Chapter 9: Hoboken Transfer

“Get yourselves ready,” Tony commanded as he came down the stairs. “The exchange is happening today, twelve noon. We’re going to Jersey.”

It was 9:14am Saturday when Tony made his announcement. The text from Ruiz Castellano came to his cellphone just moments earlier. Factoring in travel time, Tony knew they had ample time to make the meeting if they were not wasteful. Collecting Malcolm and Keegan was his only concern.

“I’ll be needing you for a one-day project at some point in the next week.”

Malcolm and Keegan were given that message by Jeremiah three days earlier and had been ready ever since. They knew that message was code for work that was off the books and illegal, which also meant a lot more money for a lot less work. The occasional drug money collection run and rousting of delinquent dealers were just an additional facet of working for Tony. Fighting, rough housing and bullying had been a large part of their lives; getting paid for it was just a logical progression for both men. When they got the call from Jeremiah, they hurried to his home in Keegan’s 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Coupe. It took them about thirty minutes to arrive at Jeremiah’s home where they were shocked by what they say.

“It’s the new me,” Tony declared with a smile.

“I don’t get it, boss,” Malcolm said with astonishment. “What happened?”

Several weeks passed since Malcolm and Keegan had been in the same room with Tony, Jeremiah, Charlie or Ben. When they last saw them, they appeared to be in their late forties to mid-sixties. The men they were looking at seemed to be no older than they were: in their mid-twenties. Tony’s athletic physique made him barely recognizable from the man he was when they last saw him, and Jeremiah’s distinctive size and build was the only thing that gave away his identity.

“It’s a new drug,” Tony explained with confidence. “And it’s going to make us filthy rich.”

Tony, Jeremiah, Charlie and Ben faced their two new arrivals for several seconds, allowing them to adjust to their new physical changes, and then Tony instructed everyone to get moving. A dismayed Malcolm and Keegan went back to their Dodge Challenger with new thoughts and questions about who they were working for and what they were doing.

“What are we going to do about them?” Jeremiah questioned Tony at the front door.

“We’ll talk about it later at the stash house,” Tony answered before turning away and walking out the front door.

Several minutes after Malcom and Keegan’s arrival, everyone except Jeremiah set off for Hoboken, New Jersey. He stayed behind to deal with other business. Tony occupied the backseat of his late model Buick LaCrosse with Ben driving and Charlie riding shotgun. Keegan followed behind in his 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T Coupe with Malcom in the front passenger seat.

At 11:33am, Tony and his team arrived at a four-story parking garage in Hoboken. Parking spaces were plentiful on most weekend mornings. Ben backed the Buick into a parking space on the third level away from neighboring cars. Keegan and Malcom backed their car into a space across the aisle and five spaces down. They were all armed with handguns. Shortly before noon, Ben got out and opened the Buick’s hood and lingered there to give the impression that he was examining the engine. The raised hood was a signal to Castellano’s people of their location.

Just past noon, Castellano’s advance guard rolled past Tony’s car in a late model, black four-door Chevrolet Impala. The four men inside the vehicle visually examined Tony’s car then Keegan and Malcom’s car. Moments after they passed both cars, Tony got a text from Castellano.

Who is in the Dodge?

Tony responded in like manner.

They belong to me.

Moments after Tony’s response, the Chevy Impala returned from the opposite direction and backed into a space across the aisle, six spaces down effectively putting Tony’s car between Keegan’s car and the Impala. For several minutes, the occupants of the three cars sat and watched each other. Everyone was armed and ready with handguns. The wait ended when a late model Mercedes CLS rolled up the aisle and backed into the space next to Tony’s Buick on side nearest to the Challenger. The tinted windows prevented Tony from seeing who was in the car, but he had no doubt that Ruiz Castellano was one of the occupants.

The driver of the Mercedes, a stern looking Hispanic, shut off the engine, stepped out of the car and open the hood of his car. His actions gave the impression of one driver assisting another driver with a jump. As soon as this image was in place, Ruiz and another Hispanic male stepped out of the Mercedes, walked to the rear of their vehicle and opened the trunk. Tony and Charlie followed their lead moments behind.

The process of exchanging the cocaine for the money was a rushed effort. Neither Tony nor Ruiz wanted to linger there too long. The cocaine and the payment were in the trunks. Verifying the quantity and the quality of the cocaine was the longest part of the process. The contents of five duffel bags full of cocaine had to be examined, and the contents of a random bag of cocaine from each had to be weighed and assayed. When both sides were satisfied that the agreed upon quantities were present, they transferred the cocaine and the money from the trunk of one vehicle to the other.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Senor McGuire,” Ruiz declared with a smile and the extension of his hand.

“For me as well,” Tony returned while shaking Ruiz’s hand. “I look forward to doing it again.”

Ruiz gave the reply from Tony a brief wide smile before he began speaking his thought on it.

“Your optimism is amusing, senor.”

“And why is that?” Tony questioned with an air of indifference.

“You are swimming in dangerous waters, Senor McGuire,” Ruiz answered with an amused expression. “If I were you, I would not be so confident. The sharks are big in New York.”

Tony took a moment to restrain a grin behind a wide smile.

“Tell your employer that if he wants to do business with the shark that has the biggest bite, then he’ll toss his chum my way.”

Ruiz gave the reply from Tony a sly smile before speaking to it.

“I will pass on your message, Senor McGuire.”

Ruiz gave a slight bow, and it was returned by a head and shoulder nod from Tony. Ruiz then turned about, got into the left rear passenger seat of his Mercedes and was driven away. The Challenger that was parked five spaces down the aisle followed the Mercedes out of the garage. Tony and his LaCrosse took their leave of the garage a little more than a minute later. Malcolm and Keegan followed behind inside the Dodge Challenger.

After leaving the Hoboken, New Jersey, parking garage, Tony and his cohorts set a course for the commercial building in Brooklyn that Jeremiah was restoring. The building had four stories. The first and second levels were configured to be used as a retail store of some kind. The second level was a mezzanine situated over one-third of the first level’s rear space. The third level was adaptable as a business or apartment space. The basement comprised the fourth level. Tony chose this building to be the stash house from where he would package the cocaine he had just acquired. By choosing this location, the restoration work on the building had to be suspended. Jeremiah was displeased with the holdup on the work that needed to be done to the building, but he went along with the plan because of the money he expected to accrue from the sale of the cocaine.

It took Tony and company a little more than an hour to arrive outside the Brooklyn building that Jeremiah was restoring. There was no visible activity going on inside the building despite the appearance of being in mid renovation. They parked their cars in the small lot at the side of the building. Malcolm and Keegan noted that Jeremiah’s car was also parked in the building’s parking lot. When they got out of the car, Tony instructed Keegan, Malcolm, Ben and Charlie to bring in the bags from the trunk of the LaCrosse. This was the moment when Malcolm and Keegan first noticed a discernible change in the appearance of Tony, Charlie and Ben from when they were in Jeremiah’s house. In appearance, they looked to be moving back toward their true age, but the change went beyond aging. They looked to be haggard and drained of energy. Their hair was now dull and filled with streaks of gray, their skin was pale and wrinkled, and their forms were starting to show emaciated appearance. Malcolm and Keegan were so startled by the simultaneous changes in their appearance that they gave each other questioning looks. Tony, Charlie and Ben noticed their confused expressions. When Malcolm and Keegan went to carry the duffel bags into the building, Tony, Charlie and Ben met up with Jeremiah in the center of the building’s main ground floor room.

“They know something is off,” Charlie whispered as he looked toward Malcolm and Keegan.

Tony gave his two young subordinates a look and noted that they had brought all five duffels into the building.

“Store it in the basement,” Tony instructed Malcolm and Keegan with a point of his finger toward the door to the stairwell.

Malcolm and Keegan hesitated to move on Tony’s instruction. The sight of Jeremiah’s unblemished features was a striking contrast to the weathered faces of Tony, Charlie and Ben. Malcolm and Keegan took a moment to note the difference between the four of them, and they began doing as they were instructed. Tony, Charlie and Ben waited for Malcolm and Keegan to carry a duffel bag slung across their backs and drag the other three into the basement stairwell before continuing with their conversation.

“Are they going to be a problem?” Tony questioned Charlie.

“No way,” Charlie insisted. “They know the rules.”

“They’re moonlighters,” Jeremiah disputed. “They do this for the money. They don’t have any loyalty to you, Tony. Tomorrow they could be working for someone else.”

“So, we bring them in,” Charlie argued back. “Make them a part of the team.”

“Turn them?” Ben questioned with a hint of eagerness in his voice.

“The plan is to make more of us, isn’t it?” Charlie questioned with a hard look at Tony. “Sooner or later, they’re going to see too much and rabbit on us. We should do it now and get it over with.”

“Do they have people?” Tony queried with a look of concern.

“Nah, they both been pretty much on their own from the moment they got out of high school,” Jeremiah answered with a shrug.

“What about friends–women?” Tony quickly asked with a glance toward Charlie, then Ben and back again.

Tony knew that Charlie and Ben were more likely to know the answer to his question. They worked alongside Malcolm and Keegan on several occasions, and they infrequently socialized with them.

“Malcolm is strictly hookers and whores, and Keegan is rarely with the same girl twice,” Charlie answered as though it was common knowledge. “And from what I can tell, the only friends they confide in are each other.”

Tony looked to Ben for confirmation and got a confirming nod of his head just as he spoke.

“Yeah.”

Tony took a moment longer to consider the idea of turning his two young soldiers of fortune. Malcolm and Keegan came out of the basement stairwell and started toward them while Tony was considering his options.

“Okay,” Tony pondered aloud with an approving nod of his head. “Let’s do it,” he finished a moment before Malcolm and Keegan joined the huddle.

“Do what?” Malcolm asked while scanning the four faces in front of him.

Tony, Jeremiah, Charlie and Ben took steps back to widen their huddle to include Malcolm and Keegan.

“We’re thinking about adding some new members,” Tony answered a moment of thought.

“Oh, really?” Malcolm pondered aloud.

“Yeah,” Tony answered as though he was still considering the question.

Keegan was giving no attention to what was being said. His thoughts were focused on Tony’s aged and weathered face.

“You okay, boss?” Keegan interjected with a look of concern.

“I’m fine,” Tony returned with a stern look toward Keegan. “Why do you ask?”

“You were looking—great a few hours ago, and now you look—different,” Keegan explained with some effort to find the words.

“I am different,” Tony stoically explained. “We’re all different. We’re better—We’re stronger, faster and more powerful than any mortal living.”

“What are you talking about?” Malcolm asked with a confused shake of his head.

“I’m talking about taking over this city,” Tony answered blandly. “I’m talking about becoming gods.”

Keegan was listening to every word that Tony said. His mind was fixed on the task of learning the truth of what was happening between Tony, Jeremiah, Charlie and Ben, and he suspected that he would eventually hear enough to piece it together. Malcolm became more confused with each statement from Tony. Asking for an explanation for each new statement was almost a reflex action.

“What—what does that mean?” Malcolm queried with a look of astonishment.

“It means, we are immortals,” Tony sternly answered. “It means, we are vampires, and you can be one too.”

Malcolm responded to Tony’s answer with a nervous chuckle. Keegan was momentarily confused by the statement. At first, he did not how to react, and then he followed Malcolm’s lead and began chuckling at Tony’s declaration. Their mirth produced vacant expressions and fixed stares from Tony and company. Malcolm and Keegan’s laughing shortly came to a stop when it became clear that Tony was not joking.

“Vampires don’t exist,” Malcolm disputed with a slight shake of his head.

“Oh, but we do,” Tony contradicted with a glint of light in his eyes and with the beginning of fangs protruding from beneath his smile. “And there will be more of us,” he finished with a step closer toward Malcolm and Keegan.

Jeremiah, Charlie and Ben took steps back to widen the circle into a semicircle around Malcolm and Keegan. Light began to glint off their eyes, and the beginning of fangs could be seen between their parted lips. Malcolm and Keegan were quickly unnerved by all of this and inched back as Tony, Jeremiah, Charlie and Ben continued to inch forward.

“What are you saying, boss?” Keegan nervously questioned.

“We want you to become one of us,” Tony explained in a soft voice.

“We are. We’re here for you, boss. Just tell us what you want us to do,” Keegan quickly returned.

“We need you to be vampires like us,” Tony explained decisively.

“How-how would we do that—I mean what would we have to do?” Malcolm questioned with panic in his voice.

“Well, you have to die,” Jeremiah answered with a smile.

Malcolm and Keegan continued to look around them with disbelief on their faces. At first, they could not believe what they were hearing was a serious conversation. Shortly into their examination of the faces around them and the light reflecting eyes staring back at them, their disbelief fell away.

“You’re serious?” Keegan exclaimed with alarm.

“Don’t we look serious,” Charlie returned with a sinister smile.

Malcolm and Keegan took a deep breath as they took another step back.

“Relax,” Ben encouraged with a smile. “It’s not going to hurt—much.”

“Why will it hurt? I mean, are you going to shoot us?” Malcolm queried with a look of worry.

“No,” Tony answered with a smile and a disapproving frown. “Shooting would do too damage. Repairing some vital organ would probably take an hour or more. Your brain would probably be too far gone by then.”

Tony took another step forward with a smile before speaking in a pleasant voice.

“Exsanguination is quick, and it doesn’t physically damage the organs. We then infect you with our blood—seconds before or after death—and reactivate your brain.”

“What are you saying,” Malcolm challenged with an inflection of terror in his voice.

“After death, we have to feed you our blood so that the virus inside can penetrate through the lining of your throat and into your brain stem,” Tony explained in a concise voice. “Do you understand?”

“And then we would be like you?” Keegan questioned with a worried frown.

“Yes,” Jeremiah flatly answered.

A pause in the conversation followed that answer. Malcolm and Keegan took the time to consider all that they had just heard. Tony, Jeremiah, Charlie and Ben waited for their response.

“This change comes with responsibilities,” Tony spoke up into the silence. “The mortals will kill or imprison us if they find out.”

Malcolm and Keegan paused to consider Tony’s offer with looks of dread on their faces.

“I think not,” Keegan answered in a hesitant voice. “I’m good as I am for now, boss.”

“Yeah, me too,” Malcolm concurred. “Maybe later,” he finished while inching back.

“You thought I was giving you a choice?” Tony questioned with a soft and sly delivery.

An instant after Keegan heard this, Charlie and Ben seized him. Charlie bit into his neck without hesitation, and Ben did the same into his lower right arm. Tony and Jeremiah did the same to Malcolm in the same instant. They began sucking out their blood the instant they could taste it in their mouths. Malcolm and Keegan’s struggles to free themselves from the assault was useless. Just one of their attackers was far too strong for them. A few minutes later Malcolm and Keegan were dead.

“Give him your blood,” Tony sharply instructed Charlie.

A second after giving this command, Tony bit into the palm of his hand, went down on one knee and began dripping his blood into Malcolm’s mouth. Charlie waited long enough to observe the process and then he began doing the same with Keegan. A few seconds later, Tony clinched his hand into a fist and got back up on his feet.

“Put them in the basement,” Tony commanded Charlie as returned to a stance.

Charlie and Ben quickly went about the task of moving Malcolm and Keegan's bodies into the basement, and Tony and Jeremiah turned their attentions toward each other while this was happening.

“She’s in Massachusetts,” Jeremiah announced with a sigh.

“Lola?” Tony questioned back with a sudden look of fascination in his expression.

“She’s living in Dorchester,” Jeremiah continued to advise.

Tony closed the distance between him and Jeremiah by half a step and intensified his focus.

“What’s her address?” Tony queried with a hint of insistence.

“That’s all I know,” Jeremiah returned with a reluctant shake of his head.

Tony took a moment to be surprised by the answer that Jeremiah just gave. He then leaned toward him with a scowl on his face and with urgency in his next question.

“Did you talk to Mary?”

“Mary wouldn’t talk to me,” Jeremiah answered without hesitation. “But Kathy and Collette did. They say Lola was shacked up with some guy in Boston for a while. She then moved to Dorchester and got a job clerking in a drugstore. That’s all I got.”

“You sure about the info?” Tony asked sternly.

“Kathy and Collette are sure about it, and they name Mary as their source,” Jeremiah glumly explained.

Jeremiah had suspicions about where the search for Lola was going. He knew from experience that Lola was the big love of Tony's life, and he suspected That Tony was planning to restore their relationship in his new existence as a vampire. What he was doubtful of was Lola's willingness to go along with his plan.

“Okay,” Tony acknowledged after a moment of thought. “I'll look into it. In the meantime, I need you to get to work on bags and signature stamps for the coke. We’ll call it the Midnight Special. And find a crew to cut, bag and tag, but keep them out of here until I come back.”

Jeremiah did not think to ask Tony where he is going. He knew that the answer to that question was Dorchester. Instead, he turned his attention to another matter that he felt Tony needed to know.

“Grasso knows about the purchase,” Jeremiah advised in a warning tone. “He’s put the word out that he doesn’t want to see any new powder in New York. Mickey says local pushers won’t touch our stuff.”

Thomas “Tommie” Grasso was the name behind the Jade Satin powder that was being sold across New York City. He was the local mob boss controlling the distribution and sale of all cocaine in Manhattan, and he was the person that Tony and Jeremiah were most concerned about offending.

“Does he know about this place?” Tony questioned Jeremiah with a glaring look.

“Not yet,” Jeremiah returned without hesitation. “But he will. A few days after our powder hits the streets, Grasso’s soldiers are going to be looking high and low for us.

“Don't worry about Grasso,” Tony began wondering aloud. “We're going to put him out of business before we hit the streets.”

Jeremiah anticipated this declaration. Tony had already made it clear that he was going to war with anyone who got in his way. Jeremiah's momentary period of silence was his way of expressing his dislike for Tony's course of behavior. It was always Jeremiah's preference to move about unseen and unheard. In his thinking notoriety was the greatest threat to their success.

Tony instructed Jeremiah to use Ben, Charlie, Malcolm and Keegan to guard the cocaine.

“I want everybody awake and in the stash house at all times,” Tony commanded just as Charlie and Ben came up from the basement. “And I want Malcolm and Keegan up and working as soon as they’re able.”

Tony turned his attention to Ben as he extended his open hand toward him.

“Give me the keys.”

An hour before sunset, Tony was on the road to Massachusetts.