"The darn sunlight coming in the window was right on my face," Scroat explained.
"I see." Hep said. He poked Charlie and Dave awake. Jim drifted in to the room.
"There's a guy about a block away sitting in a Corvette. He's been there all night, but he hasn't moved once," Jim said.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Hep asked.
"Well, he's not doing anything, except I see a cigarette burning now and then, and hear him coughing." Jim said.
"All right," Hep said. "Well, I guess we'll just leave, and keep an eye on our asses."
They packed up their gear, and split. It was good that they left when they did, because the employee responsible for opening the attraction arrived about five minutes after they rolled out of the parking lot.
Frank followed at a distance as they rode north. He liked the Corvette a lot better than the Lincoln. It was black, fast, and felt purposeful as he drove it.
About an hour later, they arrived in Denver. They found a restaurant called Breakfast King that looked pretty promising since it was both open, and had "breakfast" in the name. They went inside.
Not too long after they got a table, Scroat saw a black Corvette pull into the parking lot.
"There's our man," Scroat said.
"Let's see what he does," Charlie said.
Frank didn't do much, except crack the window and light a cigarette. He thought that TV detectives should definitely drive Corvettes more often.
Hep, Scroat, Charlie and Dave ordered breakfast. Jim went and hung out by the Corvette, invisible, to see what he was up to. Jim overheard him calling someone on his cell phone.
"Yeah, they stopped for breakfast in Denver," is what he heard Frank say. Jim hustled in to the restaurant, and whispered to Hep that the guy in the parking lot was calling someone and telling who ever it was where they currently were.
"I see," Hep said. He thought for a moment, then kept eating. They paid their bill and left.
"I'm going to walk the long way around the lot, and have a little chat with our friend," Hep said. "You guys go back to the bikes and I'll be over in a minute."
He started walking. The rest went over to the bikes. Frank couldn't see Hep, so he kept an eye on Scroat, Charlie and Dave. He was extremely surprised when Hep pulled open his door and dragged him out of the car. Frank's first thought was "Maybe I should have kept my seatbelt on."
Hep lifted Frank and pulled him up to his face. "Who are you and what do you want, chum?" Hep asked in his most menacing voice.
"Um, I'm Frank," Frank said.
"What do you want Frank? We've seen you following us. Why?" Hep asked.
"A lady hired me to keep an eye on you," Frank said.
Hep shook Frank once, hard, and asked "What lady?"
"I... I don't know her real name. She just called herself Aphrodite," Frank said. He knew he probably should be giving so much information away, but Hep was huge, ugly and seemed really, really pissed off.
Hep set Frank down. "Why would Aphrodite want to keep an eye on me?" he asked.
"I don't know, she just told me to call her anytime anything weird happened to you guys." Frank said.
"I see. Frank, I don't know why I feel this way, but I think for the time being I'm going to trust you," Hep said. Frank relaxed the tiniest bit. "You can stay behind us, but keep out of the way. I guarantee you don't want to get mixed up in what we're involved in."
"Uh, Um, ok." Frank said. Hep was already walking towards the bikes.
***
Tommy had also just finished breakfast, and was walking to his car when a seafoam green Ford Econoline with "Lammy Lenny's Scooter Repair" painted on the side screeched up behind him. Three guys in red shirts jumped out of the back, grabbed Tommy and dragged him into the back of the van. Tommy, naturally struggled violently against them, and after a couple moments one of the scooterist hit Tommy on the back of the head with a 1/2 inch drive socket wrench. Tommy went limp, and they quickly tied him up with zip ties and duct tape.***
"Where the hell do you think they went from here?" Too Tall asked Athena."I don't know, we should find a pay phone. I know someone that might know where they're at," she said.
"Who's that?" Too Tall asked.
"Elvis," Athena said.
"I beg your pardon?" Too Tall asked, incredulous.
"You heard me. Elvis should know where they are," Athena told him.
The left the campground, and started riding towards New Mexico. Soon enough they found a gas station and Athena went to use the pay phone.
"Who's she calling?" Brian asked Too Tall.
"Elvis," Too Tall said.
"Elvis?" Brain asked.
"I guess," Too Tall replied.
"The Elvis?" Brian asked.
"So it would seem," Too Tall said.
"Do you think she could introduce me to him?" Brian asked.
"I think we have more important things to worry about than meeting dead rock stars," Too Tall said.
"What ever. No need to be a dick about it." Brian said, and walked by to his own bike.
Athena came back from the phone. "Our favorite guys are in Denver right now," she said.
"Sweet!" Too Tall said. "We'll be able to grab the rest of the UTMC crew while we're there."
Athena didn't tell them that Elvis had also told her that Tommy had been kidnapped. Elvis wasn't able to confirm that, it was just something he'd heard. No need to freak everyone out over a rumor. Athena was pretty concerned about Tommy though. It would be awfully hard to for Hep to give back the tobacco pouch if they couldn't get to Tommy.
"Let's go," she said. They all mounted up again, and rode north.
Entirely by coincidence, they stopped at the Double Eagle restaurant for lunch. As they ate, Armando commented to Inez that they were certainly getting a lot of motorcyclists in the restaurant lately.
***
Hep went to find a pay phone. He called Elvis."Hey man, what's the good word?" Hep asked him.
"Hey Hep, I've got some good news, and some bad news," Elvis said.
"Ok, well, start laying it on me," Hep said.
"Well, first off, the UTMC crew and those two lovely ladies have gotten their bikes back and are rushing to meet you guys in Denver. They're somewhere in southern New Mexico right now," Elvis said.
"So that must be the good news," Hep said.
"Yep. The other news is that Tommy has been kidnapped." Elvis said.
"What?" Hep exclaimed. "Kidnapped? Where? By who?"
"He was in Denver, last I heard. One of those red-shirted bastards was overheard bragging about it."
"Fuck," Hep said.
"Yeah," Elvis replied.
"I guess we've got some work to do then," Hep said. "Talk to you later, Elvis."
"I hope so," Elvis said.
Hep went back to where Scroat, Charlie, Dave and Jim were waiting.
"Tommy has been kidnapped," he said.
"Oh my fuck!" Scroat said. "That's bad news."
"Thanks for stating the obvious," Charlie said.
"Fuck you, Chuck," Scroat responded.
"The good news is that the UTMC crew got their bikes back somehow and are on their way to Denver right now. They should be here late tonight." Hep said.
"So what should we do?" Charlie asked.
"Well, I think we should leave Dave here to wait for the UTMC crew, and then head over to your house to gather some weaponry. And then, we're going to go kick some motherfucking asses." Hep said.
They left Dave at a coffee shop the UTMC crew were known to lurk at, and headed towards Aspen.
Frank followed behind them at a respectable distance.
A few hours later, they pulled into Charlie's driveway. He opened his garage door and there, with a bow on the tank, sat his Ducati.
"Fucking sweet!" Charlie yelled. He went over to the bike and looked it over. "It looks better than it did when it got stolen. No damage at all."
Hep smiled, and said "Great, now you won't have to ride in my side car. That oughta leave plenty of room for weaponry."
They heard a Corvette idling at the end of the driveway.
"Hey Jim, go get him and tell him to come down here." Hep said.
Jim drifted up the driveway and to the Corvette. He slipped through the door and sat in the passenger seat, then materialized next to Frank.
"Hey buddy, Hep says you should come down to the house," Jim said.
"Holy balls!" Frank yelled. He was so startled by Jim's appearance that he forgot he was holding the clutch down. He let go of it, but kept his other foot on the brake, and killed the car. It lurched forward just a tiny bit before it stalled, and Frank bounced his head off the steering wheel.
"Calm down, ya pansy," Jim said. "Haven't you ever seen a ghost before?"
"Uh, no. I can't say that I have," Frank said.
"Well, whatever. Hep wants you to go down to the house." Jim said.
Frank started the car again, and drove down the driveway. Hep, Scroat and Charlie were waiting for him there. He got out of the car.
"Hope Jim didn't scare you too bad," Hep said. Frank smiled weakly in response.
Hep continued, "It seems that the time has come for swift and violent action, and we're going to need your car to carry a whole bunch of weapons for us."
Frank stared at him.
"I know, it's pretty exciting. I'm sure you haven't gotten to play with guns much, but you're going to need to contain your enthusiasm a little bit and help us out." Hep said. "Let's go inside and start picking the implements most likely to cause our foes to befoul their undergarments."
Hep, Charlie and Scroat started walking into Charlie's house. Frank, shaking his head in disbelief, followed them. He was even more shocked when he got inside Charlie's house and realized that Charlie's home was more armory than humble dwelling.
