"No, I know better than that."
"Good. Now that's settled, please come inside and we'll talk business."
I grabbed my bags from the El Camino and followed Marty and Theo across the yard.
Inside the bungalow was nicer than I had expected. For some reason I had been thinking it would be squalid. Instead it was cozy. The smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the air.
After we took off our boots at the front door, Theo led us to his comfortable living room. A potbellied iron stove sat in the corner, radiating heat. Grey winter light filled the room through the large front window. Two couches, green and brown 70s-style monsters, squatted around a thick wooden coffee table.
"Coffee?" Theo asked.
My stomach growled. It had been weeks, literally, since I'd had anything but water and nutrient paste. Even though I needed food and water much less than I had before Brick had Inducted me, I still missed the taste.
"Please," I replied. Marty also assented.
Theo returned with three cups and a carafe of coffee, which he set down on the solid table in front of us. Soon we all had steaming cups, and I cradled mine, sipping at it. The taste and smell were complex and almost overwhelming after so long with only water to drink.
"Now, Mr. Monde—" Theo started.
"Please, just call me Jake," I interrupted.
"Fine, Jake. Do you mind if I take a closer look at that gold?" Theo asked.
I handed it over. Despite the fact that it was a fortune—nearly fifty thousand dollars—I did have another forty-seven kilograms in the bag at my feet. Grandpa had stockpiled a relatively small amount of it in the Refinery warehouse and it had still been there when we had reclaimed it. Money had ceased feeling like a real thing I had to worry about some time ago. Brick could have produced a literal ton of gold for me if I'd needed it. It wasn't that useful as a building material and was pretty worthless on the Union market.
"Where did this come from? The weight feels right, but it's unmarked."
That had been a problem I was hoping wasn't a big one. I didn't know that much about gold. I knew that in the movies when you saw gold bars they generally had some writing stamped on them, but I didn't know what it was. We could have just winged it and put something on there, but without knowing what exactly to put there it was a minefield. What if we tried and it was something that was obviously bogus to experts? We'd have people thinking our real gold was fake because we'd tried to hide its origin. At the end of the day, it was gold and that'd have to be good enough.
"Yeah, sorry about that. All I can really say is that you can test it. It's pure gold."
Marty was watching the exchange, his eyes wide. I could tell that he wanted to blab, to tell his Internet buddy everything. I was still uncertain that was a good idea.
"What do you guys need from me, other than the border crossing?"
"A new ride. Four-wheel drive. Clean plates, registration, and insurance," Marty said.
I nodded, agreeing. "Some better gear for you, Marty. It's going to be cold up there."
"No problem. I can sort all that out. I've got just the vehicle for you—an older Ford crew cab. It's in great shape, but the papers will take an hour or two. Does this sheriff have any reason to think you're going to try to cross the border?"
"No, I don't think so," I answered.
"Good, that will make things simpler. Do you mind if I take this, Jake?" Theo said, holding up the bar still in his hand. "I'd like to test it."
"No problem."
Theo excused himself, leaving us in his living room while he disappeared into the back. I had a brief, paranoid vision of him coming back with a rifle and ganking us for the gold. Even if I was mostly bulletproof, Marty sure wasn't.
"You sure we can trust this guy, Marty? You didn't tell me you'd never actually met him."
"As sure as I can be. Nothing in life is certain, they say. Theo's solid. I'd bet my life on it."
"Well, you are, Marty. Okay."
Theo returned a few minutes later, sitting back down in his previous spot. He laid the bar down on the table in front of me. I could see a slight sheen of moisture on one corner. A tiny drop of water leaked onto the scarred wood of the coffee table.
"19.32 grams per cubic centimeter. That is indeed quite pure."
I left it lying there. "It's yours, for your help."
"That's too much. If I take Marty's El Camino in trade, that will cover the cost of the truck. Will you take cash for the balance? You need some guns?"
Marty sat up in alarm. "Whoa, time out! I'm not trading you my Camino. Sorry, Theo. That's my baby."
I laughed. "Yeah, let's leave Marty his ride."
"Too bad. I know I could have moved that pretty quick. If you want to leave it here, I'll take good care of it until you get back, Smoker."
"Thanks, Theo."
"Alright then. With no trade, that's just about even. I'll give you some cash on top."
"We're going to need some walking around money too, Theo," I said, and reached into my bag. With a clunk, I set an identical bar down beside the first.
"Jesus!" Marty said.
Theo just raised an eyebrow and smiled, the first genuine smile I'd seen on his face. "Yes, of course you will.”
Chapter Eleven: Resupply and Prep for the Trip North
"GIVE ME MY PHONE, MARTY," I said.
Theo had told us that the whole house was a Faraday cage, if an imperfect one. He'd left us to our own devices in the living room, taking his gold with him. We'd agreed to forty thousand in cash in addition to the rest of it.
We had a few hours before he'd have all of the paperwork
