Dave Zeltserman - Outsourced

“That’s right. Gordon’s on board also.” Dan cut a slice of lime, sucked it, and then swallowed down the shot, feeling the warmth explode in his stomach. He poured himself another one. “We do have a change in plan. Joel insisted that a friend of his be included.”

“You must be joking.”

“Sorry, man, I had no choice. This guy is going to be getting us untraceable guns. If I didn’t agree, Joel was out. Which meant the robbery was out.”

“Do you know this person?”

“I met him once years ago. Kind of a shifty individual.”

“I don’t like this.”

“I don’t either, but Joel insisted on it, both for the guns and that he have someone backing him up that he can trust. I can’t blame him.”

“No. This is unacceptable. We could have gotten guns elsewhere. We can’t be adding people that we don’t know. There is too much at stake.”

“I don’t like this either, but this is where we’re at. Look, we’ll all meet tomorrow to go over the plan. You’ll get a chance to meet Joel, we’ll both get a chance to meet his friend. If either of us feel uncomfortable we’ll call it quits.”

Shrini made a face as if he had swallowed something bitter. “This is just not right, dude.”

“I hear you, I really do. But what harm can it do just meeting tomorrow, see how we feel?”

“Okay, we’ll meet. But this truly pisses me off…” Shrini seemed to lose his train of thought as he stared at his friend. “Dude,” he said, grinning sourly. “You’ve got a shiner. What happened, someone punch you out?”

“One of your many girlfriends. She asked if I’d take a message for you and this is what she gave me.”

“Very funny. So what happened?”

“Nothing worth talking about. I’ll pick you up tomorrow a little before ten, then we’ll swing over, pick Gordon up and drive up to New Hampshire.”

“We’re meeting in New Hampshire? Where, at your friend Joel’s house?”

“Yeah, his place is secluded, as good a place as any for us to meet. You okay with that?”

“I guess so.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“What’s the hurry? We still have over three quarters of a bottle left.”

“Sorry, buddy, I’ve some things I need to do, you know, to prepare for next week.”

“I wouldn’t waste my time if I were you. I’m seriously thinking of backing out. Believe me, I’m not happy with your friend trying to take over.”

“Shrini, again, I don’t blame you. But just think it over. Ten minutes, that’s all it’s going to take us. We’ll be in and out of that bank so damn fast. Joel bringing his friend along isn’t going to change that.”

“But we don’t know him. We don’t know if he’ll talk afterwards.”

“You’re right. We don’t know him. But Joel does. And he’s not going to do anything that could fuck himself.”

Dan took another shot of tequila, felt it burn down his throat, then clapped Shrini on the back before leaving. Walking to his car he felt exhausted, bone-weary. He sat behind the wheel and closed his eyes for a few seconds’ rest. When he opened them again it was dark outside and he felt like he had swallowed a handful of sawdust. He had to sit for a minute before his eyes could adjust to the night. According to the clock in his car it was nine twenty-three.

He expected hell from Carol when he arrived home. Or maybe a freezer burn. Instead, he was surprised to see concern in her eyes as she met him at the door. Even more surprising, she showed him a weak smile.

“I was worried about you,” she told him as she took hold of his hand.

“This is embarrassing,” he said. “I stopped off to see Shrini and when I got back to my car I fell asleep. Just plain crashed. I didn’t wake up until ten minutes ago.”

She put her palm up against his forehead, trying to feel if he had a fever. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I think so. I haven’t been sleeping well the last couple of months. I guess it all finally caught up with me.” He let out a short laugh. “I’m surprised no one in Shrini’s complex called the police on me. I was out of it for a good seven hours.”

“I have some good news,” Carol said. “You got a call for a possible job.”

Dan’s voice cracked when he tried asking who had called. He cleared his throat and tried again, this time getting his words out.

“I have his name written down. He’s going to try calling tomorrow morning at eight. Why don’t I make you something for dinner? How about some scrambled eggs with ham?”

“Sure.” Dan followed Carol into the kitchen and took a seat at the counter. He found the paper where Carol had written down the guy’s name. Martin Phillips. Dan didn’t know him. “Did he say anything about the job?”

“Only that they’re looking for a software security expert. You’re certainly that.” She wrinkled her nose for a second. “I almost forgot. Joel called around nine. He seemed upset that you weren’t home and said he’s going to try again at ten.”

According to the kitchen clock it was nine forty. He sat back and watched as his wife prepared the scrambled eggs. By the time she finished, it was seven minutes to ten. He shoveled the food down, wanting to make sure he was alone in the den when Joel called.

“You must’ve been starving,” Carol remarked.

He grunted something out in acknowledgment. He was just getting up from the table when the phone rang. He stopped Carol from answering it, telling her that he would take the call in the den.

“I tried calling at nine,” Joel complained after Dan picked up. “Where the fuck were you?”

“Sorry about that. I had things to do.”

“Bullshit. You know what a pain in the ass it was having to drive out two times to a payphone? Fourteen miles each way, schmuck!”

“I’ll tell you what. You can bitch and moan all you want when I see you tomorrow. We’ll set up email accounts then also.”

Joel’s voice changed, becoming somewhat reserved. “We’re on then, huh?”

“You tell me. What did your pervert buddy say?”

“Fuck you. Be here at twelve sharp, understand?”

Joel hung up. Dan stood frozen for a moment before putting the receiver down. When he looked up he saw Carol standing in the doorway watching him.

“Why so secretive?” she asked.

“What? No, nothing, just typical Joel stuff, that’s all. Have you been standing there long?”

“No, not long. I wanted to ask you on my way upstairs if you would like to go to bed early tonight. It’s been a long time since we’ve gone to bed early together.”

“Sure. That would be nice. I just want to stop off first and see the kids.”

“They’re both in their rooms.” She hesitated, an odd expression on her face as she studied him. “Did Joel do that to your face?”

“What are you talking about? I told you yesterday I slipped getting into my car. Believe it or not, that’s what happened.”

“Dan, is anything wrong?”

“No, of course not.” He forced himself to maintain eye contact. A hotness flushed his face. “Why do you ask?”

“You looked so angry when you hung up the phone. Or maybe intense. I don’t know, I never saw you like that before.”

“Nothing more than this out-of-work bullshit. And you know how Joel can be. He was going on some rant about the liberal scum in Massachusetts. I guess I wasn’t in the mood for it.”

“He called twice just to talk about that?”

“Not exactly. He had a question about a possible job lead.”

“Why was he calling from a payphone?”

“Was he?”

“According to the caller ID.”

“Really? Maybe he was at the mall.”

“But he has a cell phone. I know that he usually calls from a cell phone because of the caller ID.”