Time pirate 2, p.18
Time Pirate 2, page 18
But how the hell was I going to do that?
I mulled over options as I waited for the bus that would take me back to Joan’s townhouse. It wasn’t like I could list the damn book on Facebook Marketplace. I also couldn’t sell it for cheap, not when I knew it was worth millions. I needed to figure out a way to sell it for what it was worth, without anyone asking questions about it. Was that even possible?
By the time I made it back to Joan’s, I was a nervous wreck, and I’d almost convinced myself that I should just take the book back to 1814 and leave it in the past.
Joan was in the living room when I entered the townhouse, and she frowned when she caught sight of my face.
“Frankie, what’s wrong?” the pretty researcher asked as she pushed herself off the couch and crossed the room to meet me.
“Nothing,” I said, and I forced a smile before I gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Where’s Em?”
“She’s still sleeping,” Joan said, but she still had a worried look on her face. “There’s definitely something wrong, talk to me.”
“Alright, let me just change out of this monkey suit,” I sighed as I gestured to my work uniform.
“Want me to make you some pancakes?” Joan asked as I headed for the bedroom. “I was just about to make breakfast myself.”
“I would love that,” I said with an appreciative smile.
About half an hour later, I entered the kitchen in comfy clothes with wet hair from the shower. Joan was humming happily as she plated up some pancakes, and she grinned when she saw me.
“Perfect timing,” she said as she set the full plates on the kitchen island. “Coffee? Beer?”
“Oh, a beer after that shift would be great,” I said.
“Beer and pancakes, yummy.” Joan giggled as she pulled a beer from the fridge, popped it open, and handed it to me.
“This looks amazing,” I said as I took in the plate stacked with pancakes, sausage, and bacon.
“Yes, well, I could tell you were in a bad mood,” Joan said pointedly as we took our seats at the island. “You want to tell me what that was about? I am your girlfriend now, after all.”
“That is true,” I said with a wide smile, and my heart skipped a beat. I grabbed my knife and fork, and then I sighed. “Alright, I’ll tell you.”
“Yay,” Joan said, and she wiggled in her seat as she reached for her own cutlery. “What’s up?”
“I had a call from the auction house about the book,” I explained. “But they asked me where I got it from, and I kinda freaked out and hung up.”
“Why?” Joan asked with a frown. “Couldn’t you just say it was a family heirloom?”
“I guess I could,” I said with a shrug. “But I didn’t want to invite more questions, like why did you decide to sell it now, or something like that. Does that make sense?”
“It does.” Joan nodded thoughtfully. “Have you considered other options for selling it?”
“I’ve been thinking about it, but I don’t know where I can sell it and get a good deal. Like, it’s worth millions, so I want millions, you know?”
“Oh, totally.” Joan bobbed her head up and down enthusiastically. “I bet you could get millions for it on the black market.”
I laughed as I poured an insane amount of syrup over my plate. Then I realized Joan wasn’t laughing, so I set down the syrup and regarded her with raised eyebrows.
“Oh, you’re serious.”
“Of course I am,” Joan replied.
“I don’t know anything about the dark web,” I snorted. “I wouldn’t even know how to sell it there.”
“I do,” Joan said in a quiet voice.
“You do?” I asked in shock. “How?”
“Well, I’ve had to do a lot of research on the dark web when I’m working with certain artifacts,” Joan said as her face flushed a light pink. “Some things aren’t exactly legal. But I think I know my way around the dark web pretty well at this point.”
“That’s amazing,” I said in an awed tone.
“Really?” Joan asked, and she perked up a little bit. “You don’t think it’s… I don’t know…weird?”
“Not at all, I think it’s badass,” I insisted. “I don’t even know how to get on the dark web, it’s super cool you know all about it. You really think I could sell the book there?”
“Absolutely!” The pretty brunette grinned from ear to ear. “I might even know some good market sites to go to. It’ll all have to be through Bitcoin, of course, but that won’t be a problem.”
“It won’t?” I cringed. “I hate to admit it, but I don’t even think I really understand what Bitcoin is.”
“Don’t worry, I know all about that, too,” Joan said, and she waved her fork in the air as her smile broadened. “Oh, this is so exciting, I’ve always wanted to start a bidding war on the black market.”
“Will we get started after breakfast?” I asked as the hope that had been slowly slipping through my fingers since Sotheby’s had called was returning at full force.
“Totally,” Joan said with an enthusiastic nod.
“What are we getting started on?” Emily asked in a sleepy voice from the kitchen doorway.
“Hey, babe, come here,” I said as I held an arm out, and the gorgeous blonde woman padded to my side and leaned against me while I gave her a peck on the cheek. “Nothing you have to worry about.”
“Want some pancakes?” Joan asked as she hopped out of her stool. “I made extra.”
“Okay,” Emily said with a smile as she joined us at the kitchen island.
Joan made a plate for Emily, and we enjoyed the rest of our breakfast together. We tried to explain the dark web and cryptocurrencies to Emily, but she still couldn’t really grasp the concept of the internet, so we gave up on that and chatted about books instead.
When we finished our food, we all helped clean up. Then we told Emily we had some work to do on the computer, and she was welcome to join us, but she chose to take one of her many copies of Pride & Prejudice and padded off to my bedroom to read instead.
That left Joan and I alone to do some dark web surfing, so Joan grabbed her laptop, and we settled in on the couch to work.
“Okay, I’m pretty sure I know the best place for us to list the book,” Joan said once the laptop was fired up.
“Cool,” I said, and I tried to mask the fact that I had pretty much no idea what was going on.
The pretty brunette stuck her tongue between her teeth, and I watched as she navigated to the dark web through a series of confusing steps. Eventually, she landed on an all-black page that looked similar to Reddit, and she pumped her fist in the air.
“Yes, I got in,” she said with a wide grin.
“Oh, um, yay,” I said as I returned her smile. I hadn’t realized it was a struggle, but as long as we were in. “What now?”
“You have pictures of the book and stuff, right?” Joan asked as she started clicking around the page. “Can you send them to me?”
We spent the next half-hour or so transferring photos and writing up a sale post. Joan explained the steps as we went, and how the bidders were anonymous, and I was anonymous to them. This relieved some stress, since that was the whole point of this dark web sale. I wanted as few questions as possible.
Joan finally pressed the button that said ‘LIST,’ and the post went from ‘pending’ to ‘active.’
“So, that’s it?” I asked as I squinted at the page. “It’s listed?”
“Yup,” Joan said proudly. “You’ll probably start getting hits pretty--”
The laptop dinged before she could finish her sentence.
“No way, is that a bid?” I asked as I excitedly leaned toward the screen.
“Fuck, yeah, it is, look!” Joan pointed at the corner of the screen, where a notification had popped up.
She clicked on the notification, and it expanded so I could read the whole thing.
One new offer: $450,000
“What the fuck!” I cried out before I cringed and glanced at Joan. “Sorry, got a little excited. Is that for real? Someone just bid almost half a million dollars immediately?”
“It’s real!” Joan grinned.
“People just have that money lying around?” I asked in wonder.
“And more, look.” Joan pointed to the notification bar, where more notifications had appeared.
One new offer: $520,000
One new offer: $640,000
“Oh, my fucking god,” I said as my smile took up my whole face. “This is incredible. Thank you so much.”
I grabbed both sides of Joan’s face and pulled her in for an enthusiastic kiss. Joan melted into me immediately, and my appreciative kiss turned into a full-on make-out session. It only ended when we almost knocked the laptop off the table.
“Oh, look, more offers,” Joan said when she grabbed the laptop to move it away from the edge of the table.
“This is so cool,” I muttered as I spotted at least ten more notifications. “Really, thank you for this. I never would have pulled this off on my own.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Joan said with a wave of her hand, but she wore a proud smile on her pretty face.
Enough time had passed that I was hungry again, so we took a break for some more food. I peeked in on Emily, but the pretty blonde woman had fallen asleep reading on my bed, so I decided not to disturb her. Joan and I polished off our lunch, and then we headed back to the living room to check on our auction again.
Just as we were about to sit down, there was a knock on the door, and I frowned at Joan.
“Are you expecting someone?” I asked.
“No,” Joan said with a confused look on her face. Then her confusion turned to fear, and she turned her wide brown eyes on me. “You don’t think…”
“Your stalker is in jail,” I reminded her as I took a step toward the door. “So, don’t worry about that. But I’ll answer it, you stay here.”
The visitor rapped on the door again, this time harder and more urgent. My frown deepened as I reached for the handle, but when I pulled the door open, my eyebrows shot up my forehead.
Because Marcus was standing on the other side of the door.
“Frankie, my man,” Marcus said with a wide smile. “What’s poppin?”
Chapter 12
“Marcus!” I instinctively glanced around the street behind him. “How did you know where I was?”
“I been following you, homie,” Marcus said, as if that was the most normal thing in the world, and he made a display of looking around the foyer and the decorated front porch. “You been doin good for yourself, this crib is tight.”
“Wait, you followed me?” I asked as my body froze.
If Marcus had been following me all this time, and I hadn’t noticed, I’d feel terrible about leading him right to the women.
“Nah, I asked that Chinese family you used to live with,” Marcus said as his face cracked into a grin. “You left them a forwarding address.”
“Ah, right,” I said as my body relaxed. “They’re Korean, by the way.”
“Whatever. Anyway, this shit real nice.” Marcus whistled, and he reached a hand out to trail it across the ornate door knocker.
He was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and jeans that were too baggy for him. His sneakers looked new and expensive, but I knew those would have conveniently fallen off the back of a truck. I was pretty sure I could see the imprint of a gun tucked into the waistband of his oversized jeans, but really, I’d be more surprised if Marcus didn’t have a gun. Obviously, there was no way it was legal like mine, but Marcus worked in the dangerous world of crime, so that wasn’t a surprise, either.
“What are you doing here, Marcus?” I asked.
Marcus raised his eyebrows, and I stammered out an apology.
“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just surprised to see you here.”
“That’s a’ight, homie, I know you wasn’t expecting me,” Marcus said, and then he clapped his hands together and sucked his teeth. “You still wanting those papers you asked for?”
“Yes…” I answered slowly.
Of course, I still needed all of the documents so Emily could live a full, modern life, but I was still confused about why Marcus was at my doorstep instead of calling or texting like before. I couldn’t afford to be suspicious, though. I really needed those papers, and it wasn’t like I had a lot of other criminal contacts.
“If you ain’t busy, you can come with me now and pick em up,” Marcus said as he arched his neck to try to peer into the townhouse. “Unless you got something else going on in there.”
“Um, yeah, I can do that,” I said as I discreetly inched the door closer to myself to block his path of view. “I just didn’t know I had to come with you, though. I thought you would just pick them up for me.”
“What do I look like, a goddamn bicycle courier, homie?” Marcus sucked his teeth.
“No, sorry, I just… don’t really know how any of this works,” I admitted.
“It’s chill, homie.” Marcus shrugged. “I ain’t worked with these amigos before, and they only want the buyer to collect. I ain’t question them, it’s their rules. So, you want this shit or not?”
“Yes, definitely,” I said with a nod. “Just give me a couple of minutes. Are you driving?”
I looked up and down the street, but there were no cars I didn’t recognize.
“Bruh, I ain’t got no wheels,” Marcus scoffed as he gestured at the townhouse. “I ain’t rich like you.”
“I’m not either, this is a friend’s house,” I explained.
“That little dark-haired mamas I seen you with before?” Marcus asked as his eyes lit up. “She around?”
He craned his neck again to try to get a look into the townhouse, but I pulled the door closer to my body and puffed out my chest so he couldn’t see past me.
“No, she’s at work,” I lied, and I stepped back while I pushed the door almost closed, so I just spoke through the open sliver. “I’ll be right out.”
I shut the door fully and let out a sigh, and then I turned to see Joan watching me curiously. She opened her mouth to speak, but I shushed her gently and crossed the room so I was standing in front of her again.
“Who was that?” Joan asked in a low voice as she eyed the closed door.
“My friend Marcus,” I replied in an equally low voice. “I need to go with him to pick up the passport and stuff for Emily.”
It wasn’t like I was afraid of Marcus or anything, but what I was about to do was pretty illegal, and I didn’t need Joan involved in it any more than she already was. We’d already had a close call with the whole decoy pocket watch debacle, and she even had a whole-ass stalker. I wanted to keep her away from any more dodgy stuff. Plus, I didn’t like how keen Marcus was on her, so the less they interacted, the better for everyone, in my opinion.
“Right now?” Joan asked, and she motioned at the laptop. “But the auction…”
“I know, I’m sorry,” I said, and I gave her a quick peck on the mouth. “I’ll be as quick as I can, don’t accept any bids yet.”
“I won’t,” the pretty researcher said as I broke away and headed for the stairs.
“Good,” I said before I bounded up the stairs and headed for the safe in my bedroom.
I pulled some cash from the envelope, and I slung my concealed hip holster on, along with my revolver, just to be safe. I made sure everything was hidden by my baggy t-shirt, and then I headed down the stairs again.
Marcus had always been cool with me, but the truth was, I didn’t really know him very well. And I didn’t know the guys we were going to meet at all. Marcus was a nice enough guy to talk to, but at the end of the day, he was a criminal, and we were doing some dodgy shit. I figured it was better to be safe than sorry, which was why my revolver was pressed against my hip. My concealed carry license was also tucked safely in my wallet, so at least I was doing something legal during this whole venture.
“How are you getting there?” Joan asked when I made it back down to the living room. “Do you need to take my car?”
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” I said. “You sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course not,” Joan said as she reached into her handbag and tossed me the keys. “I’ll look into the pocket watch more while you’re gone. And I’ll get a Bitcoin account set up for you.”
“Thanks, babe, you’re the best.” I smiled as I caught the keys midair. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“Be safe,” she whisper-screamed as I headed for the front door.
I gave her a quick wave, and then I pulled the front door open to see Marcus bent over and studying a potted plant on the front porch.
“This a yucca plant, right?” Marcus asked as he trailed a curious finger along the waxy green leaf.
“Oh, um, I don’t know,” I said in a surprised tone.
“Bet you didn’t know I was a horticulturist, did you?” Marcus asked with a grin.
“I did not,” I said, and I bounced the keys in my hand. “Maybe I’ll buy you a plant if you come through on these papers.”
“You ain’t think I’m good for it?” Marcus asked as he stuck his chin in the air.
“Of course I do,” I quickly amended before I waved the keys in the air. “Come on, I’ll drive us if you navigate.”
“A’ight,” Marcus said.
“Cool, hang tight, and I’ll get the car.”
I left Marcus on the porch as I pulled Joan’s Corolla out of the garage. Then I slid it up to the curb and waited as Marcus slowly ambled across the front yard to the car.
“What’s with the car, dawg?” Marcus asked as he plopped down in the passenger seat. “You wasn’t lying, you ain’t rich if this your ride.”
“Not mine, still my friend’s,” I said with a polite smile.
“Shorty got that nice-ass house but this punk-ass car?” Marcus laughed. “Bitch’s got their priorities out of whack.”
“Ha, totally,” I said as I pulled away from the curb. “So, where are we going?”
Marcus was doing me a solid with this paperwork, so I figured it was in my best interest to just agree with him. Of course, I knew Joan kept her shitty car because she didn’t like to flash her extensive generational wealth when she went to work or went out with colleagues. But the last thing I wanted to tell Marcus was the hot girl I was with the other day was also secretly loaded, so I kept that information to myself.
