2000 – Within Our Circle

“I’m going to get in touch with my father to get my LLC going,” Pierre told me.  “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

 I had no idea how or why Pierre’s father would be involved in filing paperwork for him, but I left it alone.

2000 – Okay

“Look where Mundo is now,” I reminded him.  “Where would you rather be?”

“Here,” Pierre said. 

“Okay,” I told him.  “It sounds like you’re ready to get to work, then.”

2000 – Overproof

“And here you are again,” Bolo remarked, when he saw me standing at the front door of his villa in Clayton, bottle of scotch in one hand, a bunch of flowers in the other. 

I’d decided to frame my visit more as a social call, and wouldn’t mind catching up with Carolina. 

2000 – Under & Around

Now that I had Bolo locked into Pivot Number Two, the clock was ticking on getting my own thing up and running. 

2000 – Salaryman

“Small talk, Hopeton?” Pierre asked.  “Really?”

“I’m not a robot, Pierre,” I replied.

2000 – The Kids Self-Select Part II

“Okay, gramps,” Biz replied.  “I told you my real name- no need to clown.”

2001 – Lock Box

“I deleted the files,” Pierre told me, with a tight smile. 

He hated micromanaging nearly as much as I did.

2001 – Skim & Dip

Biz reached out his hand to close the deal with a handshake.  Lucci followed suit.

I was now in business with the kids.

2001 – Prime Cuts

Biz and Lucci’s scheme struck me as something so revolutionary and dangerous, so potentially lucrative, I knew we needed to jump on it as quickly as possible. 

But we couldn’t be foolhardy.

2001 – Confirmed

“Bolo is getting old,” Pierre said.  “But it seems like there’s no one there for him to hand the reins over to.” 

“So, no one’s paying attention to Brooklyn,” I mused.

2001 – Scatter

I turned down the volume on Buju and proceeded to let Pierre in on the details of the ATM scheme. 

He’d fallen completely out of the loop, having been so M.I.A. since February. 

2001 – Pivot Number Three

Bolo agreed that by end of December, the PanStar weapons depot would be emptied out and shut down. 

“As long as I hit that profit line we agreed to last year,” he qualified.

2001 – The Real Pivot

I didn’t feel any type of way about leading Bolo to believe I was simply downscaling my ambitions. 

There was no reason for him to know my true plans.