Esteban and Broker Adams walked into the dark room, where an ominous figure sat in the shadows. He couldn’t be seen very well, nor could any of the others in the room, and Adams took his black derby hat off and smiled, the ivory skinned, slender built man with short black hair and a five-o-clock shadow pointed to Esteban and then spoke in his transatlantic accent.
“Didn’t think you’d mind if I brought him with me. Mr. Caslow insisted that he be present when I came to you and brought some things to your attention and I…”
“We’re well aware of why Mr. Caslow would want to be present here with you, Mason.” Said a hefty man with a Queens New York accent. “Perhaps he would like to speak first.”
Esteban couldn’t help but notice that Adams was slightly shaking, despite his best attempts to control himself, and the 35-year-old man didn’t let on that he saw the Broker’s fear, simply noting it for future reference.
“I would love to speak first, but only if that’s what you all want.”
“Well, of course it is, Cazzy.” Said an old, grey-haired man with a golden tan and glasses as he leaned forward and smiled.
The hefty, bald white man in the Armani suit was named Bruno Patel and the 2nd man who’d spoke, was named Howard Bishop. To Howard’s left sat a short, old, heavy-set, white-haired man with a vanilla white skin tone and a stocky build, named Carlo Castillo. Beside him sat a tall, white, wiry built man with slicked back greying hair named Gus Myers.
Two the right of Bruno sat a skinny, younger white man with a black crew cut and devilishly good looks, named Anthony Reyes.
They were the Bosses, the group of men that ran the Vegas Trucking Underworld illegal Gambling ring, and they all sat in the dark shadows of the room, staring at Esteban, Bruno and Carlo smoking cigars, and Gus smoking a cigarette.
“I just have two names for you.” Said Esteban. “Henry Owens and Borris Forsett.”
The Bosses all exchanged looks with one another and then Bruno shrugged.
“And why do you tell us these names?”
“Are these two guys causing you trouble or something?” asked Gus.
Esteban stayed calm keeping his facial expression plain as he nodded to the two older men.
“Yes they are.”
“And tell us how these two guys are causing you trouble, Cazzy.” Said Carlo.
“Some of Owens’ men tried to hijack an expensive load of medical equipment that one of my driver’s was transporting from Vegas to Dallas; this Borris guy sent three guys to attack Mighty Mouse after he’d already delivered his load. My wife was luckily there to even the odds a bit in that fight.”
“She still wears those brass toed shoes, huh?” asked Gus with a smile, exhaling smoke after his comment.
Esteban smiled and nodded. “Yes, she does.”
“She kick’em in the head?”
Esteban nodded again. “As far as I know.”
“Good for her.” Said Gus. “She should’ve kicked his skull in with that brass toe after she got him down on the ground.”
“Nobody messes with our money, Cazzy.” Said Carlo. “Mark my words, this Owens guy and Borris fella: they’re going to stop bothering you soon, don’t you worry.”
“And if they come after you or your drivers again, you take care of yourselves however you see fit; but we will bring both of them here to sit down with us so that we can have a chat about their business.”
“You know my history with Owens; we fought against each other, and when he lost, I was told he was going to fade into obscurity afterwards.” Said Esteban. “However, I wish the man the best and I’m willing to spread the wealth with him, but not at the cost of my freight or the lives of my men. And this Borris man…”
“Borris Forsett is a nobody who wants to be one of us.” Said Anthony, an aggravated tone in his voice as he spoke. “Mark my words, Esteban, when the Kingpin hears about this, he’s going to pay.”
“But until that happens, you’d best all watch out for each other and yourselves. You have our leave to do what you must with Owens.” Said Bruno.
“Yeah.” Howard agreed. “But I can’t help but thinking that there’s something more to all of this, like maybe there’s some foul play at work here.”
Bruno chuckled and put his hand up towards the man.
“Calm down, Howard.” The big man shook his head and looked back up at Esteban.
“Either way, we give you leave to do what you must to protect our assets, which is yourself and your crew.”
“Cazzy.” Said Gus with an assuring nod. “Don’t think that we have forgotten all that you’ve done for us: we haven’t, and neither has the Kingpin.”
“Yeah.” Carlo agreed. “We’ll take care of both of these men for you, don’t you worry.”
“But let me ask you, Cazzy, how would you like them to be handled?” asked Howard.
Esteban shook his head. “I’m not the man who decides that; I leave those kinds of things up to you.”
“Yes, but this Owens man has done a lot of things to you and your crew throughout the years, and now this Borris Forsett threatens your drivers, and worst, your wife.” Carlo shook his head as he coughed and then continued. “You’ve been good to us all these years; how would you like this handled; what would you like us to do?”
“I see…” said Esteban. “I just want them to leave me and my crew alone, we have enough problems with the law around here. The last thing we want to do is to worry about these two.”
“We’ll take care of it: simple as that.” Said Gus with a smile.
“That’s good enough for us, Gentlemen.” Said Adams as he put his Derby back on and grasped Esteban’s shoulder with his hand.
“Come on, son.”
“Uh, Adams.” Said Howard.
“Yeah?” said Adams as he turned back, he and Esteban already being in the process of leaving the room.
“Esteban knows his way back to his rig: you can stay here and talk to us.”
“Yeah.” Carlo agreed. “I think that we have some important things to discuss, considering the… current events that have just been brought to our attention.”
Esteban turned and winked at the Broker and then continued out of the room and down the hallway, and he let out an audible laugh when he heard the door of the meeting room slam shut with a loud bang.
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