Weekly Drabble #334: Rush (Patreon)

This prompt is from Burning Desire with 'overdose' and with it, we naturally get a story about a business meeting between two long-time partners. Makes sense, right?

Enjoy!

~

Rush:

“This, m’boy,” Gendry said, licking the gap between his front teeth, “is the ultimate high, the ultimate user experience.” He nodded to one of his associates, the big man to his left setting a briefcase on the table. He opened it, revealing a half-dozen vials set into a foam insert along with an eyedropper.

“I’ve heard that before,” Lucien told him. “If memory serves, even by you.”

“And hasn’t that product been good?” Gendry pushed. “Hasn’t it always met your expectations, m’boy?”

Lucien had long since given up trying to get the older man to stop calling him ‘boy’. Gendry had been in the game longer than anyone he knew, but anyone who said he was past his prime was in for a rude, rapid and often fatal education. “It has,” he admitted. “But you can only hear the words ‘ultimate high’ so many times before you get jaded, especially when they’re coming from someone who doesn’t have your usual goods and shows up with just one little briefcase.”

“Customs is cracking down. Harder to get the goods through regular channels. This new ‘clean sweep’ initiative... it’s trouble. I said it was going to be trouble, and barely any of you listened to me, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Lucien pointed out. Gendry’s instincts were well-honed by decades of experience. “So did a few others. We made contingencies, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be disappointed with reality. Especially with how long this sweep has been going on.”

“Truth in that, m’boy. Truth in that indeed. It’s going to be a tight for a while longer. Most of my contacts have disappeared, and I’ve heard that yours have dried up too. The state’s not fuckin’ around this time.”

“I don’t think they are,” Lucien had to agree. “It’s damn near impossible to get any grit locally. Ninety percent of the fields were burned. Margez is screaming his head off about it, but no one’s paying him any attention. I was hoping you’d be able to get something through. You’ve always been reliable in the past. I was counting on that.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint, but even I can’t work magic. Too many of the regular routes have been closed down and it’s taking longer than expected to open up new ones. Product can’t move if there’s no one to move it and nowhere for it to go. I’ve had to outsource to some rather eclectic individuals just to get a trickle, and even that will take longer than normal.”

“That ‘taking longer’ is the problem, Gendry. You said you could get me stock when I needed a top-up and now that I’m running low, that first replenishment still hasn’t arrived. It’s not a good look to run out of your supplies.”

“Don’t you think this is as bad for me as you, Lucien?” Gendry leaned forward. “For longer than you’ve been in the game, I’ve been a man who gets things from A to B. This recent business has made that harder than it’s ever been.”

“Anyway you slice it, I’m going to have a lot of unhappy customers once my stock runs out,” Lucien pointed out. “And if my customers are unhappy, then so will yours.” Gendry didn’t deal with the consumers. His customers were people like Lucien. “Are you saying this,” he tapped two fingers on the table in front of the briefcase, “if going to make up for a lack of my normal product?”

Gendry grinned ear to ear. “M’boy, you have no idea.” He plucked one of the vials out of the foam casing and handed it to Lucien. At first glance, it appeared to be as clear as distilled water, but as Lucien stared, he thought he could pick out the smallest bits of particulate matter, like flakes of gold.

“What is it?”

“This, my young friend, is the ladder to Heaven. For years now, I’ve had a contact within one of the larger pharmaceutical companies from offworld. Brilliant boy, the smartest I’ve ever seen. But he’s also got a taste for finer things, which I’m only too happy to provide the means to access. Until now, he’s helped with some little things – ironing out the kinks in synthesizing some proprietary compounds, analyzing competitors’ product, even coming up with his own little additives and enhancers. You’ve used some of his work without even knowing it, and profited handsomely. Suffice to say, I’m quite aware of his talents, so when he came to me with the results of a long-term project of his during this time of crisis for our industry, I was only too happy to listen.”

Gendry tapped the foam insert of his open briefcase. “One drop on the tongue and your customers will never want or need anything else. It will induce a sense of bliss and contentment for an entire day that nothing else can match. Two drops, they’ll be taken right to heaven – figuratively speaking. They’ll be climbing over one another to get another hit.” He smiled. “You’ll never need another product but this little beauty right here.”

Lucien examined the vial in more detail. “And your man is reliable?”

“More reliable than anyone else I’ve worked with. The boy is a certified genius. He walked me and a few of my own chemists through the entire process. I didn’t understand a half of a half of what he was saying, but my beaker boys and girls were acting like they’d met a rock star.” Gendry smiled. “You won’t even have to worry about a diminishing customer base. The threshold for an overdose of this beauty is astonishingly high, and the physiological addiction is almost impossible to break. One drop and you’ve a customer for life. This,” he said, resting a hand on the back of the open case, “is a sampler. Proof of concept if you like.”

“Well,” the younger man said, considering the item more thoroughly. “I must admit, I’m intrigued. When you said you had some replacement product for me, I was concerned that this was going to be some over-cut, after-market or expired storehouse crap. Not that you’d be dropping a whole new paradigm on my lap.”

Gendry chuckled. “It’s nice to know that at my age, I can still surprise the younger generation.”

“We’ll have to test it ourselves, of course,” Lucien pointed out.

The older man leaned back in his chair and splayed his hands open. “Be my guest.”

Lucien gestured and one of his men leaned forward. He whispered a few words in his subordinate's ear, who nodded and departed. A few minutes later, the guard along with two others returned, carrying a woman between them. She was gaunt, with stringy hair, bags under her eyes and her clothes hadn’t been washed in several days, but the fresh set of scratches under one of her gaolers’ eyes and her freshly split lip said that she wasn’t a passive captive.

They brought her over to Lucien, forcing her onto her knees next to him. “Are we going to do this easy,” he asked mildly. “Or hard?”

She spat at him, but only managed a small, light spray on the front of his coat. Lucien sighed. “Hard, then. Open her mouth.” One of the guards grabbed the woman’s chin and squeezed, forcing her jaw open. Gendry handed him the dropper as Lucien carefully unscrewed the vial he was holding. “One drop for a day of bliss,” he repeated. “Two drops for heaven?”

Gendry nodded. “Exactly.”

Lucien sucked a bit of liquid into the dropper. As he held it over the woman’s mouth, she struggled more, but her efforts were futile. When the first drop hit her tongue, all fight went out of her and her eyes snapped open, pupils dilating into dark saucers. When the second followed, they rolled back in her head and she went as limp as an overcooked noodle, sagging to the floor.

She panted, twitching and moaning in naked and unwilling ecstasy, trying to crawl away in a futile attempt to preserve some shreds of dignity, but she never got farther than a few inches at a time before she would collapse again, writhing on the ground like an animal.

“Well,” Lucien said as he looked at the drooling mess on the floor. “I’m impressed. Let’s talk price.”