Chapter 6

Arthur

Learn to Work and Play

"So are we clear?"

"Run it over again."

"You kill Francine's man, and we take the coke. It's about a 100k after it's cut. You get 15% of it and everything we make in the future. After we get a coke connect of our own. You get 15% of that plus whatever u can sling yourself."

"You comin' up with a coke line of your own? We can't rob Francine's shipments forever."

"I got a penpal in Turkey. We're working on something right now. For now this shipment will get us through to that point."

George looked me in the eyes. "Why does this guy need to die?"

I honestly had no answer. Before then I could've sworn I had one, but it seemed to disappear the moment I had to say it out loud. Maybe it was just for me, I don't know but it was too late.

"This isn't just about the money. And they told me you didn't ask questions."

"Won't happen again, just needed to know." I didn't know at the time, but I was afraid to ask why.

"I'm assuming you're armed."

He pulled out a brand new baretta, cocked it, and stuffed it in his khakis. Before I could ask, he pulled another one out and gave it to me. "In case you know how to use it.."

"I do." I didn't.

We had no way of knowing how many men Francine would have to pick up the shipment, but we knew it was gonna be at least 5 kilos being picked up. I didn't know for sure, but I had a feeling that meant she was expanding. I counted about 3 kilos in total consumed every three months from the class.

We knew her supplier had dead dropped the coke in the shipping yard, so the only bodies we would leave would be Francine's. The only thing I was afraid of was being outnumbered.

We pulled up past an unguarded fence to the docks, and crept through every secluded place along the shore that we could. Elwood looked beautiful from the shore. Though I could only see the undeveloped waterfront to the south of the shipyard. it was still a sight to behold. The emptiness of the Atlantic, next to the sparsely populated edge of the city. It felt like a new frontier, like we were explorers scoping out the foundations of the next great American city.

"that's where I'm gonna build it." I whispered to George.

"what?" He asked, trying to quiet me.

"Elwood " the city that Elwood was always meant to be."

George remained silent as his eyes pierced every inch of the docks. "got him."

"him?"I asked."I thought there were supposed to be dozens?

"just one." he beckoned me forth. I couldn't believe my eyes. one bunny. That was all she sent to pick up her product, the sole source of her power. Maybe she wasn't as smart as I had thought.

"hubris." George whispered.

He cocked his gun and I did the same before we crept up behind him.

He stood between two of many rows of shipping containers that were bound for God knows where. We picked up our pace after seeing him pull the drugs out of an empty container. The bunny wore a baggy T-shirt and had long brown hair that covered his eyes. His ears flopped over his head as he walked.

"Name is Slink. Founding member of the Tough Customers. Good friend. Shame."

I'd never heard George speak that much to me before. "He's your friend? How long?"

"Whole life."

"Do you care?"

"Business is business. You wanna take the shot?" Little did I know that this would be the closest thing to humanity I would get from him but even now I can't be sure whether or not he cared if I killed him.

But before I could answer, a bullet flew between my ears.

"Down!" George screamed. He pulled us behind a shipping container.

"Stay!" George quickly disappeared behind me.

"Gotcha' bitch." The bunny looked down at me. I couldn't see his eyes, but I could see the smile on his face. "Tryin to steal some drugs aren't ya'?"

"Of course not!" I slowly reached for the gun I had tucked into the back of my pants before our approach. "You know, I really never thought you'd have the balls. I'm gonna take you to Francine seeing as how she's your friend and all."

He motioned his gun for me to stand up but I couldn't move. "You really are a stupid little bear aren't you."

I didn't see it enter his throat, but I saw it leave. A spurt of blood like the discharge of a blunderbuss came out of the right side of his neck. George's gun was still smoking as he walked over the body.

"Up." George gave me a hand.

I stood up and looked over the dying bunny. I whispered to George, "You gonna finish it?"

He said nothing for a moment. He just stood there and let the boy lay there dying.

"No. better to let him die like this. Sends a better message. Save the quick deaths and disappearances for others.

I couldn't let him die like that. I looked down towards him. "By the way, I'm not a bear. I'm an aardvark." I pulled my gun. "let me spell it for you. A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K." I had him in my wasn't convulsing anymore. His face was still. His hair was out of his face, and his eyes were exposed.

"eyes are always the last to go." George grabbed my gun.

He stared at me before the next bullet entered him. His eyes were wild and alive. He didn't move a fucking muscle, but those two blue orbs in his head were wailing "please, let me live." They looked like Kate's eyes when mom and dad would abandon her, scared.

I stepped back. Suddenly I remembered all the years of bullying, back before binky left the group, back before Molly turned the customers into mercenaries. He made me steal stuff so I could be cool. I remembered how much I hated him in that moment when I had gotten caught, how much I wanted him to die. For a moment after George's second gunshot, I felt good, I felt powerful, like I had finally gotten back at him. But that moment disappeared as fast as one of Francine's customers cheap highs.

"Kill it," I thought to myself. "Kill the guilt Kill the fear. Kill the despair, like Binky said." There was no way around it. If I couldn't do this, I couldn't do any of it.

George handed me back my gun. He looked at me. His eyes said nothing as they had seemed to this whole day, but I knew he thought I wasn't cut out for this and I was beginning to agree with him.

I picked up the coke. It was about a kilo. "You throw him into the lake, or display him or whatever you're gonna do. I'm gonna look for the other two drops."

I paced towards the shore as George's footsteps vanished under the sound of the waves.