Redwood Nine: Season 04 Ch. 03

The half-naked girls kissed their men and shooed them out giggling, then finished doing make up and hair, before slipping into their new clothes. They put on their shoes and took one last look in the mirror before leaving the room and heading to the front office. The guys saw faces turn and stare at the door and looked where they were looking. Gemma and Mary walked in and the click of their heels brought instant recognition to them. The sharp, stiletto points marked each step with a sexual prowess, as they came over to the guys and received welcome hugs and admiration.

The taxi was at the stand waiting for them and the guys escorted them out and acted most gentlemanly in helping them in the back. JT sat beside Gemma in the back and Piney sat upfront, as they headed to the strip to see the lights. The trip along the brightly lit street was all the magic they had seen in pictures and being there made it all the more real. They cruised the entire strip and turned around to come back down. They saw their hotel coming up and then passed by it, pulling in a few doors down on the other side. The girls looked a little confused by that.

"We thought you girls might like to see the strip all lit up this time. Looks different than during the day, doesn't it?"

They stood looking down the strip, the sequencing lights and neon colours captivating them. They were ushered inside by doormen and staff, discreetly sliding folded money from palm to palm. Gianni might have given them a key to his town, but it still needed polishing when you used it. They were seated in the second row from the front, the girls being seated by the staff and orders taken right away. A waiter came back with their drinks, followed by another carrying a silver ice stand with a bottle embedded in it. The second waiter showed JT a bottle of champagne and told him it was compliments of a gentlemen sitting behind him to his left.

JT turned in the direction the waiter was pointing and through the dimness, JT made out the large framed man and at first didn't recognize him. When the smile came out, JT knew who it was and expressed his happiness to the surprise. Despite an opening act on stage performing, JT got up and went over and hugged the man openly.

"La Roca, good to see you brother. Hey, thanks for the bubbly stuff, the girls will love it. What brings you to Vegas, man?"

"Been making good money, thanks to you, amigo and thought I'd take my old lady and enjoy some of it with her. I seen you have some fine looking putanas with you and thought I'd help the fun along, mi amigo, si."

JT smiled at first and then thought on what La Roca had said.

"Putanas? Doesn't that mean like sluts, or whores or something?"

The big Mexican smiled happily that his friend was learning his language better.

"Si, you are learning well, muchacho."

"Oh, dude, no, those are our old ladies, man. Piney is marrying Mary, that's the blonde one with the big pechos. Gemma's my new old lady."

La Roca saw his error at the slight and the smile vanished. In the beginning, La Roca had felt superior to JT and his club. Now he knew his place in the scheme of things and survived with the club's protection and support.

"JT, I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean, you know, that they were..."

Before the big man flustered any further, JT calmed him.

"Hey, it's okay man. You didn't know. Not bad looking for old ladies, huh?"

La Roca sighed happily at the forgiveness and saw the opportunity to make amends.

"Si, muy bueno. Real nice looking women. What did you say your old lady's name was?"

"Gemma."

"Si, Gemma. She looks like a handful of business. You picked a nice one there."

La Roca made gestures to say she was hot looking and the two laughed. La Rocha introduced his old lady, Marguerite and then JT went back to his table. The champagne was poured already and the two couples saluted La Roca in thanks and then drank, as other patrons wondered who these two were and why they had so much attention paid to them.

Two that did pay a great deal of attention to what was going on, were the two FBI agents posing as tourists enjoying the show, while using a discreet pen style camera to take pictures of everyone that interacted with the club members. After tonight, they would relay everything to headquarters and they would go over all the pictures and ongoing accounts of movements and associations. If they missed their guess, they would be stepping up surveillance to include any conversations they might intercept.

As the decade closed and the club grew, other things were moving in the opposite direction. Electronics and transistors were changing the way communications were made. Tiny transmitters could be placed anywhere and capture high quality sounds, then transmit them to a location far enough away to remain covert. The government was using every resource it had to fight the battle against crime, but their enemy was using all of theirs as well.

As discreet as the agents thought they were, others were always discreetly watching the audience for signs of clandestine activities. Since the RICO operation, security was stepped up and no one came into an establishment, without getting noticed carefully. The agents were getting noticed and in moments, the message was out to the staff and around the night club to all those concerned.

After the waiter came to take their orders again, he leaned in to JT and told him about what was going on and to be careful. JT thanked him and acted like it was just about their order, smiling and thanking him. JT motioned for Piney to lean towards him.

"We have Feds in the place close by taking pictures of us. Just act the same, but no talk of anything. Looks like we're getting the V.I.P. treatment now. Smile and be happy brother, we're on Candid Camera."

The girls kept enjoying the performance, unaware they were being taken notice of and made part of the investigation. Innocent or not, they were associated with known and suspected criminals and that made them people of interest as well. JT looked at Gemma and felt a familiar hurt in his heart. One that reminded him he had brought another innocent person into his troubled life and he felt the same haunting feelings he had done a major wrong to a person he loved, once again.