Deal by Dustin Stevens

Author:Dustin Stevens [Stevens, Dustin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

PART 4

THE AFFAIR

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Criss Brough parks in the same place he did just last night. A barren stretch of asphalt right outside the double glass doors that are blacked out to look as if the place is empty. One more storefront that has long closed up for the night.

Another along a street filled with them.

Nothing for anybody to see. No reason for the police – or anyone else, for that matter – to peek over as they drive past.

The clothes he is wearing are a variation of what he wore on his last visit. A dark suit with the tie removed, the collar unbuttoned and left open. A close approximation to what he wears every day.

A honed routine, much like what he had for dinner a couple of hours earlier.

A strict adherence to repetition. A reduction in active decision making from one day to the next, leaving his mind open to focus on more important things.

Topics like what has brought him back.

The single thing that has shifted a great deal since his last visit just twenty-four hours before. A matter that was supposed to be completely wrapped up by now. Two enormous headaches wiped away, instead given a day to not just linger, but potentially expand.

A potential disaster that is the very last thing he – or the people he represents – needs right now.

Since the moment he got the text message from Iceman earlier, it has taken everything Criss possesses to focus. A conscious pushing aside of what the young punk could have meant when he said things weren’t going well.

A slate of possibilities that had run through his mind since the soundstage that afternoon. A constant looming presence on the periphery of his mind, coloring every subsequent thought. Each new decision.

A black cloud that he tried to ignore, even as it grew larger.

A threat that he can disregard no longer, his features expressing his discontent as he punches the numerical sequence into the outer door. Hearing the metallic click of the deadbolt releasing, he steps inside and pauses, the same dour look in place as he glances up at the camera.

Performative measures he is in no mood for, verging on screaming at the damn orb in the corner before a second click is heard.

Shoving inside, he makes a hard left. A resumption of the same path as usual, this time without so much as a single glance to what is happening nearby. A complete lack of concern for the children plugged into their video games or the scantily clad women fetching them refreshments.

Even the pounding music and pulsating lights fall by the wayside. Background fodder he pushes from his mind as he speed walks around the periphery of the massive space.

A trip from his vehicle on the curb to Iceman’s office that takes just barely a minute in total.

Time enough for the agitation he feels to have climbed even higher, as evidenced by the extra force he uses pounding on the doorframe. A pair of thumps that echo through the space, drawing the person he is here to see out from behind his bank of computers.

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