ROLL CALL ~ A Prison List (True Prison Story) (34 page)

Ricky watched Argenta do the math. He smiled to himself, I gave him enough of the truth that he has to buy the whole package.

“Okay Ricky. You made $70,000 minus some dope you still might owe Tiny for. Can I get my half now?”

Ricky pulled out $10,000 and tossed it on Argenta’s lap. “I’ll still owe you some, but we have to work out a better deal so I can pay my operation better than I am.”

Argenta put the money away without counting it. “Check it out Ricky. I’m willing to bend a little this first time. But I have to tell you that if I can’t get at least 40% I’m going to take over the account and do it with dope from Mexico. I talked to El Diablo and he told me he had me covered there. He also told me the feds on this side of the border are going to put a leash on the chemicals. That means everything is going to get pushed to the Mexican side of the border. The whole playing field is about to change hands. There are going to be a lot of networks up for grabs. El Diablo promised me pole position on access to the chemicals so don’t double cross me or you’ll only be hurting yourself.

“I don’t do that kind of business Argenta. I’m straight up.”

Ricky watched Argenta look like he bought it. Then ask, “Ricky… Why are you even in the speed game if it’s this much of a head ache? Why don’t you sell heroin where the money is less complicated?”

“I hate heroin. It makes you go to sleep with your head on your chest. That’s not for me. I’m addicted to action. I’m an adrenaline junkie. I like the challenge and I’m a problem solver. Life’s too boring for me, otherwise.”

Argenta nodded his head he understood. “Ricky. I just thought of something. Since Bob is going to live at my house in Colton, let’s have him cook dope there.

Argenta smiled to himself and thought, I’ll wire the place for sound so I can listen in on everything.

“That’s a good idea. That reminds me. Let me get the keys to that house and the keys to the time share in Oceanside you promised me.”

Ricky watched Argenta pull the keys out and remembered B.J.

“There is one more problem. There is a guy named B.J. from Orange County who is trying to pull Bob away to have him for his own cook.”

Argenta remembered the tarot card, the eagle. “Tell me about this B.J.”

Ricky finished with, “He’s got access to a lot of the money in the rich parts of Orange County and he’s trying to incorporate Bob into his program. He’s a nut, but he’s sharp. He comes out of nowhere like he’s not afraid of dying…”

All Argenta heard out of Ricky’s explanation was that B.J. had the best avenue to the money in Orange County.

“Ricky. Let’s pull B.J. into our program and work on taking his networks from him. Tell him about me. Edify me. I’ll take care of the rest.”

CHAPTER 81

I drove out of the canyon on such an adrenal high that it felt like hell couldn’t stop me. I replayed what happened in as much detail as possible and decided I’d blown a golden opportunity. I should have followed that Mexican Felipe who didn’t seem to blink his eyes, and built a bridge with him. At least Bob got his number.

Back in my territory I hit the ground running. I contacted all of my components to tie things up and find out what was happening. Paul, Tom and Dennis were extremely happy with the new product I’d brought back on a tight rope from San Bernardino. I could see that Paul believed the story exactly how I told it. He had already seen enough of my antics. When I got to the part about Felipe, saying that he used to own the Festiva, he thought I must have misunderstood. It had to have been that Felipe owned a car just like it.

I shook my head, “No, he’s the reason there’s 187,000 miles on it. It was seized from him. I asked him.”

That part was just too much for Paul to believe. I felt challenged.

Telling the story to both Tom and Dennis I could see they thought it was farfetched. They didn’t dispute it, but I could see from their body language they weren’t impressed. I had to assume they thought I had to lie to hold down my territory. As I got to the part about Felipe and the Festiva, it even sounded hollow to my own ears. This infuriated me and as I finished the story. I dared them to doubt me. I felt my pride and honor falling in love with my anger.

I took that energy all over town and didn’t sleep for another 20 days. I was such a bottom feeder that I found myself wherever the action was. Whoever was awake at 4 A.M.? I was there with them. It turned out that other people thought my territory was their territory! They also had tales of their heroics! I gave each person a chance to run down their spracked out program to me and all they had done for the community, until I caught them in one of their lies. On one such occasion the guy was actually using my rules and regulations as his own. He had a bullet proof vest, a couple of guns and a bunch of other stuff he told me he’d come upon from someone in violation. I had already heard how he’d come up on it. He waited until the guy was gone from his residence and came in through a window while nobody was home to steal his shit like a coward. It didn’t match the way he told it so I laid it down the right way. While I physically showed him how it was done, I told him, “Do it like a man! Face to face, like I’m doing it!”

The same circumstances repeated itself until I found myself running around with Huddy! I told him, “It turns out; I’m an attention whore too!”

I took him under the wing and explained how my life molded me to run down the rules and regulations I’d implemented. He respected them and that was all I needed to see. Not long after, he swore to me that he found someone in violation. We did his job together and I found myself creeping into a house with him. We were in the guy’s room pulling his safe out of his closet and my conscience screamed at me that I was stealing the safe like a coward. Also, could Huddy’s homework be off? Instead of following Huddy out with the safe I woke the guy up and told him, “Your safe is getting stolen.”

He looked freaked out waking up to someone in a ski mask asking him if he did all of the things Huddy had told me. He wasn’t answering and I found myself swinging. I ran out of the house and caught up to Huddy. Everything went into Tom’s walk-in closet, the bullet proof vest and guns he’d mentioned, along with Samauri swords, blow darts, num chucks, an archery weapon, a triple beam scale and some of the best marijuana on the planet. I ran a check on Huddy’s homework and benefited that the guy was in violation for selling drugs to kids in high school but found out he’d just graduated himself. I thought about it and realized I didn’t like doing jobs that anyone other than I coordinated. I didn’t like the powerlessness of not doing the homework. I wanted to justify the situation in my own head, not get moved by somebody else’s interpretations.

Dennis had a job for us that fit my criteria. He explained that Miles brought it to his attention. The high school that Miles was supposed to be attending had a 36 year old, who went by Maniac, selling speed out of the parking lot. Maniac was telling everyone he was a Hell’s Angel and even had a leather jacket with a patch on it from a chapter out of the desert in Death Valley. As Dennis explained the story, my instincts were urging me to hit the brakes. My rules and regulations were now in control of me. It felt like I’d created a roller coaster ride full of steep hills, free falling drops and twisting turns that I couldn’t get off of. My pride wouldn’t let me.

Dennis continued to explain that Maniac was not only building up a following right out of the high school, he also had a 16 year old pregnant runaway named Misty living in his garage. He was smoking speed with her! I listened to Dennis’s plan. He wanted to kick down the door and go in with guns. He said Miles had told him there should be a half a pound of speed to seize and we could grab whatever else could be had. After Dennis was done running down his maneuver I told him, “You’re forgetting the most important thing, the 16 year old pregnant runaway.”

I got off the phone and thought about it. If my pride didn’t have so much control of me, I could let it go. I could let Dennis handle the mission with Miles… But they weren’t going to handle it right! Dennis wasn’t concerned with the pregnant 16 year old runaway. What else can I do? Call some type of law enforcement so they can go in the right way…

My pride flared its ugly head and screamed, you have too much honor to be an informant! Deep inside me, where the Truth was, I examined things. There isn’t any honor in this drug business! It’s a false honor you’re holding onto! I faced that Truth, but also another one. I wasn’t just going to quit the business. That meant I couldn’t become an informant and stay in business. That would feel like the ultimate hypocrisy. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothes. I prayed to God about it, let him know where I was at and what I was struggling with and placed the problem in his hands, yet still wanted it in mine. Maybe He can bless me while I try and handle it.

I went straight to Natasha’s house with a plan quickly formulating. I ran it all down to her and she fit into the plan nicely. With the mission clarified in our heads we headed to Dennis’s.

At Dennis’s, Dennis had a bullet proof vest on and he and Miles were sporting guns. Dennis pulled me to the side and tried to chastise me for bringing Natasha.

I brought Natasha back into it and ran down the program and how it was going to go down.

“Dennis… We’re not going to use guns. We don’t need them. If we go in with guns, then we’re the criminals. We’re going to stage an intervention for the pregnant 16 year old runaway and the 36 year old criminal is going to get in the way.”

Dennis explained that the house Maniac lived in was his Dad’s house. The garage was unattached and was where the pregnant 16 year old runaway was living. We were hoping that at twelve in the afternoon Maniac’s father would be at work. Miles had explained what kind of car he drove so we should know if he was home if it was in the driveway. The rest of the homework on Maniac was that he was bigger than Dennis at about 250lbs., but he was more fat than shredded up muscle.

I drove the Festiva with Natasha in the passenger seat and we followed Dennis and Miles in his minivan. Driving by Maniac’s house, Dennis pointed to it. The father’s car wasn’t in the drive way. We continued to the next street and parked our vehicles in a cul-de-sac.

I walked to the house to check it out by myself. At the door to the garage I noticed a homemade peephole had been drilled to twice the ordinary size. I looked through it and could see a dim light from the back of the garage. I listened. There was a radio playing but I could also hear a couple of voices. One sounded deep enough to be Maniac, the other was a girl. I tried the door handle carefully. It was locked. I went back for the team.

Natasha was dressed according to the plan in sexy high heels with straps wrapping up her ankles in a slinky low cut dress. She and I had decided that if her appearance alone couldn’t get Maniac to open the door, then she was going to flash a counterfeit badge and announce she was an agent for missing persons. If that didn’t work, plan B was for her to tell him that this was the stage before the police got involved, give us Misty or we’re calling the Sheriff.

I watched Natasha get ready to knock on the door from eight feet away with Dennis and Miles right behind me. Natasha stood there chewing bubble gum with her leg kicked out in a sexy pose and I was betting Maniac would open the door. As soon as Natasha knocked, we heard the music go down. We heard Misty trying to keep Maniac from making the noise he was making walking to the garage door.

Maniac stood at the door looking through the peep hole for a while and asked, “Who is it?”

We heard Misty tell Maniac, “Don’t open it!”

Natasha stood far enough away from the door for Maniac to ogle her from head to toe. “I’m a friend of a friend.”

We heard the lock being disengaged and the door opened. Natasha flashed her look-alike badge from her purse and announced, “Federal Agent from the Missing Person Division! We’re here for Misty!”

Natasha stepped out of the way while I rushed the door. Maniac was trying to slam the door shut and I threw my arm inside the closing door so it closed on my upper arm. Dennis and Miles slammed into the back of me and our force was too much for Maniac. We fell through the open door and I was the first to gain my balance. I fired punches into his chunky face and Dennis arrived next. He took Maniac to the ground. I stopped for a second and saw what an ugly mutt Maniac was, wearing his Hell’s Angels vest, jeans and a chain holding his wallet to them. I felt a bunch of rage boiling out of me at what a scum bag he was. I threw a couple of bombing rights and lefts and dropped some knee shots to his head and then lost it in a black out of rage. I grabbed the patch he had on his jacket and ripped on it until it pulled away from the leather. Once I had that off I went for his chain holding his wallet and ripped on it until it tore his pants halfway off his fat body. Miles got into the action and I stepped back. Maniac was fighting back and yelling, “You don’t know who you’re messing with. My Hell’s Angels club brothers are going to fuck you up!”

Dennis responded, “The Hell’s Angels have rules not to sell drugs to kids in high school! You’re not a Hell’s Angel! You either stole that jacket or got kicked out of your club. That’s why you’re in Orange County!”

I noticed Natasha coming out of the back of the garage with Misty and a bag full of her things. She stopped ushering Misty and asked me for the keys to the Festiva. I handed them to her. I looked back at Maniac getting beat up on the ground and realized I didn’t want any more part in it. The risk verses reward was no longer there. I followed Natasha and Misty to my car.