Intoxifresh

Chapter Seventeen

George dreamt about Catherine again. He was holding his mobile phone and reading a text message she'd sent apologising for her stupidity. It was all her fault she'd said. He was euphoric at the thought of being with her again. His dream was disturbed by sounds coming from a radio playing in the kitchen and he awoke and sat up in bed. George knew he'd been dreaming but reached for his phone anyway, there was no text message from Catherine. He knew she didn't care about him, not anymore. It was all over. He yawned as he got out of bed, washed and dressed, then walked down to find Simon at Tom's computer. 'There's coffee in the pot if you'd like some.' Simon said pointing to the coffee machine sat on the work surface.

'What are you doing up so early?' George asked, thinking that perhaps Simon was up to no good.

Simon remained focused on the computer screen as he took a sip from his coffee. 'I'm checking my emails. There's quite a list as I haven't checked them for a while.' George sat down at the table opposite Simon. He was still thinking about Catherine, then his thoughts turned to Mr Merrick, he wondered what the old man might do once he'd discovered the pills he has are fakes. He phoned Karim and explained about Mr Merrick filing for patent and asked him to keep an eye open at work. Karim was more than happy to help. George poured himself a coffee and enjoyed his first dose of caffeine of the day.

Simon was clicking away but then his short intake of breath caught George's attention. He noticed a sudden apprehension in Simon's expression. The look on Simon's face turned to fear, then to absolute dread. 'Oh no, oh fucking shit no. What the...?' He couldn't believe what he was reading.

'What's wrong?' George asked as he put down his patenting leaflet. Simon was shaking his head and saying 'no' over and over again. George slammed his fist down on to the wooden table to bring Simon to his senses, which also woke Tom from his sleep.

'This isn't right. It's not possible.' he said. His eyes were glued to the computer screen. 'They were real. I tested one myself.'

George leaned forwards onto his elbows. 'What are you talking about?'

'It's from them.' Simon said feeling drained. 'I've received an email from Marco Santorini, sent very late last night. There's a hell of a lot of spelling mistakes. Perhaps he was drunk when he sent it.'

George knew this had to be bad news. 'What does it say?' he enquired.

'He's saying that the pills don't work. I saw Karim hand them to that huge hairy man myself, the same day that bastard took my car. Why the hell is he saying they're not real?' Simon asked, full of concern.

Tom had just heard the tail end of the conversation as he walked into his kitchen. 'Who's saying what aren't real?' he asked, pouring a coffee and reaching for his rolling papers.

'The guy in Manhattan. He's tested the fake ones.' George confirmed.

Simon looked at George aghast. 'What the fuck do you mean fake ones?'

Without replying both Tom and George stood behind Simon and read the email. Marco Santorini was very angry and the message was full of threats towards Simon if the real pills weren't sent immediately.

'This is all I need,' Simon proclaimed as he continued to shake his head.

Tom patted him on the shoulder and refilled Simon's coffee mug. 'Have another coffee. We need to decide what to do here. On the bright side you don't really have a daughter being held by them, that really would have changed everything,' Tom said as he began to roll up.

'Tom, this could be more serious than you think,' George said, rereading the email. 'The guy sounds like a complete lunatic. We really don't want to get involved with guns and knives. Perhaps we should go to the police and ask them to investigate. They may offer us protection.'