LITMIR.BIZ

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and officially initiated into a life of crime. It was a far less glamorous existence than Archie had anticipated, having to start from the bottom, but his prospects had started looking up recently. During a chance meeting through a friend, Archie had met a man looking to buy a large amount of cocaine. Archie didn’t have any weight of his own to push, but he knew someone who did and brokered a meeting between the two. This brought him to a seedy diner on the outskirts of Queens in the wee hours of the night.

      “Where the hell is your boy?” Smush asked, looking down at his gold watch. They called him Smush because his nose laid flat on his face as if it had no cartilage. He was second in command of the crew Archie ran with, and the one sent to oversee this deal.

      “I dunno, he was supposed to be here by now. Maybe he got stuck in traffic,” Archie suggested.

      “Well, I’m gonna give him five more minutes, then I’m leaving. I don’t like my time being wasted.”

      “He’ll be here,” Archie assured Smush. The last thing he wanted was for the deal to fall through. Archie was not only looking forward to the broker’s fee he’d been promised, but if the deal went well the boss would look favorably on him. It would be an opportunity for him to move another step up the ladder.

      The doors to the diner swung open and in walked a man who seemed to immediately draw everyone’s attention. He was tall, over six feet, and wide at the shoulders, with a Yankees fitted cap pulled low, shadowing his eyes. Long braids spilled from beneath the hat and tickled his shoulders. The black leather jacket he wore was shiny and slick with rain. One hand was shoved into the pocket of his jacket and in the other he held a briefcase. From beneath the brim of the cap, his dark eyes scanned the room. When he spotted Archie, he headed in his direction.

      As he neared the table, two of Smush’s boys rose to meet him. They were mean-looking guys, both with gun butts jutting from their pants in plain sight. They stood between him and Smush, glaring.

      The man peered up at them, allowing them to get a direct look at his face. He appeared youthful, clearly no older than his late twenties. He was a good-looking man, in a very rugged sort of way. With his shaggy sideburns, deeply cleft upper lip, and slightly pointed canine teeth, he bore a striking resemblance to a dog. “You gonna stand there gawking at me or ask me to dance?” he addressed the men blocking his path.

      “Take it easy. That’s my guy, Wolf. He’s the one I was telling you about,” Archie said excitedly. The men continued to stand there until Smush gave them the signal that it was okay to let him pass. One of the men moved but the other hesitated. He continued to stare at Wolf for a few more seconds before allowing him to pass.

      “What’s good, Archie?” Wolf removed his hand from his pocket and gave him dap.

      “Waiting for you, so we can close this deal,” Archie told him. “Wolf, this is Smush. Smush, this is Wolf.”

      “Good to meet you.” Wolf extended his hand, but Smush made no move to shake it.

      “So, I hear you’re looking to buy some drugs?” Smush got right to the point.

      “I hear you’re looking to sell some drugs,” Wolf countered. “Now that both of our roles here are clearly defined, how about we get to it? I’ve got a few more moves to make after I leave here. You got what I need or what?”

      Smush gave Archie a nod. Archie went into the bathroom and came out a few seconds later holding a paper bag, which he laid on the table in front of Wolf. The man peered inside the bag and saw a neatly wrapped bundle of cocaine.

      “That there is the best shit in the city,” Archie said proudly.

      “I’ll be the judge of that.” Wolf pulled out a small pocketknife. “Do you mind?”

      Smush shrugged, letting him know it was okay to test it. Wolf stuck the knife though the package and scooped a small amount of cocaine onto the blade. Holding it out for all to see, he then made the cocaine disappear up his nose. “Now that is some good shit,” Wolf smiled after a moment as the cocaine hit him.

      “I told you!” Archie said.

      “Yeah, this is some good shit, but it looks a little light. I asked for three kilos, not one.”

      “I know what you asked for and that’s what you’ll get, after I see some bread,” Smush told him.

      “Right, the money,” Wolf said, as if he was just remembering he had to pay for it. “I got it for you right here.” He placed the briefcase on the table and undid the locks before turning it to face Smush and motioning for him to do the honors.

      Smush opened the case, expecting it to be filled with cash, but instead he found it empty, save for a silver badge that read, NYPD. The room got deathly silent. “What the fuck is this, some kind of joke?” Smush asked, looking from the badge to Wolf.

      “No joke, my friend. You’re under arrest. As a matter of fact, all of you drug-dealing shit bags are under arrest,” Wolf said, motioning toward Smush’s boys.

      For a few seconds, Wolf and Smush simply glared at each other. Archie sat off to the side looking like he would break down into tears at any moment. He had brought Wolf to Smush and therefore would be held responsible for the colossal fuck-up.

      “Fuck you, pig!” Smush then roared, and reached for the gun inside his jacket.

      Wolf kicked the table, sending it sliding into Smush. When it collided with Smush’s hand, the gun went off and a bullet nicked his side, before continuing to Archie’s thigh where it pierced muscles and shattered his femur. Between Archie and Smush, it was hard to tell whose scream was the loudest. Wolf tried to reach for his own gun, but one of Smush’s boys grabbed him from behind in a bear hug and yanked him from the chair.

      “You know I’m going to have to add resisting arrest to your list of charges now, right?” Wolf said to the man holding him.

      “Then it’s a good thing you ain’t gonna live long enough to file the report,” the second man said, drawing his gun and aiming it at Wolf’s face.

      Just as he pulled the trigger, Wolf’s legs shot up and kicked the gun, sending the bullet whistling past him and hitting an innocent bystander who had just entered the diner. Wolf threw his head back, breaking the nose of the man who had been holding him. When his grip slackened, Wolf fired both his elbows backward like torpedoes, connecting with the man’s ribs and knocking the wind out of him. Wolf followed with a kick to the nuts, and when the man doubled over, he kneed him in the face and knocked him out of the fight.

      The second man raised his arm to get off a second shot, but he was too close, which cost him dearly. Wolf grabbed the arm holding the gun and twisted until he heard the bone of his elbow snap. Without breaking his motion, Wolf drew his cuffs and secured the man to a chair by his injured arm.

      “You boys see if you can sit tight and stay out of trouble while I finish my business with your boss,” Wolf taunted his fallen opponents. When he turned to confront Smush, he found only Archie, who was whimpering as he struggled to his feet. He looked up and caught a glimpse of Smush disappearing through a door that said, Employees Only. “Stay down,” Wolf ordered, before kicking Archie in the face and pursuing Smush.

      Wolf drew his big .45 and pressed his back against the wall outside the doors he’d seen Smush leave through. It was hardly a police-regulation firearm, but Wolf had never been good with sticking with rules or regulations. After checking to make sure he was fully loaded, Wolf passed through the doors. He found himself in a storeroom, with rows of shelves stacked with boxes of liquor and glasses. Smush could’ve been hiding anywhere, so he moved cautiously. His eyes picked out what looked like drops of blood on the floor. When he bent down to examine them, a bullet shot past him and struck the shelf he had just been standing in front of. A stray piece of debris left a small cut across Wolf’s cheek, trickling blood into his beard.

      “You’ll never take me alive!” Smush shouted from somewhere inside the room.

      “Sounds good to me,” Wolf replied, and

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