Interstice 4

The car grumbles to a stop in front of a ramshackle old house on a filthy street in a neighbourhood best described as the wrong side of the tracks. Lily crawls out of the back seat, still slightly intoxicated from the effects of the Sarcoline. Luke grabs a double handful of the stolen goods then slams the car door shut.

“Come on, hurry up,” Luke grabs her by the arm and half-drags her up the steps into the house.

Inside, the door clangs shut on old squeaky hinges and a strong but quiet voice comes from inside. “You’ve kept me waiting for quite a long time,” he says. The young man is leaning against the kitchen counter, his perfect blonde hair and immaculate clothing immediately gives away that he does not belong in this neighborhood.

“Shit, Alex!” Luke jumps in surprise and tries to hide the bags of electronics behind his back.

“Luke,” Alex says with a dismissive wave of his hand, “I don’t care about whatever petty crime you’ve been committing.” His voice seems to have a hint of amusement in it, but his face remains unchanged and impassive. “I have my own job for you.”

Lily drops her bag and assesses the stranger. “Luke, who is this?” she asks.

Luke scowls at her, “Not now Lily. The grown-ups are talking.”

“Whatever,” she says and rolls her eyes. The sarcoline has mostly worked its way through her system now and she’s starting to feel the first rolling after effects. Not uncontrollable panic. Not yet. Just a little bit of fear, bubbling up. A small sense of impending doom. She’s been here before, she knows this feeling of coming down from sarcoline quite well by now. The memory of the drone from earlier flashes into her mind. The camera that caught her red-handed. She closes her eyes and pushes the fear back down. Steels herself against it. Then she looks up at Luke. “I thought you were going to... Make. Me. Pay.” she says, throwing extra emphasis on the last words mockingly.

At this remark, Alex looks at Luke. “Is this something I should know about? I need you to do jobs for me Luke, I can’t have trouble sniffing around.”

Luke turned back to Alex, “No. No trouble. We can handle it. Lily here really fucked herself over, but as long as she doesn’t take the rest of us down with her I don’t really care what happens to her.”

“Fine,” Alex says and tosses a stack of cash onto the table next to Luke. “I need you to look into someone for me. Find out where he lives, where he goes, what he does. Who he talks to, who he knows. Take notes, I want any information you can find. But don’t let him see you.” Alex hands Luke a folded piece of paper. “This is everything I know about him.”

Alex glances over at Lily. The cold expression on his face warms instantly and he smiles at her. “Lily, is it? You’re cute, but I haven’t seen you around before. Tell me what went wrong tonight?”

“It’s not any-” Luke begins, before Alex cuts him off.

“I’m not asking you.”

Lily hesitates, but Alex seems so warm. So cool, so… trustworthy. She sits down on the sofa and starts explaining what happened. She tells him about the electronics store. About the sacks of parts. About the gun. She feels the sweat collect on her forehead as she recounts the memories, and the sarcoline dread bubbles up all the way to the surface. She tells him about the money. The gun. The drone. The camera. The gun. Running. Alex sits down next to her and doesn’t interrupt. She doesn’t even notice that Alex has placed a hand on her thigh.

“Don’t worry,” Alex says. “I can make it all go away.”

“Really?” she asks, her voice low. Worried? More than just a little worried.

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow night,” he says, flashing his inviting smile. “Over drinks. I’ll text you the address.”