by K. L Randis
“If you value your life, you will tell me everything you know about this dealer that sold to me. Do you hear me? Nod if you understand what I’m saying!” Jared screamed.
He had spent three days sitting in front of the warehouse looking for the purple Civic. When he came up with nothing, Jared realized that Dex probably knew more than he was letting on just to keep him in town and running his business. He’d already decided that he needed the money to have any shot at starting over somewhere else and that he would stay until his six months were up, but he needed to know who the dealer was so he could make plans to deal with him before he caught wind that he was being hunted down. Jared knew how easy it could be to skip town and start a life somewhere else and he couldn’t afford to let this guy slip through his fingers after what Jon had told him about the fentanyl laced heroin.
Dex nodded and slid to the floor as Jared released his grip. “Now I know you know who this bastard is so you better start talking. I don’t plan on skipping out but I’m at a dead end and this business venture is over unless I start getting some more information.”
The hacking subsided after a minute and Dex pointed to a glass of water that was perched on the corner of his desk. Jared retrieved it and handed it to him, watching him guzzle it down.
“Talk,” Jared said, pointing the blade toward him.
“Such drama Jared, all you had to do was ask,” Dex said cooly, but his eyes were burning. “And I hope you didn’t keep the front door open, mosquitoes are horrible this time of year.”
“I’m listening,” Jared replied.
“What is it you want to know exactly?”
“Whatever you know about this guy and where I can find him.”
“Yes, the purple Civic,” Dex said nodding. He stood up, smoothing the top of his midnight colored hair and pointed to the desk. “I’ll need to take a hit if it’s all right with you? Can’t think straight after you running in here on me.”
Jared nodded.
Dex lowered his head to the desk, the sound of his inhale sharp and accurate. He coughed twice, tapping his fingers against the maple wood and staring up at the ceiling waiting for the full effect to sink in. Jared envied him.
“The Civic you are looking for is still around, I would imagine the guy who drives it is still working at the tobacco factory.”
“You knew about the tobacco factory? Why not just tell me?”
“You needed to keep your head in the game, instead of running around chasing bad guys. Flick and I were protecting our investment, we felt that if you got too close to this guy you would do something stupid and get arrested. We couldn’t have that.”
“It’s none of your business what I do with this guy and the sooner you tell me what I need to know the sooner this all goes away so I can focus and keep my head in the game.”
Dex saw that he was telling the truth. Jared looked unsure of himself standing with a switchblade in his hand and wild eyes, but his persistence obviously wouldn’t dwindle until he found that dealer. That would serve to be a problem.
“I sat at that factory for three days and didn’t see anything, so where’s he live?” Jared asked.
“No idea,” Dex said, “but if you were stalking the factory during the day time that’s where you were coming up empty-handed. The car was seen working overnights. He must work in the warehouse.”
Jared hadn’t thought about there being a skeleton crew for overnights. “So you have nothing else for me? All you know is that this car was seen at the tobacco factory?”
“Yes,” Dex said, “It’s all I know. And I know that the parking lots are littered with surveillance, so it would be in your best interest to steer clear of any questionable activity while on their property.”
“Didn’t think you cared so much,” Jared said, placing his right hand over his heart and smirking.
“As I said, just protecting my investment. Speaking of which, while you’re here we may as well discuss some things.”
“I don’t really have the time,” Jared replied.
Hailey was meeting up with him after he left the farmhouse. They had spent the last few days talking on the phone dishing things out and Jared was both relieved and terrified to find that Hailey wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted to be with her. He didn’t want to be responsible for breaking up two relationships, so he told her to meet him at a pub in Lehighton a week later, sans Matt, if she really wanted to be with him. He planned on leaving Tina within the week, once the first shipment of VHS tapes was safely delivered, since his apartment was currently cluttered with over sixty of them packed with Lace.
He lied to Tina and told her they were old tapes of his that his mom had put in storage and that he wanted to go through them to figure out which ones he wanted to donate. He figured since he was going to leave her anyway, he didn’t want her to know about his dealings with Dex or anything about his involvement with the Lace empire. He wanted a clean break with no reason for Tina to go snitching about anything to Hailey.
He also didn’t want her to know about the five hundred thousand dollars he had stuffed into duffel bags throughout the attic and garage. He would put a couple thousand in her bank account when he left, nothing that would raise alarms, under ten thousand for sure. She’d have a hard time being mad at him and maybe she would leave him alone if she had a nest egg to dabble in.
“Make the time, Jared. Sit.” Dex pointed to a chair next to the woodstove while he poured himself a glass of wine. “You’re bold to come in here the way you did, but it better not happen again. You have an issue? You bring it up to me like a man, not like a frightened boy with a new toy,” he said, nodding at the switchblade. “You going to put that away now?”
Jared sighed, pocketing the knife and refusing a complimentary glass of wine from Dex. “Deal, as long as you promise to not hide pertinent information from me again.” Jared felt the weight of the Glock on his left hip. He didn’t want to resort to the level of threatening violence he’d practiced in the past, but desperate times often called for desperate measures.
The corners of Dex’s mouth crept upward. “I think you’d be happy to know that business is booming on an immeasurable level. You’ve allowed Flick and I to witness your work ethic, your innovative procedural changes and of course, you’ve helped us stash away more funds than thought possible at this point in the game.”
“Thank you?” Jared suspiciously eyed Dex. It wasn’t his style to throw compliments around, something was up.
“So Flick and I were thinking we want to expand.”
Ah, there’s the reason.
“We’ve been cautious to limit our business to Monroe county—”
“For good reason,” Jared said, cutting him off, “you know the area and the people well enough to have loyal workers. That starts slipping when you start expanding to an area too large.”
“Ridiculous. You sound like Flick, don’t you want to see your pockets lined with more money than you could ever hope to see in this lifetime? Is it good enough for you to just stop at mediocrity?”
Jared squinted at Dex. “So who wants to expand here, is it Flick or is it you?”
“All you need to know is that it’s going to happen and you’re going to help me to get it off the ground. You were not brought into this circle to think for yourself or have an opinion unless asked, you were brought here to follow orders and run distribution. Understand?”
There was anxiousness in Dex’s voice that Jared never observed before. Just like Hailey’s face gave away when she was lying, Dex couldn’t hold his foot down when he knew he was doing something over Flick’s head.
“Sure,” Jared said, “but I want to meet Flick first.”
“No one meets Flick. I haven’t even met him, what makes you think he’s going to meet with the likes of you?”
“Because I’m the distribution guy, and if he wants to hear any ideas I have about expanding into Carbon or Lackawanna counties then I’ll need to run it by the big boss
upstairs, because it doesn’t come without risk and massive power play that he’ll need to be aware of. I’ll need to bring in new leaders, bigger systems, and way more transport would be involved. Never mind that production would need to be outsourced to something larger than your farmhouse lab.”
Jared crossed the living room as he spoke, careful to keep an eye on Dex.
“So you’ll do it?” Dex asked. He cocked his head to the side, a sly smile spreading across his glistening teeth. “You’ll help me push this into those counties?”
“If I can meet with Flick. And after I find this dealer. I’m close. I have a lot of people willing to talk to me and I know I can get this guy. I can’t focus on anything else until this is settled.”
“I understand,” Dex said, “I’ll talk with the boss and we’ll go from there.”
Jared nodded, not sure if Dex was being sarcastic or genuine. He closed the front door behind him, his mind wandering to Hailey and the pub he was headed to.
Dex flipped open his phone as he watched Jared pull away. A plume of dirt followed his car, shielding the taillights. He knew he would have Jared on board with expanding if he could get Flick’s approval, which wouldn’t be so hard once Dex killed him and used one of his trusted Pillbillies to stand in as Flick at a meeting. Since Jared had never seen him he would be none the wiser to who he was actually meeting.
Dex had never met him either so arranging a meeting would be tricky but not impossible, especially since he had some information about Jared that would be better relayed face-to-face. He wanted to wait until the first shipment of VHS tapes was complete before setting up the meeting, just to make sure Jared’s idea worked, so to expedite things he planned to move the original shipment date to that upcoming weekend. The sooner he could be rid of Flick, the sooner he could take over his empire. Flick knew too much about the drug dealer Jared was after and it wouldn’t be in Dex’s best interests to risk the two of them meeting without him.
Jared was gaining speed. Originally the information about the purple Civic at the tobacco plant was meant to deter his journey to settle the score. The plant had heavy surveillance, something that was supposed to keep Jared at bay, but he was beyond a typical parking lot beat-down to settle things. It left Dex with little choice; if Jared wouldn’t back down then killing Flick to shift Jared’s attention in a different direction was his only option.
The phone rang three times. Dex lowered his voice and rubbed the bridge of his nose, concerned about the recoil of what he was about to say.
“Flick? It’s me. Jared’s on to us. We should meet.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Hailey was in tears by the time Jared got to the pub. Two napkins blotchy with remnants of mascara were crumpled next to her elbow in the booth.
“Thank God you’re here, I thought maybe you had second thoughts and this day just couldn’t have gone much worse,” Hailey sobbed as Jared slid in next to her.
“No not at all. I’m sorry, I know I’m late,” Jared said, kissing her forehead. “What’s wrong? Did Matt take it hard?”
“Hard?” Hailey asked, suddenly laughing so hard Jared was forced to smile. “Did he take it hard? Oh I guess, I guess that’s how he does it, sure.”
“What am I missing?”
“He’s gay, Jared. I told him I was ending it and he broke down in tears telling me how relieved he was because he just couldn’t go through with breaking up with me but that he ‘felt so much relief because now he didn’t have to feel guilty about us not being together after all these years since it’s not what I wanted anyway’. Oh, why are you laughing?”
“I’m not laughing at you,” Jared said, wiping away a tear, “I mean that’s awful, really. You had no idea?”
“I mean I had some thoughts, sometimes,” Hailey confessed, “I just thought he was really intuitive, never that he was gay. And then you were late and I was sitting here thinking that you didn’t want me either, and I was just feeling so…”
“Alone?”
“Yes, exactly,” Hailey said.
“Well I’m here, aren’t I?” He squeezed her hand and brushed a strand of wet hair from her face.
“How did Tina take it? Is this crazy?”
“Do you trust me?” Jared asked.
“Oh no Jared, you didn’t tell her yet?” There was a hint of disappointment in her voice that Jared forced himself to ignore. He had to make sure things went according to plan.
“I planned to tonight, there were some things going on and I didn’t want to leave her in a tight spot, especially since I think she will be pretty upset. Are you mad?”
Hailey blew her nose into a third napkin. “You know what’s best for your situation. If you needed to wait I trust you.”
“All right. Maybe I should go then, just give me a few days and I’ll call you. We can start to look for places then. Do you have a place to stay in the meantime?”
“Yeah, Matt left the apartment with all his stuff a few hours after we broke up. I think he had a Plan B all along.”
“As much as I’d like tell you that sucks, it really doesn’t,” Jared said putting his forehead against Hailey’s, “I’ve missed you.”
* * *
The front door to the apartment creaked open as Jared made his way into the kitchen. He put his keys in his back pocket in case Tina got dramatic and he needed a quick escape.
The plan was to break up with her Friday night after work so that he could spend Saturday packing and then running the VHS tapes over to Dex’s later in the evening since the shipment was set to be sent out on Sunday. It would be a busy weekend but there was a three-day difference between the impending break-up and the first tape shipment, which would leave plenty of time for scoping out apartments with Hailey. At first taking the relationship slow seemed like the best idea, but considering how many years had been lost they were eager to spend as much time together as possible.
He moved into the living room to wait for Tina to get home. He had about twenty minutes or so. Even though he had thought about it all day he still had no idea what he was going to say to her. It’s over? It’s not you it’s me? He’d never broken up with anyone before. Hailey had disappeared and Tina was his only serious relationship since then so he was rusty in the relationship toppling business. He figured he would just let it fly.
Jared’s phone beeped as he turned the TV on. It was Dex:
NEED THE VHS TAPES TOMORROW. NOON.
He groaned. There was no way that would work. There were still five or six tapes to stuff and it would be impossible to take the time to deliver everything tomorrow while moving out before Tina would be home. Quickly he typed back a response:
WE AGREED ON SUNDAY AT 9AM. SEE YOU THEN.
His phone buzzed before he could even put it in his pocket.
FLICK WOULD LIKE TO PERONALLY PICK UP HIS TAPES TOMORROW AT NOON. UNDERSTOOD?
“Shit,” Jared muttered, pushing the phone back into his pocket. At least Dex took him seriously when he told him he wanted to meet Flick but the timing was miserable.
He figured he could spend the morning packing, then meet up with Dex in the afternoon and move his stuff out afterwards. Packing would take longer than he wanted it to but meeting Flick was crucial. Jared was hoping he had more information about the drug dealer he was looking for than Dex did. Since the green tinted heroin was a bit of a trademark, there was a chance that Flick would know the name of the person responsible. Information had a way of working its way among the Kingpins; staying in the know of the competitions product was vital.
He clicked the TV off and made his way into the bedroom. “Might as well get some of these boxes together now,” he said, flicking on the light.
The room was empty. When he had left earlier there were four cardboard boxes parallel to the mattress on Jared’s side of the bed. He even wrote DONATION on the side of them so Tina didn’t get any bright ideas to throw them out. Maybe someone broke into the apartment?
Before he had a chance
to look around he heard the front door open.
Tina.
“I’m home!” she sang, putting her purse on the island in the kitchen. “What a day. You hungry?”
“Where are the boxes of tapes?” Jared asked, rushing into the kitchen. “Tina don’t just stand there and stare at me where are they?”
“I thought they were donations?”
“So?” He felt his voice rising.
“So I donated them.”
“You did WHAT?” Jared crossed the living room, his heart in his throat. “Where did you donate them to? Did I ask you to do that?”
“I was doing you a favor, you couldn’t even walk in the bedroom without tripping over them. We don’t even have a VCR Jared so don’t yell at me.”
Jared’s voice was shaking. “Tell me where you donated them.”
“The Used Household Store got most of them.”
“What do you mean most?”
“Some of the tapes looked older, like collectibles or something so I took one to a pawn shop. That guy pays more for stuff like that.”
“You have got to be shitting me. So you could snort more Lace, is that it? You sold my tapes for a high?”
“Who cares Jared, you would think they were bricks of gold or something not some stupid VHS tapes. Half of them looked like they wouldn’t even work. If you want them back so badly go to the store and buy them back.”
“I need to get them now,” Jared said, making his way toward the front door. Too many years of watching his dad lose his temper forced him to recognize when he needed to physically leave an argument. He never wanted to push his temper to the limits; it was easier just to leave than it was to de-escalate.
“It’s almost ten o’clock genius, they aren’t open. You’ll have to wait until morning.”
“Damn it Tina!” Jared yelled, throwing his keys across the room so hard they left a generous indent in the drywall. “I’m done here, we’re done.”
“What do you mean we’re done?” Tina repeated, looking at Jared in alarm. “I cleaned up your mess and you want to break up with me?”
