Day 132 - Pacific Paradise

 Pacific Paradise

 Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

“I will tell you that when I heard about what happened, I thought someone had royally fucked up. I had no idea it was you. I can’t believe it was you. I mean, that has never happened before. What happened, man?”

47 was not who 66 expected to find in Jakarta. At first, he was happy to see a friendly face, but now he wasn’t so sure.

“I mean what a bloodbath, right? I mean you were there. I can’t believe anyone survived. Shame about thirty-three. That guy was a real psycho. Great guy, but a fucking psycho. How’d he die again? I heard he got it in his apartment. I can’t believe you got out. Lucky really. But you were always lucky.”

66 hadn’t said a word in close to ten minutes, not that he was ever much of a talker. He certainly wasn’t going to tell 47 that he had killed 33. That was one of the rules you weren’t allowed to break. It didn’t matter that it was self-defense or that 33 would have killed him. 33 was dead and there was no one to prove that version of the story.

“Lucky that you’re here. I mean, the timing is fantastic. I got hooked up with a group of smugglers in the Malacca Strait. Well let me tell you, the Chinese have been heading all sorts of international task-forces meant to crack down on drugs. I barely got away myself. You and me, lucky. We’re the lucky brothers. I tell you man, it’s good to see you. It’s good to have some backup here. These smugglers were great on the ocean, but they can’t fight for shit. I need some muscle here, you know? I mean I know you’re probably banged up and all. Probably need time to let those stitches heal. But it’s been a few weeks. You probably need work. All you have to do for now is show up and look tough. I’ll let you relax for the first couple of days on the job. But you gotta know that when all that shit blew up in Bandung, it really screwed things up here. Police are everywhere. Cracking down. And the families… everybody is freaked everywhere. You can’t believe it. So much supply was coming in and out of Bandung. So much money. That family had ties here. High important ties. One of those old established families if you know what I mean. You know how things are run here. The bosses and their deals. This town is a machine. But there’s room for you and me. They say there are no wars here, no battles, but that’s just good propaganda. Those Dragons supposedly keep things in order, but there’s only nine of them. Everybody acts scared because making money is better than blood, but you and I know how to make money off of blood. There’s plenty of room to open things up here. We just need to find the pressure points. You and me. Boy it’s good to see you. Like the old days. Back when it was our numbers that scared people shitless. Those days will be back. I swear. Just you wait and see.”

66 hadn’t been looking to go to war anytime soon, if ever again. His injuries were too fresh, mental and physical. He was getting old. He had lost too many people. But he was in trouble again. If Quer and Amer were well connected, he could use some protection, some allies. But that would mean working again. And that was an awful bloody prospect.

“I thought 22 was in town.”

“Nah. Not that I know. But I like your thinking, a little more help from the old days. We could use another that we could trust. But everybody is so scattered now and the communications have broken down. We never really recovered, you know, not after that thing. The whole thing about isolation and no real management didn’t help us stay secret, it just made us vulnerable. We never should have spread out so much. But that’s the old days. We could use someone now. I’ll ask around and try to find someone I can trust. Like I said, pirates are great on water, but we need somebody better for fighting in this town.”

“What are we building?”

“Paradise, brother. Fucking Paradise. The best goddam drugs you’ve ever tried. They will blow you mind and make you feel twenty years younger and ten men stronger. We can own this town, but only if we find a way to deal with the families. But we will. Don’t worry, we will. So, what do you think?”

66 had a lot on his mind, becoming a drug dealer was not one of them. But 47 didn’t need to know that. Not now anyway. Right now, 66 needed protection and a chance to hide out and heal.

“I think we’re going to own this town.”

“God damn right we are.”