Free Off the Wagon (Users #2) by Stacy, Jennifer Buck

seemed a bit colder here in the empty parking lot. He was surrounded on three sides by buildings with only the parking lot exit facing the street. It was the perfect spot for an ambush.
    “What the fuck?” he asked to no one in particular.
    A green light flashed in his eye. He looked away down at his torso and found green dots covering his chest. He almost asked what the fuck again, but before he could speak, men dressed in all black and armed with semi-automatic weapons emerged from every shadow, nook, and cranny they could possibly hide in. They rushed to surround him with their guns leveled at his chest. For a brief second, Barber thought he might make a run for it, but then he heard a menacing voice.
    “So you’re the little sidekick,” a man said from over Barber’s shoulder. “Put the spikes away before you poke someone’s eye out.”
    Barber did as he was told, sliding his barbs back into his forearms. He turned around to find a well dressed man in an expensive suit standing before him.
    “What-what do you want from me,” Barber stammered. A wiry grin spread across the man’s well manicured face. Barber thought he looked like some kind of Bond villain. He had the slicked back hair and everything.
    “I want you to go on a little ride with me,” the man said, and Barber was in no position to argue.
     
    ******
     
    Carter sat on the couch waiting for Barber to return. Eventually, he passed out and he didn’t wake until the following morning. He awoke fully dressed and sitting up on the couch.
    “Barber?” he shouted. “Barber?”
    Carter ran to Barber’s bedroom, hoping the kid had sneaked in during the night while he was unconscious on the couch. He pushed the door open, expecting to find Barber asleep in his bed, but he was not there. Everything was exactly as it was the night before.
    Carter closed the door behind him and turned to look at the clock over the kitchen stove.
    “Shit!” He was going to be late for his job. Somehow, someway, he was going to have to put this whole mess with Barber out of his mind. At least for as long as it took for him to complete the gig with the bank.
     
    *****
     
    Having successfully completed his job at the mock bank, Carter returned home. The new vault the bank’s scientists had created failed to deter Carter from breaking into it. He had broken into this new vault almost as quickly as the last, which for Carter was a good thing. It meant another test had to be ran, and more employment for Carter. But he was too worried about Barber to be excited about his work.
    He spent the rest of that day by the phone, hoping that it would ring. He’d pick it up and Barber would be on the other end, safe and sound. Days passed, and still Barber hadn’t returned home. Carter tried to play it off the first couple of days, convincing himself that the kid had just run away, but would show up any minute now. By the third day, Carter really began to worry, and no amount of convincing was going to alleviate the anxiety he felt.
    During the day, Carter waited by the phone. It never rang. He even secretly called Vince to see if Barber had been at any of the meetings that week, but Vince hadn’t seen any sign of him. Carter politely asked Vince to not tell Walt that he had called before hanging up.
    At night he went searching for any sign of Barber. He hit all his old digs. The nasty places, the dark places, the no good places; hoping that, despite the implications, maybe Barber had gotten so mad at him that the kid had gotten back on the sauce.
    “You seen this kid?” Carter asked a grunge looking biker sitting at the bar.
    “Fuck off,” the biker said. Carter moved for the door. Another dive, and another dead end. No matter how many junkies he asked, crack dens he hit, and flop houses he busted up, no one had seen Barber. After spending almost a week in Seattle’s underbelly, Carter knew it was time to bite the bullet. It was time to go to the User’s for help. That