Pc Perk

Episode 6

Cotton Slim

Cotton and Wilmen were sitting at a round table in the bar.  They had jazz music playing low and were just relaxing and having a few drinks.  “Think I am going to head to the jazz club tomorrow night.  Take the wife.  You want to go?”

Cotton paused.  “Nah.  I need to take the new rifle out, practice a bit with it.”  Cotton took a drink.  “If I get done early, I will show up.” 

            Wilmen nodded.  Then they heard a pecking at the front door.  They looked and saw the outline of two birds.  Cotton got up and opened the door.  Lawrence and Samuel flew in and headed to the table.  Cotton shut the door and locked it.  He then walked to the bar.  He grabbed some vodka.  Samuel’s favorite.  He grabbed two short wide mouthed glasses and brought them over.  When he got to the table, he poured vodka into the glasses. 

Cotton sat down.  Samuel had a drink.  He then pulled a thick envelope out of his bag and tossed it on the table.  Cotton reached for it.  He opened it.  He split the money four ways, fifty thousand each.  He passed it out.  Each of them took the money.  They all smiled on the inside, but kept it hidden from each other, except Lawrence. 

“For me?  Hell yeah!”  Lawrence couldn’t control his emotions. 

            Wilmen smiled.  “Young one.  Relax.  You keep with us, help us out, this is nothing.” 

Lawrence realized he let his emotions show.  He quickly looked at Samuel.  Samuel just nudged him on the shoulder. 

“Okay.  So, what is the deal?”  Cotton said as he took a sip of his Orange Turkey.

Samul lit a cigarette.  Lawrence did also.  “Okay, this whole meetup was a little weird.  I met the man.  He gave me the instructions.  The job is set up for the 11^th of November, at 3:11 P.M.” 

Wilmen looked at Cotton.  Cotton returned the look.  “So, 11-11 at 3:11?” 

                        “So, three elevens?”  Cotton asked. 

                        Samuel took a drag.  “Yeah, weird huh?”

            “I will look into that?”  Wilmen said as he pulled out his little notebook and wrote it down. 

                         “So, I am told his speech will be done at 3:10, but no matter what, do not pull the trigger until precisely 3:11.”

            Cotton shook his head in agreement. 

            “We flew by the place where the speech is going to take place.  It is going to be held at the entrance to Fairmont Park.”  Fairmont Park was a recreational park in the Middle of Downtown Porte City.  It was a huge park used by humans and animals.  It had a pond; a paved track used for biking and running.  Open fields where people could watch concerts, or just lay around, and enjoy a picnic.  It was a nice place on a sunny Saturday afternoon.  It was founded by a wealthy business man, Robert Fairmont.  He also owned the luxurious Fairmont Hotel that was directly across the street from the park.  “It looks like concession and the stage will all be off Youpon St.  Fairmont Parkway will be blocked off.  All the buildings around the park will be easy access for you Cotton, just you must choose the right one.”

            Samuel looked at Lawrence.  “You will have to watch all week leading up to the speech.  Where the media is setting up, the easiest escape route etc. etc..  You are the eyes in the sky.  You have to watch where the police and security birds are.  You might have to make a distraction somewhere.  Your eyes are the most important thing.” 

            Lawrence looked nervous.  He looked overwhelmed. 

            “Lawrence, you helped us with that one hit, over at the docks.  You did good, nothing different here.  Just more people and more security.” 

            Lawrence shook his head. 

            “Look I have a day left I can help you start spotting.  No worries nephew.  You got it.”

            “It’s cool.  We will get this done.”  Lawrence responded as he lit another cig.

            “I will start talking to some of my connections at the Fairmont, see if they need any help, serving or whatever.  I am pretty sure I can get in no problem, I have a few guys who owe me over there.  I will just tell them me and my bar-hand want some extra cash.”

            “That will be good.”  Cotton said as he took his last sip of his drink.  “I will get the phones, and the Bluetooth, so we can talk.  Lawrence,  Tomorrow, I want you to really look at escape routes, I know it is hard, not knowing where we are setting up, just fly around that block a hundred times, let the security guards who are already there see you, stop at an apartment or fiddle around at the park, make them think you’re a local bird  Get them used to your face.”  Cotton stood up.  He was already in the zone.  His mind was on one track now.  “Wilmen get us in.”  Cotton grabbed his money from the table.  He stuffed it in his jacket pocket.  I am going home to rest.  I will be shooting all day tomorrow.  Four days to get ready.  Let’s do this.”

            The men looked at each other.  They all knew what to do, they had done this a hundred times.  Cotton headed towards the door, the two birds followed.  Wilmen walked behind them, he shut and locked the door.  He grabbed his phone and called the Fairmont Hotel.   

            It was about to be 3 A.m.  Loose was sitting outside his apartment building.  He hadn’t slept much lately.  The ideas and thoughts of being Alpha kept him up.  The streets had been quiet since Snaggle died.  Loose wasn’t sure if everyone was plotting and waiting to make their move, or if it was business as usual.  He even wondered if having an Alpha, made the streets worse.  His crew had kept their original territory and were about to start taking over Snaggle’s old area.  Snaggle’s old crew was in shambles, and a few jumped ship and in-planted themselves in Loose’s crew.   Loose didn’t think much about Rider being killed, it was better.  Rider always seemed like he had something to prove, and it seemed more dangerous with him around.  Loose, lit a cigar as he looked at the moon.  He heard howling, from other wolves, but he didn’t feel like participating, he wanted to smoke his cigar. 

            “No howling?”

            “What the—“  Loose turned around startled, with his gun in his hand.

“What the fuck Eddy?”

Eddy laughed.  “Didn’t mean to scare you, my friend.”  Eddy said as he sat down next to him, on the stoop.  “You’re up late?”

“Or up early.”  Loose said, hiding the fact he wasn’t sleeping much.

“Or up early.  True.”  Eddy responded.

Eddy pulled out a cigarette.  He lit it.  “So, I might need a favor.”

The smoke from both of their habits filled the air. 

“Oh yeah what’s that?  Loose responded, eager to hear the proposition.

“So, I ran into a problem.  I need you to take care of it.”  Eddy said as he exhaled smoke.

“Who is it?”

Eddy paused.  “Some rabbit, and gorilla.”

Loose almost dropped his cigar.  He started coughing as his surprise got mixed with the smoke in his lungs. 

Eddy patted Loose on the back.  “Okay big fellow.”

“Yeah.  A Gorilla?”  Loose said, trying to draw the attention away from Cotton. 

“More about the Rabbit.  I deserved that shit from the Gorilla.  They are cool, so, I decided I want him thrown in to the hit too.”

“A hit?’  Loose said as smoke shot from his nostrils.

“Yeah, I want that Rabbit dead.  I think his name was Cotton.  You know him?”

Loose looked at the racoon.  His masked face, and sneaky demeanor made Loose unsure of his true intentions.  “Is Eddy just trying to figure out if I worked with Cotton on the Snaggle hit, or is he being honest.  Fucking Racoon.  I can never trust them.”  Loose thought as he stared at Eddy.

Loose played it cool.  “I have heard of Cotton, from what I hear he is legit.  He is a real dude.  He doesn’t mess around.”

Eddy sighed.  “Yeah, I keep hearing the same thing.”  Eddy threw his cigarette on the ground.  “Everyone had heard about him, but nobody can finger point for sure.  I mean shit, how many Rabbits have Cotton in their name.”  Eddy laughed.

“Shit you’re right.  Almost all of them have it somewhere in their name.”  Loose replied, as he wanted to end the conversation.

“Anyway.  If you do it.  Something big for you.  Whatever you want.  You know me and my crew can get anything.”

Loose became intrigued.  Loose knew Eddy’s crew, the best thieves in Porte City.  “You could get me guns?”

“How many you need?”  Eddy replied as he leaned in close.

“A lot.”