Page 17 of Hodge
“No shit. That’s why I want you to do it. You’re good at your jobs.”
“We also don’t deal in human traffickin’, Powell. You know that.”
“I do know that. But this isn’t trafficking, Griz. These are my girls I’m relocating.”
“And a van wouldn’t do the trick?” Locke asks him, sounding annoyed by all of this.
“And if we get stopped, what should I tell them? We’re on a women’s retreat?” Powell snaps back at him.
“So don’t move them all at once,” I add.
“Smaller loads don’t make any sense. I need them moved, and I need it done quickly and discretely. Is this something you can handle, or do I need to contact someone else?” My dad looks over at Locke, but he just shrugs.
“These girls? They’re all willin’ to go?” My dad asks.
“They’ve all signed contracts. I can show you copies of them, and you can feel free to verify with each girl,” he replies, pulling a file from his desk. My dad nods at me, and I stand, walking over and grabbing the file. I flip through the pages and see that they’re all signed.
“They’re signed. I’ll contact them,” I say, looking at Powell.
“As I said, they all agreed to this. I just don’t want to draw any suspicion from the police.”
“Sounds fuckin’ shady to me,” I add.
“It doesn’t matter how it sounds to you, Hodge. It’s a business deal.”
“Fine. Give us a few days to verify they all agree. If it all comes back clean, we’ll do it. If any of those girls say you’re forcin’ them, that’s your ass, Powell,” My dad warns him. The asshole nods his head as Locke and my dad stand, and I follow them out of the room just as the little shit I punched starts to wake up. He lifts his head, and I kick him in the face on my way out the door.
I can hear Powell cursing as I slam the door behind me and follow the other two out.
“You have to piss him off every time you come?” My dad asks over his shoulder as we leave the office building.
“Yeah. It’s how I get my cock hard,” I laugh.
“You’re gonna lose us a lot of business like this, Hodge.”
“And? We have plenty of other shit to do. Powell ain’t shit and we both know it,” I remind him. I’m not wrong. He isn’t shit. We could take his money or leave it. The only reason we take it is because he pays way more than any other assholes out there. He’s willing to cough up the cash to keep us around. He likes to threaten us with someone else, but no one else runs this area the way we do.
“He might not be important, but that money will come in handy,” Locke adds.
“Yeah, it will. You get onto callin’ those girls, Hodge, and see what you come up with. If any of them sound hesitant, we call this shit off. I’m all about makin’ some money but not when it’s against their will.”
“I got it.”
“This motherfucker is on my last nerve,” my dad mumbles.
“You don’t like Powell?”
“There’s just somethin’ off with that bastard. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it,” he adds. I nod my head, agreeing with him. There is something about him that I don’t like either, and it isn’t just the girls.
“I heard that. If we ever figure it out, we can take his ass down, yeah?” I say.
“Fuck yeah. If we ever figure it out. So far, that motherfucker has been clean as fuck. It sort of pisses me off, too,” he chuckles.
“You’re not lyin’. We can all see somethin’ else is goin’ on, but good fuckin’ luck figurin’ that shit out,” Locke says.
“What are we doin’ tonight?” I ask as I pull out a cigarette and light it up. I offer the guys one, and they each take it, doing the same.
“Not much. The girls are out shoppin’ for Christmas shit,” my dad grumbles.
