Convergent Realities - Chapter Four - Raw Deal

“You should have waited until I came to get you,” Angelo said as I staggered out of the back.

“The chair fucking finished. I’m not going to sit around for another ten minutes, waiting for you to get me,” I spat. “I spend enough of my time on the damn thing as is.”

“You’re choice,” he replied with an easy smile. “You want me to purify the residue and get it back to you?”

“Fucking keep it, I need the cash. ” I said, carefully leaning on the counter across from him. “Speaking of…”

Angelo grunted, reached under the counter and pulled out a tablet. “A tally of both Jacob’s commission, and the talismans you brought in. Quality stuff, so we’re going to pay a premium. I need your approval.” 

I took the tablet and read through it quickly. The prices were slightly higher than usual, but nothing completely abnormal. I pressed my thumb on the screen to give my approval.

“Any more business today?” Angelo asked, lighting another of his damned cigarettes.

“Not with you. I need to pick up a couple supplies before I go,” I said pushing away from the counter.

“Fine. I’ll credit your internal account for now. Make sure you let Malcom know when you’re done, so we can transfer the remainder to your civilian account,” Angelo said, sinking into his chair, and making a shooing motion. “And next time, try and go more than a month before needing a purge. They’re not exactly good for the body.”

“Yeah, well, untamed magic is worse,” I grumbled as I turned to the door. “I’ll see you later.”

“Stay safe,” came his reply as I stepped back onto the concourse.

There was significantly more activity on the concourse now, compared to when I arrived. Most of the faces I recognized, there weren’t that many people that willingly entered Bleeds without a contract after all. I nodded to a couple as I walked through, but didn’t stop to chat. Despite having the same profession, I couldn’t exactly call any of these people friends. Most were in it for the money, and you could never know who would stab you in the back for a little essence. We all had our little clicks, and we kept to them.

Once I reached the far side of the concourse I ducked under a half open security gate, and into the old food court. All the tables had been shoved to one side of the area, in order to make room for pallets full of raw materials. I didn’t bother browsing, because the first time I brought Tessa here she spent hours going through every single pallet, raving about the quality, and rarity, of each material. Despite all her instruction, all I learned was where each material was located, and that I wanted to spend as little time here as possible.

The ‘sales counter’ was located right in the middle of the area, in what used to be an information booth. I couldn’t see anyone manning the counter when I walked up, but that wasn’t unusual.

“Malcolm! Fucking wake-up!” I growled, as I kicked the side of the counter. “I want to place an order.”

As soon as I kicked the counter a scruffy, brown haired man poked his head above the counter. “Hey… Keira, nice to see you,” the man said, slowly removing his oversized sunglasses.

“Yeah, nice to see you too,” I said sarcastically. “I have an order I need filled, and I want my account paid out.”

“Right, I can do that,” Malcolm replied, pushing himself to his feet. I constantly forgot how huge the man was, pushing seven feet of pure muscle. You’d never know that by the way he carried himself, or the fact that half the time you interacted with him it was from a seated position. “What do you need?”

“A kilo of silver, and another of obsidian,” I said, leaning on the counter. It wasn’t much, but it helped relieve the strain on my aching muscles, just a little bit.

“That’s it? You usually a lot more,” he asked in surprise.

“Tessa buys a lot more,” I replied sullenly. “I’m only here to pick up the essentials for her today.”

“Right,” he said, punching up a few numbers on his tablet. When he was done he passed it over, and shot me a crooked grin. “You need me to help you with the order?”

“Just give me a box for the ingots,” I snapped. “And transfer the balance to my external account.”

“It’ll take a couple days, since we need to bounce it between accounts to hide the origin,” he reminded me.

“It’s not my first time dealing with the process,” I said, pressing my finger down on the pad to authorize. “I can wait a few days.”

“In that case, I think we’re done here today,” Malcolm said, passing a small box to me before slowly lowering himself to the floor again.

“You’re not going to watch me grab the mats?” I asked, leaning over the counter.

“I consider you one of our most trustworthy customers,” he replied with a wave of his hand. “Plus there's surveillance. You’d never risk losing access to the market over a few ingots. Go!”

“Alright then… bye, I guess,” I said awkwardly. Stepping away from the counter and towards the storage area. 

It didn’t take me long to find what I’d paid for, despite the size of the area it was well organized. I just slipped the two ingots into the box Malcom gave me, and headed out. 

When I reached the entrance Callista silently passed me the box with my pistol and watched as I checked it. “Hope you found everything you needed today,” she said cheerfully.

“I did, like always,” I replied mutely, stepping up to the elevator. “Thanks.”

“Alright, see you soon then,” she called as I stepped onto the lift. As soon as the doors closed I slumped. Pretending to be alright was tough, especially when it felt like my entire body had been put through the ringer. 

As soon as I made it to the truck I just threw the ingots into the passenger seat. It felt like too much work to deal with them properly right now, and I just wanted to go home. Despite my exhaustion, I still needed to perform some due diligence. 

When I left the market I turned away from home and turned into a random residential area about five minutes away. I took it slow, randomly turning on to sidestreets, and even stopping once or twice, while I watched for anyone following me. The last thing I wanted to do was lead some bottom feeder to our home, and risk Maria and Tessa. It was only after I was convinced I was safe that I turned towards home. 

I found it hard to keep my eyes open, but I managed to make it back safely. The place was dark when I arrived, so it was a struggle to get the garage door open, and move the truck in without any help. I didn’t think it was that late, but considering even the lights in Tessa’s workshop were out, it must have been.

Using my phone’s light to navigate I made my way to my room, almost tripping on my own duffle bag, before throwing the thing on the nightstand and collapsing into bed. Changing wasn’t worth the effort, sleep was all that mattered, and tomorrow was another day.