In an ironic turn of events the team wound up dropping the Juice shipment in a location directly across a narrow road from a new condominium expansion site, under construction by none other than the Carrullo Brothers. The site was empty except for a small team of men who appeared to be working to pour some concrete support columns. Victor was aware of the proximity of the Levito-partnered site, in fact, he enjoyed setting up shipments in unexpected places and in general this strategy worked well to ensure the safety of the shipment. Everything went off without a hitch. The buyers all received their Juice and the team members were getting back into the vehicles when Ozzie stopped and turned toward the work site across the street, pointing. "See Victor," he said, interrupting him as he was filling in Marv on a few revisions to the route back to base. "that site over there is a Carullo site. The Levito organization is pulling in about half of the profits on that job because of the terms they have in place with the Carullos."
Victor looked over at him and said,"Not right now Ozzie, let's keep it moving."
"But Victor," Ozzie returned,"it's not that big of a deal and we could set the whole thing up with some standard cookie cutter terms, easy as pie."
"Ozzie, get in the vehicle, now is not the time,"Victor said, his voice turned up that one little notch higher, indicating that he had reached his limit and that it would be best for Ozzie to save his idea for later.
"Look," Ozzie continued,"everything they work on, every bit of snark that rolls in on a job gets split up with the Levito organization."
Victor looked at the men standing on either side of Ozzie and with his eyes and a subtle clenching of his fists, indicated that he wanted Ozzie held. He turned away from the vehicle so that Ozzie was behind his back, held by the men. Victor made a sweeping motion with his arm, indicating with his hand that he wanted them to follow him in the direction of the work site. He crossed the street and entered the work site through a break in the chain link fence. The men followed him, Ozzie practically being dragged at this point.
"Hey, Victor, it's okay, we can talk later, I-I just w-wanted to help, really," Ozzie flailed for pity.
At this point the workers caught site of Victor. Even though they were affiliated with the Levito organization, the Carullo Brothers staff were not Juice-runners or fighters, they were workers, craftsmen, engineers and carpenters. The appearance of Victor and the other two men dragging Ozzie along, crying for mercy was not only unsettling, it was a little intimidating. One of the men, feeling tough, strong and capable actually had the audacity to yell out, "Hey, what's going on down there," standing on a raised platform, guiding the wet cement into the mold for the support column he continued, "this is a closed site."
Victor pulled a rather large weapon out from the inside of the left side of his vest. He aimed it directly at the shouting man's head then gave it a little wave, instructing the man to get down from the platform by means of the adjacent ladder. The man felt a little less strong, a little less tough but on one level he was far more intelligent than Ozzie, he did not need to be told more than once. He quickly, without argument, descended the ladder and left the site, closely following his workmates who had already determined that they had done enough work for the day.
Victor surveyed the site quickly as if looking for something he knew he would find. He was not disappointed. he walked over to a large spool of electrical wire and started to unwind it as he walked toward Ozzie. First, he bound Ozzie's hands together, who was crying pitifully, though he would receive none. Next, Victor, pulled the wire up and wrapped it around Ozzie's head, winding it around below his ears and across his face, pulling it firmly through his crying mouth capturing his tongue as he pulled the wire tight in several revolutions around Ozzie's head until he could barely breathe let alone sob. "That's better," Victor said as he looked into Ozzie's face," now, maybe you'll listen to what I am telling you. When I say that I don't want to talk about something, I really don't want to talk about something, whether you think it's a good idea or not. Now, you have wasted my time and taken me off of my schedule." Finally, Victor bound his feet together as he continued walking toward the freshly poured column. He raised his voice so Ozzie could hear him as he walked away, "I prefer to be listened to the first time, I do not like being taken off of my schedule and I will ask for ideas when I want to hear them. By now he was on top of the ladder. He threw the wire over a pipe which connected the platform to some scaffolding which ran up the side of a completed wall to the structure. He then grabbed the rest of the wire leading toward Ozzie and began to pull, dragging his body, still kicking in an effort to break free, until it rested below him on the ground. Victor wrapped the wire which was slung on the opposite side of the pole and jumped over the side of the platform. As he descended toward the ground, Ozzie's body rose toward the platform. The two men began to laugh but quickly stopped as Victor glared at them and held the wire out toward them. They quickly rushed over to take the wire from him. As one of the men held on he was nearly pulled off his feet and almost lost grip of the wire, Victor quickly grabbed the wire with one hand, steadying it to allow the other man to help. "When I tell you to let go, let go," Victor said, "and not a moment sooner." Victor climbed back up the ladder to find himself looking down at the tearful, bloody face of Ozzie.
Victor reached over the side of the platform and maneuvered Ozzie's hanging body over the freshly poured but incomplete column. Ozzie looked up from eyes that knew they were going to die only to hear Victor say,"You know, Oz, I don't even think your idea is such a bad idea, but I just can't stomach someone who doesn't understand that there is a right and a wrong time for conversation. Sadly, once again, I don't have time to hear your side of the story but I will take the matter you have raised under consideration, in fact, the idea is firmly cemented in my brain!" Victor looked over the side of the platform to see the two men looking up at him, he turned on the cement loader which started gushing fresh cement out over the shoulders of the hanging Ozzie, filling up the mold around him. Victor held his arm outwith a thumb in the air and with a large, emphatic, sweeping gesture turned the thumb down. The men released the wire, dropping Ozzie's writhing form completely into the fresh cement.
No comments:
Post a Comment