A sudden chill took his breath away as he caught himself to keep from falling on his face. He then looked up, finding himself at the base of an enorm...ous mountain.“Holy shit…”“Welcome to Mount Elbert, Mr. Brighton,” said Patricia, closing the portal behind her. “I’ll see you at the top.”“At the TOP?!”As Patricia bounded up the mountain trail at superhuman speeds, she shouted behind her, “And no teleporting!”Dave watched her disappear into the distance and tried to make sense of all this. He. They hired a rival gang to do a drive-by on Miguel, but as soon as their car came into the neighborhood they were made, and when they came roaring up, automatic weapons sticking out the windows, blue lights started flashing. A guy in the car panicked, from what the report said, and opened fire. They counted three hundred bullet holes in their car later, all six occupants riddled like Swiss cheese.They got to one of Michaels’ guys, blowing him to bits. I sent over the food for the wake, the. "I tuck away half my paycheck every month, and sticking it in low-risk stuff with moderate and steady returns. By the time I leave, I'll have enough money put aside to do whatever the hell I want. This is just purgatory, Frank." Waiting for your real life to begin," I murmur."Isn't everybody?" Maybe so. But I think most people never stop waiting until that train has left the station. I don't want to wake up and realize that I am fifty and balding, and that I've been spending a quarter century. But when you hear you’re ugly every day — and that’s what she did all her school days — it doesn’t really help your confidence too much. She told me there even was a teacher who called her plain Jayne in class.’ ‘Really? For crying out loud. Poor girl. Do you think she would let me take her out some time?’ ‘Not if you do so out of pity — she’s very sensitive to that. And I have no idea if she’ll let you otherwise. I think you’d better get to know her some more first.’ George nodded. He cleared.