Deadly Compromises by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Chapter 5
It was a pleasant, but arduous day and Bobby, too, was tired. He needed to eat again, but didn’t feel like moving. He kept thinking about the call he would have to make to Jason and the possibilities of how it could play out. This would be a new one for him. He never previously entered into any conversation with Jason that even bordered on negotiation. It was always a matter of yes or no and keeping to your word. This would require some finesse and cajoling. After a half hour of contemplating, which didn’t result in anything that he failed to envision at square one, he came to a conclusion. He hated unfinished business and wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway, so he decided to call Jason and try to wing it. He left the motel and drove about ten miles to a truck stop with public phones. Ring, ring ......
“Yeah.”
“Jason, its Tony.”
“Hey, Tony. It’s done, right.”
“Not exactly. I’ve got more complications.”
“Tony, that’s not my problem. I already got you all the money I can. Time for results.”
“You’ll get results. I’ve still got two or three days, you said.”
“That’s a gift cause I like you. I had to talk to some unhappy people to straighten this out. It really was expected by tomorrow, worst case, day after.”
“Hey, Jason, thanks man, really. We have a beautiful relationship. I’m not asking for any more money or time. I can have this done by the day after tomorrow. But it’s not going to be the usual thing.”
“Tony, beautiful relationship or not, you’re making me get nervous.”
“Let me run this by you. The guy here has a great business. He’s just an asshole who keeps fucking it up. How much does he owe?”
“I don't know if he owes anything. All I know is someone wants a job done.”
“This looks like a bad loan. Can you find out somehow?”
“My people don’t like a lot of questions. They might think I’m getting smart.”
“Look, Jason, this is the way I figure it. I’m having bad complications with the job. The businesses he owns look like good ones. If I could pay off his loans, I’ll become his partner, keep my eye on him and get a regular check forever.
The people who gave out the job probably want the money more than they want his corpse. Hey, you know I haven’t given you any bullshit for ten years and I’ve done things exactly the way you like them, rush jobs and all. Do me this one favor, I’ll owe you. Find out what’s the problem, if and what he owes and if I can get a break on the interest for collecting, blah, blah, blah. I’ll borrow the money. Vinny will give me anything I want. C’mon, man, just this once.”
Silence persisted for a few seconds. Jason’s voice was far from happy when he said; “I’ll do what I can. Call me back in two hours.” He hung up the phone.
Bobby drove around alone in the desert, with Kelly on his mind. He thought; “She seems so great. Maybe with her I could patch up this miserable life. Her’s too. However, talking to Jason always brought him back down to earth. What if the money he would have to borrow would be too much for him to handle?
How would this affect her? Money problems aren’t a seed for good relationships. What if in a short time she hates me? It’s happened before; in fact, now that I think about it, it’s a regular pattern. Monica, his wife, was the exception, but there was only one her. Kelly’s not the same, but similar in some ways, very different in others. Kelly’s got a damn good temper and who knows what she’ll do if she really gets mad or nervous?
What if I don’t like her after I know more about her? If she was so great, why did she need to find this creep who she doesn’t even like? Desperation? She’s pretty enough to have hooked up with a lot of guys if she turned on the charm. She really hasn’t shown much traditional charm. But, I like her honesty a lot. You know where you stand with her. Black or white in a gray world.”
He caught himself. He was getting lost in a daydream at a time he needed to be practical. “The hell with all the possibilities. Time to perform. Try to handle whatever comes.
You can never figure anything out using logic anyway. People are not logical and do the most unexpected things. Go with your first instincts: She’s great and trust her. Once distrust enters, everything turns sour, anyway.”
He didn’t realize the passage of time while he was going around in circles with these thoughts. What seemed like ten
minutes was actually two hours and it was time to call Jason back. He drove back to the truck stop. Under the harsh overhead lighting he could see women of varying shapes and sizes climbing onto the cab steps of the parked big rigs. Sometimes they were invited in. Sometimes they giggled and went to the next one. Sometimes they laughingly and animatedly conversed with each other. It struck him as pathetic.
He dialed his magic number. After two rings he heard Jason’s consistent opening line.
“Yeah.”
“Jason, its Tony.”
Bobby was relieved when he listened to Jason, again, get right to the point, saying; “You owe me a big one, but I got a deal. Money is all that’s involved. He owes about four million dollars. They’ll reduce that by one million for the collection fee and they’ll eat some of the interest. You got it, Tony, three million dollars or a corpse. I swear to God I had to push and you’re getting the best deal possible. You sure you can get the money from Vinny?”
“No problem. I’ll be in touch in a day or two. Thanks a lot, man.” Bobby hung up.