Andrei turned around, quickly scanning the rooftop. A few people here and there, minding their own businesses. Then he pointed his chin at the waiter. "Make him a good offer. Let's see what you can do."
"Goal?"
He put on that smirk of his. "Break him. Tear him apart."
I sighed loudly. Shit. I knew well I had to, but... "Andrei, you know... I... I could use a reason."
He sighed too. "You're completely nuts, Sasha. Why."
I couldn't help a soft smirk. "You know why."
Silence. He looked at me for a second before grabbing my left hand and deliberately rolling up the sleeve. I was just staring into his eyes. The midnight sea, faintly glowing under the moonlight. Resignation, maybe. The certainty that this was my price for following him down the road to his hell.
I was too lost in the sea to see anything else, to notice the knife in his hand, so the sudden pain on my wrist got me. I couldn't help a low scream from escaping my mouth, my eyes darting to the deep red gash for a second – nothing too bad, but it was bleeding quite a lot. Oh, well. So much for trying not to make a mess.
Still in silence, he proceeded to roll down the sleeve. The cuff fell exactly on top of the wound, staunching the blood quite fast – and turning crimson red in the process. He looked back up at me once he was done. I saw a frozen sea for a split second, right before he pointed once more at the waiter with his chin. No words needed. I really had to. I couldn't disappoint him.
I took a deep breath before heading where the guy was. Following orders. Yes, that's definitely what I was doing. There was no way out after all. Right?
"Hey sir," I approached him, "my friend there would like to offer you a job. "
"Well, I'm flattered, but I already have a job, you see."
"Well, I have the gut feeling that he's willing to offer quite a big sum." I didn't want to give a number by myself. "It only takes a few seconds to check out, man."
He followed me back to where Andrei was standing, as always leaning casually against the wall. He does have a thing for doing that.
"Hi, sir –"
Andrei cut him off. "Name's Andrei, my friend."
"Sorry, everybody around here expects me to call them sir, you know. Anyway, your... friend said you had a job for me?"
"A million dollars for a night."
"WHAT?!"
"Take it or leave."
"Wait, wait. What... kind of job are we talking about? I'm not about to do anything illegal, you know."
"Sasha here will tell you what it is about, huh?" Andrei looked at me, clearly saying 'I'm not gonna do your job, my boy'.
Nor I expected him to. "Well... we just want to have some fun, man. Nothing illegal, really. Just mess around a bit, you know, we're... feeling kinda lonely."
"The hell does that even mean? ... Look, I told you, I already have a job–"
I shifted gears into negotiating mode. "Well, listen one more second, okay? ... Tell me, how much do you make in this? ... The place seems nice, so, let's say, a hundred thousand dollars a year. Which to be honest, is quite a lot, I'd say real numbers are closer to half that, but let's leave it there, for simplicity's sake. So, at a hundred thousand a year, it would take you ten years to make what you can make in just one night. ... Still wanna leave?"
He looked at me like I was out of my mind. "Nobody offers that for…"
"Well, this is not your everyday job, you see. Let's give it a quick go, okay? You can change your mind after my little test."
Silence.
I patted gently on the low wall. "Sit on here, will you?"
"What?... It's too high, man. I... look, they'll fire me if I take too long of a break–"
Andrei cut him off again. "A single night or ten years' work. More like twenty. Are you sure you wanna leave? ... Hop on the wall and sit."
I held his hand as he clumsily climbed to the waist-high wall, a fall of ten stories behind him. He was trying really hard to not look down. Maybe he was scared of heights, or maybe he could read our intentions.
Whatever, I put on a smile – the work mask had come to come up naturally. "Look back, man. It's quite a fall, isn't it?"
He stopped his silent mutter to interject a tad too loud. "Fuck, what the hell do you want from me?"
For a split second, he looked like he was gonna get down and leave us, but Andrei stopped him, grabbed his arm, and sorta pushed back – just enough to make his intentions clear. "Keep your voice low, I'd rather not make a public mess." He glanced at me. "Grab his legs, Sasha, I don't want him accidentally falling."
I secured them under my armpits, pushing his butt back in the process. If we both let go, he'd fall. He let out a muted curse as he realized that.
Andrei pushed further back, making the poor guy stand over thin air. He glanced at me – he was willing to help, but I had to take the lead.
So I did. Or at least I tried. "Quite the fall, isn't it? ... Listen, here's the deal. You'll do everything we ask – or else."
"Look I– I have changed my mind. I don't want your fucking money, I want to go back to serving drinks to rich people."
Andrei was grinning hard. "If only it was that easy, right? But it isn't. You don't get to go back – you've already seen too much. Now there are only two ways for this to end. One, you end up with a million bucks. The flip side is, you'll earn every single cent of it, I promise. Or two, you're dead. Ten stories. You'll reach the ground alive, and die of the impact – if you're lucky."
I pushed further back, stressing Andrei's words. Smiling candidly. "Well, knowing Andrei here, falling it's not a bad way to go. Only takes a few seconds, and then it's over. Could be worse, man."
He was completely white, eyes tightly shut, muttering something I couldn't understand.
Andrei smiled again. "Sasha is right, you know. We could make it oh-so-much-worse."
"Who– who the hell are you." He managed to say.
Andrei glanced at me quickly to make sure I was holding him tight, then he let go of the guy's arm to draw his ID card. Then he seemed to realize that the guy was hanging just from my arms, and grabbed him by the shirt, and finally the collar, to pull him up. "We're Detentions, boy. This is the kind of stuff we do. We're good at making people cooperate, you know. Now. Last chance, and I swear I mean it. Anything we ask, or fall to your death."
He barely managed to nod, but I guess Andrei thought it was enough, 'cause he pulled him forward. The poor guy didn't manage to land on his feet, crashing instead onto the rooftop's floor. Oh, well. Better than a ten stories fall, that's for sure.
