Evening came too quickly, in Tucker's opinion anyway. He still hadn't fully prepared himself when the others turned him out on the street.
Sure they had fed him and kept him safe up until this point. But now he was completely in the open, exposed to the world!
Left to his own devices, he could only wander around the block aimlessly to pass the time.
When he was down to his last fifteen minutes until seven, he snuck into the building from a side entrance and took the stairs.
By the time he had reached the sixth floor, he was reminded of how out of shape he was.
He paused for a moment to curse himself and check the time. Tucker still had a few minutes left so he leaned on the wall of the stairwell to catch his breath.
After he'd recovered about halfway, he slowly opened the door and peered out into the dark hallway.
And just like the last time, it was ridiculously creepy and he wanted to be anywhere but there.
"Why don't bad guys ever choose nice places to meet? Why does it have to be dark and scary? Not like it'd matter if we were in a park somewhere..." Tucker grumbled as he slowly made his way to his old office.
Complaining brought him a slight bit of comfort as he wandered through the messed up cubicles and tried not to trip over anything.
He turned the corner and saw a dim light emnating from his former office.
'Same as last time. You'll be fine. Just agree to whatever he says.'
After his internal pep talk, Tucker took a deep breath and stepped into the small room.
Seated at the desk, there was a man not much older than himself. The man had a perpetual scowl and if looks could kill, Tucker would have already died at least nine times over.
He was dressed a formal suit and tie, every piece of which was black. Tucker thought he looked like some sort of reaper or death character from a horror story.
"Have a seat, Mr. Malone."
Tucker flinched at the man's voice before obediently sitting down in a chair.
"You failed me, Mr. Malone. I believe we already discussed the consequences that should arise upon your inability to complete your task."
The man spoke slowly to be sure that Tucker would be able to understand clearly what he was implying.
Not sure how to respond, Tucker remained silent.
"And so, Mr. Malone, please do tell me why I should uphold my end of the deal when you couldn't uphold yours?"
"Sir, I..." Tucker broke out in a cold sweat as his mind started to race.
"You don't even have an excuse, Mr. Malone. I should do as I said before. After all, I am a man of my word."
The man pulled out his phone and started to dial a number. Tucker knew it was probably to call his men to tell them to move in on Rita.
"Wait! I can be of use! I can meet with Chance!" Tucker couldn't take the pressure and immediately followed Chance's advice.
"I can personally meet with him and... and... well, you know." Tucker couldn't say it out right. He tried but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth.
"I'm not sure that I do know. Could you be more specific?" The man's finger hovered over the dial button on his phone.
"Whatever you want, however you want. I'll do it."
"And how do you suddenly have the ability to meet with Mr. Addison? If my memory is correct, you told me that you were just dropped at the police station."
"I was! He slipped this in my pocket!" Tucker pulled out a current business card for Chance L. Addison, CEO of Lovewell Publishing.
He flashed it in front of the man before promptly stuffing it back into his pocket.
"If I call him and apologize and ask to catch up, I know he'll meet me. He'll do it for old times sake."
"I thought you weren't close to Mr. Addison."
"I thought so too. I thought he'd never remember me in a million years. We only chatted in passing but he must have something he wants to talk about if he left me his card, right?"
The man seriously considered Tucker's words. If Tucker was right, then they had another opportunity to get rid of Chance. For this one, he could eliminate the both of them easier by using Tucker as the perpetrator instead the scapgoat.
He put his phone away and looked Tucker in the eye.
Tucker froze in fear and held his breath until the man finally said something.
"Alright, Mr. Malone, we'll try it your way." Tucker had relaxed just enough to continue breathing when the man added, "Just know, if you fail me again, death with take his precious time when he comes for you and Mrs. Malone."
As he spoke that last sentence, he stood up and walked out of the room.
Tucker had frozen up once more and the next thing he knew, a hand was being waved in front of his face.