Chapter 205

Monk had been waiting maybe five minutes when I pulled into the parking lot. He waited till I dismounted the bike before he opened his door. Then he walked over to me. "Come on in they have great coffee at 8AM, I assume it is just as good at 5AM.," He said.

"You do know that 5AM isn't the middle of the night?" I asked.

"Who says it isn't?" he asked.

I went to a booth away from the two truck drivers by the door. I waited till he came back with the coffee before I started the conversation again. "So Monk what brings you out at 6AM?" I asked.

"The cops in Dobson want to tie me to the warehouse," he explained.

"Monk the only way your name would come up, is if you were trying to make moves on the distribution network Miami had in place. If you are doing that, then the cops are the least of your worries," I said. "The cops can't prove anything and want it to just go away, I think. So my advice is start now, and then continue forever to say, 'I know nothing'. It never happened. If you have a problem with your people fix it. That's pretty much what we agreed."

"My people are solid, they have just never done anything like that before. I don't know, if they are going to keep quiet." he said.

"Monk, if I have to call in a cleaning crew they are going to want to clean everything. You do understand what I mean?" I asked.

He looked sick when he nodded his head. "I just needed to talk to someone," he said.

"Sit down with Miami and work out a peace that leaves the weed business open territory. You do that and this all just goes away. If you don't make peace with them, then you have a war on your hands. One I will not help you with, if that's why you are here."

"I just wanted to know where I stood," he said.

"Monk you always knew where you stood. You asked for this, I was going to walk away and let Miami work it out, but you wanted to try to manage it. So now you are going to have to manage it," I said. "If you give me and my friends up to Miami as part of any deal, you will die, your wife will die, your children will die, your mother will die. Your father, aunts, uncles, and everyone you love will also die as well. That probably includes your dog, if you have one. We are not some drug cartel. You bought into a game far worse than you could have imagined."

"I won't give you up, I promise," he said.

"Good luck," I said. After he left I sat alone thinking. I wanted to finish my ride but I wasn't sure that it was a good idea. I reasoned that he would gain nothing by killing me, but I would gain some piece of mind, if I killed him. That just wasn't a good enough reason to take his life. I decided it would have to just play itself out. I knew I had best not tell The Brit about this meeting, or we might have another body for the reservoir.

After my ride I stopped for coffee and a biscuit and I checked my security cameras and tapes before I went home. I had checked my still house, and the mash was just beginning to work, so I felt pretty good. Five or six more days and I would be cooking again. Between now and then I had to reinstall the still which should take all of an hour. One more day and I would begin asecond batch of mash. It would be constant cook form then on till I decided to take a break, when I could just not make more mash. As long as there was mash there was work to do.

A few days later the phone rang while I was working on the computer. I was buying things for the business on line. The calling number was blocked, so I pretty much knew who it was. "Hello," I said with a deep sadness in my voice.

"You know who this is?" the voice asked.

"Not really, but how is the weather where you are?" I asked.

"75 degrees and lots of sun," the voice said.

"That's nice. It's a little chilly here today. I doubt you would like the weather here," I said.

"I do business in many places, with many kinds of weather," the voice said.

"My father always said, before you go into business find out what the real cost of the business will be. Sometimes the business is not worth the investment," I said.

"Your father was a wise man. Is your business worth what the investment is going to be?" he asked.

"It is to me, but I would suggest you take a look at your own business. I have no interest in your business. I do not care who manages the business, so long as they leave me alone. If I have to take an interest in the management, it would not be a good thing." I said

"I see, then you do not have a dog in the fight, so to speak?" he asked.

"I do not," I replied. "I would suggest you be very careful, that there is no collateral damage."

"That seems like very good advice. I understand you like to ride your bike early in the morning, that is good exercise." he said.

"I also like to carry a couple of hand grenades, they make for a peaceful mind." It was a bluff, and he would be almost sure of it. It was the doubt that I had planned to plant in his mind. "Also there were some concerns that the original incident might be business, but I understand that it was personal, so that has been settled?" I said.

"Absolutely, I am not sure what has happened, but I assure you it will be history soon." the voice said. "Sylvia I would love to take you to dinner some night."

"I'm afraid that we would have to be two different people," I said.

"Yes we would," the phone went dead. Trying to save Monk would have been useless. Only Monk could say himself. If he was smart, he would end up working for the voice on the phone. If not, I would say a prayer for him.