The Syndicate

Author\'s Notes: Thank you Lisa for your dedicated reviews. The next chapter has a lemon. I Can\'t wait to hear what you have to say.



"Dialogue."

Narrative

~Character Thoughts~

***Dream Sequence***

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"So... we\'re here, huh?" Asked Jack as the car came to halt in front of a large iron clad gate.



"Yup!" Proclaimed Marko with a newly found sense of purpose.



"Well, this should be fun," Jack said as he strolled through the rain to the iron clad gate.



Jack reached the gate first and immediately released a sigh of discontent --- "Just our luck Marko the gate is chained up and I don\'t feel like climbing over. It\'ll ruin my shoes; they\'re Italian calfskin."



"Don\'t sweat it Jack. I always come prepared," replied Marko with a grin as he rummaged through the trunk and came up with a rusty bolt cutter.



"Well aren\'t you just full of surprises today?" Asked Jack with a smirk. "That\'s twice that you\'ve impressed me today! Keep it up and we\'ll go grab a slice after this. My treat."



"Really Jack?" Asked Marko ecstatically, "You ain\'t just yanking my chain are you? Huh?"



"Yeah, I promise," replied Jack knowing full well that ever since he met Marko all those years ago; Marko\'s favorite food hands down was Pizza "Now let\'s get this gate open. We got business to take care of."



Marko immediately took to task with child-like fervor and within seconds the chain and padlock laid in an intricate coil on the floor. "All done Jack!" Proclaimed Marko with a look of satisfaction on his face.



Jack gave the slightest of nods in acknowledgment. Both men proceeded forward at a hurried pace, steadily but surely making their way to the lone decrepit warehouse overlooking the bay. It\'s lopsided appearance giving Jack the slightest feeling of foreboding.



Jack came to a halt and turned to Marko, "Hey, do you see those crates over there?"



"Where?" Asked Marko



"There" Jack pointed to a stack of crates, "The ones stacked up near the windows."



Seeing Marko\'s confusion, Jack exasperatedly grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him in the right direction, "I need you to climb those crates and provide cover fire through the windows. You got it?"



"Yea. But are you sure --- " Marko found himself pinned by a pair of smokey grey eyes.



Jack clipped out in a cool monotone, "I can handle myself Marko."



And that was all the convincing that Marko needed. He drew his Colt 1911A1 pistol with the laser dot sight attachment and ambled his way up the crates, giving himself a partial view of the interior through the grime covered windows. Visibility was minimal at best, but from what he could make out there was two young men in their late teens huddled around a flimsy wooden table; too far occupied to notice his presence.



"What do you see?"



"Two. North of the main entrance." replied Marko hesitantly flicking the safety mechanism off, "They\'re kids though Jack. They can\'t be no older than twenty."



Casually he replied, "Just wait for my signal before you start shooting up the place."



"But they\'re just kids ---"



As Jack made his way to the front door he muttered a faint "I\'ll take care of it."



Jack unholstered his Colt .45 the gunmetal gray finish and the ebony grip contrasted perfectly against the tumultuous sky above. Subconsciously he reached up and lightly ran a digit over the frail pendant adorning his neck. Flicking the safety mechanism off, he cautiously checked the door knob, ~Damn. Just my luck, its locked ... well here goes nothing ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ---~



BOOM! With a tremendous amount of force Jack had kicked in the door. The loud bang resonated throughout the warehouse for what seemed like an eternity. Which was shortly followed by deafening wails coming from the two young men. The door had flown off of it\'s rickety hinges into a stack of card board boxes. The occupants of the warehouse were too shocked to react in time, Jack already had his piece trained on the man to his left.



~They\'re unarmed ... good .... looks like my luck is starting to turn around ---~



"Damn! My fucking shoe got scuffed." Murmured Jack in shear bewilderment, "Hey I\'ll tell you what, you two puckered up assholes do exactly what I say, when I say and you just might make it home just in time to get tucked in. You understand?"



The one on Jack\'s left quickly nodded his head in agreement.



~Good ... he must be the smart one ...~



"Fuck this asshole Fredd! We can take him, its the two of us against him he can\'t shoot us both" Said the young man on Jack\'s right as he edged over to the gun on the flimsy wooden table.



"That\'s not such a smart move kid." Jack shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, infuriating the kid further.



"Oh yeah, Why the hell not?" asked the kid on Jack\'s right. His thin lips turning upwards in the onset of a sneer.



"Fredd you wanna\' point out that pretty new addition to your friends face?" Jack asked casually.



"What the hell are you talking about? You crazy old bastard!" bellowed the kid at the top of his lungs.



"Danny?" Fredd said looking horrified.



"I\'m sick of this shit lets get this guy Fredd! Lets ---" Danny was startled by the right hook he received from Fredd. "What the hell did you do that for?! Huh?!"



"You fucking moron there is a gun pointed at your head!" Cried out Fedd.



"Huh?!" uttered Danny stupidly as his freckled faced turned a lovely shade of magenta.



"I said there is a gun pointed at your empty head." Enunciated Fredd as clearly as possible, "I don\'t know who is out there, but this guy is definitely not alone."



A look of comprehension dawned on Danny and all of the color started draining out of his freckled face. Jack was very amused by the proceedings. But unfortunately all good things must come to an end.



"So ... now that we\'ve got all that sorted out ... let\'s get this game started." Jack said with an air of cynicism and a wistful grin spreading across his face, "I\'ll start with a few simple questions and since you\'re obviously the brains of the operation Fredd; you have the honor of answering. If you lie to me or if I even sense the slightest bit of bullshit, it\'s game over. Do you understand?"



The two young men feverishly nodded their heads in agreement. Jack began to pace around the cramped space allotted to him.



"First off, where are the drugs and the money that the two of you ripped off from the dealer?" Asked Jack. "Oh, just to remind you; your lives directly depend on the quality of your answers."



"It\'s ... it\'s ... all on this table ... b ... b ... behind us." Stuttered out Fredd.



Jack took a peek through his moist bangs, past the young men at the table and true to Fredd\'s words he saw two squared off packages of Cocaine weighing roughly about 4 Kilos and 6 rather large rolls of one-hundred dollar bills.



Jack let loose an amazed whistle, "You kids did pretty well for yourselves. I\'m assuming it was a simple robbery, you boys don\'t seem like killers to me. Otherwise we wouldn\'t be having this chat now."



"We ... we ... we\'re not sir." Piped up Danny.



"Fine. That duffel bag under the table, load it up and toss it over and remember don\'t fuck with me unless you want to have some extra holes in your body."



Both of the young men quickly rushed to fill up the duffel bag, completely disregarding the gun on the table for fear of losing their lives. As soon as they were done they slid the bag across the floor. It came to a dead stop at Jack\'s feet.



"Hmm ... what should I do with you damn kids anyway?" Jack posed the question more to himself, than to anyone else.



"Please ... we promise we\'ll never fuck up like this again ... that bag was just laying in a car, the windows were down and we just took it. I swear we had no idea it would get us into this much trouble.You gotta believe us." Fredd cried out frantically.



"You\'re just a bunch of punks!" Jack roared, "If you fuck with the bull you\'ll eventually wind up getting the horns. Your old enough to know that that\'s the one truth in this world." Said Jack holding up his forefinger.



Jack continued pacing the cramped warehouse, looking for a way to release his pent up frustration. He holstered his piece and fumbled through his overcoat in search of his cigarettes; after much struggling he retrieved a single cigarette and lit it up taking a deep drag. The tension and frustration clouding his judgment seemed to melt away; soon the moldy old smell of the warehouse was overtaken by the soothing aroma of the menthol cigarette.



"Okay. Here is whats gonna\' happen," Jack exhaled a plume of smoke. He dug into the duffel bag and took out a roll of money and tossed it over to Fredd and Danny.



"you\'re gonna\' take that and get the hell out of dodge. You\'ll have to leave the state and it would be better if you two jerk offs split up, that way it\'ll be harder for them to track you. That is if they find out you\'re still alive."



Jack stopped and examined the two young men.



~This is hopeless ... they\'re idiots. They\'ll just get caught and killed and that would lead to more problems for me ... well I could just always say that those two must not have been at the warehouse if they get caught ... right?~



"Now get your shit and get out of town. You have twelve hours at best to disappear." Jack said as he flicked the cigarette into the farthest stack of cardboard boxes.



No further words were exchanged Fredd and Danny made a mad dash for the door and disappeared out of sight, fortunate enough to have left with their lives. Jack lingered for a few more minutes watching the erratic flames that had engulfed the boxes rising further up the walls and to the roof beams of the warehouse. The blaze would soon consume the whole warehouse and reduce it to ash. It was the perfect outward manifestation of what Jack felt on the inside.



Jack turned on his heel with duffel bag in hand and made his way out of the warehouse. As soon as Jack stepped out into the rain he was met by Marko, "So ... are we done here?"



"Yeah. You did a good job Marko," replied Jack, "Let\'s go grab that slice."



Marko suddenly broke out into a grin that stretched from ear to ear.



~I need a drink ...~ Was Jack\'s last thought before leaving the blazing wearhouse behind.