"You're late…" Vinnie said, looking up from his desk to see his lackey walking through the door. "Where the fuck were you? What happened to your lip?"

"Bar fight…" Alex mumbled.

"You don't need to be drawing attention to yourself right now!" Vinnie said.

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Brad looked over the papers sitting on his desk. He kept glancing over at the clock. It wasn't like he'd never done this before, but he had a really bad feeling about tonight. Something seemed different. Something seemed off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. Oh well, best to just do his job and get this over with. He'd sworn to himself that this would be the last time, but he was sure that he'd change his mind once he got his hands on the money. Just like he had all the times before…

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"You're taking the money…" Vinnie said. "You're exchanging it for the merchandise… Very simple. No questions asked."

Alex nodded at his boss.

"Do you think that you can handle that?" Vinnie asked.

"Yes boss…" Alex answered.

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"You follow whoever picks up the money until he is out of sight range and earshot from whoever picks up the drugs…" the AD said looking over at Jeffrey before turning his gaze to Gus. "You don't arrest for the drugs until Vinnie has his hands on them, do you understand me?"

Gus nodded.

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"This is a very big shipment…" Vinnie said. "We need to make up for the inventory that that slut disposed of…"

"I understand…" Alex said.

"You screw this up…" Vinnie said. "And I will have your head…"

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Sandy groaned slightly as he awoke. Didn't these drugs do anything? Why was he still in so much pain? His eyes shifted over the stark whiteness of the room, looking for something… Anything… to focus on besides the pain. If he pressed the call button for more drugs, then Ed would come and bother him again. Telling him that the police wanted his statement. No, he really wasn't up for that right now. He didn't trust the police. Not after… He remembered the flash of badge he had seen, attached to the guy's pants as he had knocked him down. He shuddered at the thought. And those eyes. Blue and cold as ice. Chilling. He was probably lucky to be alive. Or maybe he'd be better off dead. He needed to stop thinking. It just hurt too much to think about things.

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"How is he?" Reva asked after walking into the hospital.

"Last I checked he was asleep…" Ed said.

"Has he said much?" Reva asked.

"Well…" Ed started.

"Well what?" Reva asked.

"Nothing…" Ed said. "It's nothing…"

"Tell me…" Reva insisted.

"He doesn't want to give a statement…" Ed said.

"He hasn't even been in here for 24 hours and already they're pushing for a statement?" Reva said. "You're his doctor… You should know that he doesn't need that kind of stress right now!"

"Well, that's what I told Gus…" Ed said. "But Sandy made it sound like he was never going to give one…"

"You're his doctor!" Reva said. "Not a detective! Just leave him alone! Hasn't he already been through enough, Ed? Just leave my son alone!"

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