A Triple Shot of Karma & Platinum Fury Focus

Part 12: Wheel of Fortune (Rev'd)

"Y'know, Marlena pulled a joint that tasted exactly like this shit of yours when we were doing the Platinum Fury thing over Texas..."

"That so?" Rahim kept his eyes forward, a crack of smile on his usually stern face as he pulled to the curb. "Hold onto that, you might want a little sumthin' sumthin' when you get up. I'll do what I can about spreading that almost-married joy of yours with Sherise. Your guys should be in by 7:30. 

"Get your rest, I got some ladies that are looking forward to dancing with you."

"We'll see, " Eddie slapped the Chargers roof as a leaving signal.

Eddie felt his energy plug get yanked from the wall as Rahim pulled away. Getting another couple hours sleep was going to be an excellent idea. 

Waiting for a purple Camry with a fart-box muffler to zip past, he checked his phone while sauntering across the street towards Reid's. He laughed out loud at a picture of himself conked out, with a single 'Whoza guuud guuud boy?' line of text and tongue out emoticon message from Marlena.

Terri's reaction was instantaneous as Rahim drove away. No Rahim would work real well for everyone except Eddie. 

"Bring the car, we're taking him now!" she alerted the other groups, jerking her head towards the chilled coffee case, where Mongito turned his back to the door and squatted down next to a spinner of CDs. Terri faced away from the door, pretending interest in the progress of an older black man slicing her deli order.  

Pulling a spicy V8 from the lineup of beverage coolers, Eddie smirked at the idea it would probably be the only truly healthy thing he'd have today. Pineapple and mocha whipped cream a la Marlena was another whole category of having, and Rahim's weed was all natural, but...

Kelcie's curvaceous profile at the deli counter, focused on her own phone, was unmistakable as he started back up the third aisle. He tapped 'coming out of cake?' after clicking a picture of her, mildly curious how Montalco could have gotten to Charlotte before him. 

Sending the message just as she turned his direction, the immediate difference in the tiger's eye orange of eyes staring intently at him from a very pretty face was, they weren't the delightful hazel-green ones he'd appreciated so much on Kelcie Montalco at poolside. 

Quickly as that registered as a problem, someone stuck a taser in his back and clicked a mess of voltage into him. Yowwww! been a while since I heard that sound...

His body stiffened with the electricity, he heard Terri giving orders: "Mongito, Sweet Paoli, don't let him fall, it'll be tougher to move him. The car is right outside, let's go!"

God, you've GOT to be fucking kidding me...I'm going from a poolside party with the glitterati and chewing on Marlena's pineapple-mocha flavored crotch to getting shanghaied instead of  enjoying my bachelor party? And did she just blow me a kiss? 

The heist was handled efficiently and effectively, Mongito zip-tying his hands and putting a thick hood over Eddie's head, Paoli sing-songing "Happy birthday to you!" as they hustled him towards the door. 

Floyd finished the second half of Terri's three pounds of thin-sliced turkey order, his concentration on the task turning to frustration as she followed the three abductors and Eddie out the door.

"Fine behind too," he muttered. "Now what am I gonna do with this much eff'n thin shit?"

Eddie tried to concentrate on turns and the amount of time they spent going any particular direction like Marlena told him to if such an event ever happened. For the first thirty seconds nobody talked, then Terri turned in the front seat and started chatting matter of factly with him.

"I'm sure you're feeling less positive about seeing me again than I am you Eddie, but the Universe sent a crystal clear message about you. I mean, knowing you'd be right here in Charlotte today, I couldn't blow shit like that off, right? I had to act.

"Your buddies will obviously be disappointed about you not making it to the party tonight, and up front, we're not asking for the world to get you back in time for your wedding.

She wiggled the phone in front of the hood. "When we get where we're going, I'll need the code so we can unlock this to contact your sweetie about ransom."  

"Easy peasy, right Eddie? And if we don't have to tase you to make sure you don't run away,  we can just walk into the house, okay?" She crackled the tasing element for emphasis. "Was that a new experience for you?"

Hands zip-tied in front and guards on either side, he didn't see any reason to struggle or attempt escape from a car going at high speed. They'd made a couple quick lefts at the start, that was probably getting on 277, a brief slow down - maybe construction on the overpass, maybe south on 77. Everybody did eighty-plus on this stretch to South Carolina.

There was information on the phone that wasn't protected very well, but the nut factor of Mongito and Terri working this deal meant it wasn't a professional operation. 

Maybe not badass pros, but they handled you in a pretty tight operation. How the fuck could they have the kind of insane luck to be waiting for him...?

He was worth money to them, so there wasn't any fear of violence. He'd come out of previous circumstances with each of them on the better side of things - mano a mano and jump shot for jump shot in Mongito's case. 

But Terri, sheeee-it! What a time for Marlena's extra sense of the world to not register exactly the negative vibe he'd tried to tell her about.

He was zipped now, but did he have anything to use for handcuff picking if that came up? Lock picking was one of those lessons Silas always mentioned when talking about recovery of the fantastic necklace he'd given Marlena after the Travers Party, that banana republic dictator...

You got these guys, Em. Mongito's nothing special, and you'll have the drop on Terri with all the information in my story and our talk. Real glad I got that to you in time. I'm going to get to use the phone, which will probably activate some tracking, but dammit! there's no way I can imagine them knowing I'd be there today. 

Mongito, here's hoping I get a chance to put some voltage in YOUR ass soon.