Following a lengthy conversation about the immaturity of Shawn, Julie convinced Amanda into staying and talked her into sitting in Julie’s car. Amanda sat in the passenger seat while Julie was in the driver’s seat of her BMW. With the two parked down the block from the bar, Amanda had her spot leaned back, feet kicked up on the dash. Julie looked at her and cleared her throat.

“Sorry,” Amanda said and placed her feet on the floorboard.

Julie’s upper-middle-class upbringing is in contrast to Amanda, who lived from motel to motel and several times lived on the streets. The differences didn’t end there, where Julie’s copper skin couldn’t match Amanda’s corpse-like pigment.

Julie requested for her to calm down and have a smoke following Amanda’s tirade of curse words. On the surface, Amanda looked calm since the two were finishing a cigarette, but underneath she was boiling

“You need to relax, ok, Amanda?”

“You know what would help?”

“Oh, come on, not again.”

“It’s the only thing that relaxes me, Jules.”

“Here we go,” Julie cleared her throat. “Welcome back,” she spoke in her best interpretation of Bob Eubanks’ game show host voice. “Our next model is German, has island-green eyes, and is a five-speed.” Julie continued, “She has dark leather skin, a CD player, and comes standard with Traction Control System. Who is she?”

“Your car!” the brunettes giggled.

“We are so corny,” Julie admitted.

“Yes, we are.”

“So, what’s next?” Julie asked.

“If I knew we wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“Then let's go for a ride,” Julie suggested.

“Sure,” she said.

The two-headed to Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery on Washington Boulevard, a place where the two girls always had an in-depth discussion about whatever was topic. It’s generally a quiet place for them to sit and talk despite how much the concrete path splintered throughout and weeds between each crack. The grass hadn’t been fertilized in the spring, making the lawn looked as pale as Astroturf, even yellow in some spots. On occasions, broken tombstones make it impossible to determine who's laid to rest. No matter how rundown the place could get, the two would know the path like the back of their hand.

Julie parked her car and grabbed her .22 from the glove box, where Amanda smiled. “What?” Julie asked.

“You still carry after dark?” Amanda asked as she dug through her handbag.

“Don’t you?” Julie asked.

“I use a can of mace,” she said and waved her defense weapon.

Julie popped the trunk and shuttered as the mid-60’s New Year’s temperature appeared to give her a chill. Amanda offered her parka, and her friend graciously accepted. The two grabbed a mag-light, a blanket, and two pillows. Julie slid the .22 inside a pillowcase, and then they snuck inside the 60-acre cemetery and followed the walkway between palm trees. Amanda was the first to spot their familiar landmark of the pyramid crypt of George Shatto. The two turned from the concrete path and proceeded on the grass.

Around a dozen yards from the Shatto’s permanent resting place, was another palm tree. The girls spread the blanket beside the tree and sat beside each other.

“So, what’s on your mind?” Julie asked

“Words,” Amanda said.

“Just words?” she smiled. “Any complete thoughts?”

“Just words.” The two laughed for a moment.

“You know that’s the very question I’ve been asking myself since we met,” Julie said. “What’s goes on in your mind?”

“The night Mark brought you to the clubhouse?” Amanda asked. “Shawn and I only talked using sign language, right?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah, that’s the night,” Julie said. “I kinda thought you guys were a cult. Boy, was I wrong.”

“Maybe we are,” Amanda said.

“Why were you doing sign language?”

“We were the fresh meat, so Mark put us through the wringer,” Amanda said. “You know typical cult shit.”

“Why isn’t my training that rough?” Julie recalled nothing odd about her early weeks with the group one year prior.

“Nepotism,” Amanda said. “But Jules, I don’t hold that against you. You’re Julie, how could anyone not like you?”

“OK,” Julie said. “You can stop with the compliments; I’ve heard them enough as a kid.”

“Yeah?” Amanda asked.

“Rich parents adopt a foreign kid just to get attention and compliments from their peers.”

“Damn Jules,” Amanda said. “That was as cold as…cold as me.”

“I swear I’m thankful for it, just sometimes.”

“I know,” Amanda said.

“Anyway, enough about me,” Julie pulled them back on point. “What’s really on that restless mind of yours?” Julie asked.

“I’m thinking of fixing things the way they were,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Julie asked.

“I remember a year ago, the six of us were happy together,” Amanda smiled while the positive memories flood through. Thinking of them as a weird version of Brady Bunch. “Now, half of us are in our little world, not thinking of the team as a whole. And it’s all because of me.”

“Amanda, I don’t think you’re responsible for anything happening with the crew.” Julie always passionate, caring, and understanding; all admirable traits for a friend, but some could be tricky for a doctor. Too much love for a patient would prevent her from being detached.

“No, if you look at everything from Morgan’s perspective, you will see I’m the catalyst of everything going wrong,” Amanda said.

“You’re just emotional about you and Shawn. You don’t mean any of what you’re saying,” Julie said.

“Let me explain it to you, Julie,” she said, and Julie, being Julie, waited. “Last summer, I ruined everything. I started hanging out with Lance. And then I got hooked on…heroin.” She tightened her jaw. She’d said it—that word.

“Is Lance snitching to the feds?” Julie asked.

“I don’t know, maybe,” Amanda guessed.

“Morgan told us to stay away from him.”

“I know, but when you’re high, you throw logic out the window,” Amanda glimpsed at the moss growing on Shatto’s tomb.

“You were a wreck,” Julie said.

“I know,” Amanda recollected. “Well, with me hanging out with Lance, maybe Mark and Morgan suspected I traded our secrets for drugs.”

“You’d never—”

“Exactly, but maybe they thought I would do anything to get high,” Amanda said. “You know kinda like my mom did.”

“You’re not like her,” Julie added.

“I know, and I never will be,” Amanda said. “We used to work on elaborate heist; now we do gigs robbing skinheads.”

“Curt looks so cute without his hair,” Julie smiled.

“I can’t believe he got rid of his Axle Rose hair.”

“I swear, I almost saw tears in his eyes when we shaved it,” Julie said. “We wish you could have been there on the heist.”

“Me too,” Amanda said. “I missed so much from you guys.”

“Please, continue,” Julie focused.

“I think Mark and Morgan began doing gigs under the radar when I stopped showing up to class in September. I know in October things were a bit insane for you guys.”

“You no-showed, Amanda,” Julie said. “What’d you think was gonna happen?”

“When you guys found me, I thought Mark was gonna kill me,” Amanda admitted.

“Really?”

“I’m sorry, but he’s that kind of person,” Amanda continued. “He sees the group as something higher than what we are. I don’t think he ever wants it taken away.”

“Mark won’t kill a friend.”

“Yes, he will,” Amanda said. “Mark’s vision is thirty of us doing four and five gigs at once. He’d be taking in a huge income without setting foot in the field. Good thing the boss sees things differently.”

“How do you think Morgan sees it?” Julie asked.

“I think he sees us as the experiment.”

“What?” a perplexed Julie asked.

“Jules, I have been a part of this for about three years.”

“Three and a half,” Julie added.

“Ok, three and a half,” Amanda said. “Let’s go over the timeline. I came here to recruit Shawn, and a bit over a year ago, we recruited you. However, shortly before me, Dean was recruited.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured that,” Julie said. “Where are you going with this?”

“I’m getting there,” Amanda said. “You came in a year ago because of your relationship with Mark.”

“Nepotism at its finest,” Julie smiled.

“You two do have good…chemistry,” Amanda grinned and went back to business. “Despite the four of us being the same age, you’re the baby with the least experience. Am I right?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah. That leaves Mark and Curt,” Julie said.

“They’re older and don’t talk about how they started,” Amanda said. “Has Mark said anything to you about it?”

“Not once.”

“Well, since you, we’ve added nobody,” Amanda said. “After a year, don’t you think it’s a little odd why we haven’t recruited anyone?”

“A little,” Julie whispered. “Morgan’s swimming in money, adding someone else cuts into his profit.”

“True, plus he’s stingy with his money,” Amanda said.

“I never saw him as a Tommy Hilfiger guy,” Julie smiled.

“But there is the elephant in the room,” Amanda let out.

“Elephants are too cliched,” Julie said.

“Fine, there’s a shark in the room,” Amanda said. “And that shark is me,” her response confused Julie, so she carefully explained. “I’m an addict, I’ve been to rehab twice, so the chance of me no-showing or relapsing is probable. It makes me ask: why hasn’t Morgan replaced me?”

“Loyalty, perhaps,” Julie suggested.

“Thanks for the compliment, but I doubt it. Maybe the boss is testing Mark’s patience?”

“Kinda a long-term goal, don’t you think?” Julie asked.

“That’s why I think we are the experiment. We’re the testing material of some project Morgan created some time ago,” Amanda continued. “I just can’t pinpoint when all this started.” She glanced back at Julie.

“You said you wanted things back the way they were,” Julie’s forehead scrunched in with worry. “What do you mean by that?”

“I want out.”

“You want out?” Julie asked as Amanda read her face repeatedly, saying no.

“I want out.”

“Listen, of the four of us; you’re the one with vision,” Julie said. “I need you, Shawn needs you. What will we do without you?”

“I’m on suspension until the start of February,” Amanda said. “I figure tonight should be my going-away party instead of Shawn’s birthday party.”

“What about you and Shawn?” Julie asked.

“I love Shawn.” She hesitated, letting history soak in. “But we’re over.” She watched Julie’s eyes roll back and forth as she quickly processed everything.

“Wait, Mark thinks you’re snitching to Lance, who could be snitching to the feds,” Julie leaned forward. “It wouldn’t be a stretch for him, believing that you're talking to the feds if you leave.”

“Crap.” Amanda put her head atop Julie’s lap.

“Yeah, crap is right.”

The two heard a rustling behind Shatto’s tomb. Amanda sat up as Julie reached for her .22 in her pillowcase. The addict grabbed the mag-light and shined it at the grave. An adult bark startled the girls. A dog began to walk away from them and the tomb.

“Is that a dog?” Julie asked.

“Its fur looks funny,” Amanda said. “It might be a coyote.”

Right as Amanda said coyote, Julie pulled the trigger. The .22 sounded like a cannon in the silence around them, scaring away the dog.

“God, Julie!” Amanda said as she covered her ears.

“Sorry,” she giggled.

“Let's get out of here,” Amanda’s recommendation was spot on, so the girls grabbed everything and ran from the cemetery. They moved to the car and tossed their supplies in the back seat and peeled out.

“Where to?” Julie asked.

“I left some supplies in the ceiling tiles at the school of engineering.”

“Why would you leave something there?” Julie asked.

“What are the odds one of those rocket scientists look in the ceiling?” Amanda said.

“Good point,” Julie said. “Is that off Downey Way?”

“Yeah, you can drop me off. I’ll ride a bus back home.”

“Are you sure?” Julie asked.

“Yeah, I’ll take care of myself,” again, Amanda showed off her can of mace.

“Ok, after that, I’ll talk to Shawn about you guys,” Julie said.

“Don’t bother,” Amanda said. “Shawn and I are through.”

A few minutes later, the two reached the school of engineering on Downey Way. Amanda grabbed her belongings and opened the door.

“Call me if you ever want to talk,” Julie added.

“Ok,” Amanda said. She walked out of the car and shut the door.

Julie rolled down the electric passenger window and said, “Who dares, wins.”

Amanda stopped and turned around. “What?”

“It means: nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Julie said. “You know, if you put the effort in, you’ll get the result you set out. It’s something Morgan told me. He said it was the motto of the British Special Air Service.”

Amanda thought of the phrase for a moment. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Julie said then drove off.