by Abbi Hemp
“I’m on my way now.”
He ended the call. I put my phone into my front pants pocket then went into my study to wait for the DEA agent. What in the world did he want with me? And why wasn’t he going through official channels? Something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
* * *
An hour later, Keifer came into my study.
“There’s a man at the gate who says he’s here to see you.”
“Let him in,” I said.
“He looks like…”
“Just let him in, okay?” I interrupted.
He lifted his arms, palm out.
“Sorry, boss.”
“It’s fine. Just show him up. Thanks.”
As Keifer walked out of the room, I prepared myself mentally for whatever was about to happen. Over the years, I’d had many opportunities to work with the cartels or other organizations and make tons of money, but I’d always stayed on the right side of the law.
Why the hell would a DEA agent want to talk with me?
I pondered the question until a man wearing a dark suit walked in with a smile on his face.
Is this guy a salesman or a government agent?
He gave off a bad vibe.
“Thanks for meeting with me,” he said.
“No problem. Have a seat.”
I nodded my head at the two leather arm-chairs directly in front of my desk. He sat down, still smiling.
“Beautiful piece of property.”
“Enough small-talk,” I said. “Why are you here? I follow all Colorado state laws, and…”
“Don’t worry,” he said, cutting me off. “You’re not in any trouble. At least not yet.”
“What do you mean?”
I stared intently at his face, looking for any signs in his facial expressions.
“Well, this is off the record, but you’re in a position to make a shitton of money.”
“I already have more than enough money,” I said. “But go on.”
“You need a little extra protection. I heard one of the cartels came after you the other day.”
“Yeah, but I took care of it on my own.”
“That time, but what about next time?”
“What exactly are you trying to say?” I asked. “I don’t have much time.”
“If you work with me and my cartel connections, you’re going to make even more money. The best thing is you don’t have to worry about anything because I’ll be on your side.”
“This has to be the worst DEA stunt to entrap someone ever in the history of your corrupt organization.”
He shook his head.
“This isn’t a trick or a trap.”
“You’re telling me you’re a dirty DEA agent, and you came to me for help?”
“I wouldn’t use the word help, but yeah, basically. Don’t you want to make more money?”
“Money isn’t everything,” I said.
He glanced around the study.
“You want to give all this up?”
“What do you mean? Are you threatening me?”
I sat up and leaned on the top of my desk.
He gripped the arms of the chair.
“No, no, not at all.” He paused. “Well, in a way, I guess you could say I am.”
I stared into his eyes without saying a word.
“Look. Either you get in on this with the cartels and myself, or you’re going to be stopped another way. There’s not enough room for a huge legal operation like yours.”
He stood up. I did the same.
“You have a lot of nerve coming here to threaten me,” I said.
“Yeah, well, I guess I go. So what. Think about it. You don’t want to make the wrong decision.”
I watched as he headed to the door.
“Oh, one more thing,” he said, stopping and turning. “Be careful around Heidi. She works in my office too.”
“What?”
“You didn’t know? She’s a lying bitch. Be careful around her.”
“Yeah,” I said.
He turned and left.
As I sat back down, a thousand thoughts hit my mind all at once. The most important ones were connected to Heidi. After everything that had happened, I still had not been able to move on. The new complications of a dirty DEA agent were also a huge concern.
Should I go to the authorities? Would they take me seriously or side with one of their own? Federal agents had always been just friendly enough with me and my legal business in Colorado. They were not in the business of handing out favors or free passes, especially not to someone like me.
I lit up a joint, wanting to deeply consider all my possibilities.
TWENTY
Brent
Family Business
The next day, Keifer drove me to Green Thumb, the mysterious grower who had provided me with award winning marijuana. After the dirty DEA agent had contacted me the night before, I had to make sure the grower would be able to deliver all the plants I needed in time.
I had no desire to suddenly go dirty, but I craved more money. No matter how much I accumulated, it never gave me true peace or security, but financial independence wasn’t something I was ready to give up easily, not after working so hard to achieve what I had in a few short years.
After Keifer parked in front of the house, I got out. The old man sat on the porch in a rocking chair. He lifted his hand and waved but didn’t move to get up. I walked over to the worn-down porch of the old farm house and walked up the steps.
“How’s it going?”
He shook his head with a frown etched on his wrinkled face.
“Not good.”
“What’s wrong? Is it the plants? Are you going to…”
“Cancer,” he said, cutting me off.
“They have cancer? I don’t understand.”
“No, I do.”
All emotion fell from my face.
“Shit. I’m sorry…”
What do you say in a situation like this?
“It’s fine,” he said.
“What kind?”
“Skin cancer. They noticed it early, but I’m still freaking out because I refused to get Obamacare, and I don’t have health insurance.”
“You refused?”
“Don’t get me started on it,” he said, rocking a bit more furiously.
I nodded. “Fine, but I can’t have you dying on me. Not when you’re so close to coming up with a super strain of marijuana. I’ll pay your medical costs. You said it’s in the early stages?”
“Yeah,” he said. “They told me I spent too much time in the sun. Like there’s somewhere else a farmer like me can be all day.”
I smiled.
“Doctors can be odd sometimes.”
“They said the safest way to take care of it is a laser, but it’s expensive.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Heidi recommended you, and I take care of my employees.”
“She’s the best daughter a man could have,” he said, then added. “Oh, shit. Did I say that out loud?”
“What do you mean? Is she your daughter?”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding his head.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Please don’t tell her I messed up. Or that I’m sick.”
“She should know about the cancer.”
He took a deep breath as if the weight of the world were on his chest.
I took a business card out of my pocket.
“Call me, and I’ll set you up with a doctor, okay?”
“I couldn’t…”
“You will,” I said. “Your daughter and you are both important.”
“Don’t hate her for what she does.”
“What do you mean? She’s a writer, a journalist.”
“Talk to her,” he said. “I need to go lay down.”
“Are you okay?”
He struggled to his feet.
“I’m just tired. I need to smoke one and sleep.”
; “That weed you gave me…”
“What about it?” he asked, moving toward his front door.
“It was the best I’ve ever smoked. You don’t happen to have any more, do you?”
“I do for the man who’s going to help pay my medical bills.”
“We need to talk once you get better. With your skills, there’s no reason you should have money problems.”
He stopped and opened the screen door before turning to me.
“It’s my business partners. They’re rough people.”
“Don’t tell me you’re working with the cartels.”
“They threatened trouble with my daughter unless I sold to them. She doesn’t know that either. I’m such a terrible father.”
“It’s going to be fine,” I said, walking toward him. “Let’s go inside. I’ll smoke one with you and we can talk.”
“I’ve already said too much.”
“I’m not upset, but I can help you get out from under the cartels and start making legal money. My operation is the biggest in the state.”
“I’ve heard of you before.”
I grabbed the screen door while he opened the other one. Inside, I glanced around the sparsely decorated living room.
“Let’s go to the kitchen,” he said, wandering away.
As I followed him, I wondered if Heidi had grown up in the house.
“Have you lived here long?” I asked.
“Too long.”
In the kitchen, he sat down at a rectangular wooden table. A metal box sat on top in front of him. I took a seat across from him, watching as he pulled out a bag of marijuana.
“I don’t have a lot of that plant left, but the next one is almost ready.”
“So soon?”
“I’ve been working on fast-producing plants as well as ones with a higher THC content.”
“You’ve not told the cartels or anyone else about this, have you?”
“No. You sound like my daughter. She said the same damn thing.”
“She’s a smart woman,” I said.
He rolled a joint quicker than I’d ever seen it done before.
“This plant could change the whole industry,” I said. “It’s important to keep it to yourself for now.”
“And you,” he said then lit up the joint and puffed on it.
The end glowed red.
“Well, yeah, me, but I’m going to help you.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
Why the sudden hostility?
“Not from me. I keep my word.”
He stared into my eyes while handing me the fat joint. I accepted it and took a deep hit, holding the smoke in for a few seconds. We were both silent as we passed it back and forth, the THC doing its magic quickly. Heidi wandered into my thoughts again.
“I should get going,” I said. “Call me about the doctor.”
“I will. Thanks. You’re not going to rat me out to Heidi, are you?”
I scooted my chair back then stood up.
“No. You can trust me.”
“That’s good to know,” he said.
“Don’t forget to call me. We need to get that taken care of quickly.”
“I will. Here’s the rest of that special plant.”
He lifted a clear bag with a little over a quarter ounce.
“You keep it,” I said. “Take care of yourself.”
After nodding my head, I turned and made my way out of his house. Thoughts of Heidi once again crept into my stoned mind as I got outside and headed to the stretch SUV. The sun beat down, baking me for a few seconds before I climbed into the back.
“Where to?” Keifer asked, his arm stretched across the front seat.
“Take us back home,” I said, staring out the window. “I need to think.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
He raised the partition, leaving me to my thoughts. Before I could make sense of the news I’d gotten, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen, hoping to see Heidi’s name and smiling face in the picture I’d taken our second night of passion.
I didn’t recognize the number on the screen. What now?
“Hello?”
“Mr. Stone,” a man said in a thick accent found south of the border.
“What do you want?” I asked. “I’m not interested in working with you guys. That’s not going to change. In fact, you’re going to be out of business in another year or two.”
“That will never happen,” he said. “There’s too much money at stake.”
“There is, but I’m getting it legally.”
“You could make so much more with us.”
The sound of his voice sickened me.
“Never. You’ve ruined too many lives.”
He laughed.
“Like you haven’t? All you Americans are hypocrites.”
“I’ll think about it, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. I’m doing fine.”
“If you do not work with us, all hell will rain down on you.”
“Come at me,” I said then hung up.
Maybe it was the THC in my bloodstream or my talk with Heidi’s father, but money didn’t matter quite as much as it had a few months earlier. The thought of death rose its ugly head in my mind as Keifer drove us to my fortress of solitude.
I thought about calling Heidi, but I decided to wait for her to get in touch with me. Why hadn’t she told me the grower was her father? Something didn’t add up, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. The memory of my digits inside her hot, wet pussy occupied me the rest of the ride home.
TWENTY-ONE
Heidi
Cancel Cancer
As I sat in dad’s kitchen, watching him make us each a cup of tea, I wondered why he had called me over. He appeared okay on the outside, but he had the ability to hide his emotions well, a trait I had picked up from him.
“How’s work going?” he asked as he brought over two mugs.
“Fine,” I said. “Why?”
He set one of them down in front of me then sat down on the other side of the table.
“That man you sent to me…”
“What about him?” I interrupted, freaking out.
“You should talk to him and tell him the truth.”
“Did you tell him you’re my father?”
He employed another one of his skills – changing the conversation.
“I was thinking about your mother today.”
Oh no, I thought. Here we go.
While I never stopped him talking about her, after so many years, I never understood how he was so in love with her still. She was a great woman, but it wasn’t healthy for him to obsess about her.
“Yeah? Sad thoughts or happy thoughts?”
“Cancer thoughts,” he said in a serious tone then raised the mug to his mouth and took a sip.
“She fought long and hard, but it was her time to go.”
“I know, I know.” He set the blue mug down, spinning it absent-mindedly with one hand. “I have cancer.”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, my heart sunk.
“Are you okay? What kind of cancer? Breast cancer is rare in men, but…”
“Skin cancer,” he said, cutting me off. “They caught it in the early stages, and I’m getting treatment.”
“Good,” I said. “Your insurance is covering everything? What can I do to help?”
“A new friend has helped me find the best skin doctor.”
“You mean a dermatologist?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever they’re called,” he said, waving his arm in front of him.
“What friend is helping you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter, Dad. You’re not doing anything illegal, are you?”
“What? How dare you think that about your old man,” he said with mock disgust.
“You know I’m not accusing you. Why can’t you just tell me?”
“Are you staying for dinner?” he asked,
ignoring my question.
“Nice try, Dad. I asked you a question.”
“Last time I checked, I’m the parent and you’re the offspring.”
I sighed, looking into his eyes and seeing a bit of myself.
“Well? Dinner? I have steaks for the grill. Just how you like them.”
“I should get going,” I said.
“Work can wait. They caught the cancer early, so I should be fine, but do you want to take a chance of missing a cookout with your dear old dad?”
I smiled.
“Going to play the guilt angle, huh?”
“A dad’s gotta do what a dad’s gotta do.”
“I love you,” I said, sure I didn’t say it enough.
“I love you too, dear. Can you husk some corn while I fire up the grill?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He stood up.
“Terrific. Come outside to husk them, and we can talk.”
“I will,” I said.
As he walked out the back kitchen door, I thought about love, family and death, all the truly important things in life. Everything else didn’t matter in the end.
TWENTY-TWO
Heidi
Is He Evil?
The Monday after my cookout with Dad, as I sat at my desk in the office, Ron Glass approached me. I sighed, not really wanting to deal with him. He stopped beside me, creepy as ever.
“Hey, darling. How are you?”
“Not good, Ron. And not in the mood for your bullshit today. What’s up?”
“Whoa. Calm down, little lady. I’m here to help you.”
“Yeah? How?”
“You need to look into Brent Stone.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing?”
“I don’t know. What have you been doing? You’ve not gotten a case on him yet.”
Asshole, I thought, hoping that sleeping with Brent wouldn’t come back to bite me.
“Maybe that’s because he’s an honest man.”
“No man with that much money is completely honest.”
I shook my head.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m just trying to help you.”
