“Damn Son.” He paused shaking his head, “Damn!”
He reached out his hand to put it on my knee and smiled at me and I could feel my heartbeat slow down as I took a breath.
“Do you really think that's cool Pops?
“Son I think it's great. A high school huh?” he smiled.
“Yeah man, we got the whole flag football and little league goin’ so I figured all those boys are gonna grow up with our company’s names on their jerseys so they might as well play at your stadium when they get older.” Put my arm on his shoulder. “Alright I gotta go meet C and we're gonna go grab somethin’ to eat and I know Bell is chompin’ at the bit to put on somethin’ fancy.”
“Alright well thanks for stopping by son.”
“Anytime Pops. I love you”
“Love you too.”
We dapped up and I closed the door to his office as I walked out.
C was excited when I told him about the stadium, “Yo bro, how you gonna name a stadium after your pops and not tell him?”
“You know what man, I wasn't even thinkin’ about it like that, I was just so happy to be able to give him somethin’ for this life that he gave me and the whole hood knows him anyways so it doesn’t matter.”
C started talking, “You know what I was thinkin’ man, about this whole thing we're puttin together? Have you seen some of those young cats slap boxing in the streets? Some of these dudes is cold man, we got some soldiers on the squad that can go toe to toe with anybody and I mean almost anybody, you know what I'm saying?” He nudged me. “You know, if we put together like a boxing club or somethin’ I think it could be legit and I mean ‘specially after what we saw in Vegas and if they make it all the way, that’s like a hunna mil for one fight.”
He was getting excited and shadow boxing the dashboard and I laughed, realizing that deep down inside, the hood might be the only family a lot of these guys have. Especially those like C, his father got shot up 'cause of a bad deal and his mom disappeared with him.I wondered how many Malcom Jr’s are walking around out there that we could reach? Maybe C sees somethin’ in them that no one else would.
Chapter 15
We stood outside of the conference room door and Pop’s said, “You know you don't owe them any explanations. Good or bad business, this is your business, YOUR business, son.” I nodded, “I understand Pops, but it's been more than a year since we celebrated my birthday and I think it's time for them to get an update. Plus, I wanna hear how business is doin’.”
Pops smiled and looked a C. “I like this, seein’ y’all all dressed up nice, like businessmen.”
“Thank you, Sir.” C replied.
“No thank you. Now Son,” He said, looking back at me. “This conference room, these meetings that I called, you know for a fact they are not to discuss anythin’ good, it's usually not pleasant.”
I looked at him, “Pops, like you said, this is my show now, watch how fast one little change on stage can adjust everybody's attitude. Let's go, I got this. Plus, aren’t you ready for a little seaside vacation old man?” I smiled and patted his shoulder and he chucked as I opened the door and we walked into the family meeting. C Murder and Pop’s sat down as I stood at the head of the table and started, “Thank y’all for comin’, I know that in this room, with this meetin’, the agenda has usually been dark and usually it’s a time for someone to be responsible for their actions, but that's not the case today; I called you here this mornin’ to ask how business really is.” I paused to watch the room take a sigh of relief. “Second, I came here to let you know I'm not makin’ any major changes, just some money changes.” I rubbed my fingers together. “If you think about it, I’ve learned from the best, and what’s that saying, “If it ain't broke”-we know the rest.” I saw some heads nod and as the demeanor in the room changed, I continued, “Gentlemen, the legitimate companies we run move illegal narcotics all over this country, and we also rely on major shipping companies to move our own supply. These shipping docks, train stations and airlines have continued to upgrade their technology over the years resulting in astronomically higher costs for our organization.” I paused when everyone started looking at each other. “I started makin’ some phone calls and doin’ some diggin’, and I took the liberty of purchasin’ ninety-five percent of the stock for two of the major hydraulic fluid manufacturers and refineries in the world. That accounts for eighty percent of the hydraulic fluid used across the globe.” They all looked at me. “Now, I can see a lot of your faces look puzzled wonderin’ how much that’s costin’ us. The answer is, a lot, but considering that I did it almost a year ago, I don't think any of you felt it so I'm gonna continue and we'll just see how many faces change. Now, why did I do this? The same reason I purchased major stock in electronic companies-it's where the world is goin’ gentlemen. What I noticed is all our cargo ships cost a lot of money to purchase and even more to maintain; and when you multiply that by millions because of all our transportations, I thought to myself, it's going to get really expensive. Which is going to make a really bad customer experience down the line, yes, customer experience does matter, unless we can jump ahead of this. Gentlemen, everyone that pays money into our family is a customer and happy customers come back so, now that we own eighty percent of the world's hydraulic fluid, manufacturin’ it will be simple. I went to all our shippin’ partners and all the docs we operate out of and talked to owners of airlines and train manufacturers, and you know what? If it moves-from a garbage truck to pumping your damn brakes, it needs hydraulic fluid.”
I started walking around the table. “Since our family has never made money in the sellin’ of hydraulic fluid I thought, why start now? Why not make more money? That's right, more money gentlemen, you gotta look at the bigger picture and not just be greedy. Greed says that you should hold on to millions of dollars for only you and your people. Don’t get me wrong, it means you can buy whatever you want and still have loads of money, but fam, I am talking about trillions of dollars just bein’ handed to us from all of the world and it's our responsibility to do what we want with it because it’s all profit. That means we give to our people. We provide with the finances that they deserve.. When any you approached me individually and asked what to do with that extra money, my answer was always the same to all of you, “make it grow”. Now because of these deals, it doesn't cost us a thing to move anythin’ anywhere. Everyone needs this simple fluid but what shippin’ companies really like is free supply for their crane, lift gates, engines and all the things that make their budgets huge. I practically just gave it to them, I only asked for one thing in return.”
I stopped because I could see PJ smiling ear to ear.
“That's right PJ, we move anythin’ across the world as a family, for free.”A dozen people stood up as their excitement bellowed through the room and I began again, “Hold on, hold on, what that means is everyone we have deals with, we can support everythin’ they do as legitimate, everything. There won't be anythin’ movin’, not even in the damn space program, that we don’t control the supply of.” I took my place back at the head of the table as everyone sat down and began again.
“Everybody look at the prospectus in front of you, each one is customized for your borough. If you take notice, you’ll see what your unit was supposed to produce based on the increases you’ve already had but if you look at the next month, you’ll see a seven-time growth in your available capital. Gentlemen, this increase in available funds is for you to grow larger than your imagination and for you to pay quality people so that your shrinkage disappears.”
Mike spoke up, “Fam, this is nice and everything but um, a prospectus ain’t real-world bro.”
“Fare enough,” I started, “but if you look at the increases I know you've had and you look at the amount of supply that you still have, you'll see that I've been transparent in every piece of this without any cost to you.” I looked right at him, “Big Mike, this is bigger than a slice of the pie, this is the whole damn pie. We
own the supply! They will take care of our demands and we just stay loyal, we’ll give great deals and we’ll treat them like family as we build ours. No one’s even gonna be able to tell the difference between legal and illegal and it's gonna be really hard for the authorities to figure out why you're makin’ so much money legit. It means that we can stop all this war and just put people to work, we can make this easy. I'm just saying this because ain’t nobody else goin’ to.”
I looked over at Pops, nodded my head and continued, “Long live the king, y’all. I love my pops. He is the king of this underworld and it is his family that is gonna win this entire world and no one's gonna see it comin’. You will have seventy-five percent of the chips at the table when you sit down to negotiate, why? Because you'll have the shippin’ lines, the best prices and your protection. Family, this is a win, win.” I looked around the room at everyone’s body language. “Everybody, before we get further into this, let's take a 15-minute break. I want you to grab your prospectus and go get somethin’ to drink, the bar is open, check your accounts- you know the ones I'm talkin’ about.”
While they were all out of the room I personally wiped down the table and put a glass at every single seat then filled them with champagne, I grabbed the bottle and walked to the double doors where all the commotion was to let everyone in and when I opened the door Pops stood there smiling with tears in his eyes. He grabbed me tight and whispered, “Damn kiddo, that's a wolf pack right there.”
I swallowed deep patted him on his back and as they all walked in, I rose my bottle. “Y’all come in and have a toast with me.”I could see all of them smiling as they saw the glasses as they stood at their places at the table and rose theirs in the air. “I take it everyone's on board by the fact that you’re all raisin’ your glasses?” I stopped for everyone to smile and shake their head, “Yes.”
“Pops taught me to always be eight steps ahead of the game and well, this game is a damn cheetah but together we are going to win. Gentlemen, we will meet in this room to talk business and strategy, we’ll talk plannin’, just like any other top business and that's all that has to be discussed, just like any other board meetin’. Understand?”
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
“Good. As the head of this family, I will take us into the future and we're gonna grow, they won't know what the hell to do with us.”
At that moment, I had the thought, “With the right price, no matter how close we are, the game demands that the money keep flowin’ 'cause if it ever stops, you find out if you're in a pack of wolves or pack a hyaenas.”
I looked across the table at everyone smiling having a good time and leaned over to C murder. “Thank you. We both got here differently but you understand it and you can see it.” I could see the tears in his eyes, “No man, thank you for showing me the truth, bro this game is real but real life is real shit, you know?” He gave me a little side hug and dap. After about 30 minutes or so the three of us calmed everyone down enough to discuss the rest of business and it was from there, a family was born.
Chapter 16
I stood on a huge custom-carved, screened-in second floor patio of the master suite in the main home of a villa, nestled in the middle of a Columbian estate with the most beautiful backdrop I've ever seen. Pops was right, this man was the largest cocaine producer in the world with a Caesar complex. The balcony overlooked an enormous courtyard built like the Coliseum in Rome, with beautiful greenery and multi-colored flowers everywhere, it was mind blowing. Pops insisted on coming down here by himself, he said they were old friends and it would make sure things went a little smoother because there's been talks of him branching out on his own. I watched as they entered the courtyard and listened to their conversation.
“Jason my friend, it's been almost four beautiful years since your mijo took over.” Don Miguel stated.
Pops smiled, “Yes, it has and look how much this family has grown because of it.”
“Yes I'm sure you’re very proud, but then I asked myself, where is he? Why are we still talking my old friend?”
Pops looked up towards mountains in the distance and took a deep breath, “We go back a long way and I don't want anything causing any hiccups because of a misunderstanding between young and old, I figured I'd bring my ol’ ass down here to talk to a friend because some rumors, you just don't want to be true.” He looked over his sunglasses and put his hand on the Don’s shoulder.
He smiled at Pops, “Jason there's no rumors. Here's the truth, my cartel is not your family- I don't work for you. We have an arrangement and since the arrangement is going so well, I thought that I may get into the shipping business myself and not have to use our arrangement. That's what capitalism is, Jason but seeing as you are an old friend, I think it's better I deliver the message directly to the head of your family.” Pops paused and from all over the estate I could see The Don’s men walk up, at least 75 of them, fully armed. The Don called out loudly, “Javier.” and a young Colombian man walked within ten yards of Pops.
“You see Jason,” The Don paused. “that is my son, and he understands what family is. Familia! One day he will run this cartel when I'm gone and he will be El Hefe; he will make all the decisions based on what I taught him is best because I have built this cartel.”
Pops stood there stone-faced, prepared to breathe his last breath, and and from the balcony, I began to clap and shouted, “That was a beautiful speech Miguel, give me a moment 'cause I wanna make sure I heard my message correctly.”
C murder walked out of the crowd and stood beside Javier as I walked directly past a shocked Pops and addressed Don Miguel.
“You said your cartel. You said, you don't need my family. But this is a family.”
“My family!” he shouted.
I smiled, looked around and yelled, “Familia!” and all of his men shouted “Familia!” His arrogant expression turned to fear and I continued, “You can't have mine. You see, while you were out lookin’ for shipping routes that don't exist, I thought I would show the family what they should have been earning over the last four years-show your son what he can build as part of this family. So, if your final message to me is that this is your family, then you're not family-which makes you an enemy.” C murder walked up to me as I walked close enough to kiss Don Miguel and I felt him put his hand on my chest and Pops grabbed my shirt.
“Did you think you could plan to kill the king and live?”
He took a deep breath and swallowed.He whispered “No mijo.”
“I'm not your fucking son!” I shouted.
C pushed me backwards as Pops pulled me to the car. I watched Javier put the gun right against his father’s forehead and C got my attention as Don Miguel plead with his son and Pops got in the car.
“It’s time to go! You know that you can’t be here, plus,” C smiled, “I've been dying to put a bullet through this damn fool’s canoe ever since I found out he was apart of this.” I looked in his eyes, “Make sure he knows it was you.” C nodded his head, “Oh, he will, I’m gonna be the last face he sees on the way to hell. Now, you get out of here, I'm gonna hang out for a while to make sure the family is happy.”
“Alright, I'll get at you stateside.”
I got in the car and Pops raised his voice, “You spying on me now son?”
I shook my head, “No Sir. I was here a week before you. I didn’ even know you were comin’ until three days ago.”
Pops looked at me puzzled. “Explain.”
“Well you talked about the rumors coming from Columbia so I came down to fact check.” Pops’ eyes got big and he started to interject.
“Wait. Before you trip, I came down to the accountant’s office like I always do and I talked with the chief accountant. I showed him that everybody in the cartel had two accounts and it didn't take long to realize that they only ever received one of their accounts, all the others went to the same place. Don Miguel.” I explained.
“So then he just made the call for you
? Just turned over his boss?” Pops asked.
“No, the family did the right thing.” I said.
“How? Who's gonna go make that phone call to Javi for you from inside of the accounting firm?” Pops asked with a chuckle as if he caught me sneaking in.
“The chief accountant did.” I smirked
“How did you get him to do that?” He crossed his arms.
“I showed him he had three accounts.” Pops smiled and put his hand on my knee, “Damn son I guess after that it was easy to call Javier.”
“I showed Javier everything, where his father had been stealing from him and his mother and brothers, giving it to his mistress; all I said to Javier was that's not family.”
He put his hand on my shoulder and said “Familia. I'll tell you what, after 72 years I don't feel sharp anymore, I have more fun hanging out with your Uncle Pete.” He lit up a blunt, “And just watching you sore.”
“Pops I want you to spend more time with Uncle Pete and I'll come check in and give you status reports.”
He smiled as the car pulled into the hangar, “Maybe that's a good idea? Maybe I'll give your Uncle Pete a call and spend some time down there.”
“I like that idea pops.” I replied smiling.
“Yeah? Me too Son.”
***
I walked in the house and I could hear Belle’s cries coming from our bedroom. I bolted in and there she was in the middle of our bed, she jumped up and ran to me hysterical, “You left! And then Pops left! I know that y'all do business, but you left your itinerary- you never leave your itinerary! It's a bad place where you went...and Pops said he was going there to take care of a misunderstanding. Your itinerary was out... and all I could do was think the worst! Your itinerary...You never leave your-” She broke down franticly.
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