“I got it, but it was the wrong thing.”
“How do you know this?”
Sammy grimaced, touching down on the foot. “Ask him.”
Leo held her arm. “Let me help you.”
Igor raced around to face them. “He is from Xanadu?”
“Is he your client?”
“I am nobody,” Igor said. “I am just neighbor.”
Sammy stood at the bottom of the steps. She’d never thought a flight of stairs would look intimidating.
Leo helped her up the first step. “The computer that you wanted to steal was worthless.”
“I know nothing of stealing computer. I am honest man who ekes out meager living.”
Sammy laughed midway up the stairs.
“If she says different, she is lying.”
Sammy leaned on the handrail to take the weight off the leg. “Yeah, that’s me, a lying thief.”
“The computer is irrelevant in regards to the matter at hand,” Leo said, helping her up the next step. “If you have any interest in the psychedelics, I can be of some help.”
“If I was interested,” Igor said, “how could you help?”
Sammy wanted to rest again, but she was near the top. “He knows how to make the psychedelics.”
Igor raced to the top of the steps. “And what do you want for this?”
“Well, it’s complicated.”
Igor’s face soured. “I do not like complicated.”
Sammy pushed Igor back. “Let me through. Don’t you see I have a bad leg?”
Leo helped her around the banister post at the top of the steps. “If you’re looking for simple, then you’ll have to settle for the standard psychedelic.”
“It’s not up to him, anyway,” Sammy said, pushing off the banister rail. “I doubt my ‘client’ will like ‘complicated’ either.”
Igor stewed, pacing beside her. “I was counting on money.”
Sammy hobbled to the door. “Whoever heard of stealing recipes? Next time it’ll be something I can get my hands on.” Sammy tried the door, but it was locked. “Can you open the door?”
Igor unclipped the ring of keys from his belt. “Can’t even open own door?”
“Don’t have my picks either.”
Igor sorted through the ring of keys and opened the door.
“When do you think Mama will be back?”
Igor slipped the key out and opened the door. “She is delivering baby. Could be hours, could be days.”
Leo helped her to the sofa and pulled the low table over so she could prop her foot on it. He poked and prodded her leg.
“Ouch! It’s not an orange.”
“Sorry,” he said, looking over at the end table. He reached for the lamp and set it on the floor next to her.
“Just don’t go poking around it.”
“There appears to be something embedded here,” Leo said, bending the flesh. “Have you been shot?”
“They had guns and were shooting.”
Igor looked ashen. “You are lucky to be alive.”
“That was no closet.”
“That was many years ago. You can’t blame… Can’t blame anyone for that. They made many changes.”
“I blame nobody but myself.” Recipes?
Leo turned back toward Igor. “I’ll need to see what medical supplies your mother has.”
“Mama does not want anyone touching supplies.”
“You know Mama would help me if she was here.”
“She might be back soon. Maybe baby is already delivered.”
“Or it may be days,” Leo said, standing. “She needs help now.”
“She takes most of her things with her when delivering baby.”
“Show me what she has. I won’t need much to repair the wound.”
“Write down whatever he takes and tell Mama I’ll make it up to her like I did before.”
Leo pulled out a bottle of pills, shook a few into his hand, and handed the bottle to Igor. “This is worth hundreds of dollars. It’ll more than compensate you for whatever I take.”
Igor held the bottle up toward the light. “Psychedelics?”
Leo nodded.
“I show you what she has,” Igor said, leading him out of the room.
“Friends like that…” Sammy slipped her leg off the table. It was getting numb.
She hopped to her room and unzipped the sticky dress. It fell lithely to her feet. She unclasped the overstuffed bra, letting the pads tumble out. Her skin felt soft as a newborn’s. Weird.
Sammy slipped on a long T-shirt she’d stolen off the rack for big and tall guys. It came down past her knees.
“Hello?” Leo shouted. “Are you okay?”
Sammy hopped back to the sofa. “I had to change. That dress is in the other room if you want it.”
“Very good,” Leo said, letting an armful of bottles and bandages fall to the table. “She’s surprisingly well stocked.”
“What’s the needle for?”
“To take a blood sample.”
“I don’t like needles.”
Igor drifted through the doorway, with a smile and a light step. His smile turned goofy as his gaze lingered on her chest. “Are you cold?”
She looked down and saw her nipples pricking the shirt. She crossed her arms to cover her chest. “Isn’t there somewhere you have to be?”
“I give supplies to help you.”
“He bought them from you and paid plenty.”
“I told Mama I was getting money; now I have nothing, except guy wanting to take supplies.”
“I said I’d cover it.”
“If Mama wants to make that deal with you, she can.”
“Russians,” she said, shaking her head.
“We are practical people,” Igor said, stepping closer to the table and watching Leo sort the supplies into neat piles. “Why is he helping you?”
“Yeah, why are you helping me?”
“Out of tragedy comes new opportunities,” Leo said, moving the lamp closer. “Now lie down so the wounded leg is outward. Do you have any towels?”
Sammy lay on the sofa. “There’s a couple in the bathroom. Don’t worry about ruining them. I can always steal more unless I’m hobbled for life.”
Leo nodded and walked around the sofa and back toward the bathroom.
Sammy checked on Leo. “What do you think his deal is?”
Igor shrugged, staring at her chest. “Maybe he likes girls with little tits.”
Sammy grabbed the blanket off the back of the sofa and draped it over her chest. “Why do I bother?”
Igor laughed. “I wouldn’t cover up. That might be the only thing keeping him working.”
Leo walked out holding the towels. “These will do nicely.”
Igor nodded. “If I need towels, I know who to see.”
Sammy looked up at Igor. “Why don’t you check to see if Mama’s home.”
“When she comes home you will know. Everyone will know.”
Leo slipped the folded towel under her leg, then splashed something from a brown bottle.
Sammy jerked her leg away from him. “Why don’t you just put a torch to it?”
Leo fished out a pill from his pocket and handed it to her. “This is the only thing I have. It’s not an opiate.”
“You might feel it, but you won’t care,” Igor said.
“It’s either that or bite down on the towel until I can clean out the wound.”
Sammy popped the pill and swallowed. “How long is it going to take?”
Leo bent over, examining the wound. “It appears as if the wound is smaller.”
“That’s good, right?” Sammy asked. “It means it’s healing.”
Igor stepped closer. “No wound heals that quickly.”
Leo pursed his lips. “Usually that is true.”
Sammy looked up at Igor. His face seemed to get big as if they were nose to nose, and then just as quickly, he looked normal. The voices sounded hollow and dista
nt. There was laughter and it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.
One leg seemed huge while the other was normal. Leo knelt next to the big leg and drilled a hole, enlarging it as he went. “Hey, that’s my leg!”
Her voice carried away from her as if it were pulled out to sea, drifting farther away. She closed her eyes, hoping the spinning would stop, but that made it worse. She stared at the crack in the ceiling; it ran from the center to the corner of the room. It looked like a vein pulsing with blood. She focused on the vein, listening to voices that sounded like crickets in an open field.
Chapter Twenty-Four
_____________________________
Light streamed in from the side window, making the floating dust particles shimmer. Leo sat slumped in the chair on the other side of the table, steadily puffing the air of a restful sleep.
Sammy sat up and ran her fingers along her leg. It was there; it was all there. She’d had dreams that she’d have nothing but a stump.
Leo shifted in his seat. “How are you feeling?”
Sammy gently caressed her calf. It didn’t even feel sore.
Leo stood and stretched. “The wound didn’t require sutures.”
The tip of a needle poked out from under the towel on the table.
“Your friend, Sandy was it?”
“Cindy?”
“Yes, of course, Cindy. She went to get breakfast.”
Sammy lifted the blanket off and swung her feet to the floor. She leaned forward, putting weight on the foot, still not sore.
Leo came to her side. “It may be prudent to have a guide on your first few steps.”
Sammy took his arm and pulled up. Her leg felt stiff, but she could put weight on it. “Why are you helping me?”
He studied her as she took her first steps. “As I said last night, I’m trying to make the best of a bad situation.”
“Is that why you’re hiding that needle? Trying to make the best of a bad situation?”
He grinned as he helped her around the table. “Skepticism is the trademark of a good scientist. I can appreciate your point of view.”
“You’re good at talking around things.”
“I’ll endeavor to be more direct with you. I’m used to dealing with less forward-thinking people.”
Sammy let go of his arm and sat on the sofa. If it weren’t for the psychedelics, she’d probably be fine. She lifted up the towel. The syringe was filled halfway with blood. “What’s this for?”
He folded the needle into the towel and put it in the refrigerator. “I should’ve done that earlier.”
“Is that my blood?”
He leaned back against the refrigerator as if he were guarding it against intrusion. “I took a few samples.”
“How many have you got in there?”
“Three. I needed them to monitor your health.”
“Why do you care what happens to me?”
“Don’t trust anyone, Sam, especially now. I can’t tell you anything specific, but it has to do with what I was working on.”
“I guess that ‘not trusting’ don’t extend to you.”
Leo walked to the back of the chair. “I won’t lie to you. If you experience anything out of the ordinary, it’d be in your best interests to inform me.”
“Why? I can trust you?”
“I’m the only one who can help.”
“How?”
Leo shrugged. “Depends on your reaction.”
“Aren’t you full of answers.”
“Anything of concern won’t be subtle.”
He was just saying that so he’d get whatever he wanted. She tapped the floor. “Feel fine.”
“You’re doing remarkably well for someone who had a hole in your leg twelve hours ago.”
“Heal good, always have.”
He studied her for a moment, then circled around the chair and sat. “Any unsettling sensations, feelings, or thoughts?”
“Yeah, you staring at me like I’m going to explode.”
Leo leaned back. “Other than that?”
Sammy wanted to pull off the bandage but thought it’d be best to wait for Mama. It didn’t bleed much for a hole, probably nothing.
“What are you going to tell your client?” Leo asked.
“Nothing,” she said, rolling her eyes at “client.” “If I ever see him again, it’ll be too soon.”
“Are there other clients you’d prefer dealing with?”
“Who do you think I am?”
“I assumed you contracted out your services.”
Sammy liked the idea. “I steal to get by.”
“It was clever putting a smoker in the ventilation system.”
“Thought it’d be easy and got careless.”
“You wouldn’t be the first to make that mistake.”
“That’ll be the last time I let a couple of bozos talk me into anything.”
Leo puckered his lips as if he had something on his mind. “You actually were successful. You have the only thing that’ll make your client’s psychedelics.”
“I got nothing.”
“You have me.”
“Yeah, you and two kooks.” That’d make three kooks.
“But you can trade me in for your fee.”
“He’s not going to pay me five grand for you.”
“If he wants the psychedelics he will.”
“You can cut your own deal.”
“If it’ll make you feel more comfortable, structure it as a finder’s fee.”
Sammy smiled. It might just be worth seeing the look on Johnny’s face when she showed up with Leo. “You’re not going to double-cross me?”
“That’d be the last thing I’d want to do. I want to be your friend.”
Sammy leaned back. That was all she needed—another kooky friend.
●●●
Sammy and Leo sat at a VIP table, looking up at Johnny standing behind the chair across from them.
“What do you mean he’s it?” Johnny asked, squinting as if he had trouble hearing.
“He’s what you need to make the psychedelics.”
Johnny gripped the chair’s back, studying Leo. “I have to pay him to get this recipe? Is this a shakedown?”
“It’s not a simple recipe,” Leo said. “The ingredients have to be synthesized.”
“I can get the machine to make the pills.”
“Making pills is easy; creating what I’ve designed requires genetic manipulation, which is complicated.”
“I told you he wouldn’t like complicated,” Sammy said. “He only knows one and two. One girl, two boobs.”
“How about zero?” Johnny asked, sneering at her over the chair. “A gnome with no boobs.”
“You know I didn’t factor in the pain and suffering of being shot and all the bad information. It’s fifty-five hundred or we walk.”
“Why not ask for six thousand?”
“You were going to pay out fifty-five hundred anyway, Johnny. Igor’s info was worthless, so he won’t get his money.”
Johnny shuffled his feet. “How do I know he’s the guy?”
“You could always take him back to Xanadu. You might get lucky and not get shot.”
Leo cleared his throat. “If you take me there, I won’t be coming back. I ordered quite a bit of equipment that they might not feel has been adequately compensated.”
“You’re in debt to them?”
“I don’t know exactly where I sit on the credit-debit divide, but I’d imagine they were looking for a sizable return.”
“How much is this going to cost me?”
“It’ll be considerable.”
Sammy chuckled. “You’re a regular fount of information, Leo.”
“I told them what I needed, and it arrived without a bill.”
“Now you’re dealing with cheap Johnny who you got to shake upside down to get a coin out of him.”
Johnny waved to Cindy, who was setting up a table. “Doll, get me a bottle of the house
whiskey.”
Cindy brightened. “Celebrating?”
Johnny pulled the chair out and slumped into it.
Cindy swallowed and hurried off.
“There is a robust market for older equipment that should save you quite a bit.”
Cindy set a brown bottle and three glasses on the table.
“Thanks, doll,” Johnny said, pouring a glass.
“I can make a list of what equipment I’ll need.”
Johnny took a sip. “What’s your deal? Why do you want to work for me?”
“I’ll be contracting out my services to you.”
“How much will this cost?”
“From time to time, I will need additional equipment for side projects I’ll be working on.”
“So what happened with Xanadu? They didn’t want to buy this equipment?”
“It was more that my side project was destroyed by a careless mishap.”
Was he talking about her?
Johnny downed the last of the whiskey and gazed at Sammy. “You’re in finder’s fee territory. The most I ever paid for a dancer was seven hundred and fifty, and she packed the place.”
Sammy glared at him. “I knew you were a sleazeball.”
Johnny poured another glass. “Since you got shot, I’ll give you a thousand. That’s the best I can do.”
“For that amount, I’d rather see this dump sold off for firewood.”
“Why you little—”
“You’ll be mopping floors for Xanadu. ‘Johnny, you missed spot,’” she said in her best Russian accent.
Johnny rose from the chair, looking as if he had ideas of jumping on her. Sammy grabbed a fistful of bearings.
Leo’s hand shot up. “Let’s not do anything foolish.”
Johnny slid down and poured another glass.
Sammy let go of the bearings.
“So a thousand dollars is what you’re willing to pay as a finder’s fee?”
“Not so sure now,” Johnny said, taking a sip.
Was Leo going to sell her out?
“If you’re this flighty, then perhaps I can’t do business with you.”
Johnny swished the whiskey, then swallowed. “All right, a thousand.”
Sammy glared at Leo. The bastard sold her out.
“Good,” Leo said. “I’ll require a forty-five hundred relocation fee.”
Johnny’s glass slipped from his fingers and clunked to the table. “What is this?”
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