Page 55 of Jobe

Jazzie watched carefully, noting the F10’s seconds that were running the show. Three of them had arrived to negotiate, with five more of them as backup. One, street named Oz, was introduced as the man in charge. Oscar Portillo—a reputation as a slick killer as a teen, now given the command of the envoy. Jazzie licked his lips in anticipation, eager for the negotiations to begin. They waited, respect being given to the larger gang. Finally after several minutes of silence, making the Sixers more nervous, the talking began.

“Not happy having to relocate,” the man sitting next to Oz said.

“Havin’ some trouble with the crabs,” Tito replied, referring to the police.

“You don’t got trouble. You give it.”

Not wanting to appear weak, Tito smoothly said, “Wanna give you the best.”

The silence extended for another minute, the Sixers sweating out the time.

“Done,” Oz announced, and Jazzie found himself releasing the breath he had been holding.

For a while, the session began with an immediate discussion of the drug trade that the Sixers were bringing in. Tito had played it smart—he had his figures written down and spreadsheets of who they traded with, how many runners he had, and their costs vs. profit. Jazzie’s admiration for his leader rose again as he realized that Tito had done his homework.

The F10s were impressed with the management of large shipments of stolen guns, noting that smaller gangs usually just dealt with what they had stolen off of the streets.

As Tito handed over the information, the expressions of the F10 seconds relaxed slightly, seemingly to be satisfied that their time was not being wasted. The meeting continued for another hour, going over the details of a merger negotiation. The Sixers would remain autonomous, but have the F10 as a distributor and supply line for both the drugs and weapons.

Tito had hoped to impress them more with his dealing in bringing the Kings on board, but was unable to hide his surprise that the F10s already knew that.

“We don’t waste our time, so we know all your shit,” Oz said. He stared at Tito for a moment, once again letting the silence of the room unnerve the Sixers.

“Heard you gave them a present?”

Tito smiled as he nodded. “Some bitch needed to return home,” he said with a chuckle.

“From what I hear you got several bitches that need to get home.”

The smile left Tito’s face as a question formed on his lips. Jazzie stepped in, “We’re dealing.”

The F10’s gazes all moved from Tito to Jazzie, holding his stare.

“You can’t take care of your own house, how you gonna take care of our business.”

At the risk of showing disrespect, Jazzie reiterated, “We’re takin’ care of our business.”

Oz shifted his gaze between Tito and Jazzie, silence filling the darkness. Slowly nodding, he said, “We can bring you on board. Drugs, guns…we can deal. But you take care of your house first.”

The F10s stood from their seats, the metal chairs scraping noisily on the concrete floor. One of them bumped the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, causing it to move back and forth shooting shadows across the men. Tito, Jazzie, and Waldo stood as the others left, giving shakes and signals.

The other gang members moved out into the night leaving the three Sixers facing each other, not knowing whether to celebrate or curse.

* * *

Now that Carla had graduated from New Beginnings and Jenita was almost ready to move out, Mackenna thought that she needed to step up her efforts to find a new place.One with more rooms so that we could expand.Sitting in the small office in the center, she continued her online searches for appropriate housing that the city would continue to fund. Several seemed promising and she took note of those.

Rose wandered in having finished her class. Leaning against the door frame, she watched Mackenna concentrate on the computer screen.

Glancing up, Mackenna smiled, saying, “Hey, what’s up?”

“I’ve had three daughters you know.”

Mackenna’s brow creased in confusion. “Yeah, um, I know.”

“Two of them have given me grandbabies.”

Mackenna cocked her head to the side, still waiting for Rose to continue.

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