The Devil's Dream: A Nightmare by David Beers Page A

StraightAire, you receive your bonus for the rest of your life. If at any time you feel the bonus isn’t enough, then an unfortunate accident may occur. Trust me, Jamal, we vetted you, we vetted these people, too. You can guess why I walked you through the way I did rather than simply taking an elevator.”
    “It’s a smooth operation,” Matthew said, before turning around to look at his purchases. All four were Asians. One boy, three women. The boy was just that, a boy. He might have been fourteen, probably having started puberty, but not very far into it. The three women were young, eighteen tops. One had a bruised eye and Matthew walked over to her. He had to look down just a bit so that he could see her face. She didn’t look up.
    Matthew saw nothing in those black, slightly slanted eyes. A blankness comparable to what he had seen in Marley Moore.
    “Sometimes accidents happen, but it’s only a bruise. It will heal in a day or so,” Bolden said from behind him. Matthew realized Bolden thought he was looking at the girl like he was checking inventory. Matthew was looking because he had never seen a sex slave before. He was looking because he wanted to try and understand perhaps a sliver of what these people went through. Not out of compassion, but out of that singular curiosity that drove him so far in life. The curiosity to ask why. To continually ask why. There weren’t any answers in the girl’s eyes though. No answers to her past or her current mind.
    “There’s a problem,” Matthew said, still staring at the girl.
    “And what’s that?”
    “These aren’t enough.”
    Matthew turned around and saw that Mr. Bolden held a gun, as if it had dropped from the ceiling and landed in his hand with the silence of a butterfly.
    “I don’t like problems, Jamal.”
    “Neither do I, but you don’t need that gun to solve this one. I need more people is all. I’ll pay. I’ll pay a premium above what I’m already paying because I realize it’s going to put more pressure on your operation.” Matthew’s hands hung at his sides, the rest of him not moving at all.
    Bolden’s gun faced the floor, but Matthew saw his finger wrapped around the trigger. “This is my first time meeting you. We had a deal. Four people for a certain amount of money. We have your money, you have your people, but you show up now and say that you want to change the deal. You’re saying that you want more. How many more, Jamal?”
    “As many as you can get at once. Twenty, maybe.”
    “You want twenty people at once, as opposed to the four we agreed on. How do you think that looks to me?”
    Matthew said nothing.
    “It looks suspicious, like maybe you’re wanting me to find more people because you’re wanting to build a stronger case against me. Like maybe a life sentence wouldn’t be enough for you and your friends.”
    Matthew laughed loud and heavy. “I see. I see. I’m going to turn around here, if you don’t mind, and look back at the merchandise for a second. Try not to let the gun fire into my back if you can.” He turned and stepped closer to the girl. “Mr. Bolden, I can promise, I’m not interested in either a life sentence or a death sentence for you.”
    In an instant, Matthew brought a blade from his pocket and opened the girl’s throat. He stepped back quickly to avoid being splashed too much, and her life flooded to the floor. He hadn’t escaped all of it though, some having sprayed immediately onto his white shirt and face. He didn’t move to wipe any of it off.
    He turned around and looked at the man holding the gun. Turning his palms towards Bolden, the blade still in his right hand, the girl hanging limply behind him, Matthew said, “I’m not too interested in getting the authorities involved at all.”

    * * *
    A rt heard his phone ringing and turned on his side to look at it. He was in his office, lying on a couch against the wall. Jake was outside, sleeping on the floor with his undershirt as a