Flying South by James Maxwell
from Betrayal: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
Mattie returned to her apartment with the black duffel bag burgeoning at its zipper.
She had fifteen minutes to spare before Alvin showed up with the money, and about ten minutes after that she expected to get a call from Dino South about the missing heroin.
She paced the carpet with the phone pressed to her ear. Mattie had her alibi, but it was no good if they caught her with the heroin under her bed next to a freshly fired revolver.
An old blonde mastiff named Philly Cheesesteak lumbered across the living room with a blue gym bag swinging from the flaps of his mouth. Mattie shooed him, and he hobbled away to the bedroom.
Alvin wasn’t picking up, and it was making her nervous.
Five minutes after buy time, someone knocked on the door and she opened up.
It wasn’t Alvin, but Dino South and two suits.
“Not who you were expecting?” Dino said with a frown.
“I’ve got your stuff right here,” Mattie said. “Let me grab it.”
If she was fast, she could outshoot ‘em. Mattie turned to the bedroom door, and Philly came trotting out with the black duffel bag dangling from his wet jaws.
This story appears as part of Betrayal, a PUNK NOIR Magazine series, originally published May 2024.
Bio
James Maxwell is a technical writer and game developer from California.
PUNK NOIR, the online literary and arts magazine that looks at the world at its most askew, casting a bloodshot eye over the written word, film, music, television and more.
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Nice twist
Great one!