Chapter 11) New directions
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Tommy didn't bother explaining to Maria about their destination when he signed her to come along. During the early morning she'd often gave him a troubled look; he was rather short tempered. It was the nerves, he didn't like to admit it, but he felt anxious about his meeting with his older brother.
Getting mixed with business meant getting back into the saddle. During short family gatherings he could keep his act up and play the role of the old Tommy, but being more of a bystander then an actually member of his pack was most depressing. The invisible wall of silence always kept him out of true touch and contact. Sure, he could nod, write and throw in a punch when he had to, but any deeper meaning remained just out of reach.
Secretly he'd grown content of his hard-laboured odd job at the stables, heading into the city mainly for the horses. It gnawed at him that he needed to take on a new role; Arthur's advisor.
With barely anything in his stomach, besides a few swigs of Whiskey for good luck, he motioned for the girl to pick up her lunch and follow him.
Surprised she stared at him as she collected her food but knew better then to question him. He was glade with her qualities; at times she could be bubbly, especially if she was working with the horses,but she also knew when it was better not to ask any questions and simply do what was told.
Her face fell a bit when she noticed their directions took her back to the Garrison. Their shared misfortune gave him a weird sense of unity although he'd rather eat his own flap hat then admit it.
Taking out a new cigarette while pressing the last one out he could feel his fingers twitch. They did that from time to time, involuntarily he'd drop his cup of tea or bottle of Whiskey. By now he wasn't sure if it were the sudden burst of nerves that could jolt through his body, his peeking alcohol indulgence, or his head trauma.
Maybe it was a mixture of it all, he rather did not think about it.
As expected, it was quiet in the pub, besides the regular group of elderly card players and Harry polishing glasses, the place was empty.
Receiving his on-the-house drink he despised, he motioned Maria to order something for herself. Without informing her he took her steaming cup of tea from the bar and walked into the private office in the corner. She followed obediently while munching on her lunch.
"Do you need me as your translator?" She questioned softly, her fingers nervously repositioning her oversized bucket hat.
He nodded shortly, filling up his lungs with much needed nicotine.
They'd both finished their drinks when the door slammed open and with much sound and brawl Arthur marched into their quiet quarter.
"TOMMY!" he yelled enthusiastic with open arms, "Lass!" he added when his eyes found Maria's tensed figure.
With a bottle in one hand and three glasses in his other he parked his ass on one of the empty chairs and placed his boots on the ebony table.
"Pol told me you felt like talking-... figuratively speaking of course, ya know what I mean." His brother shrugged awkwardly looking back and forth to his two associates.
Ill-at-ease Maria drew her gaze firmly down to her knees and Tommy started to regret his promise to his aunt.
"I said sorry to the cunt," Arthur continued bitterly, "thought you would like to know, I did listen to ya."
'And what do you expect now, a standing ovation?' Tommy thought cynically but raised his thumb up to flatter his older brother's ego.
He earned a smug wide grin for his brother who quickly occupied himself with pouring in drinks.
"...I-...I don't drink, sir," Maria stammered with a tiny voice.
Arthur looked at her as if she'd gone mad. "Of course you do, everybody drinks." He shoved a glass of whiskey in front of her, "bottoms up."
Dejected Maria stared at the brown liquid the glass contained and scrunched up her nose when she inhaled the strong smell.
"So, what more brilliant advice do you bring to this table?" Arthur asked, knocking on the wood with the heel of his boot.
Tommy knew his brother meant it in all seriousness, but couldn't he try to take their meeting less lightly? This was important for their family business after all. And just because he'd banished himself into the stables didn't mean he stopped thinking about their future.
He made eye contact with Maria who gladly placed her glass down and sat up to observe him.
"We are second best, Arthur," she started her translation, "the italians have more peas in the pot and if we want to narrow their influence and ground we need to expand."
His brother pressed a sour face and raised an eyebrow. "And how are you planning to do that? Our boxing rings are already bursting out of proportions, the coppers are always on our tail and fixing races is a tricky business. Kimber is like a dog with a bone. We don't want to piss in his ally."
Tommy smirked wickedly and signed to Maria who quickly continued. "We'll take another road, Arthur. We are going to selling T-O-K-Y-O," Maria slowly added his last word which he finger spelled.
Arthur laughed out loud, then paused and tapped against the side of his head when he noticed Tommy's serious stare.
"Have you gone mad brother?" He snapped. "Cocaine?! How the bloody hell do we get our hands on a large sum of cocaine?!"
"Simpel," Maria translates, "we make a deal with the Chinese."
Arthur's mouth dropped and he grunted. "Polly told me you we were going to have a serious conversation about our business. My business as I recall. So if you're just taking the piss out of me-"
Apologetic, Tommy raised his hand and quickly started to motion at Maria who rapidly filled in. "-Hear me out brother; the Chinese have their contacts but their market range is rather limited. We, on the other hand, own this city and we ain't afraid of the coppers. Those chinks don't like to get their hands dirty so if we manage to buy a large sum of cocaine all at once they will gladly sell it."
Arthur didn't like his plan, he could see that: "And how are we getting that amount of money, Thomas?"
"Simple, we sell our best boxing ring to the Lee's. The one at Wolverhampton's I'd say."
Arthur chuckled humourless. "You want to sell our most profitable source of income to the Lee's to get in contact with the Chinese?"
Tommy nodded and eyed Maria for her to continue. "Yes," she translated, "you see the Wolverhampton's has a name, and that's our problem. Everybody knows about the place. Right now we pay the coppers a fair price to keep their nose out of it, but in time, someone will snitch and heads will roll. If we sell now, we'll have a lot of profit. And we will show Zilpha our good nature. She doesn't know about our business with the coppers and she doesn't have too. The moment we sell it to her we drop our deal with the pigs. We will sell her a sinking ship for a good prize and she won't even know it. If the coppers break the place apart and shut it down her rage will be on them, not on use."
"So… lemmy get this straight...I had to apologise to the cunt, while you are planning to stab her in the back?"
Tommy grinned wide and Maria spoke, "It's simply business. We earn a lot of money off a sinking ship, gain a possible new pact with the Chinese, and set up a new flourishing exportation; cocaine, our new investment."
Arthur grew completely silent, rubbed his face, and slammed down his whiskey. "Tom, in all honesty, I don't know what to think'"
"So don't," Maria translated with a tiny voice, "Let me do the thinking."
Tommy took out his notebook and wrote down in all sincerity, I meant it when I promised Polly I'd be your advisor.
Arthur sat up straight when he received Tommy's notebook and read the lines a few times over. Touched by his younger brother's well meant words he leaned over the table to pull Tommy into a rough hug.
"Welcome back brother," Arthur whispered in his ear before retreating back to his seat, his eyes a bit watery from emotion.
Tommy shallowed hard and nodded slowly in return, he'd set the bar high, not just business wise, but also for himself. Having this first meeting would cause a snowball effect; many more would follow, resulting in him being forced to leave his safe house often.
And although he loved the thought of having an active role in their family, it also frightened him beyond belief. What if he couldn't live up to his former reputation? What if he'd let everybody down? What if, they wouldn't take him serious due to his disability? That all was a lot to chew on.
"I'll talk it over with John and Pol," Arthur promised. "Will you meet me here after the weekend? On Tuesday, that'll give me some time to think things through."
Tommy hardly believe Arthur had the capacity to weigh all options and disadvantages of his plan, but he nodded slowly, this was not the time to get on Arthur's wrong foot.
"Alright then," Arthur took the bottle of whiskey and stood up, "I'll see the two of you in a bit, cheers, Tom, Lass."
I don't have to tell you to keep your mouth shut about everything that happened between these four walls do I? Tommy wrote down for Maria as Arthur walked out.
She peeked over his shoulder and read the lines.
"As long as you don't make me drink that Whiskey all your secrets are safe with me," Maria muttered softly and firmly pushed her glass across the table.
Tommy chuckled, snatched the glass out of her grip and drained it with one swig, holding his thumb up, Deal.
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A/N I've been thinking a lot about the directions I want Tommy to follow. In this story Tommy can't rely on his smart mouth. To me it didn't make any sense to follow the direction of the show. Because this mute-Tommy can't deal with Kimber the same way the show-Tommy does. So, I wanted to let mute-Tommy map out his plan for his future. And his future will revolve around cocaine. And personally I really like to make up something entirely new then to follow the show-storyline. A lot of thrilling, nasty business will be coming up. The Italians, the Lee's, the Chinese, oh even some gypsy spells and gossip are coming up. I really like where this story is taking me. And I really would like to know if I'm keeping Tommy and the others in character.
Please leave me feedback,
Xoxox Nukyster
