CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Last Day Of 1999- I Got It Now
The second Hopeton was gone, ‘Brón shifted gears and focused on bringing me into the fold. His fold.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this.
Where was Mundo?
Brón waved me over to the desk. “Hey, come sit by me.”
I took over the seat Hopeton had recently vacated.
Cabrón unzipped the leather portfolio and spread out an ass-load of hundred-dollar bills. And these were not limp dick, trap house bills- this was brand new currency pulled out of some fancy Cayman Islands bank. I knew enough to be impressed by the crisp, clean green. I wasn’t at all sure why he was flexing like this, but I kept quiet.
“And this is for you,” he said as he slid three bills towards me.
“What? Why?”
Cabrón laughed, a slightly mocking chuckle. “You forgot about your man already, Eula?” he asked. “I talked to Olmando a couple of hours ago and he told me to make sure you got this in your hand.”
I tried to keep my face as empty as possible.
“Listen,” Cabrón said, shifting gears, “I have shit to show you before we head out.” He rounded the corner of that huge ass desk, grabbed my hand and pulled me up out of my chair.
We went deeper into the stacks of barrels that lined the perimeter of the holding area. It was easy to see that Cabrón was looking for a particular barrel. Or barrels.
“Yes! Here we go,” Cabrón said. He found one of the blue plastic containers, pulled a ratchet out of his pocket and began to pry the lid off.
And I could not believe what was revealed to me.
HUNDREDS of bricks of what appeared to be the closest thing to pure heroin I’d ever seen.
What the fuck? What was this place?
‘Brón reached into the barrel and pulled out a package.
“Here you go,” he said, and threw a half ounce bag to me. I snatched it out of the air with my left hand.
“Another gift from your man, even though I know you know he hates this shit.”
It was the most beautiful, luscious and fluffy heroin I had ever seen in my miserable, little white girl life. I tried not to zone out.
‘Brón looked at me with barely concealed contempt and attempted to snap me out of my reverie. “Yo, go hit the bathroom do what you gotta do, then let’s roll.” He pointed over to a little loft room door in the corner and told me to hurry my shit up.
I got myself straight, then rolled back out to Cabrón. I really tried my best to sound pulled together when I asked, “What’s the next stop?” I know I failed.
He gave me a dirty look, grabbed my elbow and hustled me out of PanStar as quickly as possible.
“You’ll keep this little field trip to yourself If you know what’s good for you,” ‘Brón said. “This is something that only you, me, Hopeton and your maaaaaaan need know about.”
He drew out the word “man” to show me just how little he cared about my supposed role in this operation.
“And trust me, Hopeton does not give a fuck about who you’re fucking. Make sure you keep Biz and Lucci out of this.”
I quickly glanced at his crotch, then at his face, and nodded quickly.
“Where to next?” I asked.
