Can No One Shoot Straight? Ch. 02

For all of you who feel confused... relax! You're just having spoiler withdrawals. I wanted to write a story that actually kept the reader only knowing what the MC knows and learning more as he does. Yet as always if you don't like it, I'll just leave you with that 'X' at the 2 o'clock position, and my favorite line from 'Starship Troopers'... "Ricco, you know what to do!"

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Everything just seemed as it should be, yet he had a feeling that what he remembered were the highlights yet how they were connected to each other, and to him seemed almost as important as well. But who was he really? Why did every time he went into town fill him with such a rage? And why did he enjoy walking the top of the cliffs wrapped in nature's fury when she was enraged, or the pounding waves of the ocean below while she planned ahead? He was home and his heart knew it!

Wolf was sitting at his favorite Pub waiting to meet a man that had been hurt by the group of killers that posed as a group of young women that always surrounded his sister unless they were out taking care of her business. They had gotten high one night and shot up the wrong car killing this man's wife and daughter. The thing was he worked in the family's server room and I had found out he had created a 'fire-bomb' that when hooked up to the servers would fry them from the inside out leaving all the family info burned and of no use. I couldn't let him do that as I had a use for that info and was here to offer him a different way to achieve revenge and be set for life as well.

Mr. John Donaldson came through the door and scanned the room, he didn't know what the man he was looking for looked like as all he had was a name, but any man who sent a $1000 with the offer to buy him a beer made him curious. A waitress walked by and he stopped her to see if she heard of the name. She smiled and led him over to my table in the back, then when they arrived I told him to order a drink and then motioned for him to sit down.

We kept the talking light until Chrystal brought over his beer, but when we were alone I told him a little birdie had told me of his plan and he started getting scared until I assured him he was in no trouble from me, all I wanted was to offer him a job for one night and what he got in return would change his life. I let him think about it while I ordered two more beers, about halfway through them, Mr. Donaldson made his decision.

I smiled and slid a small satchel across the table, inside it he saw the small box with and 2 cables, along with a cashier check for a cool $2 million. I then informed him he had a choice, first was to plant the box somewhere safe and just don't come in the next day, and the second one was to wait awhile as he might get a chance to heal his heart a bit before he took off. I thought I saw a flash of spirit in his otherwise dead look his eyes had before.

I leaned back in my chair and decided to order dinner. Soon I would be able to gain access to their bank accounts as well as their shell companies accounts then I can really start having fun with them! Then my phone went off and I saw it was my realtor so I picked it up to find out he just wanted to reaffirm the price I was willing to spend on a house. You know the type, pushing you to spend everything so they can get the biggest commission they could get out of it, so I told him I'll know what I want when I see it and that's the one I'll buy, then ended the call.

How did I become so rich? No, it wasn't some new tax loop hole. The family, and their type of people, just started giving it to me, and all it took was a jelly doughnut! Let me explain...

I have a weakness for fresh made bread and came across the widow Mrs. Selara and her small bakery shop. Her husband was killed walking across the street and was struck by a truck trying to make the light. One day I happened by and stopped in. It was a slow day so we wound up talking until it was closing time, I offered to clean the front of the shop so to celebrate finding a new friend! She blushed and brought out the broom, hand towels, and cleaner all the while thanking me for my offer. Mrs. Selara became good friends always talking about the food we loved, But she really perked up when I told her about the jelly doughnuts with the sweet white icing on top with all different kinds of jelly inside.

Two weeks later she called and invited me to her shop, and I was surprised when I saw the place was packed! She saw me pull up and started waving her arms yelling at people to let me in, the 'Taste Tester' was here. Now I was slightly nervous here, but any Greek woman who rocks Baklava like she does I knew I was in good hands. I was given a pathway to the counter and sat down, she gave me a little wink and a small smile when she put a jelly doughnut on a plate in front of me.

She told me she took what I had told her about it but put her own twist on it, and slowly raised it to my mouth, and then put it back on the plate and said I needed a soda to clear my mouth first. There was the usual joking about hurrying it up and such, but she gave my soda and then I took a bite, and I was in love! I bought the first 6 and paid her the $200 in my pocket for them gladly! She didn't make much over living expenses and the shop's bills so I didn't feel bad about paying it.

As I left the shop I saw Tom Edwards across the street sitting on a bench beside a run down park. He had lost an arm and a leg in the service with a sad expression on his face, so I crossed the street and offered him a doughnut asking why he looked sad. That's when we heard a warehouse door opening and a box truck came out before the back door was fully closed and we both saw the drugs inside.

"Fucking kids don't have a safe place to play anymore and their mothers have to stand over them with a shotgun to keep them safe in this town!", Then he looked up at me and asked me if I liked kids and right after I said yes he asked me for a ride home. I got back into my car and turned around to pick him up. My mind was going 90 to nothing as we drove to Tom's house, when we pulled up he asked me for help moving a couple of crates in his basement around.

I told him I would do the moving and he could 'lend a hand' as needed laughing and no he couldn't have another doughnut. He grinned and told me that's what he respected about me, I never pretended he didn't have any missing parts and could even bad jokes about it! I let him lead the way down to the basement.

As it turned out there were 8 crates in all and all had the Marine's insignia sprayed painted on them! Then I heard glass clinking together and when I looked over Tom asked me to open a 90 year old bottle of bourbon and then poured each of us a glass after he sat down and pointed to a shop stool so I brought it over and sat down at the small table and sipped my drink.

He told me the tale of his life, Married Marine wounded on active duty, came home to a confused look on his wife's face and his daughter never could accept him as he was now. His first visit from her in the hospital all she did was shake and look out the window the entire visit, then his second visit was from her lawyer with divorce papers, but his daughter never did contact him again. Then he went on saying that he could tell I was trying to protect the innocent from what was going on and he wanted to help out, but he couldn't help out as is, but he could help in other ways.

His Dr. told him he had a blood clot that was now showing signs of moving along inside and could let go at any time so he wanted me to have them but I had to move them tonight. Why tonight you ask? Well after he ran through the inventory of a dozen M-16's complete with banana mags and ammo, 2 AR-10's with ammo and extra mags, a couple dozen grenades, 4 laws rockets, and assorted hand guns with enough ammo for each, there were 2 crates filled with claymore charges, but one was empty...

I had already called a friend and gave him the address when Tom said it was time to take this party upstairs and headed towards the stairs leaving me to grab the booze and glasses. I told him I was going to get him a my little pony backpack that he could sling over his shoulder to help carry shit, he just laughed and then flipped me off!

We sat down at his kitchen table and I jokingly asked if every Marine brought home momentos like that, found out his wife told him everything was getting better here, but what she didn't know was he had a cousin making moonshine in the hills close by who told him the truth that it was worse, and the only reason his wife didn't want to move away was that she was having an affair with my brother and didn't want to give him up. He was told it began right after he was shipped out the first time and continued till he was wounded 7 years later.

When my people got there I told them to take all the crates even the empty one, and take it to my warehouse, then Tom walked me out to my car in the back I told him his wife was a bitch for running away on him, he really was a great guy.

He stopped by his rose bushes and sniffed one of the larger ones and whispered as if to himself... "who said she ran away?", when we reached my car his phone went off a few times he stared at the screen for a second and then he apologized for not remembering what happened to them, He then said he had to make a call for a second, and just as he pressed 'Send' you heard 4 very large explosions going off in the distance.

He looked at me with a crooked grin and told me he thinks he remembered where he might have lost them at! Good thing we were together when it happened just in case anyone came around asking about it. He went back into the house singing some song about the Marines and I just smiled and shook my head at him, then got in the car and drove away. I grabbed some take out from a place called 'Stubies' which was pretty good, and headed home to watched the news telling me 4 drug warehouses exploded this evening and the police were checking out all leads, but foul play was suspected! (I choked on the bite of the sandwich in my mouth!)

So here I was with a cache of untraceable weapons and I knew where the warehouses were, anyone care to guess my next move?

My friends and I convinced the first shipment to pull over, (funny how a rocket does that very thing!), and then I sold it to the rival gangs of the family. I became a millionaire after the second shipment and decided to work with the city council to make the city better and so made two more friends, the gangs and the city council. Then taking advantage of the damage to myself and all reconstruction that had been done, my family never figured out who I actually was.

So I went to them and asked my family to consider a deal between us. The deal was that the family's trucks would move safely through my territory as I had 3 points to access the local highways and in return the family would pay me a percentage of each load, they also had to agree to no violence in my territory as they sort out their past supply issues. Two days later I sat down with 5 gang members representing the major gangs in town and made them an offer as well, no violence in my area and in return I would let them use a couple of my warehouses just outside of town to handle their business from time to time.

Then I expanded my area to include most of the parks and schools in town. I did it to thank my friend Tom so he could have a safe place to eat his doughnuts. The gangs agreed, and after the next 5 shipments disappeared, the family agreed as well.

Then as things were trying to settle down with the new territories in place, Mrs. Selara gave me a call asking me to meet her at the shop later that evening, I could tell she had been crying. So I made some inquiries and found someone had tossed a molatov cocktail at someone in front of her place and it missed the target and crashed through the front window starting a fire that resulted with her losing her shop and the tailor shop next door.

I jumped on the phone as I had arrangements to make before that meeting! This woman had just adopted me into her family of friends and treated me more like family, the smile on her face when I stopped by quickly became something I treasured! Walking out of the courthouse with the last piece of my plan in hand I checked the time and saw I had enough time to stop by 'wally-world' and then meet Mrs. Selara.

As I pulled up you could still see it smoking and smell the char of the wood. I walked around my suv and she came running over wrapped her arms around me and started crying into my chest saying 'It's all gone', and 'I have no insurance to start over'. I held her and whispered into her ear 'I have your back, lil' Mama!', and stepped back a step and called her daughter and son over for a talk. I told Mrs. Selara that I wanted to be a junior partner in her bakery, but I wanted some changes first off.

Her small family just looked at me like I had just turned green and was wearing a Santa hat! So I explained a few things about our new partnership. First off I explained that 'Wildcat Construction' will be building our new shop, and then told her that we had also purchased the tailor's shop as well because we needed the space to make room for all the new equiptment that would be required to run the place. I then asked them if they had eaten supper and when they said they had not,

I loaded them all into my suv and off we went. First stop my lawyers to have her sign the partnership paperwork so he could get that into the works, and second we went to 'On the Range' the best steakhouse in town. I asked for some privacy and we were seated in a back corner, after we had our drinks and ordered our food, I looked at Mrs. Selara.

I made everyone promise that what we discussed tonight cannot be held against another no matter if it was a bad thing. They all glanced around each other and then at me nodding their heads. I then told them that the construction company was already working clearing the new shop area out, so Mom had better start looking for the things she wants in the shop. Also There will also be an awning out in front so we can offer outside seating as well as inside.

Mom told me her husband tried before to get a permit for that and every time he was refused, it was the next step for him and he loved it. I had a smile when I told her that it might be a touch late, but he got the permit, she just broke down in tears! I side-hugged her continuing, that the city is making a 2 block area a park to have relaxing lunches and their will be an area for kids to play in. The shop had a large area area to begin with already, so we almost doubled our size. I also pointed out that as they will widening the sidewalk along the back of the shop that we could put in a window to serve people walking by.

I then looked at her daughter and told her that her current 'job' will chew her up and spit her out, I grabbed her hand and started to spread her fingers apart when she snatched it back, it's not worth being on-call for them I finished. Then I turned to her son and smiled telling him that the word was out on him, what do they call you? 'Garunteed Delivery? ' This job was made for him as now he will only be delivering for his Mother, besides the FBI has just now started hearing his 'tag'. (I had no idea if they had or not but you could tell he thought it was cool!).

I looked back at Mama and saw she was barely hanging in there as she looked at me and asked how? I told her that I had suddenly came into some money and I wanted to help a friend, I then pulled a bank book of a bank just down the street from the shop and gave it to her. It was funny watching her look from the bank book to me...book then me, quite a few times all while doing that fish out of water thing. The amount in the account was $200k and the other side of the holder was a credit card in her name. She asked what was my 'cut' going to be? I laughed so loud the waitress came back over to check on us!

I had the most sought after job in the partnership, I was to be paid off in finished product! Imagine, freshly baked breads, pastries, and her jelly doughnuts, just a phone call away... PRICELESS!!

Our food and refills of our drinks arrived along with a mention from the manager that we please keep it down, we all just smiled. As we ate I told Mama that I had her briefcase in the car and what it had inside like, brand new top of the line laptop, copies of both the deed to the tailor shop as well as the permit for the awning. Also included was the new insurance policy for the new shop as well as another for the family home.

Then the dessert arrived and as we did our best to finish it, I jokingly suggested we call the place 'Mama Selara's Bakery-Home of her world famous Jelly Doughnuts!'. I dropped everyone off at home and handed Mama her briefcase as well as a new laptop for the business. She then looked at the landrover sitting in front of her house with a sad look saying even though they didn't have a car, she would appreciate it if they didn't park there all the time! I acted like I remembered something suddenly and patted my pockets pulling a set of keys out and handing them to her letting her know the car was her's,

I like knowing my partner was taken care of! I also asked for her name as I couldn't keep calling her 'Mama Selara' people might talk. A tear ran down her cheek as she smiled then said..."Let them talk!"

A month later found Wolf driving a road that ran along the tops of the cliffs with his realtor who had heard of an old family home that had suddenly became available and knew his client liked the cliff area and might be able to inflate the price a few grand. Almost before the realtor stopped the car Wolf's door was heard closing, but when the realtor stopped the car Wolf was nowhere to be seen. About 30 minutes later Wolf showed up walking from the back of the house talking on his phone quietly and then ending the call. The realtor said it was a new listing and the keys were just dropped off at the office.

Wolf walked over to the two cement lions one on each side of the opening of the entryway and removed a brick from it's stand turned it upside down to produce a key. Then after replacing the brick, Wolf went to the front door and unlocked it. Wolf requested or was that commanded the realtor to remain outside, entered the home. He didn't see the cobwebs that were thick all through the place nor the old fabric covering the furniture. He smiled at the Chandlier with it's 8 candles instead of being electric. Wolf's heart swelled with love and pride before he felt an icepick being driven into his brain and he knew he had to get out of the house quickly.

The sun was on it's way down when Wolf came out and put the key into his pocket when the realtor told him he had to put it back as his office called and told him that the place had already been sold, Wolf replied, "I know, I just paid $5,000 over asking price and added a $1,000 extra bonus for you in the deal as well", then he chuckled and said he'd by lunch for a ride back to the office. While they were having a beer and a sub the realtor asked Wolf how he knew the key was there? 'I just did' was the reply.

After getting back into town I picked up my car and called my guys to tell them to bring their wives as I was having a BBQ and free beer this weekend at my new place, jeans and t-shirts were recommended! After everyone found the place I had a pile of cleaning gear in the great room and a full rack of beef turning on a spit over a fire-pit. On the other side of the dirt dug out for the pit were 2 kegs feeding into a large cooler that dispensed ice cold beer out the other side of it. I hired a neighbor to do the cooking because he did sell me the meat while it was still kicking after all.