The Odds - Jeff Strand Page 0,44
the next round. I mean, he’ll probably fail at the next challenge if he’s been shot four times. It’s not completely fair, no, but this is our first play-through. We’re still discovering new things. We’re working out bugs.”
“You call it a bug. I call it a feature.”
“C’mon. Let’s do it. It’ll make the game more interesting.”
“You know what, I think you might be on to something,” said The Claw Man. “But I can’t make the final ruling on my own. I’m going to make a couple of calls, and we’ll put it to a vote. Sound good?”
“What if he calls the police before then?”
“Then you kill him and his family.”
“All right.”
“It’ll take two minutes. Talk to you then.” The Claw Man hung up.
Rick called Ethan back. “I think I’ve worked out a solution to your problem,” he said. “I just need you to trust me and stay calm.”
“Oh, sure, I’m totally calm. Never been calmer. Other drivers keep flagging me down because they want to compliment me on my calmness.”
“You sound like you’re having a nervous breakdown, and that’s completely understandable given the circumstances. But what I really need you to do is trust me, and trust that if you break the rules, you and your family will be punished. You saw for yourself what happens. If you think they’ll draw the line at shooting children, you are giving yourself a dangerous false sense of security.”
“You think I have a sense of security right now?” Ethan asked, his voice cracking like a teenager going through puberty.
“All I’m saying is, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Fine. I won’t do anything stupid from this point forward.”
“Thank you.”
Two minutes later, The Claw Man hadn’t called him back.
Another two minutes passed.
“Should I call him?” Rick asked Gavin.
“I wouldn’t.”
“They understand that this is an emergency, right? We’re not just sitting around playing cards.”
“What are you going to do if you don’t like the answer?” asked Gavin.
“Then I’m going to hope that Ethan doesn’t do anything stupid before the actors playing drug lords show up to shoot him in the arms and legs.”
“Hey,” said Butch. “Just got word that the junkies all happily took the bribe and the body is already gone. That chick Tammy got spooked and ran off before Ethan came out, but they caught her and put a bullet in the back of her head. So, go teamwork!”
The other phone rang. Finally!
“I’ve got some good news for you,” said The Claw Man. “I shared your proposal, and believe it or not, it got unanimous approval. Well done.”
“Great,” said Rick. “Great to hear. Thank you.”
“And...now I’ve got some bad news for you.”
“What?”
“We all loved your idea. It will be incorporated into the next game. But we all agreed that it wasn’t fair to start it mid-game, when another player has already suffered the consequences for failing to complete the same challenge. So the answer is yes, and you’ll get credit for the idea, but the rule change won’t go into effect until next time.”
“What about Ethan?” Rick asked.
“What about him? We have a protocol in place. We want to discourage it as much as possible, but a player breaking the rules is part of the game. Handle it appropriately. Do you need anything else?”
“No.”
The Claw Man hung up.
“What do you think?” asked Gavin. “Think Ethan will get himself and his family all shot up?”
“I’m going to be optimistic and say no.”
“He’s freaking out,” said Butch. “You could hear it in his voice. He’s not thinking straight. Twenty bucks says he runs.”
“With or without his family?” asked Gavin.
“With. I mean, he’s not a douchebag.”
“I’ll take that bet. What about you, Rick? Want to get in on it?”
“For twenty bucks?” asked Rick. “That’s not worth the time to shake your hands.”
He called Ethan again.
“How are you holding up?” Rick asked.
Ethan let out an incredulous laugh. “Is that a real question?”
“I’m not suggesting that you should feel particularly sane right now. I just wanted to make sure you were still of sound enough mind to know that you should keep playing by the rules.”
“Yes,” Ethan told him. “I’m sane enough not to do anything that’ll make you send your goons after me.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“I have to go now,” said Ethan. “I’m pulling into my driveway right now, but of course you already know that. I’ll see if I can fool my family into thinking that I’m not getting back from having slashed some guy’s throat.”
“I have faith in you.”
Ethan hung up. He pulled into his driveway. He