“Great. Well, pleasure as always. See you later,” Thom said to me.
“Wait,” Jay grunted. Thom looked up, surprised. “We have new deal.” Jay gave me a long look, and then said, “You’re going to make runs once a week until debt is paid.”
I blinked at him. “Are you fucking crazy? Twice a month is dangerous enough.”
“Once a week. We meet here again next Monday for the drop.”
“How is that even going to work? Is there enough supply up north?”
“There’s supply. They know you’re coming.”
I clenched my jaw. Making the hike up across the Canadian border wasn’t an easy trip, although I had mastered it over the past few years. It still took at least a day to get up there and another day to get back, with one night camping out in the woods.
How was I going to explain to my parents why I was disappearing for two days every single week? Every other week was bad enough, but I made it work by varying my schedule. I didn’t have enough excuses to make any more variations in my normal routine.
“You’re putting me in a bad spot,” I said.
“We know. But Jay here, he knows what he’s doing,” Thom said, trying to play the peacekeeper.
“You’re the best, no?” Jay said, staring at me. “You want to get out of this debt?”
“Yes,” I said through my teeth.
“Then do these runs. Don’t complain again.”
I wanted to break his jaw then and there. As the anger flowed through me, I realized that I wasn’t afraid of him at all. Yeah, he creeped me out, but that didn’t mean I would hesitate to smash his arrogant face.
But I needed to pay back my debts. It had been too long since I last devoted myself to climbing, and the urge to get back on the walls was getting too powerful to ignore. Now that my mom was better and the bills were down to a manageable level, I didn’t need the cash as badly anymore.
It was a big risk, but I’d be out.
“Fine,” I said. “But don’t call me a mule.”
He smiled, a sick, twisted, and creepy smile. “Very good. You’re very good, Climber.”
“Great. It’s settled. See you next Monday, Climber,” Thom said.
I watched as Jay climbed back into the car, smiling to himself. Thom gave me an apologetic look. You piece of shit, you better have a good explanation for this
, I thought as he started the engine and drove off.
As soon as they were gone, I turned back and headed toward home. The sun was low in the sky, and I knew I had to hurry if I wanted to make it in time for dinner.
But I was nervous. Things were changing, and I didn’t know why. As far as I knew, everything had been going smoothly, aside for that one missed drop. But Jay showing up out of nowhere meant things were in motion that I knew nothing about.
And one run a week was going to be hard, really hard. I was going to have to push myself further than I ever had before. I almost died once trying to get the drugs across the border. I wasn’t trying to do that again.
Sometimes, late at night, I still dreamed about that fall.
It was getting dark, but I had to keep pushing. The cold was sapping into every corner of my body, tightening my muscles, making my breath come looser. I was already behind schedule and I needed to hurry if I was going to make it home on time.
The package was snug in my pack. I picked my way carefully through the trees, walking fast but not quite jogging. I was still an hour or two from home, but I didn’t want to stop and make camp.
Suddenly, I heard a twig snap nearby. I looked over in that direction, distracted.
It happened so fast. One second I was moving through the low snow, looking for whatever animal had made the sound, and the next I was tumbling head over heels.
I wasn’t sure how I missed the ravine, but I had. Luckily, the hill I fell down wasn’t too steep. Still, my pack went flying. It broke open, snapping the pill bottles and sending the white specks into the clean snow. I wasn’t worried about that yet, though, as I slammed into a tree at the base of the hill.
The wind whipped out of me and pain lanced through my ribs and my wrist. I lay there, breathing deeply and blinking.
I was fucking lucky to be alive.
After a few minutes of making sure nothing was broken or bleeding, I hurried off to find my pack.
The horror when I saw that the pill cases were broken and the pills had scattered filled every inch of me. I tried to find as many as I could, but they were gone, lost in the white snow, scattered across the hill.
I limped back home, broken, bruised, and worried.
Thom and his handlers had been pissed when I showed up empty-handed. That was supposed to have been my last run. Mom had gone into remission and the bills were mostly paid off. Between Jack and whatever I could scrape up, we’d be fine.