by K. L Randis
“My son will see you for the trash you are! Where is my wife? What have you done with her? You can’t just leave me here forever for Christ’s sake woman, what the hell is wrong with you? All of this for some drugs? You’re crazy!” Jared’s dad half yelled and half wept as the hunting knife stood at attention in his thigh.
“You’re right,” Flick responded as she paused in the doorway. “I can’t keep you here forever. Just like I couldn’t keep Dex here forever once we caught him. His situation was a bit more grim though. Couldn’t have him floating around while we were pretending to hunt him down, right? He was much better off dead. I mean, at least I enjoyed watching him die. My aspirations for your capture were much more fruitful but it seems as though Jared could care less about you at the moment. His only interests include that girl of his and finding a man he thinks is still alive. Sad for you, not an issue for me.”
Flick placed a hand on the doorway, biting her lower lip. “I had no idea when we kidnapped you and your wife that a week later Dex was going to go AWOL and that his disappearance alone would have kept Jared in this town working for me. That was the point. Your capture has been useless to me so far. I had no idea you weren’t on speaking terms with him and up until today he had no idea you were even missing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a press conference about the drug issues our town is facing.”
“What about me and my wife? Why’d you kill that other man if Jared was after him? You should have just left us out of it.”
“Too risky for me. Dex knew too much to just let him slip along waiting to be caught. We’ll just have to see how much your disappearance and involvement in Hailey’s assault goes above Jared’s head. We both know you beat Hailey within an inch of her life but we need Jared to be sure of that too. He needs to hunt you down, dearest daddy, with just as strong of a prey drive as he had going after Dex. And if I can’t convince Jared that you should be his main target…?”
Her voice trailed off as she made her way past the guard and out of sight, her red stilettos echoing off the hollow walls and empty passages. “I’ll just have to kill you and your wife myself.”
CHAPTER TWO
Hysteria broke out when Dex disappeared and the production of Lace had temporarily ceased. Junkies climbed out of the woodwork that Jared had never even heard of to introduce themselves to his Pillbillies in an attempt to bribe them for the goods. People became paranoid thinking that they were hiding a secret supply of Lace somewhere or that they were downsizing their distribution methods.
Vicious rumors resonated throughout the county that Dex had been killed by an insubordinate Pillbillie and that Lace was being cut from the production line indefinitely. Others said that Dex was well and alive but had moved on to making meth. For a few weeks the mainstream customers that had padded Jared’s pockets flocked to every meth head in the area searching for the same kind of experience that Lace offered.
Everyone was chasing the high, but more importantly they were in desperate need of the cocoon of bliss that enveloped their bodies as the high wore off. The miracle concoction developed by Dex had reached celebrity status. Pharmacies were being looted in search for some drug, any drug, that would mimic the complexity and authenticity of what Lace could do. When the search became futile, customers either started sobering up or started to dabble in meth or heroin. The hysteria eventually plateaued, but the consequence of Jared being out of commission as he doted on Hailey nearly destroyed Flick’s empire.
Nearly.
As it turned out, there was a secret supply of Lace secured at the farmhouse that Dex had not shipped out. When Flick stumbled upon it she nearly cried tears of joy. Immediately, she had a full fleet of police escorts rush the product to the corners of the county and beyond, their lights blaring down the dirt road that lead to the farmhouse and disappearing behind a plume of dust. The supply would buy Flick about a month’s worth of time before she had to seriously start cracking down on Jared’s temporary leave of absence.
Jared’s car trekked towards the farmhouse moments after the police cars had departed and Flick crossed one ankle over the other, leaning back on her own patrol unit.
She watched him exit his car, running a hand through his hair as a puff of cool air escaped his lips. He was handsome; she’d give him that. Under different circumstances she might have even pursued something with him. Coming home to a shadowed, desolate house night after night was not how she imagined she’d spend her early thirties. There was loneliness between her satin sheets at night and within the Waterford crystal glasses she poured her orange juice in each morning, but the perks of living a solo lifestyle were undeniably rich in their own sense. She had everything money could buy, but longed for everything it couldn’t.
“How’s Hailey?” Flick asked, watching the solemn expression Jared wore instantly change to that of relief.
“Finally resting at home. She’s much happier and actually has an appetite, thanks for asking. What’s with the Dukes of Hazard remake?” Jared asked, directing a thumb in the direction that the patrol cars had zipped off in.
“Dex was a prepared man. He kept a stash of Lace secured in a few of the containers in the lab, about a month’s supply.”
The genuine smile that crossed Jared’s face stirred something in Flick’s chest and she had to look away for a moment. “Wow that’s great,” he gushed. “So what’s the plan now? Where do we stand with finding Dex and with the rest of his Pillbillies? Did we weed out all of his loyal followers?”
The giddy feeling retreated as Flick jumped into business. “Yeah, not many Pillbillies were disappointed in the idea of new leadership. The Pillbillies who were too loyal were replaced so you have a full team to work with. Dex is still out there but we’re closing in on him. I have my best guys looking for him, we’re even using most of the newer tracking technology that the police force has. We’ll find him.”
“It’s just been so long…”
“Patience. He’s not going anywhere, just lying below ground for a while. This life is all he knows and all of his allies are here. He’d be stupid to skip town without money or a crew. I’m sure of it.”
“So what about the farmhouse? We can’t exactly jump back into business here. We’d need to relocate if we wanted to keep control over the Lace, just in case Dex tries an ambush,” Jared said.
“You’re absolutely right. I’ve already relocated most of our equipment to a new warehouse off of Mineola Road. There’s a warehouse not far from the new car wash in town, you know which one I’m talking about?”
“The Wash N’ Go? Isn’t that right in the middle of town?”
“Yes, I own it. Among other things,” Flick said.
“So are we getting out of the drug business or what? Kind of risky to operate right in the middle of town.”
“There’s a plain sight rule I’ve found to be exceptionally easy to pull off.”
“What’s that?”
“Exactly how it sounds. We operate our business within the main town, in plain sight, and curious minds are less likely to go snooping around. Most people couldn’t fathom operating a drug ring right in the crux of town so no one would be suspicious of one being there.”
“For good reason,” Jared pointed out. “There’s also a bigger risk of someone stumbling into it by accident looking for directions or something equally as innocent.”
“All the more reason to have the police as your friends, huh?” Flick said, winking. “Most people avoid parking lots that have police vehicles in them. I’ll be sure to have one stationed there at all times. Since it’s off of a main road, no one would think he were doing anything other than flagging down the speed demons cruising through town.”
Jared shifted his weight while positioning his feet shoulder-width apart, bringing his hand to his chin. He pulled Lacey’s bracelet from his pocket, the L-shaped charm dangling inches from Flick’s face. “Is that how Dex got a hold of this then? Your police friends slip him some evidence from the police station? He
had it delivered to Hailey’s room after her attack. I nearly tackled the nurse who delivered it.”
Flick frowned. “Unfortunately, yes. I’m sorry he dabbled in your personal life. On the bright side, I bet it’s nice to have something of her’s to hold on to.”
Jared stroked the stubble while nodding his head and darted his emerald eyes to meet Flick’s when he had thought it over. He didn’t want to mention the note that Dex had left behind in the cup, warning him that there was a truth he didn’t know about. Perhaps Dex never fathomed Flick introducing herself as the ringleader. As far as Jared was concerned, there were no more truths to be uncovered now that he was working with the true KingPin of the Poconos. Instead of pushing the issue he switched back to business mode. “Yeah, I can see how that would work, your plain sight rule,” he finally said in agreement.
Flick inched closer to Jared taking in the smell of his aftershave, breathing in silent relief that he didn’t put up too much of a fight to change to a more obvious location. She needed him to operate under her conditions while still allowing him room to think he ran the show. It was a tricky balance, especially because he was extremely intelligent on and off the field.
“We expecting company?” Jared asked, his eyes suddenly cold and staring off in the direction of the tree line at the far end of the property.
A clunker knocked it’s way up the dirt road with one headlight, bounding over the potholes and ruts in a way that Flick instantly recognized. “Yeah, Larry,” she said.
“What’s his role in all of this anyway?” Jared asked, the layer of animosity in his voice hard to ignore. “Sent here to spy on me some more? Couldn’t he get enough intel on me in jail?”
“Jared…” Flick said.
“Don’t,” Jared replied, shaking his head.
“Fair enough. To be honest he’s one of the only people I can trust in all of this, he’s worked for me a long time. I was hoping you could utilize him for whatever you needed. Having a right-hand man might not be a bad idea.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“All joking aside you need help in this,” Flick shot back.
“So what, he’s an informant?”
“Exactly that. According to the payroll at the police station anyway. His skills and responsibilities go much further than that when I need them to.”
“But he’s not here to inform on me anymore right, he’s here to work for me now?”
Flick rolled her eyes at the pitch in Jared’s voice. “He’s here to do what I tell him to do. And for the time being he can take orders from you too. He’s a slug, just point him in the right direction and he’ll do your bidding. Doesn’t get any easier.”
“Ohhh weeee is it colder than a witch’s tit out here or what?” Larry said, pulling a Carhartt sweatshirt over his head as he stepped outside of his vehicle.
Jared let an exacerbated puff of air escape his chest as Flick ignored it and smiled in Larry’s direction. “Glad you could make it. Found the place okay?”
“Hell yeah, nothing to it. What’s up cellie?” Larry said, smiling in Jared’s direction and extending his hand.
Jared ignored it and turned to Flick instead. “So what exactly is the latest on finding Dex? You haven’t mentioned much about it specifically.”
Larry awkwardly pulled his hand inward and stuffed it into the front pocket of his sweatshirt. Kicking marble sized pebbles with his boot he fell quiet waiting for Flick to address the question, clearly complicit with whatever she needed to say.
“We found a campsite not far from where we were originally searching. He had left some things behind so we’re sure it’s him and we’re close. It’s only a matter of time before his debts are settled.”
“And I’ll be the one doing the settling, just so we’re clear?”
“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Flick said. “I’m actually more concerned with the legislation that just passed about controlled substances. Going to shake up our routine quite a bit.”
“What’s that?” Jared asked.
“They’re reclassifying Hydrocodone to make it harder to get through a prescription. No more refills after thirty days, they need to see a doctor not a physicians assistant to get their script and it has to be handwritten, can’t be faxed or emailed over.”
“So what does that have to do with us? We mainly work with Percocet’s.”
“Exactly. Which means that our doctors are going to be under a lot more scrutiny with their prescription writing since the next best thing from Hydro is a Perc. There’s a higher demand for Perc’s now, which is great for us on the business side. Street value is way up. But the DEA is going to be rubbernecking any offices that start writing more Perc scripts now that Hydro is harder to get. Obviously this is going to directly dip into the way we handle our production.”
“Ah, crap.”
“Yeah. Luckily we amped up the number of offices and doctors we filter through about six months ago so it’s not going to red flag anything for existing scripts…”
“…But it will be hard to grow any larger than where we are,” Jared finished.
“Exactly. Unless you have any ideas?”
Jared rubbed the nape of his neck as Larry stared off into the distance. “I hate to say it but really the only way to go unnoticed is to put the same business model into play across a larger region.”
“More offices?”
“Yeah, the only way we could slip under the radar is to scatter the business. Less prescriptions written per office, just more offices in general.”
“Makes sense.”
“I also have a feeling some pharmacists we know would be willing to deal with the increased paperwork of filing the handwritten scripts, for a price of course, but it will keep them on our side.”
“That’s really going to cut into profit,” Flick said.
Jared nodded. “There’s another way, I think.” He skeptically watched Larry lick a dried smudge of ketchup from his finger. “You ready for your first job assignment?”
“Me? Oh yes sir. I’m willing and able, that’s what she said,” he snickered, laughing at his own joke.
“I need you to head to the courthouse and some of our doctor’s offices. Get me a roster of at least fifty names of deceased people from this area with local last names. They’re a dime a dozen and would keep suspicions low. Don’t go back further than 5 years or so and make sure they’re at least over the age of thirty.”
“What’s that for?” Flick asked.
“We need to balance out the cost of paying off the pharmacists. They need a name to have on file for the scripts but we can’t dip into our profits to hire more guys with pretend aches and pains. Dead people don’t feel much so we’ll use their names.”
Flick gave an approving nod as Jared reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He read the screen and flipped it shut. “We good here? Need to get home to Hailey.”
“All good,” Flick said. She watched him cross the lawn and waited until his tail lights were a dim firefly in the distance before turning to Larry.
CHAPTER THREE
“Isn’t this crazy?” Hailey asked for the third time, flipping from one local news station to the next. “It’s like the apocalypse of junkies is happening right in this town.”
Coverage on the escalating robberies and break-ins at local pharmacies and doctor’s offices had the community in an uproar. A mixture of hearing about the new legislation and watching a few hours of the news with Hailey validated that he needed to get things under control sooner than later.
“Sure is,” Jared chimed in, watching her skip channels. “Not sure what’s going on. It’s a modern day pharmageddon.”
“Oh please,” Hailey giggled.
“No really,” he said, pulling her closer, careful not to kiss the wounds on her forehead. “A huge pill is plummeting towards earth and if those Pillbillie astronauts don’t dismantle it we’ll all be higher than a kite come Friday anyway.”
Hailey gri
pped her sides as Jared stood up from the couch. “Pillbillies and Pharmageddons, where do you come up with these things? Hey, where are you going mister? Not leaving me again are you?”
“No, of course not. I just figured I’d go join in on the fun in town. The pharmacies aren’t going to rob themselves. You want anything? Viagra? Maybe a Subutex or a flu shot?”
“I’d like some of that mango wine you brought home earlier. That’s a start.”
Jared nodded, making his way into the kitchen. He poured two full glasses. “You supposed to drink this stuff with all the meds you’re on anyway?”
“You supposed to question my wants and needs?” Hailey asked.
“I would never, ever question your wants and needs.”
Jared placed the full glasses on the coffee table in front of them and lifted Hailey onto his lap so she was straddling him. Her hair was still damp from the shower they’d taken and he leaned forward to kiss her. Her body was familiar and he took his time trailing his hands from the backs of her thighs to the small of her back.
The dips of her waist rushed warmth between his legs. He let his fingers linger over the outline of her bra before tracing her shoulder blades, pulling her closer as he reached the back of her neck.
“Mmmm, let’s not, okay?” Hailey whispered. She moved onto the couch next to him, grabbing her wine and taking a monstrous gulp as she refocused her attention to the TV.
Jared leaned forward, trying to get her to look at him but she continued to stare at the glowing screen.
“We okay?” Jared asked.
“I’m fine,” Hailey said without blinking.
“Fine?”
“Yeah, fine.”
Jared fumbled for the remote without taking his eyes off Hailey and once the room fell silent he tried again. “Hailey? Talk to me please.”
