AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I walked across the parking lot towards the dock warehouses. I kept my head low and once I neared the dock bay where the truck was parked with the sea carrier’s logo on it.
I spotted Hatfield. He gave me a nod, which meant I needed to climb up into the passenger side of the 18-wheeler and keep a low profile while they finished up with the shipping documents and signed off on the manifest.
I hunkered down, waiting for Slate’s appearance which should be coming up soon. From the side mirror, I saw the headlights of the Lexis SUV he had been issued.
Fucker had all the luck.
He had even been given a fucking driver/bodyguard to make it look like he indulged in shady business deals all of the time. His driver looked like fucking ‘Lurch’ off of the Adams Family.
I watched as Agent Simmons and the greedy longshoreman whose name was Calvin met with Slate and his ‘bodyguard’ outside of the Lexus. There was some conversation, followed by the exchange of money. I knew there would be a promise of delivery made by Calvin. The deal was that he had scarfed some of the liquid cocaine and stepped on it with some other liquid adders so it wouldn’t be missed when the inventory got weighed in at Philly.
As soon as Calvin delivered the goods to Slate, he would be arrested. Calvin’s arrest would be small-time compared to the syndicate in Philly. However, Agent Simmons had picked up some bonus Intel from Calvin that had piqued the interest of the bureau chief.
Calvin had mentioned to Agent Simmons that there was a lot more money to be made with unrelated shipments coming in of some powdery shit that he claimed to be pure, organic, amphetamine.
I watched out of the truck’s front windshield. Slate’s ‘deal’ went down without a hitch. Within several minutes, Hatfield climbed up into the driver’s side of the cab of the truck.
“Hey Bill, how in the fuck are you tonight?” I saw him give me a wink.
“Not really feeling like myself, Jeremy,” I replied with a smirk. “Let’s hit the road to Philly.”
Hatfield and I discussed the new information that Calvin had shared with Slate on the organic amphetamine deal. Apparently, he had ties with a U.S. Customs agent in Baltimore who was dirty. That type of thing tended to piss me off royally.
The agent was going to be making some major bucks to clear imports of green coffee bean extract coming in with some barrels mixed in containing something else altogether. It was an illegal substance used for making potent amphetamines. The first shipment was due in to the Port of Baltimore within the next few days.
Calvin had asked Slate if wanted a piece of it. Apparently the consignee was looking for a distribution network since this was a new start-up, and it took someone with start-up capital to buy in. Calvin thought it would be a perfect fit for Slate. He was about to find out just how wrong he was.
“So, anyway, Slate will be meeting us in Philly in the morning with the federal warrants for the bust. I’m pumped, Taz,” Hatfield, said, interrupting my thoughts.
“Just keep this rig on the road, Hatfield.”
“Hey, my CDL license is for real, Taz. No worries. Sit back and snooze. I’ve got everything under control.”
Hatfield’s enthusiasm had only tugged me away from my thoughts momentarily. I was sure Slate would get more details once Calvin was arrested and he shit himself. That tended to make “rookie” criminals roll over on anybody and everyone. The corrupt U.S. Customs agent would probably fill in the rest of the gaps when he was popped.
The federal prosecutor was pretty good at negotiating with small time criminals to land the more significant perps. More than likely, the agent involved would roll over in a heartbeat when it came down to whether he would have to spend twenty years versus forty years in a federal prison.
“I think I will get a little shut-eye, Hatfield,” I said, leaning back against the fairly comfortable seat. “Wake me when we get to Philly.”
“No problem, Taz.”
CHAPTER 36
We were on day three of Slate (and Taz) being gone. Bryce kept me so busy the days had gone by quickly, but for Mom, I could see that not having Slate nearby made her kind of mope around.
I would spend a couple of hours a day with her when Bryce was napping so she didn’t feel so lonely. We would watch a program together or play cards.
I had made a little play area in the master suite for Bryce so that he could play in there during the day. He kept her entertained.
The two-hour reprieve I got every evening was my time to run errands, shop, or simply take a drive to get out of the house.
The home health care nurse’s name was Donna and she was a godsend. She got along great with Mom and Bryce. She arrived around 5:30 p.m. and stayed until 7:30 p.m. daily. She always told me if I needed her to stay later, it was no problem.
Mom got a call from Slate every day. I had only heard from Taz once in three days. When I hinted that Slate called Mom daily, he apologized for not realizing how high maintenance I was. I had called him a “smart-ass” and he had laughed that beautiful, sexy laugh of his.
Of course, he wanted to make sure that I had taken steps to get on the pill. I told him that I had an appointment scheduled with my doctor the following day. He was pleased.
He said that everything had gone as planned but they were sticking around Baltimore for another day or two for other reasons. That was the extent of the detail he provided, which really told me nothing.
