Well, at least they spoke English, Shade thought. If anything he might be able to talk his way out of what could be a bad situation or maybe they could even take him to his contact. Shade spoke three languages, English, bad Spanish, and even worse Portuguese. He figured taking a delivery in this part of the world wouldn’t be such a terrible idea since he could probably figure out a broken conversation in Spanish and not get killed if he was a little further north in Brazil. Right then, he was thankful for an English speaker.

“I’m looking for a friend, Tomás,” Shade said.

“What do you want with him,” a voice called from the dark. The lights from the neighborhood weren’t strong enough to reach out and give Shade any sort of visibility.

“I have a package for him,” Shade said, trying to listen for where the voice was coming from.

“What package is that?” The voice asked. Shade thought it was coming from behind him, to the left.

“That’s not for me to know. I’m a courier.”

“You know that if you get caught operating in my country, you could go to jail,” the voice asked.

“Am I under arrest?” Shade was getting annoyed. He needed to deliver his package and if these people were about to rob him, he’d like for them to try and get it over with.

“No, Courier,” a different voice came from a distance, “you are not under arrest.”

“Then can someone please take me to Tomás? I have a delivery to make,” Shade said as he rolled his eyes.

The flame from a lighter flickered to the right of Shade. A man with long, curly hair lit a cigarette and took a drag. A flashlight clicked on, illuminating the man’s face. That man blew the smoke out of the side of his mouth and smiled.

“Welcome to Buenos Aires my friend. I am Tomás and these are my guard,” he said.

Shade let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Good to finally meet you, Tomás,” Shade extended a hand and Tomás promptly shook it.

“I will spare you the kiss on the cheek. It is my understanding that it is off-putting to Americans,” Tomás said with a chuckle.

“Thanks.”

“Grab your things, we have some things to discuss and a delivery to finish,” Tomás waved to his guard and Shade.

“I’m good,” said Shade, patting the grey pack that hugged his chest.

“You do not want your parachute or your other gear?” Tomás asked.

“Keep it,” Shade said with a slight grin. After that bad drop, Shade had no intention of giving that equipment back. It was the principle of the thing.

“Most gracious of you,” said Tomás as he ordered one of the guard to pack up the equipment. “We can always use extra equipment.”

Tomás led Shade and his guard the hundred or so yards back to his neighborhood. He had seen Shade diving in and even laughed as he watched Shade fall on his face when he made what could almost be considered a crash landing. Tomás took a drag from his cigarette and chuckled at the memory. Shade struggled to find his footing in the walk. The soft dirt made each step a guessing game and an opportunity for a sprained ankle. He thought of the boots that would be perfect for this situation that were sitting in his closet and cursed himself for wanting to make himself a little more presentable for his first international job instead choosing to be practical. He decided he’d never make that mistake again and then thought he’d probably find a way to talk himself into a dumb decision like this again.

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Walking into the neighborhood, Shade noticed the houses were a weathered mess. Each house sported a faded paint job unless sun-bleached pastel was the style in this country. Some houses had softball sized chunks pock-marked along the outside walls. Some houses sported cracks that looked like lightning along the lengths of each wall. They were barely four walls and a roof. Shade wondered how anyone in this neighborhood could afford his international fee. A small pit began to grow in his stomach. Tomás led Shade into one of the houses. The pit immediately melted away.

“Welcome to my home,” Tomás said, spreading his arms.

Shade looked to the modern furnishings that lined the house and was immediately envious of the large kitchen and nice stove. He loved to cook though he wasn’t very good at it. Shade could burn cold cereal and during one experiment, almost did. A large tv hung on the far wall, surrounded by dark-brown leather couches. Pictures of family and paintings he recognized hung on the walls. Shade wondered how anyone around here could afford the nice things he saw in Tomás’ place. It wasn’t the modern stuff you’d see in the high end apartments in Trinity but it was the kind of stuff you’d see in a cozy home. Shade wondered if Tomás was into something that the rest of the neighborhood wasn’t.

“Nice place,” Shade said, admiring the furnishings.

“Thank you.”

“Everyone around here living this well or is it just you?” Shade asked with a touch of snark in his words.

“Mr. Shade, despite how the houses in this neighborhood look on the outside, I can assure you that everyone in this neighborhood lives in comfort,” Tomás said with a smile.

“Then why does everyone’s house look like it’s about to fall apart?”

“Holograms.”

“Ok, but why? Are you trying to hide something? Something I need to know about?” Shade asked.

“We have enemies but mostly we would like to be left alone so we put up the...what’s the word,” Tomás snapped his fingers trying to will the word he was searching for out of his brain, “façade,” he finally said. Shade knew about enemies. Sometimes people paid for his services because they had enemies. Shade nodded.

“So are you the one taking me to my location?” Shade asked.

“Your delivery has two destinations. The first destination is with me,” Tomás said, taking a seat at a small table near the kitchen. Shade joined him.

Shade removed a matte black case, the size and shape of a grapefruit, from his backpack. He placed it on the table between them. Shade looked up and noticed Tomás’ guard had been standing at attention near the table. They were looking at the case and it irked Shade. Were they looking to make a move on the case? Shade wasn’t in the mood to have to fight to keep his delivery intact but it had happened to him before, a couple of times. After the skydiving fiasco, he wasn’t sure he was up for more strained physical activity.

“You sure you want your guys here?” Shade pointed up.

“They are fine. They are excited to see the stone,” said Tomás. Shade shrugged.

“Well, first thing’s first, I need your signature or thumbprint to confirm the delivery,” Shade said, pulling out his tablet. He tapped the screen a few times and offered it to Tomás who pushed his thumb onto the screen where it indicated. The tablet gave off a high pitched *ding*, indicating his print had been accepted.

“Next, do you have the key to open the case?” Shade asked.

Tomás pulled a keycard from the front pocket of his vest. Shade presented the case to Tomás who swiped the card across the side. A slight click came from the black orb and two parallel lines drew themselves in opposite directions on the side. Shade had never seen a case like this, much less a locking mechanism that hid itself on the case itself. When the lines completed their trip around the sphere, the top half popped up and opened like a clam shell, presenting a grey rock. Shade guessed it couldn’t have been any bigger than his thumb. Shade’s eyebrows furrowed. He wondered why a stone was worth so much hassle of sending a courier to deliver it in person.

Tomás reached out slowly, his eyes wide, mouth agape. Shade looked to the men standing guard near the table. He could see the same reverence in their eyes as Tomás had. Shade looked at the stone again, trying to see whatever it was the others were seeing in the stone. Tomás grabbed the stone with both hands and abruptly snapped it in half. The sound from the snap filled the room and reverberated off of every surface, making the sound louder and somehow oppressive. Everyone in the room pressed their hands as hard as they could against their ears, even Tomás had dropped the two pieces of stone on the table and covered his ears. A ghostly howl faded into the room as the sound began to dissipate.

“What is this?” Shade tried to yell through gritted teeth.

“Give it a minute. It will go away,” Tomás yelled back.

Shade looked at the two halves of the stone. The insides glowed a pulsing ruby red. He thought about reaching out and putting them back together to make the sound stop. The snap sound was dying out but the howl was becoming hair raising. Shade was beginning to think ghosts would start to appear at any moment but that was silly because he didn’t believe in the supernatural. Though if anything could be deemed supernatural, the sounds that emanated from snapping the rock in half could be seen as supernatural. He couldn’t explain this one. When the need to reach out to the rock became too strong the noises stopped and the absence of sound became deafening.

“See? What did I tell you?”

“What the hell was that?” Shade asked.

“The Stone of Souls. When I snapped it, it released the soul inside of it. Now that soul can move on to the next realm,” Tomás said.

“The next realm?”

“Is that not the right word?”

“I don’t know. I don’t exactly believe in this kind of thing.”

“Before the night is over, you will.”