Tone of Deceit
Disclaimer: I own nothing
A/N: Two things: This chapter and the next were written together but separated due to length, so I'm giving you both. Second, I've been working overtime this week and tomorrow we're all going in early for a big meeting so I probably wouldn't be able to update, therefore I'm giving you this chapter along with the next. Enjoy, at least I think you will.
Chapter 24 (Taking Action)
"Son, are you aware what being part of this organization entails?" Andre slanted his eyes as Roger slid up behind him. He grit his teeth and closed his hands firmly. "You may sleep with any of the whores at my disposal." He tilted his head upright and sucked in a sharp breath.
"Oh, I guess that's a perk, then?" Roger nodded and Andre turned slowly, staring blankly at the man. "What exactly am I expected to do in your gang exactly?" A grin spread across Roger's face and he extended his arms.
"Why you'll learn how to take charge, my boy. I've been looking for a heir after all, so I'll be teaching you all of my business practices." Andre looked away with a huff. He wondered if he should take advantage of this situation, as he knew where Sherri could be found at the very least. Still, would it look bad if he inquired now?
He knew he had to act swiftly before his father started to get suspicious. With Mel, he was sure it wouldn't be long before it came out that he was talking to her before she got picked up by the cops. He was new, people had to suspect him. Whether or not Roger did was the main point of concern.
"I'll enjoy learning from you." Andre smiled a bit and raised a hand to his chin. His eyes narrowed and he began to hum. "I did hear about someone, though. I might be interested in her." Roger's eyebrows rose and he stated to chuckle. "It's a name I'm familiar with, I think we went to school once a while back."
"Oh uncanny. Do tell."
"Her name is Sherri." He bit his lip and Roger leaned his head back a bit. "Apparently she's become a part of your ring, I might feel more at ease getting comfortable in your organization with someone that I'm familiar with." He was nauseated speaking these words, but it was the only way. Roger swept a finger along his chin, nodding with each word.
"I can see how that could help give you some comfort. I would approve of it."
They walked down the stairwell and started to pass by the barroom. Andre turned his gaze towards the empty bar and felt a tinge of hope when he didn't see Mel. He'd spent all of the previous night trying to find out why her name seemed so familiar, but never quite caught it. Either way, he'd met someone with the name of Puckett once before.
That connection, the sense of familiarity had been so strong that he had to act. He was glad he did. Now, however, it was time to take his father down. "First thing's first if I'm to learn to do your job, eh pop?" Roger smiled a bit and nodded. "Is this all you do? I mean, just-don't you have any like lieutenants or other rackets?"
"This is pretty much it. We specialize in prostitution and pornography. I have my made men, sure." Roger rolled his hand in a circle, his eyes drifting up in thought. "Jerome, Wallace, Frank. They're my best Johns and soldiers. Each of them maintain one base of operations." He paused and sighed. "Or Wallace did until we burnt down the strip joint."
"Damn. So no more strippers, huh?"
Roger laughed. "We have another one. The Whip." Andre's eyebrows rose and he started to whistle. He'd heard of the Whip, it was a pretty good size club packed with bouncers. "Frank runs that one. Jerome maintains the Barnacle, which is over on the beach-a cruise ship style base where we run operations and keep some whores until they're ready to walk the streets."
"Ah. I see. I guess you're in charge of this place then."
"It is our main base of operations, son." At one point Andre had to wonder if his father was truly naïve and idiotic enough to spill everything over just like this or if there were something else going on. He had to wonder if Roger was going to have him killed, if the man didn't truly trust him-which he shouldn't.
"Man too bad about Anthony and the Black Knights, huh?" Roger squinted his eyes and clenched is fist tight. A growl drifted from his lips and he quickly waved his hand through the air.
"The Black Knights are nothing but a gnat. I've never done business with them and I never will." Andre stopped moving and gawked at Roger, who looked back at him with surprise. "I have my own people who seek potential girls for the street world, I don't need to go to a small bit gang cowering in the shadows to buy them. I had one of my small time people-Anthony-take that job at that school because I wanted to see if there really were any prospects over there."
"Oh. You knew the Knights were over there, huh?"
"Most of the criminal world is aware they used that school as a base for grabbing their victims, my boy." Roger snapped his fingers. "They're weak, that's why they hide in the shadows. Take out that school, take out the people working there, and you can crush them. Even their enemies in the criminal world know that."
"How many enemies do they have?"
"You're looking at one." Roger crossed his arms and sneered. Andre had to double back, amazed by what he'd just heard. "They're competition. They also don't sell to the competition. They'll take my prospects and sell them off to other gangs." He threw his hand up in the air, hissing wildly. "But they're not all that bright, their little brand of human trafficking can't last long because they cling to their little school."
"You're saying they don't have any other fronts?"
"Of course not." Roger scoffed. "I have-had-four scattered throughout this southern part of California." Andre scratched his chin and his gaze dipped down. "The Knights opened Hollywood Arts as a front ten years ago and within a year they had a leadership takeover! A single fucking year and the small bit gang overthrew one leader for another."
"I thought that Klein guy was the leader of the Knights."
"He is." Roger moved for the reception desk and grabbed some papers off the surface. "It's his uncle he wanted running the school front, so rather than the guy that founded the school, his uncle put pressure on the guy." Roger shuffled the paperwork and hummed. "Though I could be wrong about the year thing, it could have been within the first two or three. Who knows. From one criminal to another, it looks bad if you're having power struggles in your infancy."
"Yeah. Seems like the cops are already winding down on them…" Roger chuckled and began sifting through the papers, glancing over each sheet as he pulled it away and moved it to the back of the stack.
"I hope so, more room for me."
"Why don't you just run em out if you don't like them so much?"
"I'm in the business of prostitution, not eradicating small-time gangs that are a minor thorn in my side."
"Yeah man, I hear ya." He moved his hands behind his head and laced his fingers together. His index finger tapped his skull gently and he lifted his gaze upwards. "I wonder who was in charge of the school first." Roger dropped the stack of papers back on the desk and shook his head.
"Anthony told me it had once been a teacher by the name of Sikowitz." Andre's eyebrows shot up and he pulled his hands apart slowly. "A weak kind of man that I suppose after opening the school he got a taste for teaching and actually wanted to legitimize the school and focus on the arts."
"Oh, so he wanted to do something good with it?"
"Yep, and that may be why the Eikner fellow took over. Word in the criminal underworld is Eikner put his nephew in place of power over the Knights. His brother was in charge of the Knights at first, but got whacked." A sick grin wrapped around Roger's face and he turned his head towards Andre. "Got a bit too close to my operations and wanted to take one of my girls; but Frank so graciously dispatched of that problem. You see, I don't share."
"Evident."
Roger laughed and leaned back against the desk. "Word is this Eikner guy tried to have Sikowitz's nephew abducted as a form of leverage to test his loyalty. Anthony told me he discovered Eikner wound up murdering the man's sister and brother-in-law as a 'warning'."
Andre's heart stopped and he let out a low whistle. "Bastard's gone psycho." Shaking his head, he brought a hand to his forehead. "At least your organization seems to be more structured than that."
"Yes, I trust my men enough not to feel like I need to scare them out of leaving." Roger rolled his eyes. "Because that tactic works so goddamn well." The man let out a heavy sigh. "I will miss the little ant, he filled me in so much on the inner workings of that infernal school."
"It's a shame, but what, the Knights don't bother you so why worry about it?"
"True, but if you underestimate every small bit gang, one could slip out from under your nose and grow powerful enough to crush you."
"I see. I think I get it." Andre stretched out his hands, speaking with them. "If you a fly, and you're buzzing around a plant bud, and you don't watch that plant, it could grow to a flytrap and eat your ass." Roger's eyes lit up with amusement and a cackle shot out of his lips.
"That's one way to put it." Andre smiled and moved his hands behind his back as Roger took a seat in the chair behind the desk. "Anyway, let me get you a ride over to my girl's place. I'll phone ahead, let her John know you'll be visiting."
Intrigue hit him, but he decided best to play it cool. "Oh alright man."
It was not long before he was at the location, his hands were so clammy he kept running them along his pants. He was so close he could almost feel it, just behind the rusted doors of the apartment he'd find Sherri.
This was it. He had to act fast and think of a plan. "I can't stay here any longer," he thought. Roger might be onto him by now, and if he wasn't careful, he could be walking straight into a trap.
Before he left the car, he sent a quick text out to Trina. He wanted her to know exactly where she was, and where Sherri might be found. If they were going to make their escape, the Vegas were their one and only lifeline.
Andre walked up to the doors, steadying his breath as he studied them. He looked over his shoulder at the driver of the car, watching the man tilt his cap and drive off. "Okay. Okay." He cleared his throat and turned back to the doors. "You can do this Andre. You got this man."
He pushed the doors open and spotted a man inside, leaning against an old, dirty stairwell. He was tall and lean, had a fedora cap and a round face full of peach fuzz. A cigarette clung to his lips and his eyes were a dull brown. "You Roger's kid? Next bright eyed wonder?"
"That's me."
"Sherri's upstairs." The man pointed upwards and straightened his back. "Third door on the right. She'll be expectin' ya."
Andre nodded firmly and walked past the guy. Each step felt heavier than the last as he ascended to Sherri's room. He pictured the girl he saw in every memory of her. Guilt mixed with grief and rage as he thought how long she must have been forced in such a life.
Ironic though that she and Gabriela both had been suspected victims of the Knights' trafficking ring; but clearly they'd gotten the shit end of that deal.
Once at her door, Andre raised a hand and paused, leaving it hovering over the door for several seconds before knocking. After a few seconds, it opened, and there she stood.
She didn't look much different from memory, though there was an aged appearance to her eyes. Her once cinnamon brown hair had grown darker and it balled just above her shoulders. She had bruises on her arms and legs, her lips had thinned and she was sporting a bandaid on her forehead.
Sherri's eyes lit up in surprise when she saw him, her mouth opened partially and his name fell in a hushed tone from her lips. "It's you?" Relief washed over him, but he remained alert as only half the project was done. "Come on, we may as well get it over with."
Andre followed her inside and shut the door, he glanced over his shoulder and furrowed his brow. "Sherri, I-I'm sorry you're stuck here." He heard the sound of a baby whine and fear gripped his heart. "No…"
Sherri walked over to a crib in the back of the room and smacked her lips. She reached into the crib and picked up the child. "If you don't mind moving the crib into the bathroom." He scrunched his face.
"Huh?"
"I usually move my kid."
"No!" He shook his hands and Sherri looked over with an arched eyebrow. "No, I'm not-" He stammered through his words. "I mean that's not why I'm actually here." She closed her eyes and returned the baby to it's crib, chuckling softly. Andre ran his hand behind his head and sighed. "You've got a baby? I can't imagine how…"
"Andre, why are you here?" She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.
"I came to get you out of here." Sherri dropped her arms with a sigh and shut her eyes.
"I've been planning for months to try and run, and you think it's easy to just walk in and walk out?" She scoffed. "They watch this place on so many angles. How can you be so naïve to think you're going to walk up?"
He shrugged. "Worth a shot. I told them I wanted to be a part of their shit league. I had to find you, I felt like-I don't know." He sat on the edge of the bed, staring ahead at the child in the crib. Sherri gazed out the smudged window and placed her forehead against the glass with a sigh.
"I don't mean to be short with you Andre. Thank you, really, if you came here to try and help me." He smiled sadly and she slowly shook his hand. "Tonight, of all nights, though."
"What?"
"Tonight, most of the people watching this place were going to be gone. Over at some club, celebrating their fucked up organization's founding." Andre's eyebrows flattened and he watched a deep frown spread across her face. "Only Mikal downstairs was supposed to be here, I was going to take my baby and get the fuck out of here. Now, because you're here, they're surely watching the place!"
His heart sank into his stomach and he looked away, understanding her annoyance. It was good to see she was still fighting, still strong; but that she had a child made all the difference in his mind.
"Do you know who the father is?" He wasn't sure why he asked, aside from simple curiosity. Sherri looked to the child with a gentle smile.
"She's a reminder of a happier time. I was pregnant before they grabbed me." Andre nodded slowly, the words taking a minute to process before hitting him with the force of a tornado ripping him to shreds.
He was the last and only person she dated before breaking up and her disappearance. "Oh," his body started to shake as Sherri looked at him with her eyebrows bouncing up. "Shit."
Sherri folded her arms across her chest and tilted her chin up a bit, staring him down with a matter-of-fact expression. "Okay 'hero'." He curled his fingers over his kneecaps and felt beads of sweat at his brow. "How are we getting out of here? Or did you not think this through?"
Quite a bit here. Roger's given some good intel towards the primary investigation. If Andre can get out of here alive, that information may prove useful. Looks like Sherri was already getting ready to make her escape, and of course Andre may have bad timing. Eh, what do you think of everything we've seen and learned here?