3MA

3MA | Chapter 26

26
RED CARPET

The basement elevator doors slides open and reveals the last person in the world I want to see, leaning against the cracked mirrored wall, stealing a swig of whiskey from a dented hip flask.

"I think I took this one floor too low," Larry Shore grumbles.

"I'll take the next one," I sneer.

"Kid wins one fight and he's too good for old friends."

"Friends don't sell each other out," I shout.

"Is that so? In that case, I'm surprised you hired the blonde. Biggest liar of them all. Makes me look like a nun."

"What are you talking about, Larry?"

"Get in," Larry says. "Take a ride with me, kid. For old time's sake. I'll explain."

I step in with a growl and press 1 for street level. The elevator shutters and begins its terminally slow upward crawl. "Speak. I don't wanna breathe the same air as you for longer than I need to."

"You already know the Constrictor's cornerman paid me to sell you a dud catalyst. Guilty as charged. But did you ever stop to wonder where I bought my catalysts from, week after week?"

"From the way they stank, I figured you pulled them out of your ass."

Larry turns to me with a pitying smile. "It's that cornerwoman of yours. The one in the Octagon tonight. I've been buying duds from her for years and passing them off to you. She's been helping me set you up for losses since the day you hired me."

I swallow the pit that suddenly seems to be lodged in my throat. "You just can't stand to see me win with someone else in my corner, can you?"

Larry grins. "Kid. It was never personal between us. It was always about the money. So believe me when I tell you, it was her. Who could forget that ridiculous earring?"

The elevator dings and shutters open to reveal the bare, windswept loading dock corridor. Amaris, Inka, Mag and Fisher are sitting on the floor of the beer can littered hallway in various states of restless anticipation. I look at all of them as Larry says, "Everyone wants to believe they have someone in their corner, kid. But the truth is, in the end, you only have yourself. And sometimes not even that."

Larry steps out of the elevator, nods to Amaris as he passes, and shoulders open the Iron Cauldron's back exit, revealing a stretch of lonely alleyway I know all too well.

"How did it go down there?" Amaris asks, sneering at Shore's back as the door slams shut behind him.

"Charming as always," I reply. "And lucrative, for a change," I say, holding aloft the metal cash box.

"What is that?" Mag asks.

"Our future," I say, making my way toward the alleyway exit that Larry just pushed through.

"Where do you think you're going?" Amaris calls after me.

"Magic makes me hungry. Thought we'd hit up Sal's tonight. Celebrate with a few burgers."

"Solid plan. But you're finished using that door," she says nodding to the back exit.

Amaris leads the group into the Cauldron's frenzied marble-floored lobby. We stop in front of the arena's golden, intricately embossed double front doors. A red carpet rolls out from the lobby to the street outside.

Big Boy, the planet-sized guard who I barely snuck passed earlier, stands in front of a velvet rope blocking the red carpet entryway. He holds up a hand.