Suckers - J.A. Konrath

"Honored, huh?" I said, though in my head I was already composing my letter to Penthouse.
"More than honored. This is indeed a sacred day."
Two more naked women scuttled over, pawing my masculine parts. Though the lighting was
low, I could tell by the facial jewelry that one of them was Tanya, the girl I’d come to rescue.
The other was her mother, Josie.
I’d been set up, and good. But why? And did I really care?
"So, you’re not going to kill me?"
"Kill you?" Vlad laughed. "Mr. McGlade, we’d be honored if you joined us. But let’s not
talk of business now. Why don’t you spend some time getting to know the warren." Vlad nudged
me into the room with the shotgun. "They certainly seem eager to get to know you."
I shrugged. "Well, when in Rome..."
Then I unzipped my pants and waded into the sea of decadence.
If I were a nicer guy, I perhaps might have wondered what was going on with Andrew
Mahogany and the Pit.
But I’m not a nicer guy.
- 5 -
Andrew
"Nobody would have to know if you didn't really throw me into the Pit," I explained to the
goons as they led me down a gloomy hallway. "Your boss would just say 'Hey, did you throw
that guy into the Pit?' and you'd say 'Yep, we sure did,' and he'd say 'Great, thanks,' and you'd say
'No problem.' It's a win-win situation for everybody."
"Shut up," said the goon with the chainsaw.
"I'm just trying to save you some labor. You could go take a smoke break."
We reached the end of the hallway. The goon with the wacky knife pushed past me and
opened the door. "Get in there," he said.
It was too dark to see clearly inside the room, but one element was rather obvious. "That's
not a pit," I said.
"So what? Get in there."
"Why do you call it the Pit? It's got a regular floor."
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