The Deal

Ted sat in his car, firmly grasping the steering wheel with both hands. He leaned back against his seat and stared at the vehicle's roof. All the windows were down in hopes of catching an unlikely breeze. An empty water bottle lay on the seat next to him. He sat with his mouth agape, taking in the fine details of the car ceiling. A single strand of fabric stood adjacent to the rest. He pinched it between his thumb and index finger and twisted it back and forth.

A faint crunch of moving gravel and dirt echoed through the barren land around him. Ted sat up in his seat and looked into the rearview mirror, seeing a cloud of dust coming up the road toward him. He sighed disgruntledly and stepped out of his car. 

He watched the dust cloud slowly approach, leaning against the hood with his arms folded impatiently. A bead of sweat slowly trickled down his forehead, he hated being in this part of the country. Always dry, even when it wasn’t summer. He loosened his tie more and pushed the hair back from his forehead. He thought his days of meeting secretly in the desert were behind him when he finally took the corner office in LA.

The SUV slowed to a stop in front of Ted. He stood up fully and took a few steps forward. The door swung open, and a man in a suit stepped out. He held a single brown bag in his left hand. 

“You were supposed to be here an hour ago, Daniel. I was starting to get worried," Ted said with a distasteful look.

“Sorry, Teddy, we had a problem lower down on the ladder,” Daniel said.

“Anything I have to worry about?” Ted asked.

“Absolutely not. I know how to handle my side of the business.”  Daniel stood at a short 5”7, always wearing his cowboy boots in a pathetic display of ruggedness. 

Ted grimaced, his eyes glancing at the blacked-out windows on Daniel’s SUV.

“Are you alone, Daniel?” Ted asked, his eyes darting back to the man a few yards ahead of him.

“Do you think I would bring someone to a deal like this?” Daniel answered, not breaking eye contact.

Heat waves swirled around them. Faint noises of crickets sat quietly in the air. Cactuses sparsely filled the landscape as rocks jutted out of the infertile dirt. 

“What do you mean by that?” Ted responded. Daniel smirked and threw the paper bag to Ted’s feet.

“What is this?” Ted asked, looking down at the paper bag.

“Open it,” Daniel said, nodding his head upwards.

Ted leaned down and scooped up the paper bag. Something in the bag jostled as he picked it up. He glanced back up to Daniel before ripping the bag open. Rolls of money fell to the ground. 

“How much is this, Daniel?” Ted asked, nudging a fallen roll with his cowboy boot.

“That right there is 100 thousand dollars in unmarked bills,” Daniel said while resting his hands on his belt loops. 

Ted looked up to Daniel and then peered into a mangled bag, picking up a single roll and bringing it up to his face. 

“I have to say, I don’t like where this is going,” Ted said. 

“We want you out, Teddy.” Daniel is not smiling anymore, his face set deadpan on Ted’s.

Ted continued to stare up at the roll of money in his hand. As much as an idiot he could be, Daniel was not stupid. He looked back down at the man in front of him. He could not stop a wide smile from coming across his face. Maybe Daniel was stupid.  

“You drag me all the way out here, in the middle of the desert, to try and buy me out? You know I have never thought a lot of you, but this is ridiculous even for your standards. You really only offered me 100 thousand dollars?” Ted said.

Daniel reached into his SUV, pulling out four more paper bags. Tossing them over in one throw, the bags landed with four distinct thuds, leaving small craters in the coarse dirt.

Ted reached down to pick up a bag, ripped it open, and dumped the rolls of money back onto the earth. 

“How does 500 thousand dollars sound to you, Teddy?” Daniel said proudly. “All you have to do is get in your car and drive off. That’s it. You won't have to see me ever again. Is that deal finally going to be enough for you?” Daniel said, outstretching his hands in a motion of friendship.

“I want to ask you something, and I want you to be honest,” Ted said, still looking down at the fallen money.

“Of course Teddy,” replied Daniel.

“How stupid do you think I am?” Ted said slowly, raising his head to look at Daniel. Daniel’s smile quickly faded.

“Do you know how much I make in a month? I don't think you realize everything I do for this company. I am the one who handles all the moving of the product. I am the one who maintains the relationships with our manufacturers. Don’t forget who brought you into this,” Ted took a step forward. “You wouldn’t be anywhere without me, do you understand? I am the one this entire empire relies on.” Ted took a few steps closer. “Your feeble little mind can’t even begin to comprehend how much weight I pull,” Ted spat in Daniel’s face. “I am the only one who matters, not you… you greedy… you…” 

The side door of the SUV swung open, and a loud pop rang out across the desert. Ted looked over at the open side door, a smoking gun barrel emerging from the dark interior. The color drained from his face as he looked down at a red mark slowly growing on his side. His hand quickly moved to its location as he gasped for air, vaguely feeling himself fall into the hot dirt.

“What the hell are you doing?” Daniel shouted in horror as Ted wheezed on the ground. 

“What you hired me to do,” said the gunman nonchalantly as he stepped out of the car. 

“I told you to only step in if the situation got out of hand!” Daniel said, panic setting in on his face.

“You were not handling the situation,” said the man, holstering his pistol and walking over to the money Ted had dropped on the ground. Daniel dropped to his knees beside Ted, his eyes frantically looking up and down his collapsed body. 

” I… I'm sorry, Ted,” he said shakily. “I know this is hard for you to understand, but this is for the betterment of the company.” The man bent down and picked up the fallen rolls, putting them back into the ripped bags. 

Daniel stayed bent over Ted as blood started to pool around him. 

“Hey listen,” the gunman said, “It's not your fault. If he wasn’t such an ego-driven monster, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.” 

Daniel did not respond. 

“You can’t do anything, he’s hit in the lung.” The man made his way back to Daniel and the crumpled Ted, his breath slowing. Ted could vaguely see the figure standing above him, and all he could feel was hate.

Looking down, the man said,” Nothing personal Ted, just business.”

As the sun began to set over the arid plain, hues of purple, orange, and yellow streaked across the sky. A patch of freshly uncovered dirt lay, only visible if one was paying close attention. The only other disturbance was two tire marks leading into the side road, far out in the middle of nowhere. One set led in and back out, and the other led to a burning car, its flames starting to die down. A single bill, picked up by a rare gust of breeze, gliding to the burning car. Blowing closer until it too was lit, fading into the sun setting sky.