by Jake Bible
I walked to my desk and sat down, throwing the evidence bag on the desk as I pulled out the apocalypse blade and tucked that into a drawer. Harper got up and walked over to look at the bag. Sharon pretended that she didn’t want to, but her eyes kept darting toward my desk as she busied herself with whatever administrative work she had for the day.
The toilet flushed, and Lassa came out of the bathroom. He immediately saw me and Harper and joined us.
“So, that’s it,” he stated. “That’s the key to Aspen.”
“That’s the key to Aspen,” I said. “The real Aspen Littlestick.”
“What are you going to do?” Harper asked.
“Nothing.” I opened a different desk drawer, tossed the evidence bag in there, then shut the drawer. “I’m gonna let the goddamn thing rot right there. Not like anyone can do anything with it. I’m the only one that can open the box.”
“You sure you don’t want to put the key someplace more secure?” Harper asked. “Have you thought this through? Aspen is not the faerie you want to mess with.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t,” Harper said. “You didn’t meet him. You met Travis pretending to be him. Aspen is a million times worse and will not hesitate to slit you open from nuts to neck if he ever gets free of the Dim.”
“Yikes. Nuts to neck?”
“Nuts to neck.”
“That sounds bad.” I smirked.
“Asshole.” Harper went back to her desk.
Everyone started going over whatever crap had piled up while we were gone. I waited a few minutes, then snuck another Dim key from my pocket and stuck that in the drawer with Aspen’s. Harpies in a Dim box was still going to be my little secret. Last thing I wanted was to get a lecture from any of them about how dangerous harpies were, especially after Harper’s speech about Aspen.
The office door opened and Chappy Reginue came falling in. Falling because he’d been pushed by two dopplers into our office.
“Lawter, you gotta help me,” he said as he picked himself up. He held out his Dim key. “I need to open this up and get that kobold head back.”
“Sharon?” I asked.
“He has not paid the invoice I sent him,” Sharon said.
“No can do, Chappy,” I replied to the sniveling scumbag. “Once you pay your invoice, then I can take that key from you and fetch your box. But we are very strict about not retrieving boxes when there’s an outstanding balance on the account.”
“Get the box,” the dopplers said and moved to walk past the wooden rail that marked the reception area from the rest of the office.
They hit a wall. Literally. The railing was hexed. No one but employees of Black Box Inc. could get past the barrier unless we wanted them to.
“Get the box,” they said again.
“No,” I said.
“Lawter, please, man, you gotta,” Chappy said. “They’re going to not kill me.”
Ooh . . . not killing. One Guy was notorious for not killing beings and torturing them forever instead. Rumor had it he knew of a dimension that was basically eternity, where the pain could last forever.
“Chappy, listen to me. You too, dopplers. I am not fetching your box until you pay your bill.”
“Will cash be all right?” a man said as he walked into the office.
White suit, white hat, white shoes, black shirt, and white tie.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,” the One Guy said. “I would like to pay this useless speck of dust’s invoice for him, if I may.”
I looked at Sharon, she shrugged. I looked at Lassa and Harper, but their eyes were on the dopplers, leaving the One Guy to me.
“Huh,” was all I said.
Goddamn. Things just got very interesting.
But that was the business we were in.
The End
Ready for the next Black Box Inc. crew adventure?
Coming Spring 2018
Blood Ghast Blues
Kindle
Want to know more about Jake Bible? Read on!
Please visit these websites for more information about
Jake Bible
Author’s Web Page
Facebook
Twitter
Experience Jake’s other titles from Bell Bridge Books
Stone Cold Bastards
Kindle
Blood Ghast Blues
Kindle
Sign up for email updates about
Jake Bible
(Please continue reading for more information about the author)
About the Author
JAKE BIBLE, Bram Stoker Award-nominated novelist, short story writer, independent screenwriter, podcaster, and inventor of the Drabble Novel, has entertained thousands with his horror and sci/fi tales. He reaches audiences of all ages with his uncanny ability to write a wide range of characters and genres.
Jake is the author of the bestselling Z-Burbia series set in Asheville, NC, the bestselling Salvage Merc One, the Apex Trilogy (DEAD MECH, The Americans, Metal and Ash) and the Mega series for Severed Press, as well as the YA zombie novel Little Dead Man, the Bram Stoker Award-nominated teen horror novel Intentional Haunting, the ScareScapes series, and the Reign of Four series for Permuted Press.
His titles from Bell Bridge Books are: Stone Cold Bastards and Black Box Inc.