Torment by Raymond Benson

Author:Raymond Benson [Benson, Raymond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crossroad Press

SEVENTEEN

Greene Street was dark and deserted. One of the street lamps was out, which cast shadows over the entire building where Bobby Zander had his studio and the Mango Tree was located.

There were several keys on Larissa’s ring and one of them was curiously marked with a piece of paper taped onto the head: “666*”. It would be a painstaking trial-and-error process, but Rick was willing to go through with trying each and every one. Despite the biting cold, he had come too far to turn around. Getting inside during the day was impossible. It was now or never.

A pull-down security gate blocked the Mango Tree’s front door, locked at the bottom with a padlock. Rick stooped to examine the lock and found that the keyhole was smaller than most door keys. He then went through the various keys on the ring and found two likely candidates. The first one didn’t work but the second one fit like butter. The lock snapped open.

Rick looked up and down the street to make sure no one was watching. Satisfied that he was unobserved, he lifted and rolled the security gate up into its cylindrical home above the door. It rattled and made a tremendous noise as he did so.

Shit!

He froze, wondering if he should run away, duck into the building’s doorway and hide, or simply continue as if he were a shop employee. After a few seconds he realized he was holding his breath. He exhaled and peered around him once again.

Still nothing. But as he started to look for the key to open the Mango Tree’s door, two headlights swung onto the street from Canal. Rick froze again, faced the building, and kept his head down. It was a taxi cab that slowed as it drove past him. It stopped four buildings down the street to let out a passenger.

Shit shit shit!

A woman got out of the cab, paid the driver, and then looked up and saw Rick standing in front of the shop. He quickly thrust a random key forward and mimed trying to unlock the door. He rattled the key ring for good measure, as if holding a noisy set of keys gave him some kind of authorization. Thankfully it was so dark the woman would never be able to discern who he might be.

Luckily she paid no attention, went to her door and opened it, and disappeared inside. Rick breathed a sigh of relief and continued his duty. It took four tries before he found the key that opened the shop door.

The first thing he heard when he stepped inside was the security alarm.

Shit shit shit shit shit!

He switched on the light, which nearly blinded him. That was certainly going to attract attention! He shut it off and plunged the shop back into darkness. The alarm continued to beep. How much time did he have to punch in a code or whatever he had to do before the cops came?

Panicking, Rick turned to run out of the shop and forget the whole thing, but a red light blinking on the wall to his left caught his eye.

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