griswold said with a sigh.

            “Shit, man!” Jamie said. “And we have to go up against her?”

            “Well, I’m not entirely sure about that,” said Griswold. “She could just be a cog in some larger scheme that we have yet to comprehend. However, she does appear to be our kidnapper. So, while there is no guarantee that we will come to fisticuffs with her, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility.”

            Jamie stared at Griswold blankly. “‘Fisticuffs?’ Really?” she said flatly.

            “You heard me,” Griswold said in a monotone fashion.

            “Okay,” Jamie said as she started to eat her cookies again. “Well then what are we gonna do?”

            “Lacking any other alternatives,” said Griswold, “it seems we shall be paying that car dealership a visit tomorrow.”

            “Makes sense,” replied Jamie.

            “Now, if you will excuse me,” said Griswold as she grabbed a notebook and pencil from her suitcase, “I have a conversation flowchart to write for tomorrow’s encounter and I mustn’t lose another second in its formulation.”

            Jamie turned to leave, but paused mid-step. Hesitantly turning back to Griswold, she asked, “You think she’s okay?”

            Griswold looked up from her notebook. “Is who okay?” she asked.

            “Charlotte,” Jamie replied. “I didn’t really think about it ‘til now, but a wanted assassin has taken her off to God knows where. Do you think she…I don’t know…killed her?”

            Griswold let out a heavy sigh. “To be honest, my dear,” she said, “I cannot be sure. There is always the possibility that she was killed, but it is just as likely that she was kidnapped for some other purpose. However, if it makes you feel any better, the fact that Andelay strapped an oxygen tank to Charlotte so that they could hide in the storm drain instead of simply killing her suggests that she wanted her alive. Why that is, I do not know. But this does bode well for Charlotte in general.”

            Jamie took a deep breath. “Alright,” she said. “I’ll take your word for it.” She then went over to the open kitchen and sat on a stool next to the island. She finished her cookies as

            Griswold continued scribbling in her notebook.

*****

            The next morning, Jamie, Griswold, and August drove back to the car dealership. Jamie parked on the side of the road leading up to its driveway and asked, “Anything I need to know before we go in?”

            “Just follow my lead,” replied Griswold.

            “Cool,” said Jamie. “You know the drill?” she asked as she turned back to August.

            “Hide on the floor so no one sees me,” he replied.

            “Awesome,” said Jamie. She and Griswold then got out of the car as August curled up in a ball on the floor.

            Closing the car door, Jamie turned to Griswold and whispered, “Remind me again why he came with us? I mean, isn’t this super dangerous?”

            A look of horror crossed Griswold’s face. “I thought you invited him!?” she replied in a voice laced with panic.

            After a few minutes of walking and cursing under their breath, Jamie and Griswold reached the entrance to the dealership. As they passed through its gate, they stopped to gaze around the area. The layout was just as was the other day, only now the building at the center looked even more disreputable and the utterly abysmal condition of the business’ wares became painfully apparent. Besides this, they could now hear a low-pitched whirring sound, guttural and mechanical, drone off somewhere towards the back of the lot.

            “So, what do you want me to look out for again?” asked Jamie.

            “Well,” began Griswold, “I need you to – ”

            “Hello!” came a voice from the central building.

            Jamie and Griswold looked to see a man in his mid-forties approaching them. He was a bit taller than Jamie, wore cargo shorts, a yellow polo shirt, and flip flops, had short, blonde hair, and a smile that screamed “Goober.”

            “Uh, hello,” Jamie said as she held up her hand in greeting.

             As the man finished power-walking over to them, he began talking in a salesman voice. “I have a feeling that you lovely ladies are looking to buy a car!” he said.

             “Why, yes!” replied Griswold. “We are indeed looking for a car, since, as you can see, we do not have one with us!”     

            Jamie shot Griswold a look of confusion and concern. “Why the fuck is she talking like that?” she thought to herself. Griswold then nudged Jamie with her elbow and winked to point out that this was all part of her plan. It was at this point that Jamie came to the horrifying realization that she hadn’t gotten the chance to proofread Griswold’s conversation flowchart.

            “God, please don’t let this backfire,” Jamie thought.

            “That’s what I figured!” the man said with a toothy grin. “And for that, you’ve come to the right place. We offer wonderful, gently-used cars at affordable prices! Now, might I ask what kind of car you’re looking for?”

            “Well, that is going to be very tricky,” Griswold said in a stilted, unnatural voice. “There are so many different types to choose from and I just don’t know how I’ll make a decision.” She then started making awkward, sweeping gestures with her arms to convey the magnitude and impossibility of her faux predicament. “I mean, do I choose the black SUV that gets great mileage? Or the blue sedan that costs less? Or maybe even – ”

            Jamie then made the executive decision to forcefully elbow Griswold in the ribs to get her to shut up. “Actually, we still don’t know what we’re looking for,” Jamie said with a nervous smile as Griswold clutched at her side and coughed in pain. “Can you show us what you’ve got?”

            “Sure thing!” the man replied. “Follow me!”

            As the two trailed after the man, Griswold walked up alongside Jamie, still clutching at her right side.

            “What the hell was that for?” Griswold asked angrily.

            “I was saving the operation!” Jamie whispered back. “He was gonna know something was up. You sounded like you were in some crappy infomercial!”

            “Yeah!” Griswold whispered back. “That was the idea! He’s a salesman, so I was talking like a prototypical media portrayal of a customer to appeal to him. Like knows like, you know? I was simply speaking his language.”

            Jamie stared at Griswold in stunned silence, a look of incredulity on her face. “We’ll talk about this later,” she said shaking her head.

            “Fine,” Griswold grumbled as she rolled her eyes.

            Over the next half hour, the man showed Jamie and Griswold many different cars, explaining the various features, pros, and cons of each. Every now and then, he would ask for their opinions on what was presented to them and Jamie usually ad-libbed a response that kept the tour of the lot going. Griswold, on the other hand, didn’t pay much attention to the sales pitch, only occasionally giving her thoughts on the matter, most of which sounded awkward, stiff, and overly-rehearsed. The rest of the time, she seemed to be staring at the salesman or off at different parts of the lot, the central building and the fence surrounding the area in particular. At one point, she dedicated much attention to the mechanical hum that came from the other side of the enclosure, so much so that the salesman stopped his spiel to ask if she was okay. After she had given the unsatisfactory answer of “Uh…yeah,” the three continued on the tour for a few more minutes before Griswold suddenly interrupted.

            “My apologies,” began Griswold, “but can you please tell me where the restroom is?”

            “Sure,” the man said, “it’s near the mechanic’s garage around back.”

            “Thank you, my dear,” said Griswold. As she turned to leave, she briefly turned back and said, “By the way…I’m so sorry, sir. What is your name?”

            “Andrew,” the salesman replied.

            “Well, Andrew,” said Griswold, “since we do have to get going very soon, could you be a lamb and write down the make and model of the cars you show my friend as well as any other important information or statistics relating to them?”

            “Uh, sure?” Andrew said confusedly. “Just let me get a pen and paper and I’ll be right back.”

            As he ran off into the central building, Jamie shot Griswold an inquisitive look. “Just to be clear, this is part of your plan, right?”

            “Absolutely, my dear,” said Griswold with an impish smirk. “Just make sure that he writes everything down himself.” She then turned and began to walk towards the restroom.

            After a few minutes, neither Griswold or Andrew had returned, giving Jamie time to look around the area. It was at this point that she gazed through the chain-link fence and down the road to where she had parked. There, she saw August walking from the car to a small, scraggly tree in a field by the roadside. Reaching the tree, he briefly glanced at his surroundings before taking a piss.

            Jamie turned away and left August to himself. She then realized in horror that Andrew was finally coming back. She assessed the situation. She wanted to signal at him to finish up and get back in the car as fast as possible, but any sort of gesticulations could bring attention to August’s presence. Besides, he was a fair distance away and wasn’t terribly noticeable on his own. There was only one thing for Jamie to do: go along with Andrew’s sales pitch to keep him distracted.