A dirty, Mercenary Spirit pervades the whole

 1927

            'So right now Angelo has us all keeping a low profile, conduct business as best we can until we

get some intel about where to strike.' Henry Cohen explained to Ginny. They were on the top floor in

the presidential suite of the Warner Mansion Hotel. Ginny said some boyfriend of hers had paid for the

suite, so she might as well use it right? 

        They had met over at Chapman's where she told him she might have some information that could

help them. At this stage they need all the help they could get. Eli and Jake Kaufman, with the help of a

bootlegger out of Detroit known as 'Big Red,' had killed 40 of Dan Foley's men in their bid to take 

control of Warner's rackets. 

        Foley's men had killed twice that number, many of them by Angelo Berardi personally. Still the 

war continued with the most recent casualty being the boss, Dan Foley himself shot 4 times coming out

of Chapman's at closing time 2 months earlier. And even though Foley had not named someone to run 

things in the event something like this happened, he pretty much already had that someone in the person

of Angelo Berardi.

        Since joining Dan Foley's organization 3 years earlier, Angelo Berardi had worked tirelessly to 

expand his territory and business, opening up more speakeasies in Warner and even a few in the next 

town over in Franklin. He'd also expanded his gambling and prostitution operations. Angelo had also

brought in more and more friends of his and relatives, Italian, Jewish and others changing the makeup

of the organization.

            Ginny sat up on the side of the bed, and lit a cigarette she grabbed from the nightstand. 'What if

I told you there was a way you could hit them, all the big shots, all in one fell swoop?' Harry sat up on 

the bed, 'I'm listening.' He said. He got up and put on his pants on the floor. 'Well like I said the fella 

who paid for this suite, Mike Drozier, he's a goon in the Kaufman, organization. In fact it was his 

friend, Cap, who was responsible for the botched hit on that Lump fella or yours that started this whole

thing.'

            Henry buttoned up his shirt, extracted the flask from the pocket of his pants and took a swig. 

'So anyway, Mike's real sweet on me buys me stuff, tells me everything. He say's since you fellas 

haven't made a move in couple months, they figure they got you on the ropes, especially with Foley

still laid up. Jake and Eli are going to have a meeting in one of the meeting rooms downstairs this 

Friday, with their new backers from the Midwest to discuss the final campaign for wiping you guys

off the map. Could be an opportunity to make a move.'

            'Could dress up as cops, act like it was a raid.' Henry said. 'Yeah that could work.' Ginny replied

'I know more than a few of those Midwest bosses have quite a jacket. You could act like your running 

them out of down, don't come back, on account of their reputations, take them out to the sticks, bam.'

Henry laughed, 'I like you, you're ruthless girl. What do you want for all this information? He asked her.

She took a drag of her cigarette. 'I want a job, a spot in the organization. I'll work at the speak scrubbing

the floor, whatever you need'.

        'I think Angelo could arrange something like that for you.' Henry said.

            'So there supposed to be having this meeting at the hotel at 9?' Angelo asked Henry, it was 

10AM Friday morning an Angelo had assembled all his troops to let them know what the plan was. 

'Yeah, and she told me a few of the Midwest bosses are going to be there too.' Henry replied. 

        Angelo took a drag of his cigarette, we have to make a move soon, he thought. They'd lost a lot of

men in the past year, and a lot of business, the fuckers were persistent. No matter how many of them 

Angelo and his boys killed, they seemed to always come back. At one point he and his guys had shot up

a whole warehouse of them, must of killed at least 20, but they still came back to fight.

        'What about this girl you're with? The one who supplied the information, what's her angle, do you

trust her?' Angelo asked. 'As much as I trust any broad.' Henry replied. 'Plus I asked around, had our 

people check her out see if she's playing us. Sounds like this Mike Dozier fella still thinks of her as his

girl.'

        'All she wants is a job, a role in the organization.' Henry said. 'Do we have a plan for tonight?' He

asked Angelo. There was a table in the middle of the bar with a wooden crate, Angelo walked over, 

removed the top and extracted a large metal object- a Thompson submachine gun. 'Well,' He said 

lifting up the gun, 'We have a bunch of these I'm thinking we go in to that room and blow away as many

of those sons of bitches as we possibly can.'

            Angelo put the gun back in the crate. 'And I'm thinking we have another advantage, we haven't 

made a move on them in a while, they're getting cocky, comfortable. Plus I've found out where they're

distillery is, which works out for us?'

            'How's that?' Henry asked. 'Well Warner's local prohibition agent Bob Anson is a regular

here at Chapmans. He tends to get a little frisky after a few beers he goes over to the House of Venus,

one of our cathouses. Well I get some of my best intel from these girls. Anyway Bob has had this 

arrangement, pretty much since he's been assigned here that we'd pay him to look the other way 

obviously, but that we'd also give him a target to raid every once in a while, so it doesn't look totally

suspicious for him and by extension us.'

        Angelo put out his cigarette, they were all watching him now, Henry, his brother Carlo, Harry

Folsom and Lump. 'But this fucking guy, he's been so into his boozing, his whoring, he hasn't bothered

to act on any of our tips for a few months now, almost a year. So now his superiors are starting to

wonder what the fuck he's doing up here so he's been under pressure to give them a bust.'

        'So I got in touch with Bob told him where it was, they're going to hit it early this morning. So 

between that and what happens tonight, I think by tomorrow we'll be back in control of this town.'

'So they're all going to be there tonight is that right?' Ginny asked as lit up another cigarette. 'Eli, Jake

everyone?'

        They were in the presidential suite on the top floor of the Warner mansion hotel, Ginny sitting on 

chair by the dresser, Mike looking out the window. 'Yeah all the top dogs. Why are you so interested in

whose going to be there?' He replied. The top floor offered a view of the street and Mike seemed to be

intently watching the cars down there. 

    Ginny took a drag of her smoke, so it's working so far, they still think those boys are coming. So

many plots, she thought. It could give you a headache. She had been supplying Angelo with information

about Jack and Eli Kaufman's organizations, when they were going to move, what they were planning,

for a couple months now.  It had started when she was out late one night at Chapman's speak with one

of her customers from the House of Venus, one of the few that wasn't totally creepy. 

    He'd ended up getting hammered and forgetting about her completely and she'd found herself talking

to Angelo, he'd been sitting at the bar. Telling her how he worked for as an enforcer for Dan Foley, a 

rising star, he said. And he was only climbing higher.  That was when she figured out she could surely

make some extra bread trading some of the things her customers told her.

        Ginny put the cigarette out on the ashtray and reached into her purse, looking around to see where

Mike had gone in the meantime, the bathroom it looked like, the door was shut. She felt the cold steel

of the .38, she'd volunteered to do this one. The night before Angelo had told her the real plan. 

His brother Joe had gone out to Detroit, Angelo had been careful not to tell anyone about it, he didn't

trust anyone, and made a deal with Big Red.

        Most of the people who were supposed to be coming to that meeting would be dead long before it

even started. She took the pistol from her purse, got up 

from the chair and walked over to the bathroom, where the door was still shut. As the door swung open

and Mike walked out she fired two shots into his chest. Mike stumbled forward, a shocked look in his 

eye, 'You bitch..' he muttered before collapsing on the ground, the blood pooling around his body. She 

back over to the chair where she was sitting and put her gun back in her purse.

She'd wanted to do this one to prove to Angelo she could be trusted. That she was really willing to do 

anything.

        She walked over to the telephone by the bed, turned dial on the phone and asked the operator for

the for the number at Chapman's. Angelo himself picked up. 'Hello?' He said, sounding slightly 

intoxicated, 'It's me. It's done.' 'Excellent! I'll send someone around to pick you up, were having a 

party!' Ginny hung up the phone, walking slowly to grab her coat from the rack and walking out of

the suite, as casual as she could. The hallway was empty, but she could hear the sounds of partying

going on in the other rooms.  Good, hopefully they won't discover him for a little while, she thought.

        Angelo head ached as he took a sip of black coffee as he walked out the back door of Chapman's

down the alley. He and his men had killed 20 of Kaufman's including both brothers, as they came out

of the apartment they had been staying. They'd hit the rest in small groups in different parts of the city, 

speaks, apartments, alleys. Angelo had been gathering intelligence from his various sources for the past

2 months, paying some extra muscle from his connections in Buffalo to help him finish them off.

            The diner was a couple blocks away from Chapman's across the street from Irv Cohen's butcher

shop. As he walked up to the window of the diner he could already see that fat fuck, Captain Matt 

Chenier of the Warner Police, enjoying a root beer float. 

        Is it me or does he look like he's getting fatter every time I see him, Angelo thought as he entered

the diner and walked up to the counter. 

    'What's new Slim?' Angelo said as he sat next to Chenier at the counter. Chenier had a paper in front

of him, beside the root beer float, he put it in front of Angelo and pointed at the headline: NIGHT OF 

TERROR.;

        'Ohhh spooky!' Angelo joked. 'What the fuck is this?' Chenier asked. 'I don't know officer.' Angelo

said sarcastically. 'Looks to me like the end result of a life of crime. Scumbags killing other scumbags

wouldn't you agree?' He took the envelope of cash out of his coat pocket and slid it over to Chenier, 

who took it in his fat fingers.

            'Don't crack wise with me, this is the kind of shit that makes it hard for everyone, and that 

includes you!' Chenier took another sip of his float. 'Look at the headline just below it.' Angelo said,

pointing, 'DISTILLERY BUST NABS 20.' 'Our fine Federal prohibition agents bringing down some 

good old fashioned law and order.' He said.

        Chenier scoffed, 'Bob Anson! That fat fucking drunk!' He drank down the rest of the float. Takes

one to know one, Angelo thought. 'Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut. Nevertheless the point

is I have a feeling the murder rate in this town is going to go down dramatically now that the war is

almost over.'

            Angelo got up, 'What do mean 'Almost over?' Chenier asked him. 'You'll see. I'm going to be

running this whole town soon.'

        

         

2010

        The wind howled against the window's of Eddie's windows and seemed to shake the whole house.

Mojo was in Eddie 'The Source' Pena's living room sitting on one of the few chairs he had there. The 

living room faced his backyard and the deck which looked out unto the woods. Eddie had a spacious

backyard, where he had a picnic table and two chairs. 

            Where the backyard ended the woods began, 20 acres of which were his. Mojo had come up to

Eddies house around 8, he always liked to come up here after dark, and they had conducted their business

shortly after he'd arrived. As he always did when he came up he put the drugs in compartments he'd built 

into the bottom of his car so it was ready before he left, however when he was about ready to go Eddie had

stopped him, asked if he wanted to stay for dinner, he wanted to rap with him.

            In and of itself this wasn't exactly unusual, they'd been pretty close in prison and had had some 

intense chats back then, but this was different. As he was preparing and cooking the meal, Eddie kept 

taking the conversation to some strange places. How sometimes you thought you knew someone, but

then everything could change and you'd find out everything they told you was a lie. When Mojo had 

asked if he was insinuating something about him, Eddie had deflected, 'Nah man, I'm just thinking man.

just thinking.'

        There was a fireplace in the living room and Eddie had started a nice big one, which Mojo was

now facing. Mojo looked at his watch, 9:45, and its Thursday, reggae night down at Chapman's. Usually

a good place to go to get rid of  a decent amount of his inventory. If I can just get the fuck out of here, it

was over and hour drive back to Franklin, where he lived, to put away what he got, then 10 minutes

over the bridge to Warner. He'd told his friend Jenny, whom he'd been wanting to hang with for a while

he'd be back in town by 10, 11 at the latest.

        The fire crackled and spit in the fireplace, at this rate I'll be lucky to make it back by midnight he

thought to himself. Why the hell do I even come up here anyway? He thought absently. Sure the prices

are good but its such a long drive, not to mention all of this 'Never speak my name to anyone,' cloak

and dagger bullshit that came along with it.

            Mojo heard Eddie descending the stairs before he saw him, still walking steadily into the living

room, which surprised him, and carrying a bottle of alcohol in his hands. 'Come on, have a talk with me

on the deck outside.' He said as he came into the room. 'Man, I don't mean to be rude but I kind of have

plans with people I kind of need to be getting going..' '5 minutes, just 5 minutes let me say I few things

and you can be on your way.' Eddie explained heading into the kitchen to get a couple glasses. 

        In the few years he'd been doing business with Eddie, he'd never seen him drink. Hell, he'd never

even seen any evidence at his house that he even drank at all. However, during the course of their meal

together tonight Mojo had seen him consume 5 beers and a bottle of wine in the space of one hour. How

he was even walking and forming coherent sentences at this point baffled him.

               Mojo got up and walked through the living room over to the door and his coat hanging on the

back of the door, at least now I'll be all ready to go whenever this is over. He saw Eddie emerge from

the living room as he led the way out the screen door to the deck.

        The sky was clear and the moon and stars were bright as they both sat down on the patio furniture

Eddie had out there. 'Nice night.' Eddie said. 'Yeah.' Mojo agreed and took out a clip of a joint he'd been

smoking earlier and lit it up. Fuck it, if he's gonna drink and I have to listen to him, he thought.

            There  was a table with a folded umbrella between them and Eddie put down one of the glasses on

it and poured himself a shot, he took it down in one gulp. Damn, Mojo thought. I'm feeling sick just 

watching him, he thought. 'You know Peter Parker, Spiderman?' He asked as he slammed down the 

glass. 'He had you know that sixth sense that could sense danger to him whenever it appeared? 'My 

spider sense is tingling!' right?' 

    'Uh huh.' Mojo replied taking another toke of his clip. 'A great disturbance in the force.' Eddie 

said. 'Well that's how I've been feeling about you these days Moj, your moving differently. And I've

been feeling that for a while now, like something has changed. Even tonight, during dinner, you were

looking at me like you wanted to say something.'

        Like why are you chugging a glass of wine? Mojo thought, as Eddie had done with two glasses

in a row. 'No, I got nothing man. Just like I said, I did have plans tonight.'

            'Yeah you told me man. But it wasn't just during dinner, whole time you've been here tonight

I've gotten this vibe, from you man. A narc vibe. Like you're playing me.'

        'I honestly don't know what your talking about.' Mojo replied, feeling his buzz getting crushed and

his mood shifting dramatically.

       Eddie wouldn't let up, 'Your making deals with people you don't even know very well, your not 

even vetting them at all like we talked about when we first starting doing business together.' Eddie 

poured another shot, threw it back.

    'Don't you think you want to take it easy man? You don't want to get sick.' He wasn't sure what else

to say, this was getting uncomfortable.

    'Don't change the fucking subjecttt man.' Eddie was slurring bad this time. 'Who you talking to? 

making these shady deals with? Because you deal with the wrong person, some asshole you don't know

I mean really know, they turn out to be DEA, shit. I get burned. But see that's where your wrong 

because, minute those fuckers come up here? Bam, I'm gone vanished. Like one of those fucking 

unsolved mysteries man. 

            Eddie gestured around, 'You think I give a shit about all this? This house, this life, fuck man. I 

grew up in a fucking shack man, no indoor plumbing, you should of fucking seen it. I'll be just gone,

but I won't forget you burned me, who's responsible for it. You'll think I'm just gone, vanished. But

man, I'll find you. I won't forget, I'll find you.'

        Mojo got up, fuck this, he thought. 'Look, I don't want to be rude but I really have to be going.'

He said and walked back toward the house. 'Go, go on! I don't give a shit, whatever man.' Eddie replied.

Mojo paused at the sliding glass door, 'I'll talk to you later.' He said. 'Whatever, man.' Eddie replied.

          This is not good, Mojo thought as he finished off his 3rd pint of porter, this is not good at all. He

had gone to the Satellite lounge to meet his friend Jenny, driving down the highway from the sources

house as fast as he dared with a car full of drugs.

       He'd met his friend Jenny over at the Satellite, it was a small hipster place which catered to college

and artsy types, who sometimes preferred it over the more sketchy, working class patrons at Chapman's

bar. Mojo usually wasn't one to drink to excess, but when he sat down with Jenny to order he asked the

bartender for the beer they had on tap with the highest alcohol content. 

        'I'm not driving.' He told him after. He'd gone over to his house in Franklin across the river real

quick before going out to secure the bud, coke and pills he'd just gotten, the whole time estimating how

long they'd last. 

            He'd met Jenny a half hour before and he'd been in his own world, giving her one or two word

answers about everything, the bands he was working with, when the Mariners next album was coming

out (he didn't know yet), but the whole time she could tell he was somewhere else.

    Mojo finished off his beer, walked back over to the bar and ordered another one. Jenny had only 

drank half of her in same time. 'Hey, can you give me a ride back to my studio? It's not far from

here. I'm going to sleep there tonight.' 'Of course,' Jenny replied. 'What's up with you tonight, you 

seem like you're somewhere else.' She asked him. 

           'It's this guy I know, without saying too much, I do business with him.' He said. 'Oh, I see.' 

she knew about Mojo's side business, she sometimes joked that it was the biggest open secret in town,

knew, in a vague way that he'd described to her before that there was a guy who he copped from who

was pretty mysterious.

        Mojo told her about the dinner, how Eddie had just kept getting drunker and drunker and making

cryptic comments before going for the jugular with him on the patio, accusing him of 'Shady deals. 

Jenny thought for a moment, 'Yeah but he was drunk. Not that it explains everything but you

mentioned you'd never seen him drunk before. Some people can get pretty nasty.'

        'No I know that, but its also, I did time with the guy. He couldn't read, he grew up in Honduras

so I helped him write letters to his family in California. He protected me in exchange. I've seen

what this guy can do, one time 4 Aryan brothers tried to jump him, shank him, take him out, you

know, all 4 ended up in the infirmary in critical condition, broken bones, noses. He's shown me just

a part of what he assures me is a massive arsenal of guns, and that he's been trained by the CIA. To be

honest I am a little afraid of him.'

        Mojo took another gulp of his beer, 'But another thing is, and this is what's really got me spooked,

is that he's not entirely off. I had do business recently with someone who I didn't vet as well, didn't

know as well, and I did cause a little bit of a problem. And Roady? You know, that guy from the

Mariners, he was acting fucking sketchy too last time I saw him. Talking about how the secret is safe

with him and that he's not going to say anything. Does everybody in fucking town know about it?'

        Jenny grinned, 'Well, not exactly, but yeah.' Mojo looked stunned. 'Well what do people say?'

He asked her. 'Just that you have this super secret connection that no one knows. No one in town, but 

someone who lives deep in the woods. I've even heard it's a sort of secret drug lair in a mountain or a

cave or something like that.'

        Mojo laughed, 'No shit?' Fuck, he thought. 'Why the fuck do people have to know everything? 

He asked her. She laughed, 'I don't know but that's been the word for a few months now.' Mojo finished

off his beer, put down the glass. 'You're cut off after that.' Jenny said in a half serious tone. 

            'But really, I mean just from a pragmatic perspective why would he want to cut you off? Stop

doing business with you?' She asked him. 'You're right. Anyway I know I asked you for a ride do my

studio but I also wanted to ask, would you like to join me at Cloud City?'

        Jenny looked confused for a moment, 'What's that?' She asked. 'It's what I call my studio.' Mojo

replied, as he got up. 'Fuck yeah, that's a dope name dude.' She said. 'Nice, we'll roll some blunts.' 

'Never let that shit slide, I mean never.' Eugene's words came back in Jack thoughts as his friend Tyler

passed over the large 2 foot bong they were all smoking. Jack was at Tyler's house with his girlfirend

and a couple of their friends. 

        Jack took the bong and the lighter and took a long healthy rip, he didn't want to be too stoned as

he had a 20 minute drive back to Warner from Northampton where Tyler lived. They had been talking

about the nightlife in Warner, Jack explaining that is actually wasn't as dangerous as most people 

thought, Chapman's bar was a pretty good place, The Rusty Revolver, he found himself oddly defensive

about the city, explaining that, as long as you minded your own business, most of the time you wouldn't

get shot.

                'You know Mojo?' Tyler asked. 'Yeah I met him before.' Jack replied, Mojo had told him not

to mention their dealings to anyone. 'My buddy Zach, he's the drummer for the Mariners, he's known

him since they were in elementary school. Man, what he tells me, Mojo is the man with the finest green

in town out, hell maybe the state. How he's got this super secret connection that lives way out in the

woods, I heard in a fucking underground cave or some shit, and he sells everything in bulk so that's

the reason Mojo is able to sell at the prices he does.'

                Tyler's friends all looked, 'I'm serious man, were talking ounces of some serious kind bud for

like 100 bucks. Jack kept his face as composed as he could, 'I really don't know anything about that.' He

said calmly. 

           'So you said you wanted two ounces right?' Jack asked Tyler. 'Yeah, how much is that going to 

be?' '550.' Tyler sighed. 'Hey, man I was going to ask earlier, but you think, maybe, I can pay you next

week?'

        Jack rolled his eyes, 'Yeah, that's not going to work for me.' He said. 'Fine.' Tyler said and reached

into his pocket and started counting the bills. Jack took out the two ounces from his backpack, got up

and handed them to Tyler while Tyler handed him the bills.

            'Thanks man.' Tyler said. 'Sure, well I got to go I have my girlfriends car right now. Just curious

your friend who knew Mojo what was his name?' Jack asked. 'Mason.' Tyler replied.

Should I tell him? Jack thought as he drove down the darkened highway. It was a little past 11:30 and 

his girlfriend Gina wanted to go out for a drink. She'd managed to switch over to the 3-11 shift at the

hospital and Jack figured they could meet there since he was going to give her back her car anyway. 

He'd been making moves all day, selling most of what he had the weed he'd just gotten rid of being

most of what he'd gotten from Mojo.

        It had been 2 months since he'd paid back both Mojo and Eugene and since then he'd managed to

do quite well, buying weed at the discounted price from Mojo and selling it on the street for more. Even

Eugene, whom he was buying from before, had become one of his customers, telling him the stuff he

was getting from Mojo was better than the medical stuff his cousin sometimes shipped him in from 

California.

            Still, though, every time Jack went to sell Eugene some weed, Eugene would ask him, when are

you going to do it? That is, get revenge on Guy. Ever since Jack had told him the story of how Guy had

tricked him into giving him the pound and thus ripping him off, it had been almost all he ever talked 

about with him. All the ways and how's. Even offering, after Jack had shown a reluctance to do the 

violence himself, to have Jamal come along and help him.

            Jack remembered Eugene telling him that Guy had done something similar with Jamal, got 

something fronted and never paid it back, and he wondered if that was part of it. When Jack had told

him, as he had time and time again, that he didn't really think it was worth it, Eugene said ok. That's

fine, if you don't mind people thinking they can just do you like that. Then went to tell him stories

about his time in the 70's in Judge's crew. How they'd had a rip-off crew hit them, him personally. How,

in his first few months coming to Warner, He, Judge, and their friend Marcus had driven over the bridge

to Franklin and killed them all personally. 

            How after that, all of their customers stayed in line.  Jack saw the Warner exit sign coming up as

he looked glanced down at the car's dashboard clock to see that it was already 11:45, as he signaled 

Jack saw his cell phone on the passenger side light up, it was Gina.

'Hey, baby, I'm just getting off the highway now.' Jack said for her as he answered the phone. 'I've been

waiting here a half hour, we really need to sit down and have a talk about things.' She replied, Jack

detecting the acid in her voice as she spoke and remembered how she didn't like it when he called her

baby. 

            'Ok, that sounds good I'll be there in a few, bye.' Jack replied. The truth was none of that 

sounded good to him at all. A 'Sit-down'? Like they were in the mafia and she was the Don. No good

can come from this, he thought as he got off the exit and headed into the city.

'I don't even know why I come here.' Alice said to guy as she slid off the bed and slipped on her 

underwear. She always said that after they had sex, and every time she said it, the disgust in her voice,

it made him feel small.

           'Because you enjoy my stimulating conversation?' Guy replied sarcastically smiling. 'No its

definitely not that.' Alice replied. 'I'm gonna go outside for a smoke, do you have any weed by any

chance?'

            'Yeah, I think I might still have some somewhere.' Guy replied. He'd ripped off the pound from 

Jack and taken a share of his own two months ago but he hardly touched the stuff, he didn't really like

the way it made him feel. He mainly kept it around for when he had a girl over like now. 

        Alice, now clothed, put a cigarette in her mouth as she walked toward the door, 'Can you roll me

something for when I come back?' she asked him. 'Sure, I can do that.' He replied.

        As she walked out Guy got up and opened the top of his dresser where he usually kept any drugs

he had, sure enough there was a decent sized bag in there. He grabbed the bag and the rolling papers he

kept in there and brought them over to his nightstand. The potent smell of the skunk like bud struck 

him as he extracted a bud and started breaking it up.

        Guy had started hooking up with Alice, Matteo's girlfriend, a few months back when Matteo had

sent her over to buy some ectasy pills he'd ripped off of some college kids at Chapman's. He hadn't

relied on his usual methods of deception that time and simply paid for them with some counterfit bills

his friend Michael had given him to get rid of.

            She had come up to his place and he'd told her the story of how he'd bought them with the 

funny money, then somehow she started asking him what it was like to take them. He said he didn't 

know personally, he never tried them, but he heard they make sex amazing.

        He'd never forget the chill that had run down his spine when she'd asked him then, 'Well that

sounds fun, wanna try it?' and they both taken two and fucked until the sun came up. Afterward, what

had shocked him the most was that he hadn't even thought of his cousin Matteo, not during, not after,

not until she left. Even then, it was less guilt and more the fear of what might happen if he ever found

out about it. 

            He finished rolling the joint and grabbed it and walked back out into the living room, putting on

the TV just to have something going in the background. He heard Alice knock just as he sat down, Guy

always locked the door when he went out and told her to do the same, too many sketchy people he

knew about in his building. 

        'Found something for you.' He said as he opened the door for her, showing her the joint. 'I want to

go out, I want a drink.' Alice said as she came back in. 'I thought you wanted to smoke?' Guy asked.

        'I do, I want to smoke then, I want to go out for a drink.' She explained. He frowned, ' I was 

thinking maybe we could smoke then...' He gestured toward the bedroom, 'Go for another round in

there.'

            She shook her head, 'I want to do something, all we ever do is sit here fuck, smoke, watch TV,

I want to go out.'

        'I don't know if that's such a good idea. If the wrong person saw us, that could mean problems.' He

explained. 

            Alice sighed, she knew that was only half of it. The other half was Guy probably didn't even

have a penny to his name but was too ashamed to admit it. She sat down next to him on the couch. 'I

don't even care at this point, its pretty obvious he doesn't. We haven't fucked in several months, he 

hardly calls or texts me anymore, the way I see it he's practically begging me to cheat.'

        'Anyway, when you think about it, I'm the one cheating not you.' She explained.

He pondered that, 'Well when you put it that way,' He said. 'Fuck it lets go.'

           This wasn't about a drink at all, Jack though as he eyed his near empty pint glass and empty 

basket of wings, more like an ambush. It was almost 12:30 and Gina had just left the bar, dropping

some bills for what she got, a club soda, and leaving Jack alone at his table for two. He'd arrived at the

Wild Card sports bar a few minutes before midnight and managed to get himself an order of wings

from the kitchen that closed at midnight.

              Jack had scarcely sat down, she gave him a weak hug and refused to kiss him, when she'd 

unloaded her lists of grievances on him, how he barely worked, seemed to be possibly homeless, no

ambition, no direction. How he was involving himself in a drug scene that was dangerous, he was in

over his head and could potentially get him killed. How he had no car, often no money, how when 

her girlfriends asked about him, what he did, she felt embarrassed.

        To Jack, it felt like being on trial, like what his father had said to him a few weeks before but all 

the more painful because it came from someone he actually cared about. Still, Jack was used to these

kinds of interrogations, from girlfriends, family members, he knew how to answer questions from the

committee. 

            He was trying, he explained. He'd gotten a part time job, a dishwasher at the very same bar

they were eating at, she knew that, she told him. The selling drugs was only temporary so he could 

save up enough money to get his own apartment, hopefully with her as his roommate, and he was 

planning on registering for fall classes at Warner community college, graphic design. He always said

either graphic design or computer science because those were the two classes he had taken briefly 

when he had gone there and if any of his questioners were to probe further he'd be able to sound

knowledgeable enough on it.

        Jack downed the rest of his pint, picked up the empty glass and walked back to the bar to order

another. The bartender, an older woman, was busy serving another customer. As he came up to the bar

he noticed a man talking loudly to two other younger women. Oddly, Jack thought, they seemed 

fascinated by what this man had to say.

        'You ladies, you're too young to remember, but man this fuckin' town, used to be a great fucking

place to raise a family.' He sounded clearly drunk. 'And the fucking crime? Forget about it, not near as

bad as it is now with these fucking animals. When my brother Carmine ran this town? Shit. You ladies

could walk through any neighborhood, day or night, nobody lay a fucking hand on you. You could 

stroll around bare ass naked at 2 in the fucking morning, nobody would touch you.'

        'Wow, really?' One of the women said. 'God's honest truth. Nobody got robbed in our 

neighborhood, mugged, shot, raped, forget about it! Because these punks knew what the fuck would

happen they fuck around and try that shit.' The man continued. 

        'People knew respect...' Jack managed to tune the man out as he continued his rant, talking like

he was at a rock concert and had to scream to be heard.

        'Sorry about that.' The woman said as she walked up to him. 'Would you like another?' 'Sure.' 

Jack replied. In the end Gina had said 'She'd think about it,' however she needed some alone time to

do so. He'd already taken his clothes and most of his stuff out of her apartment and put whatever he

could fit in his backpack, where he kept his weed, and scale.

        The woman at the bar was drying glasses and wiping down surfaces as the man continued his

expletive laden rant to the young ladies, this time dropping a few N- bombs in the mix. 'Can't someone

do something about him?' Jack asked her, the man ten feet away. 

    She leaned closer to the bar to talk to Jack, 'He knows the owners or something. Last weekend he 

was in here, doing the same thing, swearing talking loudly. The girl working at the bar asks me politely

to quiet down, the language all that. He tells her to fuck off and go get him another drink, starts 

screaming starting a scene, so she calls the cops.'

        Jack took a gulp of his pint, interested in the story. 'Guy ends up leaving before the cops gets here,

and she gives her statement to the cops. Then, when she comes into work the next day for her shift the

manager, Paul, calls her into his office, fires her. Told her she was stealing from the restaurant, but all

of us who worked with her knew that was bullshit. Word was it was because she called the cops on Mr.

Personality over there.'

                The woman went back to her cleaning, 'So since then I leave him be.' The man had finished

his rant and his two female companions were talking among themselves.

                Thank God I'm on birth control, Alice thought as Guy slid out of her. They'd smoked the joint

in the car on the way to the bar and the bud had made both of them want to fuck. She pulled into the

back of the Wild Card Sports bar parking lot, there were few cars to begin with, and decided to have

a quickie. 

            'Why do we have to go here? Plenty of bars still open.' Guy said as he pulled up his pants in

the passenger seat. 'Matteo works here, hangs out here, my uncle hangs out here, it's like you want

them to see us.' He complained as he opened the door and got out.

        'It's not that.' Alice replied as she got out the drivers side to follow him, 'It's more I really don't

care if he sees me anymore.' Things had been going good with them until a few months back, when

Matteo's uncle Steve had moved in. First of all he always seemed to be there, in the living room, 

watching tv, smoking pot in the garage, or drinking Matteo's beer. He was the kind of person that had

that presence. 

           Alice shuddered to herself as she thought of him sitting in that chair in Matteo's living room 

leering at her. 'Trust me,' Alice said as she walked beside Guy into the bar, 'I hope Steve's not there.'

Then one night, after they'd all been watching TV in the living room and Matteo's had gone to the bath

room, he'd propositioned her. Asked if she wanted to come up to his room and fuck after she was done

watching TV with Matteo. 

        She had told him to fuck off then, but it happened several more times after that. Finally, when 

she'd worked up the courage to tell Matteo, he'd brushed it off entirely. 'He's just a product of his 

generation.' He'd said. 'Cut the guy some slack he was in prison for 20 years.' That had been the same

night Matteo had sent her over to check out the X Guy had scored and the same night she had fucked

him.

            The bar was sparsely populated as Alice followed guy into the restaurant, there was a young guy

in a baseball cap talking to the bartender and an older man at the end of the bar who was talking to a 

couple of younger ladies.

    'I'm going to go use the bathroom real quick.' Guy said. 'Ok.' She replied, knowing that was actually

shorthand for, 'I'm going to do some lines.' Something about the tone of voice, she always knew. 'I'm

gonna go order something at the bar.'

    

        'Yeah I don't mind working here, I'm just part time for now.' Jack explained. He'd been talking to 

the bartender Lisa, for the past few minutes, explaining how he'd just started working there. She was 

telling him how there was a rumor among the kitchen staff that the Berardi family was a kind of silent

owner of the place, that's why Janet, the bartender had gotten fired. The obnoxious man she'd called the

cops on was the brother of Carmine Berardi, the imprisoned boss and Sal Berardi, the current boss.

            Then when Lisa had explained more about what she'd learned about this Steve Berardi, Jack 

could understand why she kept her distance. 'Yeah between you and me I'm thinking about looking for

something else.' Lisa said in a low voice as a young woman came up to the bar.

            'Can I get a tall can of PBR and a shot of Jim Beam?' She said. 'You got it.' Lisa replied. 

'My kind of lady!' Jack said to the woman, who smiled nervously. 'How are you doing tonight?' He 

asked her.

        She returned the same awkward smile as before, 'I'm with someone actually.' Jack threw up his

hands, 'Ok, just trying to make conversation.' The bartender brought her beer and poured her shot, she

took both and walked over and sat down at an empty table.

        Tough crowd, Jack thought and took another draw of his beer, close to last call, he thought. Got to

be somewhere I can go just for tonight, he thought to himself. The clock above the bar read 12:35, I

think i can finish this and get another one before last call, Jack thought to himself. Get nice and buzzed

in case I have to just find some place to pass out on the street.

            He took a look toward the girls table and saw that her man had indeed returned, she was talking

to him and pointing over to Jack's direction. Fuck, Jack thought as he saw the man come up to the bar,

even worse when he realized he knew who it was.

        'Holy shit it's happy Jack my old business partner!' Guy said grinning like an idiot as he came up

to the bar, shaking Jack's hand. 'My girl is all pissed making me come up here, defend her honor all that

bullshit but now that I see it's you I'll tell her to leave it be. No harm done.'

        Lisa, the bartender gave him a look, 'Hey were just friends talking.' He explained. 'So how is your

business anyway old friend?' Guy asked Jack. 'Pretty good actually doing well. I was just meeting my

girlfriend here earlier.' Explained, instantly regretting the choice of words.

        'She split on you?' Guy asked. 'Anyway, sorry our little business deal didn't work out, you see my

cousin Matteo he can be a bit of a prick sometimes, he just took your weed, didn't even give me any

money for it. Then, can you believe it? Damn phone fell in the toilet so I couldn't call you, to you know

let you know what was going on.'

        Jack listened with a labored expression, feeling an intense desire for this interaction to be over. 

Guy put a hand on his back, 'No hard feelings right?' I don't have to worry about you coming up and

'Whacking', me right? 'No.' Jack replied, his anger rising.

        'That's good,' Matteo replied as he started to walk away, 'Not that there's much you can do about it

anyway.' He said.

            Jack finished off the rest of his pint, oh yeah? He thought. I'm calling Eugene, fuck this kid.