Nails sat in his car on the darker side of the street, watching the house. It looked pretty straightforward from what he had gathered. Neither of the guys who stole the grass were connected or involved with gangs or anything. He wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes out there for roughing them up. And it had been become obvious to him, over the course of following them was that these were not people to scared of. They were amateurs in every sense of the word. The one who did the deed, Jeff, it was his house, he got SSI from the state for mental problems, enough to pay the rent and some other things, but not much more. So Jeff liked to stick his fingers into various illegal operations to earn extra cash, mainly break ins, petty theft. He was also heavily into Oxycontin, which fueled most of it. It was his friend Roy however, who Nails believed put him up to this one. Roy had been copping weed off of Alex for a while now, and from what he could tell, at the same time was casing up Alex's operation. Who supplied him, was he connected to anyone, what was the extent of his organization. It was impressive, considering Alex was hardly a criminal mastermind, in fact the only blemish on his record was a DUI a few years back. He was a cook at a local restaurant. The 'brains' of the operation if there was one.
He felt bad for the two, truth be told. They had just stepped one a massive hornets nest and didn't even know it. Didn't realize that the person they burned really did have connections. Like starting fights in random bars and having the bad luck to pick who was a former marine, and Muay Thai champion. Nails had learned that the hard way, when he was younger, since then he picked his battles carefully. He looked at the time on his cars dashboard, 10:05, from what the could tell Alex always got off work around 10 because he usually came around to Jeff's at 10:30 or somewhere around there. Better wait until they're both there to do it, in case they hid it someplace else. It had occurred to him that it was quite likely that the grass was gone, that they had sold it, or traded it for pills or something better, it was only two ounces after all, in that case he planned to take it all. Everything they had. And if they didn't have anything for him he would make them wish they did. He saw lights from a car coming from down the street, showtime, he thought.
Nails got out of the car feeling a quick flutter nerves as he walked toward the house. Strange, perhaps left over from Vietnam, going out into the bush not knowing what was ahead. He had cleaned out his closet and found the last suit he owned in the back of it, for a court date 15 years ago. Still fit. He felt good about that. He knew the angle he was going to use, knew how he was going to use it. The .38 felt heavy in his waistband, he knocked three times. Nothing. The sound of low voices conversing, light music. He knocked again. He heard the sound of a lock turn and the door open, first mistake asshole, he thought. A short man with a bald head and a goatee answered, 'Who the fuck are you?' he asked as opened the door. This is going to be easy, Nails thought. 'I want to know if you've heard the good news, Jesus Christ our lord and savoir is returning soon and.. 'Get lost asshole.' He began to shut the door in his face. So easy, he thought. This must be Roy. Before the door could close Nails punched him in the stomach and followed up with a right hook to the face. 'You took something that didn't belong to you, where the fuck is it?' He asked as Roy lay on the ground bleeding. 'I don't know...' Roy replied reaching into his pocket. He kicked him in the face. His pistol game sliding out of his waistband. 'Yeah, that's not going to work for you my friend. Why don't you just tell me what I need to know.' Roy spat up blood, 'Ok.'
The fucking lottery should be outlawed, Wade thought as he waited in line. There were 3 people ahead of him and the first person seemed to be doing all they could to ensure that the people behind her got helped as slowly and inefficiently ass possible, getting 5 different scratch tickets at a time, and all kind of 'quick picks. 'And get me two 5 dollar scratch tickets.' 'Which ones?' the clerk asked. 'Just pick me some winners.' The woman asked flashing a smile. You're not going to fucking win you stupid bitch, people have precious liquor to buy.' He assessed the situation. As long as the other two people in line didn't also have some kind of lottery transaction or multiple ones, he should be out of the place pretty soon. He needed to be out soon, it had been a shit day from start to finish. Up on a drafty roof all day putting up shingles, his only help some idiot kid who seemed to be perpetually high, taking forever to get things, and disappearing for long stretches of time. After a while Wade had simply given up and done everything himself, hauling the shingles up the roof and putting them up. What had added to his tension was the fact that he hadn't smoked in four days. He had a few plants growing under his lights, but those still had months to flower, be harvested, and cured. It was to the point that he was probably going to have to go to someone to get something which was exactly what he was trying to avoid by getting into growing and selling in the first place.
'Hi'. Wade felt startled as the clerk uttered the words. He thought first 3 people were still there but they had gone and he was up to bat. Wade put the six of tall boys on the counter, 'Two nips of fireball.' He said finally. The clerk grabbed them and he handed him the 10. Just make this day be over, Wade thought, as the clerk counted the change. 'Thank you.' Wade said as he left. Thank god, he thought, finally get to just go home and relax, as long as that asshole doesn't'....his phone buzzed, he looked down at his messages. 'That asshole' had certainly texted him. 'Meet me at the Hotel now.' It said. Fuck it. I'll go. But I'm certainly not postponing my weekend because of it, Wade thought as he opened a nip. He downed it in one gulp. Now lets see what all this fuss is about, he thought.
Nails took a long swig of his beer as he sat in his room, waiting. Waiting for two small time weed dealers to arrive. When he had told some people in his crew that he was doing some kind of security for two relatively low level pot dealers they had thought he was crazy. Shit, if someone had told them thirty years ago, when he had been making hundreds of thousands selling coke, that this would be the case he would have called them crazy, but now it made sense. Those associates of his who did not understand were of a younger generation, they didn't see the big picture. Sure selling, meth and coke, and heroin, you could make alot of money but it also mean a whole lot more jail time. A far greater likelihood that your operation could have an undercover agent being put into the mix, as Nails had learned firsthand when Mike had flipped. Mike had been second in command to the chapter president, and had run meth for a number of years. Mike's testimony had devastated the club, almost destroyed it. In the end, quite a few more brothers flipped and testified against the club, Nails was one of few who refused. He had done ten years in Federal prison for keeping his mouth shut. He never associated or did deals with too many people so they didn't have a much information on him. I'm never going back, he thought, to himself. not ever.
I'll go meet them. Nails got up an walked outside they had just pulled up. 'Well,' He said. 'I found the people who ripped you off. They're here.' 'Where are they?' Wade asked. 'Let me show you.' He gestured toward his trunk and opened it. They lay there beaten and battered, 'Should I end it, or give them a pass?' he asked. 'Give them a pass. Just tell them not to fuck with us.' Nails shut the trunk. He gestured toward the hotel, 'Come on, I have a business proposition.' They followed. He shut the trunk. 'What about them?' Wade asked as he walked toward the door. 'He'll be fine.' Nails replied. He led the way into the apartment, really more of a stashhouse, meeting place, than anything else. A place he knew the cops didn't know about, that no one in his crew knew about, a spot he kept all for himself. That was how it was these days, one had to insulate oneself from anything that might incriminate themselves, and being known as the boss or anything illegal as simply not desirable. In the late 90's he had found out that the vice president of his chapter had been an FBI agent all along. They had picked up everyone, from the top down. He had lived on the lam for a while, up in Canada, but eventually they caught up with him. He kept his mouth shut and done 15 years. Since then he made sure to thoroughly investigate everyone he did business with.
The apartment was surprisingly clean, Wade thought, as he entered. There were a couple of beer bottles on the nightstand but apart from that, the bed was made and there was no debris on the floor. The hallway led to a small kitchenette and there was a small bathroom on the left. A table and two chair stood in front of a large window, which was currently shuttered. 'Have a seat.' Nails gestured toward them. Wade sat down Alex followed. 'So as you can see, I have held up my end of the bargain.' Nails began. 'So do you have something for me?' 'Yeah.' Wade pulled out a large paper and bag and put it on the table. He reached into that and pulled out a large plastic bag of weed from it. He handed it to Nails. 'One quarter pound, good stuff.' He said. Nails took the bag, opened it, smelled inside. 'Looks nice.' He said. Wade started to rise, 'Wait hold on a second man. There is something else, I have a business proposition for you.' Wade paused, 'Ok.' Fuck, he thought. 'I have people, investors, with alot of money and knowledge of good dope. Unfortunately these people also have a lot of history with the law and have other reasons to not want exposure. You you're perfect, you don't have a history.' 'What are you proposing?' 'Me and my partners stake you in a dispensary operation, we provide lights, clones, everything. And you and Alex can run it, and you'll get a piece of it also.' 'The most I've ever done is a couple pounds- He started, 'Don't worry I have plenty of guys that can help. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut.'
Wade was silent for a second. 'Man are you kidding we should totally-' Alex started to say. 'I don't know if I want to commit to something like that, I'll have to think about it.' Wade got up to leave. 'Sure, that fine, Nails replied. 'Think, mull, contemplate, just get back to me on it. Don't forget, you have our protection now, my organizations. But without my organization whats to stop some other group of assholes from ripping you off again?' Wade walked to the door. 'Just something to think about.' Nails said as they walked out.
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