A/N: After having a discussion with Vera Roberts, I've made a decision. I want this piece to be as realistic and authentic as possible. Having said that, in the 1920s, racism was at an all time high. There was racism against EVERYONE. Because of this, I will use some language that will be considered derogatory to certain groups. It is not my intention to offend ANYONE; I do not harbor these beliefs personally, but it fits in the time and the mind-set of the characters. These words will not be used against any one person in particular, they will be used as a roll of the tongue. The characters say them without thinking anything about it or meaning any harm by it...it's just the way people talked. If you are offended, I am truly sorry; let me know and I will discontinue writing it this way. It is possible for me to do this and exclude that part of the story, but it is my belief that I would be taking away from the time period.
As I said before, each chapter will have a different narrator so you'll get to see a little more of what went down and what they're doing about it. They will all be the same, with the first half being a reflection and introduction of the character; a little background if you will. And the second half is the present interaction with other characters.
People have asked me who did the hit, but I can't tell you...it's a mystery. You have to read carefully to get the clues. With that, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Johnny Boy's Indifference
Of all the nights for something to go wrong, it had to be the night I'm in charge. See, this is the thing I don't get, I been on this drop a hundred times and ain't nothing never went wrong. The one time, Big D puts me in charge, all hell breaks loose. But what can I do about it? Fuck it.
Oh…they call me Johnny Boy. I'm what Big D calls, nonchalant, whatever the fuck that means. If it means I don't give a fuck, then I guess that's what I am. I don't give a fuck. And that don't make me a bad guy neither; not that I'd care if it did. See the way I look at it is this; I got the best fucking gig out there. I get to mingle at the club, fuck a different broad every night, hang out with my friends, cause some trouble and make a little pocket change all at the same time. What the fuck is there to complain about? The worrying and all that bullshit, I leave that to Candy; he worries enough for all of us.
Big D's having a fit cause he knows if Double V finds out about this shipment, he's gonna be wearing cement shoes. But that's what he gets for fucking with the mob. Between all of us, we got enough money and crew to do this shit on our own, but D's always looking for extra protection. You don't get in bed with a Don, if you don't expect to one day wake up with a fucking hole in your skull.
Now, don't get me wrong, Big D's like my brother; I known him all my life. When I was a kid, I ate dinner at his house almost every night. It had more to do with me fucking his sister than his mom's cooking, but, what can I do about it? I ain't never met a more honest Joe than Big D. That bastard would lie down in traffic for me and I would for him. I would for any of my crew. I don't have many friends, but the guys I hang with, I trust. Who I don't trust is fucking Double V. I understand the way the streets work, but that bastard would sell out his own mother to turn a profit.
Enough of this sentimental bullshit, I got things to do. You wanna know what I know, right? Well here it is. Things wasn't right from the moment we got to The Spot. As soon as we got there, Big D says he's putting me in charge. He says, I been on enough of these pickups that I can do this one without him. Now normally, Big D is always there, but I know that Double V's coming and he needs time to fix the books. He's gonna get his fucking face rearranged; serves him right, the pretty bastard.
I guess he put me in charge 'cause I'm more responsible. Really, who else would he get to do it? Fucking KO? That fucking palooka can't even count to three; much less make sure we're getting the quantity we're supposed to. Enigmatic? What the fuck kinda name is that anyway? That's some shit Candy made up. He says it means mysterious, well if that's what it means, just fucking call him mysterious. Anyway, Eni, he's too fucking quiet; you can't do business if you're fucking whispering. And Candy? Jesus, that fucking guy would nag the captain to turning the fucking boat around. So who's left, Smiley? If that bastard would stop grinning, maybe you could understand what the fuck he was talking about. No, I was the logical choice. But then this shit happens.
We all know that booze is illegal, so we take extra measures to make sure our shit gets to the club with no problems. We always meet the boat 20 miles off shore. We paddle out and load up, that way no nosy ass Harbor Master's there to stick his fucking nose in our business. Well tonight, the shit ain't work like that.
By the time me, Candy and Enigmatic get to the drop, we seen Smiley and KO waiting on us. We woulda been there sooner, but fucking KO stashed the paddle boat after the last shipment and that shit was impossible to find. I need to remember to kick his ass later on. Anyway, just like always, we leave Smiley and KO with the car. Normally, I stay behind with 'em, that way if shit jumps off on the shore, we can handle it. But since Big D ain't with us… me, Candy and Eni paddle out to the site. We take Enigmatic just in case they wanna start some shit on the water. He'll blow a hole in anything and Candy has to be there to talk to the Captain. That fucker can smell a setup a mile away.
Alright, so now we's at the drop off point, but there ain't no ship. We sitting there waiting and waiting and I for one don't do a lot of waiting. It ain't like I got nothing better to do, but fuck it. Just then, we get a signal from the boys at the car, so we paddle back and they say they seen lights heading down the road.
By the time we get to down to Pier 10, we see our fucking ship, docked like this shit is legal. I done already gave Enigmatic the go ahead to shoot whoever was driving that fucking boat. That's all we need, to get pinched by the fucking pigs. The boys was already on standby then we seen that somebody already beat us to it. The fucking Captain's dead. Enigmatic says that hole was caused by a Gat and then he starts crawling on the fucking ground looking at tracks, likes he's a fucking private dick. Fuck that, I don't crawl; besides, I need to see if anyone on that boat knows what the fuck is going on. I walked up and seen the bodies; it was a fucking massacre. Plus, now all of our shit's missing.
Well, I ain't gotta tell ya, when we get back to the car, the fucking door's open and the dough's gone. I swear, if I had to listen to Candy's big ass whine one more minute, I was gonna kill him myself. So that's when we went back and told Big D what was what. He's pissed, but fuck him; he's always mixed up in something. I'm sure before the night's over he'll get one of the girls to relieve his extra tension…pretty bastard.
So now, we gotta go back and try to find the booze and the loot. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. But you know what? It ain't my booze or my money, so I don't really give a fuck.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" I never could read Smiley. I can't tell if he's in a good mood or not. He don't have no other emotions, just fucking smiles.
I don't know what we're looking for, but Big D wants us to find something. "Just look around and shut the fuck up."
This shouldn't be too hard. We just gotta get the gear, and the bill of lading, then we can blow the ship and get back to the club. "KO, you go on the boat and check it out."
"Why I gotta go up there?" I swear he's a big fucking baby. You would think a mug that had to register his hands, wouldn't be scare of the fucking dark.
"Because I said so. Now get your big, stupid ass up there and see what you can find." Sometimes, you gotta talk to KO like he's retarded. He's a good kid though, but I think he took one too many punches to the head. "Eni, how much room you need for the charges?"
Enigmatic don't talk much, instead he puts up four fingers. I guess he needs four feet. I ain't never understood why he don't say nothing, but it ain't my place to worry about it. He does his job and I ain't got to listen to him flap his jaws, like with other fucking guys I hang with.
"Shit Johnny, looky what I found." There's that fucking smile again. I can't tell if it's a good smile or a bad one. But something in the way Smiley's eyes are dancing around tells me that it might be something we need. "Three fucking guesses who this belongs to."
I walk over and look at what he's looking at. Sure as I'm telling you this, there it is, bright as day. I don't how we missed it when we was here before, but right on the Captain, is everything we need to know. "Smiley, haul this fucker's body up to the boat. Grab what you can and get back here in ten minutes."
"Five." That's one thing I like about Enigmatic, when he do talk, he only says what's necessary. Plus, he lets me think out loud without interrupting every five minutes.
"See this what don't figure. Nobody knew about the shipment, so why the fuck would this boat be all the way down here?" I can't tell if Enigmatic is really listening or not, but I don't really care. I need to work through this out loud. "These beaners knew that they was off course and whoever stole the booze, knew that this boat would be here instead of where it was supposed to be." Enigmatic ain't never look up from his charges, but I can see him nodding his head. He's on the same page is as I am. "Only, if they was planning on just taking the shipment, why kill the crew?" I need another cigarette. The smoke helps me think clearer. "And who the fuck drops a cufflink? Them shits don't just pop off, that was fucking deliberate." Just as I go to throw my butt down, I see more butts already on the ground. "Eni, take a look at this shit." A diamond cufflink don't sound like much and it could belong to anyone, but then we see Carltons all over the fucking place, I got a pretty good idea of who was here. Most mugs smoke Lucky Strikes or Winstons or roll their own, ain't too many that smoke Carltons and one mug sticks out in my mind.
"It was a double cross." For a man that don't say much, Enigmatic says all he needs to say. It makes perfect sense. Now all we gotta find out is, why.
My whistle is loud; loud enough to get KO and Smiley off the boat. They got two carts full of shit and Smiley's waving the fucking bill of lading. Sometimes, I think he's face is gonna split in half with that fucking smile of his. "We got the shit. Let's go."
As soon as they make it down the ramp, Smiley hands me the one key to all this shit; this shipment was twice as big as it shoulda been. Unless Big D, was planning on selling the hooch somewhere else besides The Spot, something ain't right. "We been set up boys. And this shit goes back further than this fucking dock." I can tell they don't know what I'm talking about, but this ain't for me to discuss with them. This ain't even none of my fucking business. My orders is simple; find out who and take 'em out. Now I gotta clue, but before we go strolling in there, we need a few more answers. I know who was at Pier 10, but I don't know when or why.
I look over at Enigmatic and nod my head; if nothing else he's real good at his job. Fucking Smiley and KO is just having a fucking field day watching that ship go up in a million pieces. "Let's go." I know it's only a matter of time before the fucking cops is crawling all over this dock and I ain't in the mood to deal with no fucking flat foots tonight. And while Smiley and KO is walking back to the car, I watch how careful-like Enigmatic packs up his gear. "You know what you need to do."
He don't answer, he just nods. Big D wants answers and he's gonna get 'em. We're getting to the bottom of this shit…tonight.
But this shit ain't my fault and I don't take the blame for no one. Even if it happened on my watch, fuck it. I didn't know it would go down like this. But that's what happens when you fuck with the big boys, even if it was a routine shipment.