Post by High Tide on Feb 27, 2017 22:04:06 GMT -5
Dirty Work
“I don't have a ship for you yet. You have no idea how hard it is to even get you a ship that needs MAJOR work on it, for this price. You might want to cut down a tree and start sawing,” the voice on the other end of the line was both cruel yet invigorating. I smiled to myself.
“Phosporous, you know I'm going to give you almost every bit of cash I get until you can find me something. Fuck off with your downer attitude,” I replied, always enjoying banter no matter what source it came from.
“You're lucky you've done me nothing but good to get to where I am now, High Tide, or I wouldn't let that slide. Look, it's not all bad news I am calling you about. I have a crew for you, small, only three, but it's a start,” Phosphorous replied and it took me a moment to register what he was saying. A crew?
What the fuck was I going to do with a crew and no boat? I planned to voice these exact opinions. “What the fuck am I going to do with a crew and no boat,” I half shouted, not sure if he was testing me or this was some sort of joke. Usually when he said he was going to be serious, he would lay it straight.
“I figured a couple extra people should help you get some cash quicker. In fact, I've even sent them to you first little... shall we say “Land Raid”. It just so happens you'll be raiding from land,” Phosphorous laughed amused to the nine hells by his own joke and that irritated me to no end. Laugh at my expense would he? Clearly he had forgotten who was once the top dog. I would just have to bear with it for now, take the “handouts” until I was in a place I could remind him.
“Tonight?! Now? You know I've got a match tomorrow. I just beat Crazy Boy but this time he has a very big boy in his back pocket. Hiroshi Yukio. Do you know what google told me his name means? Hiroshi means "tolerant, generous or prosperous. Yuiko means “thoughtful child.” I don't know how accurate this is, I mean it's Google, but do you think that huge motherfucker is going to stand around in the ring, appraising the match thoughtfully? Do you think he is going to be tolerant or generous as he attempts to destroy me with that weapon of a body he wields? No. Not for a fucking moment. At least I've got a guy named Warwyk on my side. Sounds like the name of a fucking wolf. You want me to fucking go out on some harebrained adventure tonight? You've gotta be out of your fucking mind,” I half exploded. So much for me keeping my composure. Oh well, these things happened. Besides, I was livid. I wasn't sure I was going to have enough alcohol to soothe my body after being in the ring across from Yukio (not to mention Crazy Boy was still in the picture,” but now I was going to have to go make cash for a damn boat I wouldn't even see until I had already bought it, the night before my match? Well, I guess I would have to buy more alcohol.
“I'll be texting you the address as soon as I hang up. It's about an hour away, please try to be there quickly. This little hairbrained idea requires it to be night and there's only so much of it to be had. Don't forget to send the money over,” the line dropped dead and I whipped my cellphone at the hotel's couch. I hated it when he hung up on me, and on top of it all, this was my last night at the hotel and I wasn't even going to be able to get a good night's sleep out of it.
THREE HOURS LATER
Loaded with enough rum to last me the night, and strong sense of apprehension, I arrived at the site. At first I couldn't believe it when I read it, but sure enough, I was to meet my three “crewmates” at a goddamn campground. What the hell was I going to do at a campground? This was starting to feel more and more like an awful joke.
Sure enough I arrived at campsite 93B. There were three tents, all light green, all medium size. There were random outdoor toys strategically placed all over the campsite to make it inconspicuous. It was exactly that. It looked like just another campsite in a crowded sea of them. I was actually pretty impressed by the setup, even if I was still skeptical about how I could possibly make any money here.
One tent I found out was shared by two brothers. Viktor and Marc Radulov, or as apparently everyone else called them “The Brothers Radulov”. Either way they were two almost identical looking men who must have been in their early 30's. Brown hair, blue eyes, tall and extra skinny. They looked serviceable but after all I had never been a picky captain.
The other was a lady named Jane. Jane “Nutbuster” Leblanc. To be honest she frightened the shit out of me but that could only be a bonus on my “eventual” ship. Fiery red hair, green eyed, and likely in her mid to late twenties. Every sixth or seventh word with her had been a cuss word and I wondered to myself how could she outcuss a sailor? Sure, I was a pirate, but a pirate still sailed and that made me a sailor by default.
They had outlined the plan to me quite simply. We were going to go by cover of darkness and raid tents. Apparently Phosphorous knew for a fact that campers at this specific campground tended to carry a lot of cash on them. Weird bit of trivia knowledge I thought to myself but useful at least.
This is why I now found myself on what I figured would be the last tent of my night. We were supposed to meet back at the campsite in about a half hour. It was about 15 minutes away and I needed to leave myself at minimum 15 minutes to loot the site and the possibility of evading pursuers, as I didn't want to lead them back to the camp. I had yet to have anyone chase me, but the moon was giving off a bit too much light this night, and I had to make a couple dashes before people woke up enough to realize that I wasn't a hungry bear or something of the sort.
I scoured the rest of the site first. I struck lucky with a nice gold watch that happened to be in the zippered pouch of a cooler bag. I knew Phosphorous well, and anything I sent him that wasn't pure cash he would get rid of for me for a good value, and he took only a small fee for his own. It was easier than trying to sell stolen goods, especially when all the reports would start flooding in, in the morning.
I didn't want to risk the car having an alarm, but peeked in the windows anyways only to find that there was nothing visible of value anyways. Last but not least, was my least favourite part. The tent. Quickly and quietly I zipped the tent up about an eighth of the way, hoping to hell the occupant was a deep sleeper. I paused, waiting for any sign of movement, of knowledge that I was there. Nothing came. I breathed a silent sigh of relief.
There was one added benefit of the moonlight though, and that was that I could see inside the tents pretty easily. I knew I had struck gold when I noticed the reflection of the moon on a wallet chain not a couple feet inside the tent. Quickly I thrust my hand in and grabbed the wallet, eager to get to the campsite (presumably my home for the next couple days at least anyways as I no longer had the hotel to go back to), but my hand brushed the fabric of the floor of the bright blue tent as I reached in. I was not too worried about it, it hadn't been that loud.
My hand was nearly out of tent when a grotesquely muscled arm shot out and grabbed my wrist. Panic rose up inside me, and I did what I did best in the ring. I acted out of pure instinct. Leaning back towards the tent, as I had been ready to bolt away as I was grabbed, I sunk my teeth into the man's meaty arm. I heard what I could only describe as a roar, and the grip loosened for only a moment. A moment was all I needed though. I let go of the wallet chain, causing it to drop. At the same time I slipped my wrist quickly out of the man's weakened hold and caught the wallet before it hit the ground.
I would never admit it but I had zero intentions of even looking back to see what my pursuer looked like as I heard loud heavy footsteps a bit behind me. The size of the man's arm had put some serious fear into me. He reminded me of Machine. I nimbly ducked and dipped through bushes, over fallen logs, and weaved my way through a patch of thorny plants, gaining a few scratches for my efforts. I had to make sure I lost him before I returned to camp, and I was already dangerously close. Fortunately I no longer heard any sounds behind me and so changing my demeanor I calmly walked the short distance back to the campsite, making it seem as though I had just gone out to take a shit in the woods, or something like that.
We all met in The Brothers Radulov's tent and piled the loot on the floor. They had all been smart like me and ditched all the wallets, taking only the cash inside. I did a quick count. Five thousand and twenty dollars. There was also everything from watches to jewellery, from Go Pros to a nice set of golf clubs. I gave each of them twelve hundred dollars and kept the rest including the merchandise for myself. Fourteen hundred and twenty dollars, plus whatever the gear fetched me. Not bad for a couple hours work. Jane would ship off the next night, as the authorities would no doubt expect them to have left the park already, disguised as a camper packing their things and leaving. There were many tarps and such which could be used to disguise the goods. It was a pretty damn good plan and as I saw the lights of the campground authorities vehicle drive by, I couldn't help but laugh to myself. They would go right past, and never have an idea that they were that close.
This night certainly deserved a drink, I felt. Or ten. Cheers to dirty work. I smiled.