Chapter One
David knocked three times on the hotel room door, shifting the sack of groceries from his right side to his left. He hated this place. It was hot and boring. He and his friends must have found the smallest, most desolate spot in the entire country to hide out.
He mumbled and knocked again. The latch clicked and the door opened.
“Take this.” He shoved the sack into Collie’s hands. “It’s hotter ‘n fire out here.”
Collie took the sack to the kitchenette and unloaded the groceries.
“Couldn’t you do better than chips and beer?”
“Hey, be glad I got that.” David threw the local newspaper down on the table. “Check it out.”
Collie Perkins, David’s younger brother, and their four friends, Ryan and Jimmy Bullet, Marco Blanchard, and Steve Landon, gathered around the table to read the front page news.
“Man, we ain’t never gonna get outta here.” Marco snagged a beer and sank into a chair.
“We’ll get out.” Ryan pulled a beer from the pack and sat with his feet propped on the table. “We just stopped here to let the steam off. In a day or two the papers will have moved on to something more important.”
David grabbed a bag of chips and some dip before taking a seat. “Feds are in town. I saw them. That bank wasn’t worth all this trouble for what we didn’t get.”
“This place stinks,” Jimmy griped. “I don’t like it. I mean, the nearest town is seventy miles away and there ain’t nothin’ between but desert.”
David pushed Ryan’s feet off the table. “We gotta find a way out. “The money from the bank’s already about gone. We’re gonna need a stake. Any of you geniuses got any bright ideas?”
“There’s a bank here,” Marco said.
“And we’re all over the front page, idiot.” Ryan slapped him hard on the shoulder. “Use your head. Besides, this place is so small, there ain’t enough in that bank to take a risk.”
Jimmy sat up and shifted the paper so they could all see it. “Look at this.” He read from the paper. “Production Company moves into town to film new action movie.”
Marco sniffed and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, so?”
“Look who the star is.” Jimmy pointed to a name.
“What’s your point?” Ryan asked.
Jimmy’s tossed him a look full of irritation. “You said a stake. How ‘bout this one?” He tapped the paper.
Marco sat forward. “What, are you crazy? You ain’t thinkin’ ‘bout kidnappin’. I know you ain’t thinkin’ that. Please tell me you ain’t.”
Ryan grabbed the paper and read the article through. A slow smile spread across his face as he nodded silently. “Yeah. Yeah, it might work.”
He looked up, excitement showing in his brown eyes. “It’s easy. Says here they’re wantin’ to hire locals for extras during the shoot. We’re in, no problem. We follow ‘im around a day or two, get to know his routine, get things ready, then ‘bam’, we hoot ‘im and leave here a whole lot richer.”
“Ryan, are you forgetting who this guy is?” David jerked the paper out of Ryan’s hands and tossed it onto the sofa. “It’ll take more ‘n us to take this guy.”
Ryan shook his head and glared at him. “David, you watch too many movies.”
