Speedy stepped closer, breathing smoke while he talked like some sort of dragon. “Show me the eleven hundred, and I’ll consider it.”
“I don’t have that much on me now, but I’ll get it to you. I promise.” He pulled out his wallet and emptied it of bills. “Here’s something to tide you over until I can get you the rest.”
Speedy didn’t reach for the money. “Right. And if you don’t give me the rest, I can go to the police station and complain that you didn’t pay me what you promised during an illegal drug deal.”
“You can test me for devices. I don’t have any. No one is recording this. If you search me, all you’re going to find is a gun.” And with that thought, Enzo had just found his way around the problem. “In fact, I’m officially threatening to use my gun on you if you don’t go through with the deal. That way, if I ever did take you to court for this transaction, you could say this was moreof a robbery than a business exchange. The charges against you wouldn’t stand, and I’d be thrown out of the force. You see, it’s legit.”
Speedy chewed on his cigarette as he considered the offer. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you thrown out of the force.”
Enzo smiled. “See, it’s a win-win.”
Speedy picked up the stack of bills. “When do I get the rest of my eleven hundred?”
“As soon as headquarters does the paperwork. That is, as long as you don’t say anything about me being a police officer to the woman I’m with.”
Speedy’s gaze flicked to her. “You running stings on harvesters now? What—are they smuggling cabbage?”
“Exactly. We ran out of crime in the city, so we’re expanding.”
Speedy drummed his fingers on the countertop. “Here’s the deal. You return the eleven hundred, and for the next month, no one from your department hassles me about anything. If I park in the police chief’s parking spot, I don’t get no ticket.”
Typical for Speedy. Always haggling for a better deal. “You know I can’t do that.”
Speedy waved to Charity. “Miss, can you come back here?”
“Fine,” Enzo muttered. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Charity strolled up, hesitant but hopeful.
Speedy grinned at her, an oily smile. “Let me see your list. I decided to help you after all.”
16
Charity leaned against the counter, waiting for Speedy to return. Finding the right drugs was taking a long time. Ten minutes plodded by, so she logged into one of the city’s bookstores to see what was available. Unfortunately, all the books were government-approved ones, and she didn’t feel like reading a story where the Empowereds were always, always the villains.
Perhaps Speedy would know of a place that sold black market books.
Enzo watched the newsfeed, which said something about his faith in the news. He didn’t know that everything on the feed was propaganda.
She slipped her phone into her pocket and reviewed the shopping list. They would still need to go to another grocery store, a tire shop, and someplace that sold truck batteries. Supposedly they were easy to find in the city, so Milo wanted some backups on hand, but no one had told her what stores sold those.
“Where can we get truck batteries?” she asked Enzo.
“Hell,” he muttered.
“I hadn’t planned on driving that far.”
He didn’t laugh. He was still staring at the TV screen. She turned her attention there. A newsfeed showed tanks rumbling over a road.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“The Southern Plain States launched an attack. The government thinks they’re trying to retake Wichita. We’ve got to leave.”
The urgency in his voice didn’t make sense. “We’re not near Wichita. We’ll be okay. We still have other things to buy here.”
Enzo shook his head. “Every hoodlum in the area who sees the news will know that the government has called the city’s military reserves out to the border to help fight. That means no one will be patrolling the roads that lead from the city to the outer settlements. Crime there will spike. We don’t want to be on the road when that happens.” He glanced at the front door. “We should leave now.”
“We haven’t gotten our drugs yet.”