"No pool."

"Good. Steel, concrete, all of that is no problem. Just stay inside with it and it should work perfect."

Paltz started working the buttons on the receiver/recorder. He turned it on and the screen came up full of static snow. He tapped a red button on the right side of the mini-keyboard.

"That's your record there. You can record everything or just watch it. You can quarter the screen and watch up to four cameras at once."

He hit a series of buttons and the screen split twice. It was still four views of snow.

"We won't get a picture because we don't have the cameras connected. But I've got your four camera freeks already loaded on here and it's good to go."

"Okay. It's a great kit, Jersey. You got anything else to show me? I gotta go."

"That's it. Now if you pay me what we agreed on, you can get out of here and I can go back to my chili – though it's gotta be cold by now."

Cassie pulled her backpack around to her lap.

"You working this one alone, Cassie?"

"Yup," she answered without thinking.

She pulled open the flap just as Paltz closed the suitcase and raised his other arm, revealing that he was holding a pistol pointed at Cassie's chest.

"What are you doing?"

"Stupid, girl," he said.

Cassie started to stand but he raised the weapon and nodded her back down with it.

"Look, man, I'm going to pay you. I have it right here. What's the matter with you?"

Paltz switched the gun to his other hand and lowered the suitcase to the floor of the van. He then reached out for the backpack.

"I'll take that."

He roughly grabbed the backpack out of her hands.

" Jersey, we had a deal. We – "

"Just shut the fuck up."

Cassie tried to remain calm while she waited for him to go for the money. Without flinching a muscle she took all the weight off her left foot and raised it slightly off the ground. Paltz was sitting directly across from her, his knees a foot apart. She spoke in a calm, measured tone.

" Jersey, what are you doing? Why put the kit together if you were just going to rip me off?"

"I had to make sure you were working this alone. Make sure you didn't go and get a replacement for Max."

Now Cassie began to feel the rage blooming inside her. This guy had played her. All along he had seen her as a victim. Someone he could rip off if she was alone.

"And you know what?" Paltz said, almost giddy now that he had the bag with the money. "Now that I think of it, maybe I oughta grab me a blow job for good measure. Get some of that stuff Max was keepin' to himself. I bet five years in stir, you could prob'ly use some practice sucking cock."

He grinned.

"You're makin' a mistake, Jersey. I'm here alone but I'm working for people. You think I just blew into town and picked a target at random? You jack me and you jack them. They won't like that. So why don't we just make the deal. You take the money, I take the kit. I forget about that gun and what you just did. And what you just said."

"Bullshit."

Keeping his eyes on Cassie, Paltz began reaching into the backpack for the money. Immediately there was an electronic snapping sound and Paltz let out a yelp. His hand recoiled from the bag and in the same instant Cassie's left leg shot out and she drove her thick-soled Doc Marten shoe into his crotch. Paltz doubled over with a loud grunt and pulled the trigger on the pistol.

The gun fired and the sound was deafening in her ear. Cassie felt a slight tug on her wig as the bullet tore through her false tresses. She felt the sting of burning gunpowder and discharge gases singe her neck and cheek. She leapt onto Paltz and grabbed the gun with both hands. She turned her body into his until she was almost sitting on his lap. She yanked his gun hand up to her face and bit down viciously on the top of his hand. It wasn't fear that charged her actions. It was rage.

Paltz screamed and let go of the gun. Cassie grabbed it and spun away from him. She pointed the gun – which she quickly looked down at now and determined was a 9 mm Glock – at Paltz's face from two feet away.

"You stupid piece of shit!" she yelled. "You want to die? You want to fucking die here in this van?"

Paltz was gasping for air and waiting for his testicles to recover. Cassie brought a hand up to her face and ran it along her skin looking for blood. She was sure the shot had missed but had always heard that sometimes you didn't even know it when you'd been clipped.

She took her hand away and looked at it. No blood. She cursed loudly anyway. Paltz's ill-conceived decision to try to jack her complicated everything. She tried to think clearly but her ear was ringing and her neck was tingling with the surface burn.

"Lie down on the floor!" she commanded. "Get down! Fucking rapist! I oughta shove this gun up your ass!"

"I'm sorry," Paltz whined. "I was scared. I – "

"Bullshit! Just get on the floor. Face down. Now!"

Paltz slowly got down to his knees and then onto the floor.

"What are you going to do?" he whimpered.

Cassie stood over him, a foot on either side of his body, leaned down and pressed the muzzle of the gun into the back of his head. She palmed the cock back and the sound of it snapping back made Paltz's shoulders shudder.

"Hey, Jersey, what do you think, you want me to suck your cock now? You think you could get it up for me?"

"Oh, God…"

Cassie looked around the van and at the buckets of equipment and tools. She grabbed a plastic snap cuff used for bunching cables out of one of the buckets and told Paltz to put his hands behind his back. He did as ordered and Cassie noticed that one of the terminals from the stun gun had left a burn mark in the top of his hand. She wrapped the plastic strip around his wrists and through the lock, pulling it tight, to the point it was cutting into his skin. She then put the gun down on the floor of the van and grabbed more cuffs to bind Paltz's legs and ankles.

"I hope you had enough chili, asshole. It's going to be a while before seconds."

"I have to take a piss, Cassie. I drank two beers waitin' for you."

"I'm not stopping you."

"Oh, man, Cassie, please don't do this."

Cassie grabbed a rag out of one of the buckets and abruptly dropped her knees onto his back and leaned over close to his ear.

"Keep in mind that it was you who made the play, asshole. Now I'm going to ask you a question and you better give me a straight answer because it could mean your life. You understand?"

"Yes."

"When I open this door, is there going to be somebody out there waiting for me? Like one of your buddies you brought in on the jack?"

"No, nobody."

She picked up the gun and pushed the muzzle hard against his cheek.

"You better be straight. I open the door and see anybody, I'm going to empty this into your fucking head."

"There's nobody. It was just me."

"Then open wide."

"Wha – "

She shoved the rag into his open mouth, cutting him off. She looped two snap cuffs together and wrapped them around his head and across his open mouth, holding the gag in place. Paltz's eyes grew wide as she tightened the cuffs.

"Through your nose, Jersey. Breathe through your nose and you'll be okay."

Cassie unhooked the van's keys from the belt loop on his pants. She then got off him and went to her backpack, removing and unfolding a black gym bag. She started transferring the camera equipment from Paltz's suitcase to the bag.

"Okay, this is the deal," she said. "We're taking your van and I'm gonna go do this thing."

Paltz tried to protest but his words were mumbles into the gag.

"Good, I'm glad you agree, Jersey."

Once she had everything transferred, she hooked the backpack over one shoulder and moved to the sliding door. She reached up and turned the van's overhead light off and then opened the door with one hand while holding the gun ready with the other.