Jason Pinter - The Darkness

“Two of you,” he said, looking at Theo. “Is he like your bodyguard?”

Theo simply replied, “One eight ball. That right?”

The man nodded his head vigorously and reached out his hand.

Theo placed his briefcase on a small wooden coffee table, stained with circular rings and other substances that couldn’t even be guessed. Theo undid the lock and rummaged through the case, eventually coming up with a small plastic pouch containing white powder. Marked on the outside were the numbers 1/8, for an eighth of an ounce.

The man’s eyes went wide.

“That’s a hundred and fifty,” Theo said.

The man reached into his pockets (it didn’t occur to

Morgan that they made pajama bottoms that had pockets) and pulled out seven crumpled twenties and two fives. He handed them over to Theo like he was getting rid of toxic material. He put out his hand eagerly and Theo dropped the pouch into it.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Theo said.

“Hey, man, one sec,” the guy said, his eyes rimmed with red. “I heard about this new drug, dark something.”

“Darkness,” Theo said.

“Yeah. Supposedly it’ll mess you up right. You ever tried it?”

Morgan shook his head. Theo said, “No.”

The guy stammered, almost embarrassed. “You wouldn’t happen to have any, would you?”

“Matter of fact,” Theo said, “we do. How much do you want?”

“I’m not sure,” the guy said. “How much is enough for a few good hits? I don’t want to love the stuff and have to call you right back.”

“Three rocks,” Theo said. “We have an introductory offer, and it’s enough for a few hits.”

“And how much is this introductory offer?”

“Three rocks? That’ll run you fifty bucks for the first purchase. Call it a beginner’s discount. After that it’s twenty-five a pop.”

“S’not bad,” the guy said. “Can I try the intro offer?”

“Let me see the money.”

“Yeah, money, hold on one sec.”

The guy walked out of the living room and into a side room. Morgan heard him rummaging around and cursing.

Then he came out with five neatly folded tens.

“My old lady’ll kill me if she knows I used this. Supposed to be for emergencies and stuff. Ever since we both lost our jobs, money’s hard to come by.”

“Don’t I know it,” Morgan said. Theo shot him a look.

“Fifty for three,” Theo said. He took another small plastic pouch from the briefcase, containing three small black rocks.

“How do you…do it?” the guy asked.

“Two ways, either a pipe-same way you’d smoke weed-or you can crush it up, cook it and inhale like that.

They’re both pretty potent.”

“Gotcha.” He handed Theo the bills, and Theo dropped the pouch on top of the cocaine.

“That it?”

“That’s it until my unemployment check comes at the end of the week. Thanks, fellas.”

Theo didn’t say a word. Morgan followed him out the door. When the elevator door had closed behind them,

Morgan said, “That was impressive. Not sure if I would have remembered all of that.”

“For your sake I hope you do. I’m not gonna be doing all the talking at every stop.”

The elevator began to go down, but then there was a screeching noise and the car ground to a halt. Morgan looked up at the display. The light had stopped between the second and third floors. They were stuck.

“Just perfect,” Morgan said.

“No,” Theo said softly, an undercurrent of anger in his voice. “No! Goddammit, come on!”

“Hey, man, take it easy. I’m sure we’ll get going in no time.”

Theo kicked the elevator door hard, leaving a small dent in the metal. “Let’s move this crate!” He jammed his thumb against the emergency button. When he released it, he jammed it in again.

“I think they heard us,” Morgan said.

“Are you kidding? Roach motel like this, I bet the super doesn’t even live on the premises. We could be stuck here all day.”

Morgan looked at the roof of the car, hoping there might be some easily opened hatch where they could boost each other out onto the roof, then find a ladder or escape hatch that would lead them to freedom. Sadly, Morgan realized, those kind of things only existed in Die Hard films, and the roof of this car was one solid piece of metal.

“Okay,” he said. “Maybe we can pry the doors open.”

Theo kicked the door again, widening his boot imprint.

“I don’t think that’s helping.”

“Listen, asshole,” Theo said. “Every second we’re stuck in here, there are other folks selling product. And when they come back at the end of the day with higher receipts than us, you tell me then to calm down. I’m not in this to lose, Morgan.”

Morgan stood there, nodded, figuring anything he said would only enrage Theo more.

Five minutes went by. Ten. Theo stopped kicking.

He tried his cell phone, but they didn’t get reception in the elevator.

Theo was shaking. His hands were trembling, knees knocking against one another. A sheen of moisture appeared on the young man’s lip, and he licked it away, his eyes darting around the car looking for some way out.

“Theo, you okay?”

“Shut up, I’m trying to figure out how we can get out of here.”

“I don’t think…”

“I said shut the hell up.”

Morgan moved into the corner of the elevator, looked at his watch and hoped for a miracle.

Finally, after fifteen minutes, Morgan felt a jolt and the elevator began to move.

“Oh, thank God,” Theo said.

Morgan held his breath until they reached the first floor, then as soon as the doors opened the pair bolted into the lobby before the elevator could change its mind.

“Holy crap, man,” Theo said. His hands were shaking, and his brow was covered with sweat. “I was worried we’d be stuck in there until the cleaning crew came by or the thing just detached from its cables.”

“Well, we’re out now,” Morgan said. “We can get back to business.”

“Next stop,” Theo said, still breathing heavy, “you handle all the talking.”

“No problem. I’m a fast learner.”

“You might be a fast learner, but I’ve already learned.”

Theo looked at Morgan with a cocky smile, letting him know that they weren’t just partners, but competitors.

Theo wanted to move up the ranks just as much as

Morgan did, and the longer it took Morgan to catch up the farther ahead Theo would pull. His reaction inside the elevator only proved it. Theo didn’t want to waste a single second not making money.

They exited the building into the early sunlight,

Morgan squinting as he took out the cell phone to wait for the location of their next customer.

“That went easy,” Theo said.

“Yeah. Hope they’re all like that.”

“I’m sure some of these freaks will be a little more strung out than our man up there but just remember that all they want in the end is the stuff. They don’t want to haggle and they don’t want a lot of fuss. Some of these guys might have coke muscles, but if in the end they think you’re going to hold out on them, they’ll bend faster than an elbow.”

“I hear you.”

“So what’s the next stop?” Theo asked.

Morgan looked at his cell phone, reception returning after the elevator fiasco. He had one new text message.

Morgan pressed Retrieve Messages, and an address appeared on the screen.

“That can’t be right,” Morgan said.

“What? Where is it?”

Morgan checked the time and date it was sent. The time stamp was dated just minutes ago, while they were stuck in the elevator.

“Hold on, I need to confirm this.”

Morgan went to the address book and dialed the number marked Home. A strange, deep, robotic voice answered. It was clearly being masked by some sort of voice-altering technology.