Hey There Stranger

“Hey there stranger.”

He didn’t even notice her walk into the bar, let alone sit down across from him. Which caught him by surprise, for she was fairly pretty herself. Somehow though, he thought he recognized her from somewhere.

“Hey, yourself.”

She had dark brown hair and a glacier-white smile. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before.”

“Well, I’m just passing on through.” he replied, still trying to piece together what is going on.

“I see. What’s your name?” She asked, with little hesitation.

“Name’s Jim. Jim Cockman. My friends call me Jimmy.”

“Can I call you Jimmy?”

“Well seeing as how you’re the one who chose to talk to me out of the hundred other guys that are here tonight, I ‘d say you’ve earned it.”

They both laughed.

She sipped her drink. It looked like a rum and coke. Classic. But it still didn’t make any sense to him. She had not even given him her name yet. He decided to keep playing the game, anticipating what her next question would be before she asked it.

“So Jimmy, where are you from?”

“Middle of Nowhere, Kansas.”

She chuckled. “What brings you all the way out here?”

“Well it’s kind of a long story,” he replied. She seemed interested so he decided to keep going. “My dad wanted me to go into the family business that had been handed down Father-to-Son generation after generation. But I had other plans.”

“And what was that?”

“I wanted to be an actor.”

She laughed at the silliness. He laughed because she was laughing. “And what did your mom think about that?”

“I couldn’t tell ya, she died when I was 10.”

Her face went from a wide smile, to a flat expression of guilt. “I’m so sorry. I never should have…”

“It’s ok don’t worry about it.” He reassured her. “It was a long time ago. So anyway after high school I ran off to New York in the middle of the night. Once I got there I was the typical actor working in a coffee shop part-time. I couldn’t find any work at all. Hardly had enough to make it through the weeks.”

“So what did you do?” He could tell she had bought into the story now.

“I left New York. I took every cent I had left and bought a bus ticket to Indianapolis. Found another job there, moved my way up the food chain, and here I am.”

“And what do you do now?”

“I’m into construction.”

“I see. Very cool. So are you your own boss now?” He flagged down the bartender for another round of drinks.

“You could say that.”

“Ok. So you are from Indy right?” He nodded in agreement.

“What brings you out here to El Paso? It’s kind of a long ways away from where you’re from.”

“I’m just passing through. Going to Mexico in the morning to meet up with some friends.”

“You staying somewhere close?”

“Yeah I have a room at the Snooze Motel down the road. Like I said it’s just for tonight.”

The drinks were put on the table, they both took a sip.

“So, how is this going to work out tonight?” He said to the woman.

“Well, the way I see it, this is going to go one of two ways.” He could see through her now. He secretly pulled out his phone. There was no going back.

“Option 1: I take you through the kitchen, out the door, and put you into these handcuffs. Nice and quiet. No one will know. I take you down to the precinct and you have your day in court.

That’s the easy way.

Option 2: I put you in handcuffs right here, right in-front of everyone, and hand you off to my fellow officers waiting outside surrounding the building, and you still go to jail.”

His heart dropped. He knew it all along.

“And by the way, we both know you’re not the Yankee’s 3rd baseman from 1905, Mr. Gage. Nice trick though. I bet it works most of the time. But not this time.”

"What’s your name?"

“My name is detective Anna Cross. I’m with the FBI. We have been tracking you the whole time. Never lost your trail, as difficult as you made it for us.”

He rubbed his beard, doing his best to formulate a plan. He had anticipated something like this to happen. For some hot-shot detective fresh out of training to come running up trying to play “hero”. He could tell she was new to the bureau because of the way she moved. The way she talked. Her age.

“So what’s it gonna be Robert? The easy way, or the hard way?”

“You said your name was Anna Cross right?”

“That’s right.”

Bingo. That was the last bit of information his phone needed.

“That’s right I remember you now. You were in St. Louis with the blockade.”

She was surprised he remembered her. “You have a good memory Mr. Gage.”

“Nah I wouldn’t forget a pretty face like yours, nor would I forget that bullet your partner fired right into my friend’s skull.”

Gage started to lean back and get comfortable in his chair. “Well Detective, you really have done your homework. Great little game of charades. But you forgot about one little thing.”

“And what’s that, Robert?” she replied.

“Option 3.”

The Detective was confused. “What’s Option 3?”

“Option 3: You try and arrest me right here, right now, but I somehow manage to escape. You say you have officers surrounding the building, but even if that is true, we’ll be making such a commotion, that everyone here is going to sprint out the door. There are at least 150 people in this bar right now. They wouldn’t know who to look for. After subduing you, I’ll leave the bar almost undetected, steal a car and head down I-55 for about 20 miles until I get to Exit 26. Then I take a right, a left, another left, and then head down Cleary Way. About halfway down Cleary Way, there’s a little street called Appledale Road. I head down Appledale until I get to the house 8893.”

She was shaking right to her bones. Her heart was pounding and her mind racing. She knew what he was going to do.

“Don’t you touch my family.”

“Then you know what you have to do.”

He got up and left, never to be seen again.