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syringe, I heard the limo driver banging on neighboring doors.  Peter ran out of the room, leaving John on the bed nodding.  With trembling hands, Red pulled out the small torch.
                  “I got it,” the chauffeur announced, running back into the room carrying small packets of table salt.
                  Red snatched the salt, got cold water from the tub, heated the salt and water in the spoon, and then sucked it into the syringe.
    “You—hold this, and do not let it burn out,” she instructed, handing me the torch with the tiny blue flame spilling from it.
    After finding a vein on Ivan’s arm, Red shot the salt into his body.  Like a miracle, his eyes exploded open.  Instantly, he jumped out of the tub.  My heart slowed down when I heard him speaking.  Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Red sit on the floor and remove her grimy gym shoe.  Her hands reappeared with a long glass tube.  She filled the top of the tube with white Crack rocks and said, “Pass me that.”
    I hesitated to pass her the torch.  With her hands shaking uncontrollably, she said, “Johnny, this is not the time to have a conscious.  You should have done that hours ago with Ivan.  Pass that torch, or someone is going to the hospital or jail tonight.”
    The torch left my hands.  I thought of a way to tell Red what I saw in her the first time our eyes met.  She was flawless then, walking like royalty at Money Russ’ party.  As she pulled the smoke through the glass stem, I looked at her grime-covered sweat suit.  Her hair was falling out, her once beautiful cherry red lips had darkened, her cheeks were caved in, and her high yellow face was permanently soiled by black rings around her eyes.  She looked like a zombie.
                  “Water, dude.  Dude, I need some water,” came from Ivan, disturbing my thoughts.
                  I handed him a glass of water.  He helped himself to three more while focused on Red.  She was in her own little zone.  Ivan looked down at me as John escorted him to another room.  He said, “Dude.  Do not move from where you are, dude.  You saved this bugger and my bloody goose was cooked.  I’ll see you in the morning, and make sure she doesn’t leave your sight.”
                  I wanted to protest, but my brain was overloaded from the near death experience.  When I looked around the room, it was empty with the exception of Red who was coming down off her high.
                  “I’m all done.  We even, and I have to go,” Red said, her eyelids expanding.
                  I raced to the door and slammed it shut. “We can’t leave.  Ivan has to take care of something in the morning.  So we have to stay, and we ain’t even.”
                  “Listen, Ivan was your vic.  You were doing some kind of sting that had nothing to do with me.  I saved him , so you’re welcome.  But I have things to do, so we’re even.”
                  I thought fast.  Although the original plan I had for her hadn’t turned out the way I wanted it to, I had to use my ace in the hole.
    “A deal is a deal.  I told you I was gonna give you two grand for three days work.  The four small was just a down payment for the rest of the contract.  You gave your word, so stick to the deal.  The contract starts now.”
                  Red reached into her waist, dug into her soiled panties, and withdrew a small ball of yellow wax paper from a McDonald’s cheeseburger. “Here.  You keep this.  Let me go, and we’re even.”
                  She handed me the paper.  The vulgar stench made it clear that she had it up in her crevices.  When I opened the small knot, I found two diamond tennis bracelets rolled into a dazzling ball.
                  “You can keep them.  We’re even, so let me out,” she said, impatiently tapping her foot on the