A phone call

Jacob felt a bit of happiness fill him as he looked at his bed, he only had one box left in front of him and he had two piles of objects sitting beside him other than the cocaine suitcase. One pile contained 1000 dollars, and the other contained 3 identical gold inked slips of paper. Jacob felt that he at least had a better chance at survival now that he had these stat boosters, at least he hoped. Reaching out his hand for the last box and hoping it would be a stat booster Jacob was once again shocked.

[Manliness stat growth booster]

Before Jacob could even wonder what the stat booster could do a system message appeared with a ding.

[stat growth boosters, double the growth of the appointed stat for 1 week.]

Though Jacob was glad it wasn't another 200 dollars, the growth booster wasn't exactly what he was looking for, he wanted things that could boost him now, not long term growth. Jacob looked at the tools he had gathered and crossed his fingers reaching out to activate the growth booster but he didn't know how. As Jacob looked for the instructions on the piece of gold paper he heard the system once again.

[rip the paper to activate boosts and boosters]

Jacob complied with the instructions and tore the paper down the middle and a desire to workout filled his body, but no matter how much he wanted to do other things now it was time to fix this situation and not get his body in shape. Jacob quickly put the phone number in his contacts then he carefully packed the suitcase, putting the metal box back in the center, carefully covering it all up with the white sheet, and then he closed the bag tight and set it next to his bed. Jacob was a smart person that was the only trait he ever had and he came to a few conclusions before he diled the number, 1 if anyone other than Daphne came he was deader than dead he couldn't talk his way out if it wasn't even someone he knew, 2 they would know he knew there were drugs and gems in the suitcase they probably weren't dumb enough to believe he got the phone number any other way, 3 even though meeting them in a public place would prevent them from killing him imidiatly it probably lead them to kill him later and, 4 the most important of all of them he had to stay calm and collected no matter what happened.

As his hand reached out to hit the call button Jacob hesitated, but that hesitation only lasted for a minute as he dug deeper into himself for courage and hit the call button. As Jacob heard the phone buzz once with no response he was tempted to simply end the call and try to flee the city, but he buckled down and waited through to the second ring, what seemed like hours went by in mere seconds and right when the phone was about through the second ring he heard the destruct click of the phone being picked up.

"Who is this?"

The voice came through the phone gruff and fast, Jacob had been ready and he quickly replied.

"A friend"

Jacob knew that he had to keep his answers short; his only advantage was that currently they didn't know who was on the phone, and he figured that was the only way to make it to Daphne. The voice paused for a moment before continuing.

"What kind of friend?"

Jacob knew that at this point he had to bluff a little, he wasn't really friends with Daphne at most he entertained her and really all they were was acquaintances.

"Daphne's friend."

The voice paused for much longer this time and Jacob knew he had to bite down and bluff through like a poker player with a bad hand.

"Who's Daphne?

The voice on the line asked back, and Jacob knew that it was a test, if he was actually Daphne's friend he would know this but he didn't, luckily Jacob could deduce the answer from what he knew. Jacob knew a bit about criminal organizations, especially ones large enough to have a suitcase full of possibly tens of millions of gems, luckily he had received a hint to the question from the very amount of money in a suitcase. Crime organizations weren't commonly filled with women, and the women inside would be rough and hardened, Daphne felt different, almost like a dangerous flower untouched or at least intact. There was only one job a woman could have that would leave her trusted enough to carry tens of millions, but also untouched enough to still have a personality like hers, she was a high ranking member or atleast Jacob thought so, she was probably even a boss of some kind, and with that in mind Jacob answered.

"Your boss."

The person on the other end paused for even longer, and Jacob couldn't help but sweat, hoping he was right. Sure enough the person on the other end said exactly what Jacob was looking for.

"What do you want?"

Jacob knew he had succeeded and now it was easy.

"I want to talk to Daphne."

This time the answer came quickly.

"What for?"

Jacob knew it was once again time to buckle down.

"That doesn't concern you."

The person on the other end snorted and then Jacob got what he wanted once again.

"I'll get this to her, don't hang up, and don't waste her time."

With that sentence the other end went quite apart from the noise in the background, and while Jacob waited he prepared for this meeting, or whatever it was Jacob wasn't sure what to call it.

He had probably waited for 2 minutes when he heard the background noise cut out on the other side and some hurried distant voices, and then it went dead silent. Jacob heard the sound of the a new speaker coming on and a crisp but elegant female voice came through the speaker.

"Who is this, and I hope for your sake this is important because you're wasting my precious time."

Jacob could recognize Daphne's clear and elegant voice; he wouldn't soon forget that voice as it was still fresh in his mind. Recognizing that it was Daphne on the phone made him freeze, up to here he was prepared but the situation was so variable based it was hard to plan too far ahead and at this point Jacob felt like his plan was starting to unravel. Jacob would have stuttered a reply if it wasn't for how on edge he was to avoid a mistake.

"Daphne, it's Jacob."

That simple phrase seemed to change the tune of the person on the other end.

"Oh is it now, called to brag that you got one over on me. Managed to trick me into a false sense of security and escape with my package, I'm going to find you and skin you alive you…!"

Jacob knew that she had misunderstood the situation, and the only way to calm her down was to interrupt her, the problem was that in the hurry with which he jumped to interrupt her he came off a little flustered.

"Nonono you're making a mistake, this whole thing is a mistake, I didn't mean to grab your suitcase I was tired It was a slip up…"

This time Jacob was the one interrupted as a much less angry voice cut him off.

"So you're saying that it was all just an accident, and in fact you just confused the suitcases?"

Jacob was relieved that she got his point and he quickly responded to her.

"Yes exactly I just want my suitcase back, why don't we just swap and forget this ever happened?"

Jacob could hear an intake of breath from the other side, and a much more laid back response compared to before.

"For that we would need to meet, tell me where you at right now."

Jacob would have liked to meet in a location away from his apartment, but at this point he just wanted to keep this crazy bitch calm, which meant not lying.

"At my apartment."

"Where is your apartment?"

"Down town."

"What's your address?"

Jacob didn't want to tell her but at the same time he figured that if he lied it would only be a matter of time before they found him. So he told her his address, but he had a request that he needed to be met.

"Can you come to pick it up?"

"Of course we'll pick it up."

"No, by you I was hoping that you would personally come to get it."

Jacob knew it was risky to be demanding but he also knew that it was easier to have someone killed by some goons than it was to do it in person.

"Why do you want me to come specifically, how do I know it's not a trap?"

Jacob quickly answered back in the most compelling voice he could do.

"Because I only trust you not to kill me."

The other end went silent for almost a minute before Daphne gave her response.

"I'll be there in a hour, make sure you're alone."

With that line the conversation ended and Jacob hung up the phone and sighed in relief.