Black Market Merchant

Chapter 138: No Guilty Feelings
Saul was in no proper mood to manage the triplets anymore. His head pounded heavily, memories were still a complete blur from the last few days and now he was being forced to be in a noisy arena with the people he had come to fear. The triplets terrified him! From what he could recall, there were times when they would force him to do insane stunts, like the gauntlet, streaking and other embarrassing actions.

Then if that wasn’t all bad enough, Martinez was very upset that things had gone badly already. Jackson had neglected to find anything noteworthy to use against Queen that Saul could exploit and instead discovered a new possible threat towards the gang! Martinez still hadn’t gotten over this frustrating incident when Rodney plopped the disheveled and worse for wear Saul into his office. Infuriated that everything was not going as he planned, Martinez was now continuing to take it out on poor battered Saul, even up until the moments before the fight with Queen.

Both men were speaking in the hallway, just outside the entrance to the Arena, while the triplets were already taking their places on the benches closest to the stage. Anyone sitting by the entrance and listening carefully enough might even have heard the conversation taking place inside. Martinez’s voice was like a foghorn berating Saul when he was especially mad, and occasionally, he would speak Spanish when the anger was consuming his thought process.

”I want you to get those Irish thugs to finish that woman off and I don’t care what they do to compete the job!” Martinez shouted into Saul’s face. ”I have enough to worry about with the upcoming battle with the Skull and other matters. So, get rid of this impudent Queen.”

”Of course, Boss! I will make sure that she doesn’t make it off that stage alive.” Saul replied in a raspy dry voice. Apparently, he had been shouting so much to be heard over the ridiculously loud music at the mansion that his voice was nearly gone.

”You better.” Martinez snarled. Then he leaned forward to place a tightly griped hand onto Saul’s shoulder. ”Because if you lose the fight, you are going to have to put a bullet in her skull personally or else!”

Saul gulped visibly and fear twinkled in his bruised eyes. ”I-I understand Boss! She won’t stand a chance against them anyway.”

”You better hope so. Now get out of my sight ¡Eres un inútil pedazo de basura!” Martinez hissed viscously shoving him away.

Nearly falling backwards, Saul scuttled quickly down the hall and into the lower arena. Here there was no solace to be found. Conor tossed a heavy arm around Saul and pulled him close onto the bench they were sitting on.

”Awe, did daddy yell at you? Maybe you could ask us to help you out next time. Ha-ha, here.” Connor said shoving something small in Saul’s hand. ”This should calm your nerves some.”

Saul looked down and saw a small clear bag with a white substance inside. Inwardly he groaned, ”I don’t want to see this stuff ever again!”

”You better take it. Otherwise, I’ll have to help you.” Conor prodded.

”I’ll do it later.” Saul whimpered replying with a nervous tone. ”We need to meet up with the announcer to discuss the terms.”

”Ah, you can go do that yourself. We got nothing to add to this lame fight. I heard that this Queen is still in the 20th tier of the Shadow League. So, it’s going to be an in and out fight, if it’s even going to be called a fight. This whole thing is completely laughable.” Conor scoffed.

”I don’t even see her yet.” Patrick added sitting back down onto the bench. ”You think she realized who we were and got too scared?”

”Probably. I’d give up too if I had to fight someone with a face as ugly as yours.” Sean chortled nudging Patrick’s arm.

”Shut up you idiot! We got the same looking face. You’re just as ugly!” Patrick replied nudging his brother back even harder.

”No, I got better looks. My eyes aren’t as far apart as yours do.” Sean countered shoving Patrick who in turn nearly slipped off the bench. The two of them then broke out into a childish frenzy of pushing and shoving.

”I guess I’ll go then?” Saul muttered turning to go.

”Saul, you better finish that bag before you get back. Understand?” Conor called out over the noisy crowd growing in the stands and his brother’s antics. ”Knock it off you two! You’re embarrassing us.”

Saul nodded fearfully, unable to say another word. Speaking with that huge intimating Irish man had made his mouth run dry and hands to shake madly. Then he realized that maybe the reason Conor gave him the bag of drugs was because he was getting addicted now. The shaking could be because his withdrawals were taking affect.

Saul hurried away towards the announcer’s table. Here all he needed to do was officially sign the triplets in, turn in their current record and wait for the opponent’s manager to see if there were any additional changes or bets for this fight. However, Saul was more worried about the small baggie he had hastily stuffed into his back pocket, then being focused on his job.

”This is not good. Maybe I am addicted.” Saul cursed to himself. Then he shook his head to clear it. ”No, that’s not it. I am just recovering still. That is it, I just need to rest after this fight.”

…

”Alright boss, I am going to have a look around. Maybe find someone good to bet against.” Zane announced turning to break away from the group, but he stopped and turned back around nearly immediately. ”But I do have a question.”

”Go on ahead, Benny and Hanna. We will catch up in a second.” Lisa said to them and then she focused onto Zane. ”What questions?”

”Well, why didn’t you just buy the toilet paper instead of trading with the pelts? I know you needed to get rid of them eventually and that it costed you nothing, but still.” Zane asked.

”Simple. If I suddenly took out a wad of cash in that market setting do you think anyone watching us would leave us alone? You ought to understand this, after all being in a gang you probably extorted stuff from others?” Lisa replied.

”I can’t deny that.” Zane said giving an indifferent shrug.

”The other reason is that in a place like this, money is power, and I need more. That is why you, my lucky man, is going to make more, much more. One day I hope to show you how money is really supposed to be used. Now if that is all, go on.” Lisa said waving him away.

”Ok.” Zane replied feeling a bit silly.

After all, one of his jobs used to be to observe anyone that might have things useful for the gang to exploit. After leaving Lisa he wandered around the hallway and the illegal property market for a while looking for anyone that might be interested in betting against him. After a time, he came to a conclusion, that everyone was betting at the Betting Booths. The odds were just too good to pass up.

At the booths there was already a large group of patrons of both wealthy dressed men and women placing their bets. Straining to see the TV through the bustling people, Saul spotted the fights betting ratio. It was 30:9 with Lisa being the expected underdog. Then he saw the reasons for why the ratio was set as so.

Clover Cutters: Conor, Sean, and Patrick. Shadow League Tier 5, with 7 wins and 0 loses all.

Queen, Shadow League Tier 20, with 5 wins and 0 loses. Note: In case of Queens total victory, due to the rules the fighter will advance one win into Tier 19.

Zane could make out random people shouting their betting prices and the numbers were enough to make him sick. ”I’ll bet thirty thousand on the Clover Cutters!” One man shouted. ”I’ll put twenty thousand on Queen!” Another shouted.

Taking another look around him and listening to the conversations around him, Zane decided to go against Lisa’s betting choice. He was going to bet at the booth. No one around him was going to try betting against him for a thousand dollars.

”The only question I got to find out now is, ’Where do they keep all this money?’.” Zane thought as he started weaving his way through the crowd towards the front and place his bet. ”If Boss Lisa really wants to make some money, maybe she’d be up to robbing this place. If these guys are tossing around cash numbers like it is nothing, then we could score big time! I just hope she not a complete softy and is against stealing.”

…

”So, is there anything any of you want to add, betting wise, to the match?” The Announcer asked looking between Sadie, Lisa, and Saul.

”Nothing from me.” Saul replied grumpily.

”Me either.” Sadie replied as well.

”I do.” Lisa said not even taking her eyes off Saul’s bruised face. ”If I win, Saul, you have to confess to a certain incident that you were involved in last month.”

”What incident?” Saul asked slightly confused by the odd request.

”There was a family that was killed in the Maple Valley Police station. I need you to admit you were a part of it.” Lisa replied flatly.

”Killed in a police station?” Saul muttered. Then he recalled the time that they killed that ex-cop for some blueprint plans. ”What if I don’t have anything to say about that time?”

”I don’t think you’re going to have a choice.” Lisa said coldly. ”I must know.”

”I would ask you why it matters to you, but I’ll save you the effort. It doesn’t matter anyway. I have no regrets about whatever happened then. Fine, if you’re so interested Queen, I’ll tell you if you win.” Saul replied shrugging.

Upon hearing the agreement between them the Announcer wrote down the agreement. ”Is that all?” He asked glancing up at them.

”Ya, that’s all.” Lisa replied.

”Good. You can return to your areas and prepare for entry into the stage. Your fight is third on the list.” The Announcer explained.

Saul nodded and silently turned to go. Lisa, however, had clearly heard what Saul said. It was clear to her now that he indeed was there when Hanna’s parents were killed. After all he had said it himself, he had no regrets as to what happened. He knew.

Then she spotted something white sticking out from Saul’s back pocket. Instantly she knew what it was, drugs. She might do a lot of things for money, but one of the things she would never sell, do, or allow in her sight would be drugs. Her uncle and two cousins had overdosed on heroin, way back in time, before her joining the military. The incident’s made her mother so depressed for years that Lisa vowed never to indulge drugs in any way.

Lisa narrowed her eyes angrily as Saul walked away. ”Saul, you will get what’s coming to you soon. Then your boss is going to be next. Once I set out to do a job, I finish it!”

…

Saul let out a sigh. ”Glad that’s over with. I wonder why she’s so interested in that particular time? I didn’t think that there was anyone that cared about that family anyway. Wait, how does she even know that we killed them!? Did someone see us do it?”

Saul stopped to turn and look over his shoulder at Queen. She was just now sitting down at her assigned bench with Sadie and there were already two others that were with them. He had seen the old man and girl before when Golem fought Queen the first time. When he looked closer at the masked little girl that feeling a familiarity hit him again.

”Where did I see you at?” Saul wondered.

Then he noticed her muddy red hair and knew that the answer was on the tip of his tongue. Subconsciously his hand wandered to his back pocket and touched the bag. Realizing what he had done shocked him, and he was once again distracted away from Hanna. ”Crap! Maybe I really am addicted after all.”