Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey

Author:Marcus Sakey [Sakey, Marcus]
Language: eng
Format: epub

The low thrum of blues bass rolled up his spine as he slotted a coin into the phone and punched the numbers.

“You’ve reached Danny and Karen, we’re not in right now…”

Before, he’d thought he’d go home after the job. He’d imagined he might ease the pain of waiting by reminding himself of the life, and the woman, that his efforts were meant to protect. Instead he stood in a rib joint on Halsted, listening to the accusatory beep of his own answering machine.

“Hey, Karen. Just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be late tonight. You know, work-” There was a fumbling noise.

“Danny.” She sounded out of breath. He thought of her wrapped in a towel and running for the phone, and the ease with which he could picture it stung him. He adopted a haggard tone as he told her how work was keeping him late. How he was sorry about it. She was silent on the other end of the phone, and he could imagine her biting her lip.

“Danny-”

“I know. It’s just a crazy week.”

She sighed. “Okay.”

“I’ll make it up to you, babe. I promise.”

She paused. “How about tomorrow night? We haven’t been out in a while. We could,” her voice rose provocatively, “make it a date night.”

“Sure.” He paused. “I mean, I’ll try.”

She snorted on the other end of the phone. “Okay. See you whenever, then.”

“Wait-” But she’d already hung up.

Lying to Karen to keep her safe. Rationalizing Richard’s willingness to screw his workers as justification for ripping him off. Planning a kidnapping to protect the kid. He’d always dealt in shades of gray, but it was getting harder to spot the contrast.

Across the room, he saw a waitress set his order on the table, but he had another call to make. He slotted the coin, willing the guy to answer. Five rings, and then the familiar message, asking him for one good reason to care that he’d called.

Danny cursed, and waited for the beep. “Patrick, it’s Danny. I need your help. It’s-” He paused, trying to collect his thoughts. How much could he leave on an answering machine? “It’s about that thing we talked about. Look, just call my mobile when you get this, would you? Day or night.” He started to say more, thought better of it, slammed it in the cradle.

Then he went back to his table and ate his half slab in silence, trying to think of ways to tame the whirlwind.

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