Jonas Saul - The Threat: A Novel

THE THREAT

by

Jonas Saul

PUBLISHED BY:

Imagine Press Inc.

ISBN: 978-0-9869376-5-1

The Threat

Copyright 2011 by Jonas Saul

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher, Imagine Press Inc.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Imagine Press Inc. does not have control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third party websites referred to in or on this book.

Jonas Saul Titles

The Sarah Roberts Series

1. Dark Visions

2. The Warning

3. The Crypt

4. The Hostage

5. The Victim

6. The Enigma

7. The Vigilante

8. The Rogue

9. Killing Sarah

10. The Antagonist

11. The Redeemed

12. The Haunted

13. The Unlucky

14. The Abandoned

15. The Cartel

16. Losing Sarah

17. The Pact (Coming Soon)

18. The Terror (Coming Soon)

19. The Chase (Coming Soon)

20. The Betrayal (Coming Soon)

The Jake Wood Series

1. The Snake

2. The Target (Coming Soon)

The Mafia Trilogy (Starring Darwin and Rosina Kostas)

1. The Kill

2. The Blade

3. The Scythe

Standalone Novels

1. The Threat (Starring Drake Bellamy)

2. The Specter (Starring Aaron Stevens)

3. A Murder in Time (Starring Marcus Johnson)

Short Story Collection

1. Twisted Fate (Tales of Horror)

Compilations

1. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 1-3

2. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 4-6

3. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 7-9

4. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 10-12

5. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 13-15

6. Sarah Roberts Series Vol. 16-18 (Coming Soon)

7. The Mafia Trilogy

8. The Jonas Saul Thriller Trilogy (The Threat, The Specter, A Murder in Time)

Chapter 1

Drake Bellamy stood in the pouring rain looking up at the high-rise building on Victoria Park Avenue. He knew he had the right building as hed memorized the address. The meeting had been set for two in the afternoon.

He opened his cell phone: 1:49 p.m. The instructions hed been given were ridiculous and easy. Enter the lobby, buzz 1408, and ride the elevator to the fourteenth floor. Once he was at the door, he was to knock two times, pause and then three times. It was simple, but strangely covert, too. It was the knocking that bothered him. Why be covert in the first place? Why all the hiding and sneaking around? It was only a little weed.

He stepped from the sidewalk and sauntered across the wet grass. It would be all over soon. He had to get upstairs, meet some guy named Charles, pay him a hundred bucks for a small quantity of medical weed, and get the hell out. There was nothing to it.

Who am I kidding? he asked himself. I could get busted for this.

He knew, however, he had no choice. His mother had cancer and was in constant pain. It was a huge fight with the Canadian system to get medical marijuana. She was still months away from obtaining her license so his father had given him this contact over the phone.

Everything would be fine. He knew it. All the same, this really sucked.

If Im going to break the law at least Im doing it for the right reasons .

A woman with two children came out the apartment buildings main door as Drake stepped up to it. He grabbed the handle and held the door for her. She walked past him pulling her children along. After lifting her raincoats hood, she entered the downpour becoming a blur of yellow.

Youre welcome, Drake said, more to himself.

Already on edge, his nerves firing salvos through his stomach, Drake wasnt going to take any disrespect. He wasnt a doorman, but thats what you got in Toronto for doing the right thing.

Once through the lobby doors, he realized just how wet he was as the air conditioners worked to cause every goose bump on his entire body to rise to the surface of his skin. He found the doorbell panel and with his index finger, he scanned the list of names and apartment numbers stopping at 1408.

Keeley, Anne.

He took one last look around before he committed himself to the illegal task of buying drugs. No one was in the lobby. Outside, only the woman and her two kids could be seen walking on the sidewalk he had been on merely minutes before. Cars and a city bus passed by on the street. No one paid attention to him. His purpose remained undetected.

What could go wrong? It had been set up, he thought, prearranged over the phone.

He pressed the button. A low buzzing sound emitted from the circular speaker that sat in the middle of the large console.

He waited. He could almost hear a clock ticking in his head. Maybe no one was home. He looked over his shoulder. The mid-afternoon timeframe had seemed perfect as no one would be around. Most people would be at work. Anyone who was home in this building wouldnt want to brave the heavy rain.

Hello?

He was still leaning forward when the metallic voice startled him. He jumped and lost his balance just enough to bump into the row of buttons creating a dreadful cacophony of noise that sounded like a dying synthesizer.

Um, yeah, hello, he said, attempting to sound like he had it together.

Come on

He was sure the mans voice had tried to say come on up , but it got drowned out by the five or six other voices competing for a spot from all the buzzers hed pushed.

The access door clicked. He grabbed the handle, opened it and headed for the elevators.

Now, he felt like a criminal. It was as though he was going upstairs to visit a prostitute for an hour and the police were waiting for him. The point of no return had come and gone. He had chosen to do this for his mother. If his dad hadnt supplied the address, he would have had no idea where to buy this kind of thing.

Everything is going to be fine.

No one was getting arrested today. Once the jury heard he did it to ease the pain of his sick mother, a woman who didnt have long to live, hed be sent home with a warning. And he was a first-time offender.

Everything is going to be fine.

Waiting for the elevators to come from the floors above, he could still hear a couple of stragglers on the intercom asking who was there. The door clicked again behind him. Then someone swore over the intercom.

Im coming for you, mutherfucka

Drake figured the guy thought hed been pranked. It was rare for Drake to actually start begging the elevator to hurry as he watched it lower to the first floor.

Come on, come on, he said under his breath.

A look each way down the hall of the first floor revealed empty carpeted hallways.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened slowly. He made to jump on but had to step back as two huge black men were coming off.

What the fuck? the tall one said. Give us some room, white boy.

Sorry, Drake said and ambled past them and onto the elevator. He pushed fourteen and only had to wait for a few seconds before the doors started to shut. Both black men had turned and were staring holes into his head as the doors closed.

The tallest one blew out of his lips in a disrespectful manner, telling Drake in one breath that he wasnt worth it.