Miranda [Watty Awards 2013]

Chapter 4

The heater buzzed to life at my feet, sending a wave of warmth through the car. It was four in the morning, the sun not even close to rising. That was the only good thing about me falling asleep at six; early to bed, early to rise.

            You never knew when the druggies were going to sneak about.

            It wasn't long before I was rewarded. It was hard to see, my lights killed so that I could not be seen, but I could hear the car door slam quietly across the street. In an otherwise silent neighborhood, it wasn't hard to determine when somebody was attempting to sneak out. I squinted through the darkness until I saw the taillights of Brady Ethans blink on.

            I checked the time. It was seven past four. It hadn't taken long.

            His car pulled out of the driveway, and I could see he was being careful not to rev the engine too loud. That didn't surprise me; the best criminals were the paranoid ones, because they took extra precautions to not get caught, even when they were completely sound. Ethans appeared to be one of them.

            I waited impatiently for his car to get out of sight before turning the key to my own ignition, my car purring quietly to life. I kept my headlights flicked off, knowing that it wasn't the best idea for safety, but definitely the way to go for recon. It didn't take long to catch up with Ethans, and I tailed along a decent distance behind him. He sped along recklessly, not anticipating anybody to interfere.

            My job was not to interfere. My job was to plot, analyze the situation, make sure that it went the way that it had been planned. I had to remind myself that no matter what I saw happen this morning, it was only so I could create a plan, find a way to weave myself into Ethans' life. I was not to act until then.

            Ethans did not travel far. Within five minutes, he had pulled over on the edge of a wood, his car pulled off the side of the road. I parked in a dent in the trees, out of sight, and tried to make out what was going on. From what I could see, Ethans was standing outside, and there was another person there to greet him.

            I wasn't going to get any good information sitting here. With barely the slightest sound, I clicked open my car door and slipped out into the early morning, planting my feet on the ground silently. I was rather trained in avoiding notice, with the nature of my life being what it was. As stealthily as I could manage, I crept up on the pair of men, and upon coming closer I could see that it was in fact a trio. I crouched behind a cluster of bushes, close enough that I could hear.

            "What did you think you were doing, Brady?" one of the men asked, sounding very upset. I almost worried, but I knew that the date was not tonight.

            "It was an accident," Ethans answered hotly. He was not a man who liked to be ordered around, I could tell. "And it doesn't matter, anyhow. There wasn't-"

            "It doesn't matter?" the second man asked, fury evident in his tone. "Your little slip-up could cost the whole operation!"

            "Calm down, Charlie," Ethans said, sounding far from calm himself. "It wasn't major. It was only one witness, and I doubt she even knew what was happening. She was too busy on her cell phone."

            Charlie shook his head, disappointed, and turned to the first man. He didn't look like he was in the mood to be dealing with whatever problem Brady had caused. I guessed that he was the most powerful of the three, but I doubted that he was the ring leader of it all.

            "What do you think, Vinny?" he asked the man, crossing his arms and looking rather sour.

            Vinny took a while to think about it, making both Charlie and Ethans anxious. I could see them shifting stances, and even from here I could make out the worry in Brady's eyes. Whoever this Vinny was, he was a big decision maker. I might need to remember that for the future.