13
(Season
2 Episode 2)
The
Negotiations
Sidney feigned confusion. “Savannah Burton? Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
Savannah smiled like a ray of
sunshine. “Well now, deary, I haven’t
treated you like you’re stupid. Please,
extend me the same courtesy.”
Sidney considered this. She could tell playing stupid wasn’t going to
work with this one. Sidney didn’t know how Savannah had gotten her information
but she could tell the woman wasn’t the type to make mistakes.
“Alright.” Sidney began
cautiously. “Then let’s get down to it,. What do you want with me?”
“A sense of humor and a sense of business.
I do declare, I fancy that.” Savannah
said with a grin.
Sidney frowned. “Good God, I’ve been kidnapped by an evil
cheerleader.”
Savannah’s eyes narrowed. “Watch yourself, Yankee bitch. I can just as easy cut your throat and find
another useless whore.”
Sidney grinned. “There we go. I like the real you better.”
Savannah’s smile and bright
disposition returned. “Most poker
players are men, sweet thing. Men like
cheerleaders.”
Sidney shrugged. There wasn’t much she could say to disagree
with that. “So, how did you find out
about my Savannah act? It was a small
time con. I didn’t think it would
attract your attention.”
Savannah nodded. “Normally it wouldn’t, but about three months
ago I played some poker against a man who didn’t have the money to pay me.”
Sidney had to force herself not to
grit her teeth in pain. Of all the
people and places, how had Bob Stanoski bumped into Savannah Burton? Damn the Gods. Sidney and Tobias had never been especially
lucky but this was ridiculous.
“Let me guess,” Sidney said. “He told you the story?”
Savannah chuckled. “Indeed.
Told me quite a whopper. Although
I’m smart enough to know that story doesn’t end with you dead.”
Savannah sighed and continued. “I was a bit disappointed to know you used
your real name in the last step of the con. That was bush league.”
Sidney frowned at her, her professional
pride wounded. “And you could have done
it better?”
Savannah smiled. “Sweet heart, a little research and you could
have used a real gunshot victim’s name, maybe from the day prior. Would have saved you a lot of potential
grief.”
Sidney worked her tongue along her
teeth. She was insulted and pissed, and
it only made it worse that it was a good idea. “So, what do you want?”
Savannah could see she had gotten
to Sidney. “No more small talk. Alright? I need you to help me break a hype scam.”
“Really?” Sidney was interested,
no doubt. “Well that is something. Why should I?”
Savannah raised her eyebrow and
gestured at the large man sitting next to Sidney. “Because if you don’t, I could have Chuck
there, kill you.”
Sidney grinned. “Thought you weren’t going to treat me like
an idiot? Look, sunshine, the fact
remains that killing me right now is actually more work, money and effort than
making a deal. You need to pay me or let
me out or kill me.”
Savannah grinned playfully. “Chuck, make the girl a drink, double shot of scotch
I believe. It’s going to be a long
drive.”
Chuck went about it. Sidney raised her eyebrow. “You’ve done your research. You should know, scotch makes me mean.”
“I don’t think I much need to
worry about that.” Savannah quipped as
Chuck handed her a drink. “Fenton Sonoma.”
Sidney almost dropped the drink,
her poker face dropped and her eyes widened. She hadn’t heard the name in more than ten
years and just its mention sucked the air out of her chest.
“What do you know about him?”
Sidney asked, low and concerned.
Savannah winked at her playfully. “You should drink your scotch.”
“What could you possibly have on
him?” Sidney ignored her. “The man’s a ghost.”
Savannah nodded to the glass. “Drink it.”
Sidney did the glass in one drink like
a shot and handed it back to Chuck. Even
he looked impressed. “What do you have?”
“His real name.” Savannah said
matter-of-factly.
Sidney leaned back and eyed her,
trying to figure out if she was for real. They both worked in businesses built on lies
and deception. This made it hard to have
any real trust and even harder to work with a stranger. If Sidney were to consult her own personal
rulebook, it would prohibit such behavior. Two things changed her mind…
1. She didn’t have a rulebook.
2. What if Savannah was telling the truth?
Chuck handed her a second drink,
she looked at it, then back to Savannah.
“Are you in?” The southern belle
inquired.
****
Tobias paced back and forth as
Hank pulled his tin of chew out of his pocket, snapped it against his leg a
couple of times and then proceeded to jab a large gob of the stuff into the
inside of his lip.
“What are they talking about?” He
asked, muffled through the chew.
Tobias looked at him angrily. “There just going back and forth, Sidney’s
trying to get info out of her.”
Hank nodded and took a seat calmly
on the steps of the porch as Tobias marched back and forth in his suit. “Why don’t you stop pacing, might be able to
hear them better.”
Tobias glared. “Might be able to hear them better without my
asshole brother-in-law babbling in my ear.”
Hank frowned, “Suit yourself, jack
ass.”
“Wait, they are finally getting
down to business.” Tobias said, stopping in his tracks to focus on the phone as
if a lack of movement would allow him to hear the conversation better.
Hank stepped up closer, concerned.
“It’s a hype scam. Savannah needs her help on a hype scam.”
Tobias said to Hank in a whisper.
Hank looked confused. “A hype scam? What the hell is that?”
Tobias shook his head. “It’s a card hustle, and I’ll tell you about
it later. Sidney just refused without
payment.”
Hank looked surprised. “Ballsy.”
Tobias shook his head. “They went through too much to kill her
without using her, they’ll offer something, even if it’s fake.”
“What are they offering?” Hank
asked.
“I don’t know yet. She wants her to drink and… Mother fucker.” Tobias trailed off into the curse words.
Tobias took the phone from his ear
and closed it. “Sidney’s going to do it.
Damn it, she’s going to do it.”
Hank was lost. “What, why? What is going on? Why’d you close the phone?”
“She hung up the other side.” Tobias said and turned and began to walk back
towards the restaurant. “We have to get
going. I need to see the Skeever. If you want to come, head home, pack light and
meet me at my house in an hour.”
Hank spit a hunk of chew onto the
side walk. “Who the fuck is the Skeever?
Where are we going?”
“Skeever is a computer guy me and
Sidney worked with before. He’ll know
where the hype scam is and where we have to go. We are going after her.”
Hank grabbed Tobias’s thin arm and
turned him around. “Why is Sidney going
along with this? What did Burton offer
her?”
“Fenton Sonoma.” Tobias said.
“Who the hell is Fenton Sonoma?”
Hank asked, frustrated.
Tobias sighed. “It’s her dad. Fenton Sonoma was the alias her father used.”
****
“We should have trust then.” Sidney said finally with a serious tone. “Have Chuck over here check his inside pocket.
I slipped an open phone into it with
back up on the other end.”
Savannah raised her eyebrow at
Chuck who frowned and went into his pocket. He was shocked to find the phone. He suddenly looked embarrassed. He closed the phone and handed it to Savannah
who did not look happy.
“Can’t find good help these days.”
Savannah said as she frowned. “So I take
it then, that you are on board?”
Sidney nodded. “You had better be able to produce.”
Savannah smiled. “Don’t you worry, I can produce.”
“Then yeah,” Sidney said as she
downed the second glass of Scotch, “I’m in.”
End Episode 13
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