Suzie’s House 209: The First Clue

Fascinated by the way his footsteps echoed off the concrete floor and walls of the hall in the club’s basement, Drew stopped. It shouldn’t have surprised him when the hollow sound also stopped. It was as if he still had China Black in his blood stream. Or maybe as if he was never going to recover from it. He stood there right outside the room where he was supposed to meet up with Dave, unable to move.

It was a lucky break. Having stopped when he did gave him a once-in-a-million chance to eavesdrop.

“You sure you never took any?” A deep voice with an Hispanic accent spoke.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure.” That was the guy Dave had introduced to him last night. Carlos? Yes, Carlos. “Why do you keep asking?”

“Because it’s instantly addictive,” said the deep voice.

“Instantly addictive? What’s that? Never heard of nothing like that before.”

“Well, if you want to know what I mean, just take a little of it yourself.”

“How do you know it’s… that thing you just said?”

“Oh, please. Of course I know. I..” here the words became muffled as the man speaking moved around, but Drew thought he heard something like “designed it myself.”

“Right. Right, Professor.”

Drew’s mind painted a picture of Carlos smiling and nodding like an idiot. The image was entirely too vivid.

“If you haven’t been doing it, then why is the take so low this week? Sure you haven’t been staring into space when you should be selling?”

“It’ll be here. The last batch hasn’t been out that long. I put it in hashish this time, so it’s harder to move. Got to give the guys a chance to sell it, right? Right?”

The deep voiced man said nothing. Drew wondered what he might be thinking.

“I’ll give you one more week. Then you better have all the money ready,” the stranger said.

Wait. Shouldn’t he be trying to see this guy? It could be someone significant. Maybe Ramirez himself. Drew pulled his feet loose from the cold, hard floor with an effort of will. It felt like wading in the ocean as the tide pulled the sand out from under his feet. Before Dave made him smoke the China Black to prove himself, he’d never felt like this.

With a sense of triumph, he moved forward, toward the door. He’d barely taken two steps before someone he’d never seen before whipped into the hall.

The man was tall and thin with deep lines in his tan face and a mop of white hair stylishly combed back. Drew automatically nodded as they passed. The man whisked past as if Drew weren’t even there.

Momentum carried Drew into the room when he might otherwise have stopped to stare at the man. Who knew where that would lead?

Carlos stood next to the kitchen table someone had brought in to act as a conference table. He stared morosely at a small, brown, glass bottle sitting in the middle of it. When he saw Drew, he scooped up the bottle and slipped it in a pocket.

“Oh. It’s you.” Carlos relaxed visibly, if dismissively.

“Dave told me to come. He said there was work.”

“Oh. Yeah. Lock the door.”

While Drew complied, Carlos brought out a large ziplock bag full of pot. He spread the stuff out on the table. “Help me with this.”

“Yeah.” Drew made his way back to the table and helped spread the stiff, green leaves. “What are we doing? I mean, how am I supposed to be doing this?”

“We’re going to lace the pot with the stuff.”

“China Black?”

“Yeah. That’s what I said.” Carlos stopped and looked at Drew. “Unless you can think of a better way to do this.”

Drew shrugged as if he couldn’t care less.

“See, people only see the pot and don’t think it’s valuable. They don’t want to pay full price. But the other stuff we put it in didn’t work.”

“So, why not just sell it as is?”

“Too strong.” Carlos brought out the little bottle. He shook it, making the liquid inside slosh.

“Can’t we put it in water?”

“Don’t know. It’s a designer drug. Ramirez himself made the stuff – invented it in a bio lab. And we’re the Guinea pigs.”

Drew stared at the table covered in marijuana and thought about busting Carlos for it in a passing, non-committal way. He hadn’t gone undercover to catch the little fish. Then he thought about smoking the pot with China Black in it and instantly felt a craving.

“Does it have to burn to work,” he asked.

“Don’t know.”

“Well, if we’re the Guinea pigs, let’s test it.” He looked around for a glass of water. There was a break room type kitchenette at the back of the room. He got a paper cup and filled it with tap water. “Put a couple of drops in this.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Carlos gave Drew a sidelong look as he said it, but he didn’t argue. He put in a single drop. “So… you’ve had some before?”

“Dave gave it to me.” Drew licked his lips nervously as he raised the cup.

Nervous, and eager. What an awful combination. The craving kicked in. As soon as he get the China Black into his system, it would take him places he couldn’t get any other way. Everything would be all right then.

Addiction. That’s what he felt. He had to fight it, but Carlos was watching. He had to act like he really wanted to do with in front of Carlos. Before he could get drawn into another one of those creepy fugue states, he drank the spiked water.

And there it was. Faster than when he smoked it with Dave. A hard rush of excitement followed by a rolling wave of pleasure. The only thing that could compare was sex, and that took more time and work. He felt so good he had to fight to keep his eyes from rolling back in his head.

Carlos watched eagerly. “Worked. Didn’t it,” he said knowingly.

Drew nodded.

“Good. Cause I’m going to crawl right out of my skin if I don’t get a fix.” He grabbed went to the sink and grabbed a paper cup, hands shaking.

Instant addiction. Physical addiction? Drew got a feeling he was already in too deep.

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