At 10:30, the drawer beneath the window slid shut with a soft mechanical click.
"You lost your chance, Mr. Mendoza," Henry said. "I'm surprised you never even picked up the revolver. But now you can't, and that makes this next part much easier."
The side door opened and Jose came in, a gun leveled at Ryan's chest. "I'm sorry, sir," he said, and meant it. "I need you to remove your clothes."
A second man followed in the same grey coveralls, the patch above his pocket reading JUAN, wheeling a bed across the floor toward the mirrored wall. Jose told Ryan to lie down. Between them, the two men buckled him to the bed with leather restraints, then left without a word. Alone, strapped down, Ryan was certain now that the glass was reflective in one direction only, and that somewhere on the other side of it, in a room he couldn't see, someone was watching.
At 11:00, the door to the back lot clicked open and a young woman stepped inside.
It was Doug’s sister, Julie.
“Doug!” Julie put her hand to her mouth at the outburst but she couldn’t hide the tears already beginning to well up in the corners of her eyes.
"Ms. Meyers," Henry said, "you were unable to pay off your layaway. As you can see, your brother is being held in that cage for the same reason. I believe you also know Mr. Mendoza, who is waiting for you on that bed. Your task is simple, something you've already done before. Complete it, and you and your brother are free to go, and you'll owe nothing more on the Atari 2600. It will be all yours."
Julie stared at the cage, at the bed. Her mouth moved without sound.
"All you have to do is sleep with Mr. Mendoza. Think of it as a reenactment. Do what you did before. All of it. When Mr. Mendoza finishes, you and Doug can go on your merry way and forget it ever happened. You'll be back in your apartment playing Pac-Man before you know it." He set a small timer on the counter. "There is one catch. Ten minutes is all you get. Should be more than enough time. If you can't bring him to finish before the timer goes off, I'm afraid that will be the end of your brother."
"What?"
"You did it before, Ms. Meyers. You can do it again."
She went to the bed because there was nowhere else to go. What followed, Ryan would remember afterward only in fragments: her trembling hands, the fluorescent hum, his own body betraying him on command, the timer's face turning in the corner of his eye. Minutes passed. Then the buzzer sounded, harsh and flat.
Jose came through the side door with the revolver, crossed to the cage, and fired once.
The sound filled the room and did not seem to leave it. Julie's scream tore out of her, high and raw, and what the shot had done to her brother's head was spread across the bars, the floor, the grey blanket still crumpled where it had fallen.
"That was unfortunate," Henry said. "My condolences, Ms. Meyers. But the rules were clear. I'm surprised you couldn't finish the job. You bragged to your friend Jenny about it four years ago. You told her Ryan came in five minutes then. Jenny bought a waterbed last week, by the way. You learn a lot about a person when they want to take something home before they've paid for it." The timer reset with a tick. "I'm giving you another chance. Ten more minutes. Bring Mr. Mendoza to finish and you're free to go. But if that buzzer sounds again, I'm afraid your time will be up."
Julie was shaking so hard she could barely stand. Ryan, through his own horror, understood that she was in the same trap he was, and within minutes of the same ending as her brother.
"Julie," he said. "Look at me. You have to do this. You're next. He's not playing around. Use your hands. Do it fast, whatever you have to do."
She did. Tears streamed down her face and dripped from her chin, and her hands moved with a desperate, furious efficiency while Ryan stared at the ceiling and forced his body to cooperate.
The room soon filled with the sound of skin slapping against skin with a rhythm that could only mean one thing. Bap, bap, bap, bap, bap.
Eight minutes passed. Then it was done.
"There it is," Henry said. "Good. You completed the task. You're free to go, Ms. Meyers."
Julie looked at Ryan one last time, wiping her hand on the mattress cover. She said nothing. She ran for the door, and it clicked open as she reached it, and the night swallowed her.
"You're probably wondering who's on the other side of that mirror, Mr. Mendoza," Henry said. "Who could it be? Can we bring in our witnesses?"
The side door opened. Jose was there, holding someone at gunpoint, a crying woman with a gag across her mouth.
"Mrs. Meyers, I'm sorry for your loss," Henry said.
"Hayley?" Ryan watched her fall to her knees in front of the cage that held the remains of her dead husband.
"Mrs. Meyers, you were unable to pay off your layaway by the due date. You purchased a lovely watch, a gift for your husband, who now, unfortunately, is dead."
Juan came in carrying a pair of garden shears.
"Mrs. Meyers, your task is simple. You will take these shears and remove Mr. Mendoza's penis. You will have ten minutes from the moment I set the timer. If you do not complete the task before the buzzer sounds, you will be eliminated. If you do, you are free to go, and you owe nothing more on that watch."
Hayley took the shears. Her hands could barely close on them. Juan left the room, and she stood sobbing in the glare of the lights.
Juan returned with another woman held at gunpoint, a gag across her mouth.
Jaimie.
She was crying hysterically, her eyes finding Ryan on the bed and then Hayley with the shears and then the cage.
Jose left the room.
"Mrs. Mendoza," Henry said, "you were unable to pay off your layaway before the due date. Tonight you've already watched your husband with another woman, one he cheated on you with four years ago. I can't imagine how troubling that must have been."
Jose came back, wheeling a cart with a gift-wrapped package on it. Ryan knew the paper. He had picked it out himself.
Jose tore it away and exposed the box, the Panasonic, white, with its digital clock.
"Mr. Mendoza realized he wouldn't make his payment," Henry said. "He was planning to give you this lovely microwave for Christmas, Mrs. Mendoza. He came to me for help, and I offered him a simple task. He refused, so I'm afraid the microwave has been repossessed. But I'm nothing if not fair. I know how much you’ve been wanting a microwave oven so I’m going to let you use it."
Jose lifted the microwave out of the box, set it on the cart, and plugged it into the wall.
"Here's how this will play out,” Henry said. “Mrs. Meyers has been assigned to remove Ryan's penis. Mrs. Mendoza, your task is to take it, put it in the microwave, and heat it for three minutes. You'll want to let it cool an additional minute afterward, so you'll need to work together quickly. You only have ten minutes total. And Ryan? You failed your first task and lost the microwave. But if you complete this new task, you'll be allowed to leave. All you have to do is eat what your wife cooks for you. If the three of you complete the assignment together before the buzzer sounds, you’ll all be free to go enjoy the rest of the holidays."
The timer ticked.
Nobody in the room moved. Then, slowly, Hayley raised the shears.