Not Quite a White Knight Vol. 04.2

That got my attention so we did it his way. I gathered everybody. Then he laid out his story. He had time to start at the beginning.

Tony explained how, after the high-school graduation we both attended, he suddenly found himself with two bodyguards at all times. He was separated from his wife (she initiated divorce proceedings) and was "allowed to live" in one of the foreclosures in Aztex territory. The bodyguards did not hassle him, but they moved in and were good enough so he could not get away without exercising some serious violence. So he waited for the right time. He kept at his job running gang things at the clubhouse, clearing activities and collecting his cut, but all the meth business was being kept from him, it was "handled by his wife." He was not allowed into houses that suddenly saw some late-night traffic, and the number of such places grew each week. Since he didn't know who in the gang was loyal to him and who wasn't he had to play along. At the time his movement was not restricted, but his communication was monitored 100%. He knew his phone had been cloned.

There are no working pay-phones in Aztex territory.

During each week in June he noticed an influx of 5 new guys wearing Aztex colors, plus there were complaints from neighbors about the meth houses in the neighborhood. Clearly the big Aztex chapters in Houston and other cities were moving production facilities into LA at his wife's invitation. The black-hearted witch was ambitious and pictured herself as the Meth Queen of LA county. Apparently that meant sucking and fucking the Aztex VIPs who visited LA, and providing girls to service the experienced cooks they brought.

He also noticed a few hard Oriental faces who arrived. They looked closely, then left quickly without speaking and without enjoying nighttime entertainment.

Tony did not know who was funding or running the expansion. They were well under capacity but with so many labs they were still making more product than they were selling locally, so he figured they were planning wholesale marketing, flooding different markets to drive out the locals, then moving in. I knew there had been a DEA crackdown in Texas and New Mexico so presumably those markets lost capacity. If they wanted to keep their customer base they had to get supplied somewhere. If they manufactured in LA they might use I-40 or private planes to move the product east without the dangers of a border crossing. That in turn meant the LA operation had to stay low profile, unless a meth-lab house caught fire, which really was a question of "when" rather than "if." They probably had a warehouse outside Aztex territory, there was mention of Whittier, which was a good choice for a Hispanic gang. (Whittier is 70% Latin and uses it's own police force.) The outsiders were not yet visible enough to upset his gang's core membership, so Tony kept his cool and showed his face at the usual places. He also marked the new meth houses on a list which might be handy to somebody.

He got one that coded message out via Tonto during a phone call in late June. He sent a scanned and reversed message as a reflection photoshopped into a picture when he sent his son some family pictures. He knew they were checking his phone but he figured they would not study every picture when dozens were sent. Tonto knew what didn't belong, so I got that message about the raid. It paid off big. The Aztexs planned to ambush one of 49's Seerdon Forest patrols; instead of getting 5 of my troops, my guys put 12 of theirs in hospital beds. Most were gunshot wounds, which could not go to regular people hospitals, so the healing was underground with four-legged roommates and a vet for a doc. At least there were no insurance forms to fill out. In 49 we do the same thing, except our vet is first class. The Aztex's vet? He put a lot of pets to sleep.

All the Aztex bodies involved were new to the area since January. Unfortunately, after the firefight there was nobody to question, it was the one aspect my guys slipped up on. They would learn, that was why I gave them the exercise.

There was a total news blackout of the action, the cops found the Mexican brass and blood but that was all. Most of the blood was animal, rats and coyotes, spread by my guys to confuse our friends at CSI, so there was no press release. Like it never happened. After that we used heavier patrols driving bulletproof vehicles at random intervals, with drone coverage. My guys did not mind putting a small caliber bullet into a potential customer's car cruising for a dealer. Customers stopped coming to the area. Since that was the point it was a win.

A few weeks later Tony saw his chance and slipped the bodyguards. One guy, the head of the bodyguard squad from Houston, had to be broken in a way that couldn't be fixed when Tony slipped a long screwdriver into one of his ears. Tony borrowed a car with Texas plates, dumped the car in the lot at an LA police station, walked a few blocks and took a public transit to his safe house in Pasadena. (Clever, it's close but a different police jurisdiction.)

With his safe house as a base he used the Ducati to deploy some wireless cameras to keep track of things in his territory. He knew that after killing his Houston bodyguard he had to come to me sometime if he was ever going to see Tonto again. He knew better than to come to me empty-handed.

Finally he spotted the sort of present I would appreciate, an Aztex cook he had met in Texas. Everybody called him Crow. He was older, and had a reputation as a pervy pussy-hound who liked his females far too young and feisty. He was supposed to be a genius at setting up meth labs that did not go "boom" in the night. If he went missing his people would just figure he got lucky with a girl or two and was taking her on a trip to his own sicko perv Disneyland, which was going to be the opposite of true.

Tony knew Crow's taste in terms of hair-color, height, clothes and such. He rented a commercial lure from distant Pomona, redressed her and made-her-up so she looked younger. Tony sent a picture and contact info to Crow's cell phone, supposedly from a like-minded perv Crow had mentioned once. With dreams of fresh candy on the vine Crow blew off his usual security protocols and made contact. They made a date to meet in a park in Hollywood, after dark, near the gazebo. That was where Tony snatched Crow.

The girl was well paid to stand in a park, looking pretty, young, underdressed and willing. Crow felt the gun in his ribs when he was 20 yards from the girl, then he was face down on the ground in real handcuffs. The pervert never touched her.

Once she was paid the girl was still looking for a date so she suggested Tony might be fun for both. Tony was tempted but he could not risk Crow getting free. Plus, she reminded him a little of Pammie, his son's girl. So he slapped himself, gave her an extra Franklin and passed.

Once he bagged Crow, Tony took the sack of excrement to his second, more isolated safe shack in the mountains north of LA. Crow objected and was slightly damaged in transit. Damage is a side effect when one uses a hammer.

Tony told Crow that there was a bear causing problems at the cabin, and Crow would make good bear bait when he ran out of conversation. Tony wanted to sweat the guy and kill him slow but even more he wanted me to talk to the guy while he was alive. Also, Tony was justifiably afraid that if he questioned Crow alone he would kill the guy before he gave all he could give - Tony really hates pervs. (Well, so do I.) He knew I had a better way to make the questions and the final reward as full as possible.

I suppose that means Tony considered me a worse type of very bad guy. I took it as a compliment.

Tony said that there was one "big thing" Crow knew that touched on 49, but he did not want to speculate except that it involved the Pablo. He was sure I could extract the details before Crow died in pain. After what his wife had done to his gang, Tony was willing and eager to shift his loyalty to me. He was already halfway there before his wife started to import ugly meth-goons to what used to be their bed.

That brought us up to date.

-

Chapter 12. Getting The Crow

Wednesday July 30, 2008

There was no time like the present to get Crow from the cabin. Tony told us where, it was a long drive. He also made a suggestion about himself. I put the 49 troops and two soldiers - Tony knew who the hard guys were right away - into a truck. Cynthia also wanted to go so I followed in a second vehicle. Tony was with me, he was bagged until we were close to his cabin in the mountains. It was a long drive, Tony's cabin was remote, but remarkably Cynthia managed to chatter the whole time, without once mentioning that she was pregnant.

We planned to run a little bit of theater when we picked up Crow, making it seem like we were a third party snatching Crow and killing Tony in a shoot-out. You never know when a little disinformation will pay off later. Except for Tony everybody wore masks. Tony went in first, like things were normal, and began to make coffee, telling Crow they were going to play a question and answer game - the type where hot water was used on body parts. Tony would have the coffee and ask the question. If Tony didn't like the answer, Crow would have some very hot water. Crow would yell. Then Tony would repeat the question.

Crow did not feel good about the game, but really had no choice.

Soon after Tony brewed the coffee and got settled the "attack" came. Crow saw Tony killed (using squibs - this is LA, we got them at a drug store). Men wearing adhesive-bonded domino masks grabbed up Crow and introduced him to organic cuare.

Once Crow stopped moving we added some LSD to a second needle to make his life more interesting. He thought surely one of the needles was meth, but after the first one all he could move was his face and he got really confused, then pissed, about it. I would be pissed too if all I could move was my facial muscles. But the idea was that he could not do anything, which made him easy to handle. He was bagged so he wouldn't be distracted.

Before Crow was loaded into the truck I noticed a tattoo on one of his arms, so I made a small adjustment to the plan. We loaded him onto the truck bed, and hogtied him there for easy handling and peace of mind. Then Cynthia did a sweet "airline stew" voice. First she said we were taking off. Then once the LSD had a good hold on his abused brain Cynthia announced that they were diving down into the sand on the way to the hidden temple of the Drow. "Watch out for the small spiders. The big ones? Well, you can't do anything about them, can you? When they implant their eggs it will not hurt much... there are no pain receptors inside the brain. But when they hatch and get hungry... well, thanks for the memories." Compliments of the LSD, plus his devotion to a online D&D group, Crow believed it all. Just to make it interesting she lightly touched him in a few places. Crow immediately tried to twitch like he had spiders walking on him.

He still couldn't move but it was fun to watch.

Like the Stinger and the dessert prison, curare was another wonder to Tony's eyes. He had heard of the stuff of course, but he wondered where I got so much of the drug. I told him it grows like weeds; pick the right weeds and after that it is all downhill. Amazon natives made it with minimal equipment. Our pet Nazis refined the process.

"Pet Nazis?"

"Men like my grandfather," Irene said, with some irritation. Tony concluded that Irene did not sound nice when she was irritated.

The stuff I had was actually refined using formulas developed by German scientists escaping after WW2, they were in high demand but decided they did not want to go East or West. Our Cousins talked them into a trip south in a borrowed submarine. The tropics, and tropical women, sounded good to them.

The Patron was willing to return the sub to it's rightful owner, but nobody asked for it back... the short troublemaker was dead in his bunker. The sub has been sitting in a jungle river ever since. Currently it is home to some real snakes - pythons.

Tony was so curious about the curare he almost asked to try a shot. Cynthia responded by saying some experiments were better in bed. She might arrange something.

Tony liked that idea. "Gee, you have so many neat toys," he said to me.

-

We split up for our return drive.

Irene went in the truck with the a soldier named Rojas, plus Tony and Crow who were both bagged. Tony sat in front while Crow was hogtied in back. They took a direct route, bypassing LA traffic and cameras. Cynthia chose to go with that group to give Tony some pleasant company. Despite the fact that Tony was in a bag those two were getting along like Pammie and Tonto were already married so they were related and waiting for a blessed announcement. I gathered things were going well for the star-crossed in romantic Portland. I was pleased for all concerned.

I and the 49 troops took the indirect route, making stops in LA. I made some phone calls to set things up at the apartment building where I dropped off the guys, then to the mansion where I dropped off the other soldier and picked up a soldier named Felipe, along with the indians Vrir and Nia who would deal with housekeeping and cooking for the 2 or 3 days we would need. Skinny Nia was really showing her growing baby bump and was a horny as ever, which I figured Tony would not mind. Out of an excess of caution she had been to the doctor every week and was doing fine. On his way to the mansion Felipe had stopped at Samantha's for some of her pets and a mask I knew she had. Zar also filled a cooler with some food for us.

I knew that Felipe, a soldier from the Colony, favored gay sex and had taken a liking to Vrir from the Tribe, who eagerly reciprocated. Because of the emphasis on babies most Tribe members do not consider any type of homosexual contact. Vrir came to the US with an urge to try it, and when he did he liked it. He was open about his desires. The Patron, the Chief and I are not opposed to such things, on their own time my people are free to do as they wish as long as there is no security risk.

When I called Nia and Vrir so they would be ready to go, I explained the situation in their native tongue: likely three days, in isolation with a small group, doing housekeeping. There was no privacy for anybody in the barracks, but no restrictions either. Off duty clothing was probably optional, we have to laundry. I specifically told Vrir about Felipe. I told Nia that, in addition to Cynthia, Irene, Rojas and I, there was a friend of mine who was going through a divorce and had been without friendly companionship for too long. Through the cell phone I could almost see her gratitude glow at me for bringing her such a treat to unwrap. Well, if Tony was so inclined he and Nia would both make each other happy. There was no consideration about sharing Cynthia, she would be all mine. (That did not turn out like I planned... it got better!) Nia would be twice as pleased at the chance to do double duty with Rojas, they had enjoyed each other in the past and I was pretty sure Tony would not mind sharing.

Irene would be without a friend, she didn't do a fellow soldier like Rojas and I could see she had no interest in Tony. But that seemed to be her norm so I let her be. Maybe Cynthia or Nia would get the chance to make her smile, I knew all three went both ways with the right person.

Everybody knew working at the prison should be pretty light duty. We just needed to get everything Crow had in terms of the Aztex plans. I had a number of ways to persuaded the reluctant to speak.

Irene heard about Crow's proclivity and asked if she might help him confess his past sins, his soul had a great need if he was so inclined. Well, she one of her ancestors was a big deal in the Spanish Inquisition, plus there was the Nazi thing. I allowed that might be useful, and once we had everything she could take her time doing what her demons and ancestors required for penance.

Somehow we would see about giving Crow an ending the perv richly deserved for his lifetime devotion to depravity.

-

When Irene got to BAD she and Rojas gave Crow a tour and an our special inmate's introduction. That including a couple of hour hanging in the yard at well over 100 degrees. Then he got to screen a special director's cut of "Assassins Burn," our home movie about the South African custom of "Mandela necklacing" (yes, that Mandela) we adapted for our special guests. At Irene's suggestion Tony also saw it, he recognized the pair from that night when we took them down hard on the streets. After seeing the film he said he didn't figure I was that type of guy, but when I explained, in broad terms, the motivations and results he could see it. There was also the short film feature, "Fat Martha Loves Her Rats... And They Love Her."

During the double feature it was a good thing that Crow had not eaten lately, there was nothing to throw up.

Crow recognized the yard from the "Burn" movie so after that he was always asking if anybody else smelled burnt pork and gasoline like he did. The isolation and the death scene made the point, once the cuare wore off he was eager to talk, I just had to ask.

I arrived soon after the movies, and I wanted to set up our first talk quickly. Irene had planned for that, she just didn't expect talking spiders to lead off the interview.

At every interrogation Crow was securely strapped to a bolted-down chair at a table, then his head bag was rolled up so I could see his face.

For our first chat, two of Samantha's tarantula spiders, Oscar and Bernie, were on the table in front of him, staring. Well, tarantulas have numerous eyes, so some were always looking at Crow. These were the pets I borrowed. (Why tarantulas? Computer folk hate bugs.) The spiders were active, they were leashed to the table with silk lines that were so fine as to be invisible, so they stayed put but were clearly alive. We played some very soft chittering noises so Crow was sure they were discussing him. After a half hour he was bagged for 15 minutes, and when the bag was opened again I was at the table and the spiders were gone.

Crow begged me not to let the spiders into his brain to lay their eggs. I replied that the spiders were in charge, they made their own judgements about where eggs went and did whatever else pleased them, sending orders with telepathy. They also read minds, to them thoughts were a "taste" thing while the baby spiders matured and cracked open their eggs. The taste was best when they ate the brains, reading minds was like "sniffing the coffee... eventually you want a drink." He freaked out. I'd say that was a pretty good first step in mood adjustment and called it a day. After the long drive everyone wanted to hit the sack. But maybe they didn't want to hit it alone.

Tony, Irene and the two soldiers watched each session. But all of them were beat after a long day of mostly driving, and they agreed that having Crow sleep in his current mental state - maybe with another shot of Dr. Leary's best brain expander, would build on the day's efforts.

-

Chapter 13. Busy Bedroom At BAD

BAD Prison In The Desert

After the prisoner was secured in his cell we talked about sleeping arrangements. The barracks bedroom was essentially one room with 10 single beds set in individual cubicles, 5 on each side of a central walkway. The beds had space around them for storage, and were separated from the adjacent cubicle by a partial wall 4-feet tall. There was no real privacy. I gave the girls a chance to object, but they had no problems with arrangements. Irene lived, trained and showered in a barracks with 9 male soldiers, Nia actually drooled over the arrangement, and Cynthia felt very secure with this group.