Page 11 of Abe (Marked Skulls MC 3)
“For starters, we need to do something about his mode of transportation,” Rodeo said and I heard Girth chuckle.
Oz stopped the truck and jumped out.
“Am I late?” he asked, rushing towards us, his face was lit up and excited.
“Yeah,” Rodeo said to him and Oz looked apologetic.
“It’s cool, this is Rodeo and Girth,” I made the introductions and Oz shook their hands respectfully. He looked like a kid in candy-land. Like someone who was meeting legends.
“What are we doing here?” he asked.
“We’re meeting some people. Rodeo and I will be doing the talking, and you need to stick with Girth, keep a lookout,” I told him and Oz nodded his head.
“Are there any rules I should know about? Any signals?” he asked and I looked at Rodeo who smiled at me.
“Just follow what Girth is doing,” I said and Oz’ gaze travelled to the gun in Girth’s hand, which he hadn’t stuffed into his belt yet.
“Okay, but I’m not exactly armed. I have a knife, but that’s about it,” he said, building up his excitement again.
“Take it easy, kid, you don’t need a gun just yet,” Girth said and Oz nodded his head vigorously. I thought his head was going to fall off.
We heard the sound of another engine down the road, and the four of us spread out in a semi-circle.
“Who are these people?” Oz whispered in the dark, as we saw the silver limousine approaching us, flanked by two bikes on either side.
“This boy asks too many questions,” Rodeo snarled beside me.
The car came to a stop in front of us, along with the bikes, throwing up a cloud of dust in our faces.
I could sense Rodeo and Girth being as alert as I was, and Oz seemed jumpy. He was ready for some action. I just hoped that it wasn’t a mistake to invite him here.
A man stepped out of the car. Brown skin, thick mustache, dark slicked back hair and in a smart gray suit. There were four men with him, two of whom had ridden on their bikes.
“What a strange place to call a meeting,” the man said, walking straight towards us. His bodyguards were fast on his heels and they looked like professionals.
“We needed it to be neutral ground,” I said, keeping my hands tucked deep in the pockets of my jacket. My gun was in my right hand already, of course.
“Why are you suspicious of us? When we are the ones who want to do business with you, Mister…” the man said.
“Abe,” I told him and he nodded his head.
“Mister Abe,” he finished the sentence.
“Because we don’t have a deal yet, and we can’t rule out the possibility that you’re working with some other MC who’ve laid out a trap for us,” I replied and the man looked over at one of his bodyguards and smiled.
“Thinking of everything, I like that. Exactly the kind of attention to detail we need for this contract,” he said and took a step forward, stretching his hand out to me.
“I’m Paz Garcia,” he said and I shook his hand, before he offered it to Rodeo next.
“Good to meet you Mr. Garcia,” Rodeo said and he extended his hand to Girth, who stared at him, like he’d been offered poison.
“He doesn’t shake hands,” Rodeo said with a smirk and Mr. Garcia cleared his throat and stepped back.
Oz had remained in place beside Girth, kept his mouth shut…so far, he was doing well.
“Can we get straight to the point here, Mr. Garcia? We are curious about the message our contact gave us about doing business with you,” I said and Paz nodded his head.
“Yes, sure, let’s just get down to business then. My brothers and I have been looking for men here, who we could make responsible for receiving shipments of certain items and their distribution,” he began.
“By items you mean weapons?” I asked and Paz laughed menacingly before he clamped his mouth shut again.
“Your words, not mine,” he said and I watched him closely. I needed to figure out just the kind of men we were going to do business with, before I signed off on something this big for the MC. Ultimately, this was my idea. I was the one responsible for the consequences.
“Anyway, the question here, Mister Abe, is if you boys are up to the task,” he continued and I heard Rodeo chuckle. He didn’t like his capabilities being questioned.
“Maybe we are,” I said and Paz smiled widely, his mustache stretched tightly over his lips.
“How do I know you are? By the looks of it, you are a group of four biker boys with ambition,” Paz said and I could sense Rodeo itching to strike his face with the barrel of his gun. I cleared my throat, hoping Rodeo would get the hint to stand down. Shit talking each other was a part of this game, and he would just have to get used to it.
***
“We are a part of a team,” I told the man and he nodded his head.
“Yes, I’ve heard about the Marked Skulls. We were impressed with how you handled the kidnapping of the girl and the revenge for the death of one of your comrades,” Paz said and the atmosphere seemed to relax a little.
“Why have you picked us to make contact with? When there are bigger and stronger MCs you can do business with here,” Rodeo asked and Paz looked at him and smiled.
“Because we know how greedy and corrupt those motherfuckers are. We need a team we can rely on, who won’t skim from the top. You will be heavily compensated of course,” Paz replied and I looked at Rodeo who gulped.
“We’re interested in taking this on,” I said, before Rodeo could say anything else and he snapped his head around to look at me.
Paz grinned and nodded his head.
“Of course you are, but we need a trial run first before we can make a deal,” he said.
“Fine. Tell us when you’re planning your first shipment,” I countered and Paz looked at his men and indicated to talk privately. Two of them stepped up to him and they started talking in Spanish and in whispers to each other.
“What the fuck are you doing man?” Rodeo hissed at me.
“Trying to make a deal,” I said.
“We don’t even know the scale of this thing. How are we going to handle it with the handful of MC members we have right now?” he asked, glaring at me with widened eyes.
“We have one extra prospect now, at least a test prospect to help with the trial run,” I said and tipped my head back towards Oz. Rodeo looked over my shoulder at the kid and grunted.
“We have no idea if he is good enough. All he’s done here tonight is stand around with Girth and watch the show. We don’t even know if he can be trusted,” Rodeo hissed.
“He can be trusted,” I said.
“Based on what?”
“Just trust me!” I growled and Rodeo shook his head.
“We need to talk to Lewis about this. You’re getting mad fucking ideas, and I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with this kid,” he said through gritted teeth.
“One week. We’ll schedule the trial run for one week from now,” Paz turned to us after he’d consulted with his men.
“Fine, we’ll be ready,” I replied and he looked over at Girth and Oz and grinned again.
“I can assure you that you will need more men than this,” he said.
“We’re working on it,” I told him and he nodded.
“If things go smoothly…the storage of the shipment and the distribution; you boys have got yourselves a deal. Fifteen percent of the sales is yours,” he said and stepped forward to shake my hand again.
Fifteen percent of the sales, on the scale of weapons that the Garcia brothers wanted to distribute meant a serious amount of money. Enough to make us all richer than we had ever been before.
