Page 15 of Empowereds

15

E nzo tromped through the grocery store, checking to see which of the items on the list were in stock. About half of them. A pretty good haul for one grocery store. Still, he was in a bad mood. He’d called headquarters on his way to the store and told them he needed some black-market items. He asked if they could set up a place for him to buy things so he wouldn’t have to go to Speedy’s.

Enzo had arrested Speedy about a year ago for selling narcotics. The man might remember him and blow his cover. Ditto for any other blackmarket places that carried drugs. Enzo only knew the ones where he’d arrested somebody.

Mr. Perry, Schmitt’s assistant, hardly seemed worried about Enzo’s problem. He said in an unconcerned voice that he would pass on the message. No amount of insisting on Enzo’s part made him see the urgency of the situation.

For Enzo’s suggestion to work, Schmitt would need some time to locate a place, convince them to cooperate, and send the drugs on Charity’s list.

Enzo’s phone buzzed. Charity was calling. He answered the phone. “Hello?”

“I’m walking into the store,” she said. “Where are you?”

And that was another thing that irritated him. The girl was far too naive for her own good. “I’m halfway to Iowa. Thanks for giving me your truck.”

“No, really. Where are you?”

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that you shouldn’t give your keys to someone you hardly know?”

She sighed. “You wouldn’t steal the truck. It has a tracking device on it.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“How do you know that?”

Because he’d checked. “Because I know you got it from the slavers. They wouldn’t have a tracker on it. Do you know what these things sell for? You could be stranded in the city right now.”

“If you wanted to steal the truck, you would’ve done it before. You have a gun. You could’ve pulled it on Callum and me and forced us out of the truck on the way to the city. So I assumed you wouldn’t steal it now instead of going to the grocery store.”

Granted, if he’d planned on a carjacking, stranding Charity and Callum miles away from the city where they couldn’t report the theft for some time would be a better plan. “Maybe I didn’t take it then because you also had a gun.”

“You could’ve disarmed me while I slept.”

“You weren’t sleeping. You were just ignoring me.” A person’s breathing rate changed when they slept. Hers hadn’t.

“Okay. Fine. You’ve made your point. I shouldn’t trust you.”

Not what he was going for. “The point isn’t that you shouldn’t trust me . The point is that you shouldn’t trust anyone so quickly. People will think you’re an easy mark.”

“Are you going to tell me where you are? Oh, never mind. I see you down the feminine hygiene aisle.”

He turned and spotted her at the far end of the row. “Yeah, and you shouldn’t have assigned those items to me. I don’t know what women want.”

“Clearly.”

Ouch. The girl wasn’t all sweetness and light. Before he could come up with a response, she ended the call and put her phone back in her pocket. She strode over to the cart and checked the items in it. While she sorted through them, his eyes couldn’t help but linger on her profile. The curve of her cheeks and pink lips. Those lips, now pursed in thought, had kissed him so eagerly last night.

He shouldn’t think about those sorts of things right now.

She picked up a chocolate candy bar. “This wasn’t on the list.”

“I’m buying that with my own money.”

She turned the bar over in her hand. “You’ve got expensive taste.”

“Actually, I’m buying it for you as an apology for last night. I was abrupt and unthinking.”

Her expression didn’t soften.

“And stupid,” he added. Stupid for upbraiding her and stupid for not buying the chocolate before she showed up. He’d meant to offer the apology somewhere more romantic than the feminine hygiene aisle.

Her eyes met his. The coldness he’d seen all day was still there, going full blast. She handed the chocolate back to him. “You don’t need to apologize. It was my fault for giving you the wrong impression about me.”

She pulled a few boxes from the shelf and added them to the cart.

“The wrong impression being…?”

“That I’m—how did you put it? An easy mark.” She took the grocery list from the cart and scanned it.

This wasn’t going well. He’d insulted her more than he’d realized last night. She wouldn’t even accept his chocolate. He lowered his voice. “I didn’t think you were easy. I just…” What good excuse could he give for the way he’d stalked off and left her standing there? He couldn’t tell her he’d wanted to keep kissing her, and that had troubled him because he was deceiving her. “Can we please start over?”

“Sure.” She added another box to the cart’s supply.

“Good.” That was progress.

She scanned the list again. “In this redo, I’m a much harder mark. Less trusting, just like you advised.”

He put the candy bar back into the cart.

She quirked her eyebrows but didn’t come right out and ask why he was buying it. He lifted his hands in explanation. “I have a feeling I’m going to need the apology chocolate sooner or later. Might as well buy it now.”

They bought their items, left the store, and drove downtown. As Charity pulled into the parking garage, Enzo checked his phone again. Still no message from headquarters, coded or otherwise. Despite his attempts to dissuade Charity from going to Speedy’s—it was a dangerous part of town; they were likely to get mugged—she wasn’t having any of it.

“Do you know what’s really dangerous?” she asked, coasting into a parking spot. “Having an infection without access to antibiotics.” She tapped her sidearm. “We both have guns. No one will mess with us.”

And so now they were on their way to the ill-reputed pharmacy. The buildings in this part of town were dirty and run down with bars crisscrossing the windows. Overflowing trash cans spilled rubbish onto the sidewalks.

Graffiti covered Speedy’s and the shops next to it. Mostly slurs against Empowereds, raiders, and the police. Nice that he had equal billing with the worst of society.

A homeless guy sat near the doorway, his glassy eyes staring at people on the street. A lookout? Did Speedy hire those now?

Enzo tried to convince himself not to worry. Speedy had several employees. What were the chances he’d be working the back desk today? And even if he was, that didn’t mean he would remember Enzo. The bust had happened months ago, and police officers probably all looked the same to him.

He and Charity strolled inside. The store was long and thin with four rows of standing shelves stretching backward toward the pharmacy desk. TV screens played the news in the front near the checkout counters. Laws required businesses to play the government’s channel, but here, the volume was turned down low, and only captions ran across the screen.

Charity grabbed one of the shopping baskets and went to the first aid shelf to search for items the grocery store didn’t have. “See if they have any multivitamins,” she told Enzo. “Eight bottles if you can get them. Also, look for some pain-numbing cream.”

“Ok.” He moved down an aisle with painkillers, scoping out the place. A tall blond man with a mustache stood in the back at the pharmacy desk. Not Speedy. Things would be fine.

An empty space sat on the shelf where numbing cream should be. Enzo went down the vitamin aisle to see if he would have better luck there.

One of Speedy’s men was stocking the shelves. Enzo vaguely recognized the guy—shaved head and a scar at the corner of his mouth. The man was unnaturally thin, a sign he’d been a user for a long time. The sergeant had been sure the man was involved in illegal drug sales, but they hadn’t had the evidence to arrest him.

Enzo did his best to keep his face averted.

After a few moments, the man left the boxes on the ground and hurried to the back room.

That was probably normal employee behavior. Still, the sooner he and Charity got out of here, the better. He brought two bottles to her. “There’s a limit of one per customer. We can both be customers.”

She placed the bottles in her basket and continued down the aisle, plucking things from the shelf. When she’d checked the store for the rest of the things on her list, she made her way to the pharmacist’s counter.

Speedy emerged from the back room. He was a heavy-set man, not so much overweight as he was wide and large. He had close-cut brown hair and tattoos that spread across his beefy arms. A cigarette dangled from his lips. The fact that he hadn’t bothered to put it out before coming onto the floor didn’t bode well. Pharmacists weren’t supposed to smoke.

Speedy relieved the man at the desk. He folded his arms, lifted his chin challengingly, and glared in Enzo’s direction.

Yep. The guy remembered him.

Was there any way to salvage this so Speedy didn’t blow his cover?

Charity swept up to Speedy and laid her basket and list on the counter. “Hi. We’d like to buy these things, and we’re wondering if you had some items that weren’t on the shelves.” She leaned closer. “Antibiotics, antivirals, prescription-strength painkillers, steroids, and syringes.”

Speedy didn’t take the cigarette from his mouth. “Depends. Do you have a prescription for those items?”

She smiled sheepishly and ducked her head, all charm and eyelash flutters. “We’re harvesters from the country and need things on hand for our nurse. Would you let us buy them without prescriptions?”

Speedy’s eyes went to Enzo. “Harvesters from the country, eh?”

“We’ve got the callouses to prove it,” Enzo lifted his hands. “Well, she has the callouses. I’ve mostly just got open sores. It’s a new job for me.”

“Is it?” Speedy clearly didn’t believe Enzo.

“I’m hoping you have Doxycycline,” Charity said, “but I’ll consider any broad-spectrum antibiotics.”

Speedy kept glaring at Enzo. “Sorry. We’re strictly above board here. Keeping the law to its letter. Can’t sell you anything without a prescription. I learned that lesson well, officer.”

Officer. Enzo laughed like he thought Speedy was telling a joke. “Okay, then. I can tell we’re not going to be able to convince you. Why don’t you scan our basket so we can pay and leave?”

Speedy placed the basket on the scanner, and the total lit up on the machine. Charity hesitated, clearly puzzled by Speedy’s flat refusal. “If you can’t sell us anything without a prescription, do you know of a place that can?”

“Nope. I only hang out with law-abiding citizens. I’m a reformed man.”

She sighed and handed him some bills. He scanned them, checking they were legit, and gave her back the change.

She and Enzo put the items into their packs. Speedy drifted away from the counter, still watching Enzo with narrow eyes.

Charity zipped up her pack, and the two headed across the store. “We’re nearly out of antibiotics. Maybe we should just ask shady-looking people on the street if they know of places we could go for drugs.”

Enzo really didn’t want to do that. If another place had the same reaction to him, she would wonder why.

“Give me the money,” he told her, “and go wait by the door. I’ll talk to Speedy on my own. I think you made him nervous.”

“Me?” She blinked in confusion. “What did I do?”

“You look too honest.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Give me the money. I’m used to dealing with city people.”

She bit back a response and handed him the cash. Apparently, she didn’t want to go canvass sketchy individuals for information any more than he did.

He strode back to the pharmacy counter. Speedy eyed him, taking slow drags from his cigarette. When Enzo reached the counter, Speedy blew smoke in his direction. The cigarettes were the extra strength type that burned people’s eyes.

“Look,” Enzo whispered. “I’m obviously not here undercover asking you to do something illegal. I know you recognize me. I really am here because my friend needs those items. All I want is to do business.”

Another puff. “Well, then it’s a shame you arrested me. That put you right on my blacklist. I had to pay an eleven hundred credit fine the last time I did business with you.”

“I’ll make sure you’re reimbursed.” Enzo would add it to the list of things to talk to Schmitt about.

Speedy stepped closer, breathing smoke while he talked like some sort of dragon. “Show me the eleven hundred, and I’ll consider it.”

“I don’t have that much on me now, but I’ll get it to you. I promise.” He pulled out his wallet and emptied it of bills. “Here’s something to tide you over until I can get you the rest.”

Speedy didn’t reach for the money. “Right. And if you don’t give me the rest, I can go to the police station and complain that you didn’t pay me what you promised during an illegal drug deal.”

“You can test me for devices. I don’t have any. No one is recording this. If you search me, all you’re going to find is a gun.” And with that thought, Enzo had just found his way around the problem. “In fact, I’m officially threatening to use my gun on you if you don’t go through with the deal. That way, if I ever did take you to court for this transaction, you could say this was more of a robbery than a business exchange. The charges against you wouldn’t stand, and I’d be thrown out of the force. You see, it’s legit.”

Speedy chewed on his cigarette as he considered the offer. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you thrown out of the force.”

Enzo smiled. “See, it’s a win-win.”

Speedy picked up the stack of bills. “When do I get the rest of my eleven hundred?”

“As soon as headquarters does the paperwork. That is, as long as you don’t say anything about me being a police officer to the woman I’m with.”

Speedy’s gaze flicked to her. “You running stings on harvesters now? What—are they smuggling cabbage?”

“Exactly. We ran out of crime in the city, so we’re expanding.”

Speedy drummed his fingers on the countertop. “Here’s the deal. You return the eleven hundred, and for the next month, no one from your department hassles me about anything. If I park in the police chief’s parking spot, I don’t get no ticket.”

Typical for Speedy. Always haggling for a better deal. “You know I can’t do that.”

Speedy waved to Charity. “Miss, can you come back here?”

“Fine,” Enzo muttered. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Charity strolled up, hesitant but hopeful.

Speedy grinned at her, an oily smile. “Let me see your list. I decided to help you after all.”