In an old casino town every downtown building has a back alley. It gives you a good place to throw out the trash and break Johnny’s fingers when he doesn’t pay has gambling debt. The old casino building that the Nexus had set up in was no different. While the front entrance of the building had been a testament to the company’s wealth and image, the back was anything but. The company seemed to have abandoned the reconstruction project before it ever started, the building sported the old casino’s neon sign from the 60’s and the smell of the grease trap still permeated the ally. On top of the grim and filth Jason could see specks of old throw-up splattered on what he was sure had once been a relatively nice brick paved road. Alan seemed to be stepping increasingly closer to it as he paced back and forth down the dark alley.
“What do you mean you’re driving up, you’re supposed to already be here, you’re supposed to have been here for hours.” Alan shouted into the phone. His friend was always like this. The man skipped strait passed worry and landed in fury.
“Don’t give me that Tommy, I don’t have time for another one of your games.” Alan actually stepped through the old vomit and Jason took a tiny involuntary step back expecting another plethora of explosive words, yet his friend kept going. “No, no, no no no, you don’t get to tell me to calm down. You know what Tommy, I’ll calm down, I’ll calm down once I dunk your head down this grease trap? How does that sound? I’m sure it’ll -.” With a confused expression his friend took the phone from his ear and looked at the screen. “Huh, he hung-up on me.”
“You know, People tend to do that when you threaten to dunk their head down a grease tank?” Jason didn’t mean to say it in such a flat tone, it just sorta came out that way.
“What, now you’re telling me to calm down.”
“Oh no, I know an effort in futility when I see one.” Jason replied
Alan looked conflicted his brown eyes shifting from his phones screen back to Jason before he started speaking again
“there’s been a slight change in plans.”
“I figured out that much”
“It turns out Tommy isn’t here yet.” Alan said. The look on Jason’s face must have been enough to make the man realize how bad that actually sounded and he barreled on through the rest “He still has a way of getting us in, it’s just going to take a little longer”
“It’s one of the most important days for the Nexus and one of their employees happens to be running hours late?”
“Look Jason he said everything was fine.” Alan tried to reassure him. Yet, Jason could feel the pounding in his chest start to increase.
“How much has the plan changed?”
“He hung up on me before I could get that far.” Alan admitted
“I don’t like this. I mean, we haven’t even started the illegal part and the plans already going haywire”
“For the last time Jason, there is nothing illegal about what we’re doing here.”
“Breaking and entering, theft of a system. This all sounds pretty illegal to me.” Jason replied, there was that flat tone in his voice again, he really had to get it checked. It always gave off a troubling symptom of making him seem like a self-absorbed jerk all the time.
“For the last time, it’s not illegal if a company employee is letting you in.” Alan argued
“That’s like saying it’s not illegal to rob a bank if the teller hands you the money”
“That doesn’t even make sense”
“You know what I meant” Jason said
Look, can you please just give it a minute, nothing ever goes exactly as you plan it. Think of the money. When are we ever going to get the chance to make 10 Million Dollars. Actually, think about the steady income, when are we going to get another chance at a job that pays 7 dollars an hour.”
“We don’t get anything if we go to jail” Jason muttered to himself. The uneasiness he felt mounted a little higher and it felt as though the feeling gathered in his chest, each second making it a little harder to breathe. When it became too much for him to bear he grabbed his phone and checked the time. 2:30, If he left now he could walk back home without taking the bus. They were charging way too much for a ticket these days and every dollar counted when everyone in your family was unemployed in a market with no jobs.
Besides, he was never comfortable with a machine hooking into his brain to begin with. He should have never let Alan talk him into this. His brain wasn’t some hard drive that any random company could use and alter. It only made it worse that the person that was supposed to hook them up just so happened to also be a flake. Right?
Yet, each time when it felt like he couldn’t bear it any longer and he was about to tell his best friend that he was leaving, he would check the phone again and wait one more minute, somehow another thirty had passed. Jason had finally had enough.
“Look Alan I appreciate …” Jason said, his words cut off from a new voice entering the alley, the man grabbed both his and Alan’s attention.
“This place smells terrible!” He was holding his blue shirt over his face in a futile attempt to block the smell. The man was skinny, lanky even, with brown hair that should have been cut a week ago. Jason could see that bits of it had started the process of covering the tips of the man’s ears.
“Why didn’t you guys wait outside of the alley? I can assure you it smelled much nicer.”
“Maybe because someone forgot to mention they quit and we had to wait for them to drive here. What’s going on Tommy” Alan grumbled.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Quit, what did he mean the man quit. He never mentioned the man quit before.
“Calm down Alan” Tommy said in what Jason assumed was the man’s most reassuring voice “everything is going to be just fine. You worry too much. The plans still in motion.”
“Oh, don’t give me that, you need to start talking.” Yet Tommy ignored Alan’s comment completely as the man shifted his focus on Jason
“It’s nice to meet you I’m Tommy, it looks like we will be seeing a lot of each other in the next week.
“Ya, it’s nice to meet you too I’m Jason. I’m sorry but, I’m more than a little confused about what we’re doing here because I was told you were opening the door, from the inside.”
“That’s understandable” Tommy said, the man seemed to be measuring Jason, he didn’t want to know what he decided. “It turned out an extra capsule had an unexpecting opening, which has opened up a wonderful opportunity for me to join you.”
“This wasn’t part of the deal Tommy.” Alan said before Jason could respond. Alan wasn’t taking the news very well, and to be fair neither was he.
“We never really had a formal deal Alan. Beside you both still get to join in, nothing changed there. Now, I get to join in with you, it’s a win-win for everyone.” Tommy said, the fake cheer in his voice emphasizing his sarcastic tone. Jason hated that term, there was no such thing as a win-win. Only rich people used that phrase when they did you over.
“Don’t think for one second we’re going to tie ourselves to someone as unreliable as you.”
“You don’t really have a choice at the moment”
“The Nexus is all about free choice.”
“Well, thanks to you my brother has been in the Nexus for the last 8 months. He’s told me all about the fun little tests the Nexus puts you through before you get to join the game.”
“You’re lying, he would have been kicked out if he told you anything.”
“I never said that he wasn’t” the matter of fact tone seemed to shock Alan, but he didn’t really understand the big deal.
“You kicked your own brother out of the Nexus, so you could get a spot”
“He kicked himself out, I’m just making the best of a bad situation.” Tommy sighed “Now if you don’t mind I would rather like to be done with you insulting me so we can get back to the plan.” Tommy walk past them toward the Trash-bin that hugged the wall behind Alan.
With a grunt he attempted to pry it away from the wall, for a moment nothing happened, as if the bin was fused the ground under it. Yet, in another few seconds he could hear the screech as the can slowly moved inch by inch, revealing an old timey master lockbox set onto the back of the can. The thing was ancient with manual dials and its own little pull levers, it didn’t look to have an ounce of software attached to it. He had seen tons of them in old movies, but never in real life before. The thing must be worth a fortune.
“I didn’t know they made things like that anymore.” Alan said examining the lockbox over Tommy’s shoulder.
“They don’t, it came with the building, I and our contact are the only ones that know about it.” The smug tone in Tommy’s voice should have been reassuring, yet it only put Jason off-balance”
“So, you convince Jeremey to let us in.”
“No, Jeremey was fired shortly after you left.”
“Jeremey was a great guy and great at his job. There is no way he got himself fired.”
“Ya he was, strait as an arrow, and that was kind of a problem when you’re doing something against company policy. “
“You got him fired.”
“He got us both fired”
“You’re a jerk”
“I made an executive decision in order to keep the integrity of our plan. Now can you leave me alone, so I can get this lockbox open?”
“Then who’s letting us in”
“The new gal that replaced you is the one hooking us up.”
“And you’re only telling me this now.”
“Stop acting like you wouldn’t have done it yourself.” Tommy said Slamming the lockbox back onto the can.
“What’s the problem”
“I think my contact sent the wrong code over, I need to make a call.” Tommy said walking away from the group
And that was it for him, the final straw that broke the camel’s back. The weight that was too heavy to lift. Breaking the law was bad, but this, this was insanity.
“Look Alan I’m done” Jason said “this clearly wasn’t thought out well and I don’t really feel like going to jail over something as stupid as a videogame”
“Come on Jason just one more minute.”
“Nope, sorry I hope it all works out well for you, I’m done. I’ll call you later.”
“This isn’t a videogame Jason, this is 10 million dollars and you need this just as much as I do. Once he and I get in without a fuss you’re going to look back on this and regret not going in, because I can’t help you again after today.” Alan said, Jason could see Tommy walking back from behind him a dark blue shirt in hand.
“She didn’t Answer”
“without a fuss” Jason said raising his eye brows looking at Alan. The gesture seemed to irritate Tommy.
“One of us is going to need to go through the front door, and since he and I worked here before it’s going to be you.” Tommy said pointing at Jason
“I don’t need to do anything, and I certainly don’t want to do this.”
“Alan and I will do the rest, but you need to help yourself here. It’s time to put on your big boy pants and pull your own weight around here.”
"No, I’m leaving you two have a great time with the whole failed plan.” Jason said pushing past Tommy.
“Did you tell your dad yet?” Alan said
“Did I tell my dad what?”
“That you got fired yet?”
“I didn’t get fired I got laid off” Jason said whipping around to face Alan, his hands balled into fists.
“Do you think that really makes a difference? There aren’t any jobs and you don’t have a degree. Even if you did you would just be replaced like your last job.”
“Well at least I won’t be in jail.”
“Jason, come on man, right now I’m the only change you’ve got.” Alan said grabbing the shirt from Tommy. “Look just put the shirt on, if there’s any sign of trouble you can just turn back, and we’ll call it a day”
“and that’s it. we all just walk away no questions asked.” Jason replied
“and that’s it” Alan said nodding his head.
“that sounds bogus to me.” Tommy added
“Shut up, you’re the one that’s not holding up to their end of the bargain, not him. If he thinks we can’t get in, then we can’t get in.”
“I’ll take a look, anything to get out of this alley I guess.”
“That’s the spirt, now let’s get going, this places smells like month old puke.”
“Then you should probably watch where you’re standing.
“What oh, oh no.” Alan said holding his hand over his mouth
Jason let out a nervous chuckle as he had his way out of the alley.
“Before I forget, her name’s Stacy, she’s the only one with red hair. Can’t miss her.” Tommy yelled
Jason didn’t reply.