The night air was dank and cold. This was my fifth night out
here waiting for the drop. I'm not one who likes to be kept waiting, but my
boss insisted that I pick up this package. He assured me the delivery would be
here soon. A set of headlights appear in the distance and I get my hopes up
just like I have the last twenty times cars have gone by. The car doesn't slow
down, but in fact picks up speed so that the wind starts gusting by me and I
get a chill deep in my bones. Pulling my trench coat tighter around me I try to
stamp some feeling back into my feet. I figure it's going to be another long
night and settle in against the wall.
I wasn't always into hanging out on cold street corners. I
used to be a regular Joe, working a standard nine to five. I had a wife and
kids. I was living the American dream, until one day it happened. I don't much
like talking about it, but lets just say everything fell away in a single
night. Now, I really don't have much to live for. That's when I picked up this
gig. In the business I'm what you'd call a sinker, I take care of things for
people, no questions asked, no answers given. Tonight was no different, other
than the fact that it's been going on for the past four nights. I think someone
just wants to make me sick, but whatever, the pay is too good to pass up this
time.
All I know is the drop is supposed to be some organs for a
big fish cutthroat. He's been on death’s door for some time now and I think
he's scouring the streets trying to get himself new kidneys or a new heart, if
he ever had one in the first place. Normally I don't have this many details,
but the person who hired me seemed to have pretty loose lips. That’s a very
dangerous affliction to have in this business.
I'm not put off by any of these sick bastards discretions,
but I generally don't like to know. Anyway, once I get the drop I'm supposed to
jet it personally up to the 112th floor of Chimay tower and collect my pay.
Then it’s back to scouring for more cash anywhere I can find it. I'm only
halfway to my goal, revenge can cost so much these days.
Just then, a car screeches to a halt in front of me. It’s
some type of Chevy something or other, all black with mirrored windows. Real
discrete, I think to myself as the window lowers. It's Eddie, essentially a
hatchet in a leisure suit. He had brown hair at one point in his life but now
it's a mixture of grey and some black dye. His eyes are creepy as hell, one cloudy
grey and one jaundiced green, it seems he took a two by four to the head as a
child. He never said who did it, but everyone assumed it was his father. His
face contorts into a crooked smile and he says, "Ello William. Wat yous
doin' out 'ere?"
"Oh you, know, I just love hanging out in the cold, I
was actually waiting for your mother to come along and give me a blow
job."
His smile quickly disappears. "Look 'ere, ash-hole, I's
don 'afta take this shit from the likes of you.”
“No but your mother does…” I say with a big smirk. I can tell
this has really set him off. I decide to go for a more tactful route,
"Sorry mate, it's just too damned cold out here, I've been out for hours
on this corner. You need something?”
"Wat? Me? No. But you do, it's in 'e trunk." He
proceeds to pop the trunk from his dashboard.
I walk around and pull out the only thing sitting in the
trunk, a little Styrofoam container. As soon as I close the trunk he guns the
engine and speeds away. Great, I think, I can finally get moving and get my ass
out of the cold. Not having a car in the city can be a godsend, sometimes. Not
right now though. It was way too cold for this. Luckily, I was near a subway entrance
and could get out of the polar air quickly.
-V-
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