Carter grimaced when he saw the number. Pushing the side button on his phone, the call disappeared from view but remained in his mind. Could it have really been 3 years? Leaves crunched under his feet as Carter cut through the small park toward his dreary apartment building. The wind nipped at his exposed skin and forewarned the coming cold front and autumn storm. Trash littered the worn stoop of the old brick building before him. Dropping his shoulder to push open the heavy door, Carter doubted himself. Did you really think he wouldn't show up? Come calling as soon as he was out? You know him and you know he'll never change. But can't I change, he thought, arguing with himself.
After he had climbed the four flights to his one bedroom apartment and set down his bag, Carter's phone vibrated against his thigh. The accompanying tinny ringtone stopped when he pushed the talk button.
"Carter Hamilton, it's about time you picked up," Jackson's familiar voice said. "You really gonna leave an old pal like me hanging?"
"Jackson," Carter said, "how are you doing?"
"What do you mean, 'How am I doing'? How would you be after breathing free air for the first time in 3 years? I'm fucking fantastic. Glad to be out of that concrete shithole."
"I can imagine," Carter replied. Specks of dust drifted through the air in front of him, catching the evening light.
"Well now, no you can't, can you?" Jackson spat. "You weren't caught. Weren't even arrested or talked to, if I remember correctly," he added. Carter stopped pacing. Seconds ticked by. "But, let's not rehash the past. A new leaf and all that bullshit." Carter heard the squelch of a train through the phone.
"What can I do for you?" he asked. Unease twisted through his stomach, as he waited for the words he knew would come.
"I've got a job," Jackson replied. "And I could use your services." Carter felt bile seep into his throat.
"Jackson," Carter began, "I don't know if I ca-"
"You shut it. Stop right there," Jackson interrupted. "I don't want to hear a thing. Not one word. I knew you'd go soft with me gone. You never had a damn backbone." Carter closed his eyes and willed himself to say something, anything. "I don't know what you don't understand. You're the alarm guy. That's it. You deal with all the electronic crap, cutting your wires, and I handle everything else. Stealing ain't exactly a complex science."
"You don't understa-" Carter stuttered.
"No," He said. "Just meet me in an hour at the old diner on 23rd. I could use some real food." And with that, Carter heard the line go dead.
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