This was their second day off from the tournament and it had been nice. Stu was exhausted the day before and today he had an important mission. He would leave the girls home and go take care of it. They didn’t need to be there for this; he was going up against a different kind of enemy.

  Getting dressed quietly and early, he looked professional, like he used to look. Walking out the front he had his briefcase, and he locked the door. It was weird doing something from his old life.. His thoughts were interrupted by his neighbor dy. He waved saying, “Hello Lois.”

  She smiled saying, “Oh, it’s good to see you getting your life back on track again. see I told gloria it was just a crisis period in your life, and you’d get over it. I’m just so happy to see you without floozies and drugs!” The sad thing is she meant it all very lovingly, she just had a different view of the world.. He’d never considered they were thinking drugs were involved too, that was different at least..

  He smiled and said, “Thanks Lois. I’ll see you ter!” He rushed away from there. He had a meeting at the mall. Getting in his car he pulled out of the parking lot; he was less than a minute away when he heard a sneeze in the back of the car. The bnket from his bed was in there. He thought goddammit..

  Chaos said, “He knows..”

  Prosperity said, “Yeah because you sneezed!”

  Stu asked, “Why?”

  They sat up in the back seat. Prosperity said, “Because you tried to sneak away!”

  Chaos backed her up yelling, “Yeah! So, you, why?”

  Prosperity looked confused, “What did you say?”

  Chaos said, “I threw his why back at him!”

  Prosperity said, “Oh! Yeah! So, you, why?”

  He pulled into a parking space in the mall parking lot. Putting his head on the steering wheel he just closed his eyes.. “Because I have a meeting here today. I didn’t want them to know about you or what we do..”

  Chaos took a sharp inhale. She said, “He’s here to go on a date!”

  Prosperity gasped looking at Stu, “It can’t be! You wouldn’t do that to us would you?”

  Stu kept his head against the steering wheel. “No… it’s not a date… Besides, I didn’t know we were all three dating… I thought we all just met…” Sighing heavily from his frustration.

  Chaos said, “But it’s different for us, we all may literally die tomorrow. Plus, you’re not human anymore, you should quit acting so defensive all the time.” Stu raised his head looking at her in the rearview mirror. He was shocked to hear that from Chaos. Judging by how far Prosperity’s jaw was open she was apparently just as surprised. Chaos looked back at Stu asking, “So are we going to the mall today?”

  Stu had to take a second before saying, “Yeah, I guess we are… Um, I’m going to see a friend and his wife. I uh, kind of new both of them in high school. The guy was a dick but one of the few people I ever got to hang out with. He will probably be a dick to me now, but I need a favor from him. I need you two to be on your best behavior today, or so help me gods… understand?”

  Chaos nodded and Prosperity said, “Hot.”

  Stu said, “Really! No sexy little kitten routine, no sexy panty shots, no sexy oops I dropped something, and no sexy talk! Got it!”

  Chaos asked, “You think about the word sexy a lot, I take it?”

  Stu breathed deeply before getting out of the car, saying, “In the st week, constantly.” He shut the door. The girls got out and ran to their respective sides of Stu, Chaos left and prosperity on his right. He stopped dead in his tracks. “Alright girls, today you are walking with each other and not escorting me. I don’t need this guy asking questions about why I’m with high school girls, especially when you two have a bad habit of saying the wrong thing all the time.”

  Chaos said, “We’re not…”

  Stu said, “I know that, but the rest of the world doesn’t need to know!”

  A voice said, “What kind of shit are you telling those high school girls the world doesn’t need to know? Pervert!”

  Surprised he turned around saying, “Pfft I don’t even know these girls they were asking for directions to the mall! There you go girls, it’s right there!”

  Chaos asked, “Stu, is this who you’re here to meet?”

  The guy said, “Stu? You never told me your real name! Ha, that’s rich! So, are these like your sisters or something?”

  Prosperity said, “We’re his partners technically. I’m really not allowed to talk about it in detail.”

  Stu’s heart sank. Chaos chimed in saying, “Yeah, he said he’d get really mad if we discuss any specifics, he didn’t even want us to come but we wanted to make sure he wasn’t meeting any other girls.” Stu wondered if suicide was possible for a blue blood…

  The guy looked at Stu with a look of shock. Stu said, “Look…”

  The guy cut him off saying, “Look, uh what was it? Stu? Yeah look, me and the Ms. have been split up a while, and I got to say you have a good eye for the finer things. I’m into it man, we should start hanging out again. As a matter of fact, from now on just call me Broth!” He grinned looking up and down at the girls.

  Stu thought, huh, they might have made this easier.. “Alright broth, these are my uh, friends Chaos and Prosperity. I wanted to talk to you today about your work. You interested in getting some food with us?”

  His eyes were still on the girls as he shook his head, “Yeah, man. What are friends for? I scratch your back and maybe someone scratches my back, right?”

  Stu nodded, “Yeah, sure man.”

  Broth leaned in close, “Nice move having everyone use a fake name. That’s a cssy touch, are we going to talk price ter or what?” Stu remembered why he didn’t like this guy very quickly. Reluctantly he nodded with a forced grin.

  All four entered the mall together. Stu was far more hopeful about his prospects now. This might just work, thank God. Chaos looked back smiling. Right, I have to keep that in mind, words matter. They made their way to the food court. Finding a seat in the back they got down to business

  Stu asked, “So, are you still studying Bio Organic chemistry in college?”

  Broth hadn’t taken his eyes off prosperity the whole time, and she kept her eyes on Stu. Broth said, “Huh? Chemistry? Yeah, why? Most people don’t give a shit about it.”

  Stu said, “I’m looking for an off the books job. Like the kind that will get us all killed if you ever tell a single soul.”

  He ughed pulling out a notebook, “Yeah, this is usual for me. Hell, it’s how I pay the bills! So, how much crystal do you need? What, maybe a hundred pounds?”

  Confused Chaos asked, “Crystal? Crystal what?”

  Stu said, “Listen dumbass, this isn’t a joke like meth! If anyone finds out about this we all die.” Stu opened his briefcase and pulled a blue vial out. “It’s organic, so can you tell me what it is in your b?”

  Broth took the vial curiously, “Where did it come from?”

  The girls both looked at Stu worriedly. He said, “It’s blood.”

  Broth looked at Stu like he was stupid, “It’s probably horseshoe crab blood then, they use it in medical research a lot. He tried to hand the vial back.

  Stu didn’t take it back instead saying, “If you tell anyone this next part we all die, literally. This is blood from something ciming to be human, so can you tell me what it is without anyone ever finding out?”

  Broth grinned asking, “Is this a joke? You’re fucking with me in front of the girls. That’s what this is, huh?”

  No one else smiled back. Prosperity said, “He is telling you the truth. We need your help; you want to help a small little thing like me don’t you? She pulled on her skirt suggestively and put her finger in her mouth.

  Broth looked at Stu saying, “Goddammit man, that’s a big risk your putting me through for a joke. If this is real though and you needed something never seen before figured out, I’d need more than one vial. If it’s real that is.. Are we saying aliens?”

  Stu ughed, “No, bigger than that. Like I said, we all die if you talk or get caught. Are you in? Because I can get as many vials as you need. There is no way around it though, I need to know exactly what’s in there.”

  Broth winked at Prosperity, saying, “I’m in. So how much do you have?”

  Stu asked, “How much do you need? This is something that I’m sure has never been seen. Tell me what you will need in whole.”

  Broth looked like he was doing math in his head. He said, “It would take thousands of comparisons to other things and itself. I don’t know, five gallons to air on the side of caution. I could run every test twice but that much blood loss would kill anything.”

  Stu put the briefcase on the table unlocking, turning, and opening it. The case was full of vials of blood. He said, “I’ve got over 6 gallons. How long?”

  Broth said, “As long as it takes.. A year, maybe 4-6 months, maybe. I’ve got no information to work with other than unknown hominid blood… that’s worse than a government contract. You haven’t even said anything about payment.. This will cost money to research and keep it secret, honestly. Unless you are suddenly rich we will have to work out a lot of dates and probably other sales.”

  Stu asked, “How much money?”

  Broth said, Minimum 60K, if you want speed probably 100K”

  Damn that was steep, Stu thought.. Prosperity said, “Hold your phone up.” Broth held it up and she swiped her phone over his. His phone dinged and he looked at it. Prosperity said, “It’s a hundred-fifty-thousand dolrs. You have three weeks, when you finish there’s another one fifty in it for you. Also, stop looking at us like that, especially me. I literally belong to Stu. You will report to us the moment you know anything, and nobody else. Until we say otherwise, we will be your gods, understand?” She came across like a god ordering him around.

  Broth nodded, “Yes Ma’am! Shit, if I get done faster is there a bonus?”

  Prosperity said, “Money is no object, finish sooner and we will see. I don’t make offers for things I don’t expect you can do!”

  Broth said, “I’ll Prove it! Give me one week I’ll get you a preliminary report on the substance.”

  Stu said, “There’s a prepaid phone in the case, that is the only way you are to contact me. Don’t use it for anything else.”

  Broth looked at the vial like it was liquid gold saying, “Shit.. I’m going to do nothing but live in the b for the next few weeks, I have no one to call, boss.”

  Stu said, “Good. We will be in contact, unless you call first.” He got up from the table and they left the mall back to the parking lot. Once they were inside the car Stu said, “Alright, the next time I tell you not to do something, don’t give an ominously vague answer when you tell people. Honestly, you both almost killed me today.”

  Chaos asked, “Is that your blood you gave him?”

  Prosperity said, “Obviously it was, but why?”

  Stu said, “I have to know what’s going on inside me. Plus, there’s a chance we can gain an edge in the tournament if we know more about it. The question is, can we trust Broth?”

  Prosperity said, “He’s texted me six times since I sent him money. I think he’s loyal. In my experience with people like him, money buys a lot.”

  Stu started up the car saying, “Right, right, your older than me..” He couldn’t remember sometimes, but they won Broths loyalty and that’s what mattered today. Maybe they would get lucky and get another day off tomorrow, that was the dream these days.