Chapter 4-3

Have you ever heard of Harry Houdini? Well he wasn't like today's magicians who are only interested in television ratings. He was an artist. He could make an elephant disappear in the middle of a theatre filled with people, and do you know how he did that? Misdirection. – Swordfish (2001)

I sat quietly in the chair waiting for the next move as the managers ape walked over and stood beside me, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a flick knife and opened it by my ear, I jumped in the chair and he sniggered. The light bounced off the blade as he waved it in front of my face, you could see the sharpness of the blade, then without warning, he flicked it over and caught the blade still right in front of my face and passed it, handle first, to the manager. The manger took it, “Do you like cheese?” he said as he started to cut the tape on the package I had delivered, the question confused me, “I like cheese.” He continued, I just nodded nervously as the penny dropped, I had been carrying cannabis, I wasn’t completely up on the subject, but one of my friends smoked it and he used to buy a type they called cheese. I watched intently as he continued to unwrap the package, as he peeled away the layers I started to get more and more nervous, sweat was running down my face and my heart was pounding 19 to the dozen. Slowly he removed the last layer of cling film to expose a block of cheese, it looked like Stilton, and it definitely smelt like it. The manager got up and poured himself a large glass of port, sat down, and with the knife cut a large chunk off the block. My nervousness changed to confusion, I just sat there not quite knowing what to say as I watched him sip his drink and eat his cheese. After a few minutes he dusted himself off and leaned forward, “Now” he said, almost in a friendly tone, “Martin tells me you can handle 2 wheels.” I shrugged, the sweating returning, he continued, “and you can be trusted, otherwise I wouldn’t be enjoying this rather nice Stilton, so with that in mind, we have a proposition for you.” I watched as his ape took the knife and wiped it clean, my eyes darting to his just for a moment to answer “Go on.” I said.

He stood up and walked over to the drinks and poured me a whisky and gave it to me, he then rested back in his chair and gestured to his ape, he whispered something in his ear and the ape nodded and left the room. “I’ll come straight to the point.” He said “You owe us a considerable amount of money.” I nodded, there was nothing else I could do, and there was no point in arguing in this situation. “And” he continued “we could find a way of, shall me say, working the debt off.” He had my attention; as far as I was concerned I had no idea how I was going to pay them back anyway so I might as well listen. “Carry on.” I said, the shake in my voice still blatantly obvious. He got up and lent on the desk in front of me, “You deliver some packages, just like you did here.” He said, “And after a few weeks we will write off what you owe, oh and we will throw in some spending cash along the way.” I took a sip of my drink to try and gain some composure, “How many weeks?” was the only question that came to mind, I didn’t want to be tied to these people for ever. He laughed and sat back down, opening the file they had on me, he pondered and started to bash out some figures on his desk calculator. “You know” he said in a surprised voice, “I think I’m going to like you, you deliver 30 packages and we will give you £100 for each one and after the 30th your debt to us will be paid.” I lent forward and put my glass on his desk, my mind was racing trying to make a decision, “Can I think about it?” I asked. “Oh yes!” he replied, turning sinister “You have 30 seconds.” I grabbed the glass back and took another drink trying desperately to look and keep calm, but failing miserably. He looked at his watch, “TICK TOCK.” He said. I was stuck; “Ok” I said “I’ll do it.” He smiled and stood up offering his hand to shake, I shook his hand and stood up, it was only then I noticed how short he was, no wonder he needed the ape by his side I thought. “Go home.” He said “we will be in touch.”….