Read Online Sleepless by Charlie Huston - Free Book Online

the banks, car manufacturers, utilities, and telecom, but as long as Big Pharm is still in the black those cocksuckers in Congress will scream 'free market' like someone nominated Marx for President."
    He rubbed his nose and grunted.
    "Anyway, no telling how long it will take for overseas production to ramp up, and even when it does, if it ever does, demand is going to stay way ahead of supply. But that's over the borders and across the seas, and I don't have the energy to give a shit. For the time being America has all there is and everyone wants it and we have to keep people from killing each other for it. To wit, FDA is going to take it off Schedule A and invent something called Schedule Z. Totally regulated. Distributed out of hospital pharmacies only. Administered directly by hospital personnel to admitted patients. One dose at a time. Rare exceptions will be possible for hospice and home care, limited scrips, signed by two doctors. Every box, every bottle has an RFID tag. Small batch produced, the pills in each batch will have three unique identifying features."
    He put both hands on top of his head, fingers knitted.
    "Everyone at least knows someone who has someone close who's had SLP. Pretty soon, everyone's gonna have someone they know well. Someone they love. Trade in Dreamer, if it hits the street, that'll cause a war. The stuff that's already out there, the counterfeits, that low-grade Southeast Asian knockoff junk; we'd like to cut it off, but that's not our mandate. We'll be working DR33M3R, the real stuff. A bottle here or there, a few dozen pills, that's gonna happen. But we can't have this stuff hitting the street in quantity. Busts of scale, that's what we'll be after."
    Park crimped the bill of his cap.
    "People have to know distribution is fair and equal and blind to money, class, and color. People can't start thinking it's only for the rich and the white."
    Bartolome eyeballed him.
    "Haas, to hell with what people think. Eighties crack? You know anything about how bad that was? You don't. You weren't here. It was bad. This, Dreamer, this is the highest-profit-margin dope in history. What I'm concerned about is a drug war. If someone figures out how to intercept the distribution chain or manufacture a quality clone, we'll go from the skirmishes out there straight to trench warfare in days. Some local cartel starts pulling down Dreamer money, they'll be outfitting their people with Russian and Chinese military ordnance. We'll need a flyover just to patrol Crenshaw."
    Park nodded.
    "What kind of resources are they committing?"
    Bartolome blew out his cheeks.
    "At the Fed? Got me. LAPD?"
    He unlaced his fingers and pointed at himself and then at Park.
    "No expense spared."
    He put his hands back on top of his head.
    "So, Officer Hass."
    He rocked back in his chair.
    "Does this sound like the kind of duty you're suited for?"
    Park stood, fitted his cap onto his head, settled the weight of his weapon on his hip, and nodded.
    "Yes, it does, sir."
    Bartolome closed his eyes.
    "Welcome to Seven Y, Narcotics Special Units. Go back to Van Nuys and clear your shit out of your locker. Anyone asks, you got transferred to Venice. That'll make them hate you even more."
    Park stayed where he was.
    Bartolome opened one eye.
    "Yeah?"
    Park scratched the side of his neck.
    "One thing."
    "Yeah?"
    Park touched his badge.
    "I'm not good at lying."
    Bartolome rolled his eye.
    "It'll come to you, Haas."
    Parker nodded, turned to the door.
    "Haas."
    He stopped.
    "Sir?"
    "Hear your wife is pregnant."
    "Yes, sir."
    "A kid, that will make this kind of thing a lot harder."
    Park didn't say anything.
    Bartolome opened his other eye.
    "You like that, don't you?"
    Park didn't say anything.

    Chapter 4.
    CENTURY CITY WAS WHERE THEY KEPT THE LAWYERS.
    Being lawyers, they were among the first to have themselves walled in when it became apparent that the pandemic wasn't going to simply kill the poor and be done with it. Century Park East and