chapter 193

word count: 957

buzz pulled the TSA agents over to the side,, and filled them in on the identities of the two mistakenly ‘innocent victims’ that now had in their possession.. he asked them to hold them until they heard back from him,, because his gut told him there was more going on here than met the eye,, and he wanted to have a little chat with the ailing doctor to see if he would shed any light on what it was before they were released.. 

with that settled,, he collected trudy and her luggage and the two of them headed for the car.. 

buzz knew, that no matter how he presented the situation at hand to trudy, she was gonna take his dropping her off at the house so he could catch up with the infamous dr. bigelow at the hospital as a personal snub, so he waited until trudy had had her rant about the deplorable treatment she had suffered at the hands of the TSA agents,, and he had sympathized with her accordingly before he broached the subject.. 

fortunately they were only a block or two away from the house when he saw fit to deliver the bad news,, and trudy was blinded in a fit of rage by the time he pulled up in the driveway, as it caused her to jump out of the car and slam the door viciously behind her as soon as the car came to a stop.. 

before trudy had time to rethink her position,,  he slammed the car in reverse and gunned it out of the drive.. 

he could hear her screaming at him as he roared off,, and genuinely felt a pang of sorrow for mrs. dunn, as she was about to bear the brunt of trudy’s rage, unaided.. 

***

it wasn’t until jacob had exited the cab with the diamond safely tucked away in the pocket of his modestly loose fitting gray trousers, that he had a look around him,, and came to the immediate realization that he had been left off in wrong part of town.. 

he found himself surrounded by decay.. not only were the buildings decrepit and/or abandoned,, but the streets inhabitants, by which he now found himself surrounded,, all looked equally as worse for the wear.. he could feel their eyes honing in on him like prey, as he ducked into the first seedy motel lobby he came across.. 

he was met by an overwhelming blast of curried air as he approached the steel caged window,, with only a drop slot and wire meshed portal facing in his direction.. as he coaxed his gag mechanism into submission, a small sari wrapped indian woman with a purple gem imbedded in the middle of her forehead appeared from behind a batik curtain..

“i need a room.” jacob said shortly, trying his best not to expel any unneeded breath in fear that he would have to fill his lungs yet again with the oily stench that had by now totally engulfed him.

“$50.00.. sign here..” the woman sounded off from her vantage point behind the cage covered glass,, as she, without looking up, dropped a registration card and a pen into the concave steel slot in the window. 

jacob obediently fumbled with his wallet withdrawing two twenty’s and a ten,, and signed the name joseph smith to the registry card.. the disinterested woman took the card and the cash and slipped a room key into the slot.. 

“around the back, upstairs..” she instructed him as she turned away and disappeared behind the curtain before he could ask her if she had anything closer to the office.. 

jacob, inhaled noisily as he opened the door and did his best to appear unfazed by the panic that raged within him, as he walked through the trash strewn parking lot and toward the rear of the building..   

as he turned the corner he was met by a stringy haired middle aged woman who proceeded to proposition him for ‘a date’ as she sat nervously on the edge of the third step and picked mercilessly at an open sore on her left arm..

without a word, jacob all but jumped over her,, taking the steps two and three at a time till he reached the cement walkway of the second floor..  amidst a cloud of expletives (the likes of which he had never heard before) that shot forth from the bedraggled woman’s mouth,,  he wasted no time locating the room number that was printed on the plastic key chain,  231.. 

he quickly ducked behind the door threw the deadbolt,, and slipped the chain lock into position.. as he flicked the switch and the one dim bulb on the bedside table came to life,, he looked on in horror as an army of cockroaches were sent running for cover..

jacob fell back heavily against the hollow steel door..

“oh my god!!” he all but cried out to himself as he reached into his pocket and withdrew the now cold, lifeless stone which had only moments before swallowed him whole with hedonistic possibilities.. 

“what have i done??”

***

as the disinterested desk sargent instructed the clearly exasperated youth to take a seat until someone became available to take his statement,, algie saw his chance, and leapt on it.. he waited for the conservatively dressed young man to take a seat,, and then visibly agitatedly,, bounded off in the direction of the young man,, dropping heavily into the empty seat beside him.

“idjuts!!” he exclaimed aloud in his crisp british accent,,  hoping to forge a quick camaraderie of sorts between himself the disgruntled young man.. 

“have a seat and wait he tells me yet again!! i tell you, i have been kept waiting well over a bloody hour as i’tis!!”