Blaine watched as Skinny dug his knee deep into Ed’s sternum. Ed’s face had turned a bright shade of crimson and he flailed his legs in an attempt to get Crater off of him. When he stopped struggling, Skinny picked him up by the collar of his fancy shirt and set him on his feet. Ed’s back was covered with dust from the factory floor.
The three of them had followed Ed’s Mercedes through the gates, in the shadows of the night, and once inside, it hadn’t taken much to overpower the slimy businessman.
They all stood in front of him, sweating in the sweltering heat of the loading bay. One guy was sweating more than the others though, and that was their manufacturer, Ed.
“What the fuck, guys?!” Ed shouted.
Blaine smirked. He couldn’t believe that Ed was going to play dumb. He stepped forward and punched him straight in the gut. Ed doubled over in pain, wheezing on his knees.
“Are you really going to play this game?” Blaine asked.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. We both got fucked out there.”
“Is that so?” Blaine queried, his voice dripped with condescension.
“You rookies fucked the drop and now I’m out all the money it took to make that ice. I should be the one sending thugs after you.”
“Is that so?” Blaine repeated. “Why don’t you tell me how the Scorps knew exactly where the buy was taking place?”
“I don’t know!” Ed screamed. Blaine nodded his head and Crater kicked him in the ribs, dropping him flat to the ground.
“Why would I fuck you guys? I’m out of money and drugs now too.”
“It seems awfully convenient that our rivals were there, ready and waiting for us.”
“How do you know it wasn’t the buyers?”
“They had no idea, they got robbed too. It seems that the only people who benefitted from this little transaction are the Scorpions and whoever tipped them off. I’m guessing they got a cut, didn’t they?”
“Blaine. I swear to god I had nothing to do with it.” Ed spat blood onto the floor and tried to stand up.
Skinny reached out and pushed on Ed’s ribs. He screamed and started to sob. Not just cry, flat out sob – big fat tears rolled down his face and mixed in with the snot from his nose.
He sniveled, “I don’t know what to tell you to make you believe me.”
Blaine stood and watched the pathetic man on the floor. He could feel it in his bones that something was wrong, something wasn’t adding up.
Blaine opened his mouth to speak but was quieted when he heard the faint sound of motorcycles nearing the building. His heart started to race. He knew that the rest of the Bonds weren’t planning to visit the lab tonight.
“Crater, Skinny. There!” He shouted and pointed to a stack of pallets in the corner. There was no way they’d be able to get out of the building without being seen.
Blaine leaned down and seethed into Ed’s ear, “Stand up you pussy. We were never here. If you breathe a word of this to whoever the fuck is out there, I’ve got a bullet with your name on it.”
Blaine pulled out his pistol, his boots echoed on the concrete as he ran for cover. He squeezed in beside his brothers behind the pallets. Both had their assault rifles trained through the pallets at Ed. They were alert and tensed up like tigers, ready to pounce.
Ed managed to get himself to his feet and shuffled over to collapse into a rolling office chair. He wiped at the blood on his face, but only managed to smear it all over himself. Blaine still had the same sinking feeling in his gut, and now the hair on the back of his neck was standing up. Something bad was going to happen. As they waited for the mystery bikers to bust through the steel doors his mind raced. They had offered Ed a more than fair price for the ice. Would a rival have topped that just to get their hands on a delivery? Why would Ed ruin his relationship with the local gang, just to tip off their neighboring rivals? He was a pussy businessman, and they had kicked the shit out of him, yet he stayed true to his story.
They listened for any sound of the bikers, but all Blaine could hear was his brother’s breathing, and eerie silence.
“Maybe they didn’t come in the gate?” Skinny whispered to Blaine.
Blaine shrugged and kept his gun on Ed.
They all smelled it at the same time.
“Smoke – Crater whispered.”
“I smell it too,” Blaine said. “We’ve got to get out of here. NOW!”
They scrambled to their feet and ran along the wall to the deck of the loading dock. The only way out was through one of the big rolling doors.
“Blaine. We could be heading straight into an ambush,” Skinny said, and grabbed a hold of Blaine’s hand before he could push the door opener.
“Skin. This is a fuckin’ meth lab. If we don’t get out of here they’re going to be sending all the little bits of you to your old lady in a paper bag.
Skinny nodded and Blaine punched the green button. They all pressed their bodies to the side of the building and peered out into the night as the door rumbled up. Nothing.
Crater jumped down from the loading dock first, followed by Skinny, who was a little less graceful - he had to roll onto his gut and slide down to the ground. They both huddled waiting for Blaine. When he didn’t follow right behind them, Crater peered up over the edge of the loading dock and saw Blaine running for the door, pushing Ed on the rolling chair. He launched Ed out on the pavement – he landed in a heap on the ground.
Skinny looked at Blaine and raised his eyebrows, but knew better than to question him. They grabbed Ed by the arms and dragged him to the ditch where they had hidden their bikes.
“Can you hold on?” Blaine asked Ed. Ed shook his head yes, and winced as he threw his leg over the bike. It killed Blaine to have a dude riding bitch, but he needed some answers.
As they rode off into the night, they felt a strange sensation, like the air had been sucked away from them in a vacuum, and then the night sky lit up in a green flash. Blaine thought it looked like ten thousand floodlights had just shorted out. They were close enough that they could hear the glass shattering and the car alarms going off. The dogs in the neighborhood were losing their minds and it wasn’t long until they heard sirens.
Blaine loved riding his bike because it gave him time to think and clear his head. Nobody knew that they were at the factory tonight, so the fire had to have been either a target on Ed or Ed’s facility. Ed was certainly looking less and less culpable as the night unfolded. Blaine felt a pang of guilt over the rough-up they gave him, but that was part of the business. He certainly was glad that he wasn’t going to have Ed’s death on his conscience, even though he was a total scumbag.