killing.”
“Man, talk about bad timing.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. My credit is shot. I couldn’t
get a loan for a pack of gum right now.”
“So who’d you know that got you in?” Morgan asked.
“My uncle,” he said. “Used to use. Never dealt, but got
friendly with one of his dealers. I used to be a major
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pothead, and I started buying from his guy after my uncle
quit. Pretty soon I couldn’t afford to buy, so my man
asked if I was going through tough times. I told him what
had happened, and he offered to make an introduction for
me. I’m not above this. To me, it’s all the same whether
you’re selling junk, real estate or stocks. In the end you’re
giving something to somebody that they think will make
them happier. And whether it’s financial, emotional or
chemical happiness, who the hell are we to judge? Are
the people who get strung out on dope any worse than
people like me who lose everything on some bad bets? I
figure if I can do something to get myself out of this
mess and make some coin, why not?”
“I know what you mean,” Morgan said.
“I bet you do.”
Theo and Morgan got off the train at Twenty-third and
Park and headed east. The Manhattan neighborhood of
Gramercy tended to be full of young professionals who
enjoyed the area’s local bars (both dive and trendy).
Morgan used to come here often for the movie theater at
Kips Bay, and noticed that over the last few years the
population appeared to grow a little more affluent, likely
due to doctors working at Bellevue and small business
owners who moved into vacated storefronts.
They walked side by side, matching briefcases slung
over their shoulders. If anybody looked at them, it was
only because they might have been slightly jealous that
two younger guys had weathered the economic storm,
as that could be the only explanation for their attire and
accessories.
Morgan took out the cell phone from his coat pocket.
It was old, nearly an antique, and he was amazed that this
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piece of junk still even worked. Still, Leonard had given
it to them for a reason.
Right after they’d packed up their briefcases with
specific quantities of various drugs, Leonard had given
them each a cell phone. And this was how it worked.
Before they left the warehouse/club, they’d be given
an address. The address was of their first customer of
the day. The customer had called somebody, probably
some sort of switchboard at another location, and
placed an order. That order was relayed to one of the
courier teams, who were then dispatched to the
location. The customer would also have placed an order
and they were also quoted a price. Once arriving at the
location, Leonard said, they would make the transaction
with the customer.
Once leaving the customer’s address, they would call
the number programmed in the cell phone as Home.
After confirming the deal, they would be sent a text
message with the address of their next transaction, as
well as the price quoted to the customer for whatever
they’d requested.
Obviously there would be a little flexibility, as sometimes the customer would buy more than they’d initially
requested. And sometimes, of course, they would buy
less, often because the customer didn’t have enough
money to pay for the goods.
It was a regular business, Leonard said.
All orders would be kept track of, and Leonard’s
people also knew the exact quantities of drugs given to
the couriers as well as their value. At the end of the day,
Leonard said, just like any other business they would
make sure the goods matched the receipts, and confirm
that all the money was handed over.
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Assuming Theo and Morgan were honest, they would
have no problems. If there were ever any payment issues,
or they’d taken in more (or less) money than expected,
all they had to do was relay the information.
The quicker they worked the more money they made,
the more stops they’d be able to hit during the day. You
wanted to take a two-hour lunch? Your take would suffer.
Get caught in traffic? Tough shit.
The only people who moved up in this world were the
ones who fully dedicated themselves. You want vacation
days? You got ’em. Only your creditors don’t really think
of them that way.
The first stop was on Nineteenth and Third, off the
corner of the avenue, a brownstone wedged between a
cellular phone store and a diner. Morgan walked up and
pressed the buzzer for 5A, taking a quick look around
them to see if anyone was watching.
“You need to relax, man,” Theo said. “Ain’t nobody
thinking twice about us.”
“Who is it?” came the scratchy voice.
“Delivery,” Morgan said.
“I didn’t order… Oh wait, yeah, come right up.”
Another buzzer went off and the door unlatched. They
entered the lobby and went over to the elevator. It was not
a particularly nice brownstone. The floor tiles were
chipping, and it looked like with just minimum force he
could have pried open any mailbox he chose.
The elevator arrived and they took it to the fifth floor
in silence. Morgan held his briefcase, feeling the plastic
crinkle through the leather. Theo watched him do this but
said nothing.
When the door opened, they turned left (A-D) and
rang the doorbell for 5A.
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“Who is it?” the familiar voice said.
“Delivery,” Morgan said.
“Oh yeah, right, come on in.”
The door opened, revealing a tall, thin guy in his
mid-thirties wearing pajama bottoms, a loose T-shirt
and slippers. The apartment behind him was sparingly
furnished. There was a cot covered in faded blankets,
an old twenty-four-inch television, and a bookshelf
with textbooks. Morgan looked closer. The textbooks
had odd titles like Principles of Economics and Finan-
cial Management: Theory and Practice. The books
looked well used.
The man had a three-day beard growth and his hair
looked like it hadn’t been combed since the last time
he’d shaved. His eyes were red-rimmed, and his breathing was quick. Morgan had no doubt the man had a
serious coke problem. He supposed that’s why they
were there.
The man moved out of the way and ushered them
inside, waving his hand like he was shooing away an unpleasant smell.
“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 brief
case 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.
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“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
“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.
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“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
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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…”
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“I said shut the hell up.”
Morgan moved into the corner of the elevator, looked
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
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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.
“Yes?” the voice said.
“Hi, uh, this is Isaacs and Goggins. We just wanted to
confirm the address just sent to us.”
“Three-forty East Nineteenth. Apartment five A,” the
voice said.
“Yeah, um, that’s where we just left.”
“And that’s where you’re going back to.”
“Uh, okay.”
The voice explained the situation to Morgan, who
stood there, eyes widening. He understood everything
that was being relayed, but couldn’t understand why it
was happening so quick.
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He didn’t know what was in those little black rocks,
but it must have thrown pajama dude in 5A for a loop.
The other line went dead. Morgan closed the phone
and put it back in his pocket.
“What was that?” Theo said.
“We’re going right back upstairs,” Morgan said. “That
guy we just sold to, he took one hit of the Darkness and
put in an order for half a dozen more rocks at the standard
price. Guy said it was the best high he’s ever experienced.”
“Good for him, good for us,” Theo said.
“And,” Morgan continued, “after we’re done here
they’re sending over another address where the customer