SNAP (The SNAP Trilogy Book 1)

by Dawn, Tara

  "Hey, sweetheart, how's your day going?" Paul asks as I sit down.

  "Just like any other day," I respond, taking a hit off my cigarette and blowing out the smoke.

  "You know you should really quit." He motions toward my smoke. "It's horrible for you, and men don't like it."

  "Paul, you of all people should know that I don't give a shit what men think of me. If they don't like it, they can kiss my ass."

  Paul raises his brows in question at my outburst before turning his head and taking a sip from his beer. I drop my chin attempting to reign in my emotions.

  "You really should quit. It is horrible for you."

  I stiffen on the bar stool with my cigarette halfway to my mouth knowing he heard every word that was said. Turning my body, I see Cash standing behind me and wonder how in the hell he snuck up on me. He sits on the stool next to me, propping his elbows on the bar. It's times like these I wish I could control my mouth. I watch him as I put my cigarette between my lips and his eyes drop to my mouth. Taking one last drag, I stub it out in the ashtray as I blow the smoke away from him.

  "You want a beer?" I ask, getting ready to rise from the stool.

  "I want your phone number," he whispers close to my ear causing me to suck in my breath in surprise.

  My face turns to his and I notice how much closer he's moved toward me. Our bodies nearly touching has my heart pounding in my chest working its way into my throat. His eyes are like swirling pools of melted chocolate and I know deep down that's what they look like when he's having sex. It makes me squeeze my legs together. As if he knows my next move, his eyes drop to my mouth again as my tongue wets my dry lips.

  "When's your next day off?" His gravelly voice isn't helping out my situation any as I wiggle on the bar stool trying to alleviate my sudden need to have some friction between my legs. His lip twitches as he watches me squirm.

  I clear my throat and try to clear my mind, speaking with a stronger voice than I feel. "Monday, if Roger doesn't make me come in on my day off."

  "Perfect," he says as he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and holds it out to me. "Call your phone."

  The command in his voice has my defenses rising as I melt in my panties. I don't know this man. He could be far worse than Phil, but is better at hiding it. I look at the phone resting in his hand as I think every thought under the sun, and I'm not sure which will win out, fear or desire.

  "Hazel." The softness of his voice pulls my eyes to his. "Call your phone."

  "You gonna work anytime today lady, or just sit there and stare at Mr. Hotty all night?"

  My head whips to Cady standing behind the bar with a mischievous grin on her face as she prepares for her shift. She winks at me and walks down the bar grabbing her tray and pad of paper.

  I snatch the phone from Cash's hand and quickly dial my number handing it back to him. "Bye, Cash."

  Jumping off the bar stool, I haul ass around the bar ready to kick Cady's ass while trying to control the blush feverishly spreading over my face. When I reach her, she leans back against the sink and nods looking at something over my shoulder. Cash is smiling as he slides his phone in his pocket then walks out the door.

  "When's the hot date?" Her eyes are twinkling as a sly smile forms on her face.

  I wash my hands and get myself under control. "Monday."

  "I've got a good feeling about him, Hazel."

  "Yeah, I've got a feeling about him too. Just not sure if it's good or bad." I busy myself checking bottle levels and inventory.

  "Oh, I hope it's real bad," she insinuates with a growl making me laugh.

  Cash

  After spending weeks trapped in a car, the six hour drive back to headquarters is fucking torture. I pull up in front of Rian's Chemical Company and sigh as I shut off the car thankful to finally be here. I rub my hand over my face and cringe when I feel the little bit of growth on my jaw. A shower and a shave are the first things on my list. Getting out of my car, I grab my bag from the trunk and make my way to the employee entrance. It's one in the morning and the night shift wrapped up an hour ago. Sliding my key card into the slot, I grab the handle and open the door. The smell of chemicals assault my nose as the florescent lights blind me. I haven't missed this.

  Everything is clean, well as clean as you can get a factory, as I make my way to the locker rooms in the back. I flip the light on as I enter and place my bag on one of the benches. Stripping out of my clothes, I walk over to the first shower setting my toiletries on the shelf. The hot water beats down on me washing away the funk from the trip and loosening my sore muscles. I take my time enjoying the peace and quiet before drying off and heading over to the sink to shave.

  As I'm lathering my face, the door bangs open pausing my actions. Joseph appears in his lab coat pulling his respirator off and his goggles. He halts when he sees me, his almond shaped eyes squinting slightly.

  "Well, you decided to come back early." He wipes the sweat from his face and pushes his black hair back.

  I look back at myself in the mirror and pick up my razor, gliding it over my skin. "I'm going back Monday."

  Joseph walks up behind me staring me down in the mirror. "The fuck you are. We will send Carl or Brad, or both. You are not going back up there."

  I go back to shaving, ignoring the pissed off glare and flaring nostrils next to my reflection. "Phil is out of town this weekend. I watched him leave with his father and brother. Father-son fishing trip by the looks of the boat they were pulling behind them. I wouldn't be able to get any intel on him while he's gone so I came back with all the information I have gathered."

  Joseph, still pissed off, nods his head and starts stripping out of his clothes. He heads to the shower and is back in a matter of minutes drying himself off and pulling on clean clothes from his locker. I rinse the remaining foam from my face then grab clean clothes from my bag putting them on.

  "Where's Dale?" I ask Joseph as I tie my sneakers.

  "He's in the ingredients room prepping for the next batch. It's in demand. We've doubled our run over the last two weeks. I don't know how we are gonna keep up only running at night."

  I take a closer look at Joseph. He's run down with bags under his eyes and body stiff with stress. What the hell's been going on around here? We knew this drug would take off fast, but we've already increased production four times before I left a few weeks ago.

  We walk down the hall to Dale's office and enter the hidden door panel in his personal bathroom. It opens up to a secret hallway that has several rooms running the length of the building. Each room has a specific purpose in the process of creating Snap. As we pass, I watch everyone hastily working on their tasks. Some look up and nod toward us, others, so focused, don't even notice as we pass by. It's running like a well-oiled machine.

  As we near the makeshift meeting room at the end of the hall, I hear Dale yelling at one of the workers. "I don't give a fuck how long it takes. Figure out what went wrong with this batch. It was too soft and not holding together properly."

  "Yes, sir. I'll look into it," a voice quietly says as we enter the room. A young man passes us with his head hung low as he makes his way down the hall.

  Dale turns toward us and fire ignites in his eyes. "You motherfucker!" He storms me and grabs my shirt. "Do you know how worried I've been all week? Well, if you'd answered your goddamn phone every once in a while, you'd know."

  I pull his hand off my shirt and return his steely look. "Watch yourself, Dale."

  He pulls back and puts his hands on his hips shaking his head. Dale's as stressed out as Joseph is.

  "Let's talk about the information I have then you can tell me what the fuck's going on around here." I set my duffle bag on the table and slip the memory card out of my phone. I put it in the laptop and connect to the flat screen TV hanging behind me on the wall. Pictures and video load up as Joseph and Dale sit down facing the screen.

  "This is Hazel Watson," I say as I flip through photos of her coming and go
ing from her apartment and working the bar. "She's twenty-nine, works as a manager at Maggie Mae's tavern, and lives alone. That is her friend Cadence McDowell. Everyone calls her Cady. She is the only person I've seen Hazel invite into her home and the only person I've seen her out with. In the two weeks I was there prior to this meeting, Hazel worked every single day for at least ten hours."

  A whistle escapes Dale's lips when I get to the picture of her in the black scrap of a dress she was wearing the first night I saw Phil approach her. My eyes narrow at him and he shuts up so I can continue.

  "This was the first time I saw her and Phil together." I click through the next few pictures until I get to the video I took in the bar that night and hit play. We watch Phil approach the two ladies and can barely hear their conversation. The annoyance on her face, her stiff body language, and the brief flicker of anger when she turns to face Phil is all caught on video. I've played this several times watching as she leans back against the bar with confidence and her face tilts up to him. The hard look in her eyes as her lips move. An image of her in my bed propped up on her elbows daring me to make a move has my pants tightening.

  Dale jerks forward in his seat as he watches Phil turn and walk past the camera storming out. "Rewind that," he says standing up and walking toward the screen. This is the first close up shot we've gotten of Phil since he first started working for us. I rewind it and we watch again as Phil turns around. "Freeze it," Dale says quickly. "Click the frames forward one at a time."

  I do like he asks until Phil's face is pointed right at the camera. It's the coldest face I've ever seen. Most people would call it emotionless, but most people have never encountered a murderer. Staring into his eyes, I see what Dale notices. Phil's pupils are so large there's barely any color left in them. Same as they were when I came face-to-face with him later that night.

  "This isn't a side effect of Snap. It doesn't make your pupils dilate or agitate you like this." Dale shakes his head and sits back down.

  Joseph continues to stare at the screen unblinking in deep thought. The wheels turning in his brain are almost visible in his eyes. He's picked up on something Dale and I can't see. The room is still as Dale and I look upon him in silence. If anyone can figure out this mess, Joseph can. He's the mastermind behind the chemical cocktail of Snap. Messing around in the lab one night working on a project for school, he figured out different ways to recreate some pharmaceutical drugs. Always one to push the boundaries, he sat in there all night mixing chemicals until he got it right. At first we thought he was nuts, but when he started using himself as a guinea pig and sharing results with us, it became a no brainer.

  We spent months turning the archives of the building into the perfect climate controlled production area. It's not easy to find it either. All entries were blocked off but three. Workers are employed through Rian Chemical Company. Those who are legally able to work in the country, anyway. We offer them a higher wage to keep their mouths shut and the best insurance on the market. They may be making illegal drugs, but they are making the money the legit way doing it. Safety measures are in place in case anyone comes in asking questions. Everyone knows their part, ready to play it out at a moment’s notice. And they do it perfectly every time. Surprise drills have occurred to insure that things run smoothly.

  Joseph grabs a scrap of paper and starts writing down chemical abbreviations I don't understand. The intensity of which he's scribbling on the paper looks like he's going to tear through it. He stands abruptly, the chair squealing in protest and almost toppling over as he snatches the paper off the table and sprints for the door that leads to the lab.

  Our heads follow him as he rushes off. Dale opens his mouth to say something to him and I shake my head at him. "Don't even bother. We won't know what the fuck he's talking about until he's able to figure it out and break it down into layman's terms for us. Just let him do his thing. I'll fill you in on everything else I have."

  Dale agrees and stays put as I show him pictures of Phil doing drop-offs at his dealer houses, sitting out front of Hazel's place, peeking through her windows, and having innocent looking meetings with Dustin at random places.

  "Do they ever leave these meeting places together?" Dale flicks through the pictures stopping on different ones and taking a closer look.

  "I've seen two different times that they left together. One time they met at a fast food restaurant and parked next to each other. I watched them walk in, they acted like they didn't know each other, and the next thing I knew, I saw them at the stoplight next to me in a completely different car than they came in. They had to have gone out the door on the other side of the building. I couldn't get out of the parking lot in time to follow and lost them. The second time was about a week later at a gas station. Phil pulled up to get gas, Dustin was dropped off by someone, probably one of his lackeys, and he got in Phil's car. I followed and tried to stay a few cars back, but it looked like they got spooked by something. I'm not sure if they noticed me or not, but he pulled over and I had to pass them by. Dustin was climbing out of Phil's car looking around before I lost sight of them in the rear view."

  "Is this the building they pulled in front of?" Dale points to the picture of the hair salon.

  "Yeah. I've went by there a few times and there's nothing that stands out that something is going on there. I haven't seen either one of them back there since. I've watched Dustin a few times when I couldn't find Phil and he doesn't do much. He's too busy wheeling and dealing from his home. The amount of drugs he peddles, he can't deliver and he won't. I don't blame him, I wouldn't either. I'm going to stop and pay a visit with Gavin on my way back on Monday to see if Phil has increased his supply and what else he's getting from him. He has to be hopped up on something besides Snap. I don't want to have Gavin cut him off yet. I want to see what he's up to. He's the only one that fits the description of the person who tried to break in here that night."

  Dale sits quietly fuming at me. His nostrils flare as he grinds his teeth. "Gavin has already contacted us."

  "What?" Gavin hardly ever reaches out to us. He knows the rules. He's trying to climb the ladder and is learning how to do things like the big boys, not like nickel and dime bag dealers.

  "He called and I sent Brad to meet with him. He said demand has increased in Trinity and Swanson areas. Gavin needed to quadruple his stock because it was pretty much gone before he got his hands on it. He's got five dudes below him, Phil being one of them, and Phil is dealing it out faster than he can recomp goods. Phil even offered him an additional grand if he cut out one of the other guys and gave him his supply."

  My brows shoot up. An extra grand? How much is he charging for Snap? There is no way people there can afford those kinds of prices. The drug wasn't that expensive as is, but if he's taxing it like crazy, then he could make hand over fist. If he were to get his supply and someone else's, that's enough to fully deal Snap for a month or more. How is he getting rid of it in a week's time and where is it going from there? There are three main dealers in Jackson that aren't going through the supply he's going through. At the rate Phil is dealing, he'll need semi-truck deliveries in the next month. We aren't even ready to expand outside the state yet.

  Dale clicks through the pictures some more and stops on one. I glance over and see a shot of her face smiling and stare at the woman who has caught my attention in more than one way. Her eyes are glittering in the sunshine and her lips are stretched across her face in an inviting way. I wonder what it would take to make her smile like that.

  "I don't like the way you look at her." Concern and ire lace Dale's voice. "You have a lot of pictures of her, Cash."

  I pull my gaze from the screen and put it on him. He's studying me intently, but I've trained myself to show no emotion when need be.

  "You can't hide behind that wall with me. I know you far too well for that shit. We grew up together, remember? I'll call Brad in the morning and have him ready to go Monday morning. You have shit that needs taken care of
around here."

  "There's nothing Joseph can't handle in my stead," I say, aggravation growing by the second. "I'm going back on Monday. I've put a plan into place."

  "What kind of plan?" Dale asks sounding just as perturbed as me.

  "I'll fill you in if it works," I say rising from my chair.

  "Fuck that. You'll fill me in now. You're not going rouge on this one. There's too much at stake here. Sit your ass down and tell me everything." Dale's yelling by the time he finishes.

  I sit back down and take a deep breath looking at Hazel's picture. He follows my gaze and begins shaking his head, muttering under his breath. "She knows who I am. I saved her from Phil. I'm playing the hero card."

  "You are being stupid. You're getting involved and you're going to bring this entire operation down on our heads and for what? Some pussy?" Dale leans back in his chair rubbing hands over his face and into his slicked back blond hair.

  "She knows more than she realizes. We want Phil, Phil wants her. By getting close to her, we get closer to him. It's the only way we are going to take him down." I try to reason with Dale, but it's only making the situation worse.

  "It's not just Phil you want, though. You want her too. Someone's going to get hurt in this mess, Cash, and it's going to be her. Phil starts doing research on you, he's going to figure out who you are and all hell's going to break loose. Let's just put a bullet in his head and call it a day."

  I look at him as if he's lost his mind. "We can't do that and you know it. He comes from a prominent family who will stop at nothing if he's killed. We don't know who he's working with and if this will continue were he to disappear. And if we back off Hazel he's going to hurt her. The dude is fucking nuts. He's smart, but he's slipping up, letting his emotions get the better of him."

  "That's what I'm afraid of," Dale says quietly.

  "She likes me, Dale. Let me try this angle and see if it works. I'll get as much work done as I can this weekend here and head back Monday. It's her day off and we're supposed to go out," I tell him and watch for his reaction.