"Here you go, squirt." He opened the wrapped that surrounded the straw, slipped it in to the lid of the shake before handing it over.
The little girl barely lifted her eyes to look at him, "Take it. It's for you. It's a strawberry milkshake."
"Strawberry?" She whispered.
"Strawberry" he repeated, smiling when she finally took it from him. He hadn't lied, but he hadn't been honest either.
It was strawberry, but it had a kicker in it.
Benadryl.
Enough Benadryl to knock the kid out for the duration of the next leg of her journey.
This certainly wasn't what he has envisioned himself doing when he 'grew up' but it was a job. A well paying job at that. It kept a roof over his head, and food in his belly. He had grown up in extreme poverty and he was going to make sure he would never go down that road again.
He couldn't think about what happened to children he delivered if he did it would be the end of him. He wasn't proud of himself, in fact most days he hated himself. Money made people do all sorts of things and he wasn't immune to the power of the almighty dollar.
He had decided pretty early on in the game that he would never touch a single hair on the head of the child he was delivering. He had heard horror stories of those he worked with, it was disgusting.
Instead he chose to make the kids he had feel safe even if it was just for a short time. He'd grab them some food and a drink after they'd been on the road a bit and then he would spike it. Right now, Benadryl was his drug of choice. It was effective and long lasting with little to no side effects.
She took a long sip, "Thanks." She grabbed a chicken nugget, "can I go see my mommy now?"
He looked at her in the mirror, "Sure kid. Headed that way now..I bet she's missed you."he was certain his own mother was rolling over in her grave. He had to push that all out of his head. The moment he dropped that kid off he'd never think of her again. He couldn't.
He wanted no part of what happened next.
At least that's what he kept telling himself, but that was a load of bullshit. He could it end it. He could take the little girl and hand her over to the authorities. Shit, he could just hand her over at the McDonald's they had just ordered food from.
He didn't.
The pull of the almighty dollar had him.
It was late, Adam had kept his eyes Kim since they walked out of that locker room just two days ago. They were all running on fumes and he was terrified for Kim, they all had begun to lose hope.
"Why don't I take you home? Kim, you need to sleep." Erin wrapped an arm around her.
Kim shrugged her arm off of her, "I can't go home. Not without my little girl."
Erin nodded her head, "Ok. I'm just worried about you.."
"Don't." Kim got up from her desk, "I'm fine..see? Safe and sound. London is the one you need to be worried about, alright? Not me." She stalked off towards the break room.
Erin moved to follow her. "No. I got her." Adam held his hand up to stop Erin.
"Here.." he lifted the sleeping girl from the car seat, "my money?"
