Evil Double-Crossing Swine! - A deal gone bad Gonzo trip #2

I was still deciding on weather or not I wanted food. I wasn't really hungry and besides if I was gonna have to sit around in a McDonald's I might as well save what little appetite I had for then. At least I might blend in a bit if I had food in front of me.

"Will be fine there don't worry. There should be some Sprite on the bottom shelf."

I found the soda mixed it up and sat down. Perhaps he was right. We would be pretty far south on Blue Hills Ave. I took another sip and calmed down a bit.

"I think I'll wait till eat, besides were gonna needs some beer for later."

The next few hours were uneventful just watched some TV and anxiously waited. Around 8:30 our guy came by and collected the money. He left and then we headed out to the meeting spot to wait up for him. When we got there it wasn't as bad as I expected mostly a bunch of teenagers being rowdy and running around. We ordered our food and sat down by the window and waited for our guy to show up. This is always my least favorite part of the situation. So many things can go wrong and at this point you don't even have your money anymore. So even if something happens and the cops don't get you; your still out a lot of cash. Usually it's only about 45 min to an hour then the phone call to let us know when to start looking for him. I kept my cool up till about 1 hour. That was when I started to get suspicious. I look up at Rick, "Man, what the hell, it shouldn't take this long. He burned us man, this is bullshit!"

"He never did before why would he do it this time. Just relax and maybe try keeping your voice down. You look like a headcase."

I got up and went to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and he was right I did look like crap, my eyes were bloodshot with dark circles under them. My jaw would involuntarily clench every couple of moments. I had notice when I was walking to the bathroom I was moving in a very erratic and jerky way from a combination of clinched muscles from the crank and lack of coordination from the alcohol and minimal sleep. Take all that and add in my recent outburst about being burned and he was right I'm sure did look like a headcase. I went back out to the table hoping to the call came in while I was in the bathroom. Still nothing.

That rat bastard I'm was sure of it now. He had taken our money and split. No business for a few weeks and he had run out of money so he had decided to just scam us. Why not it's not like we're gonna call the cops. If we could track him down we could kick his ass, but the retaliation on that would definitely be ugly and he did know where we live. Well, at least he knew where Rick lives. I could feel my face turning red with anger. Maybe I was over reacting, perhaps things were just not going well. I wouldn't even mind too much if he came back empty handed and just gave us our money back that I can understand after all everything had been dry. Besides in that situation I would still have all my money and some beer sitting at home waiting.

I got up and went to the counter to get more food. I wasn't hungry just needed to do something. Also I figured we would look less suspicious if we at least had food in front of us while we sat around. That fear faded while I waited for the kid behind the counter to realize I was waiting. That took about 3 minutes. I was the only person at the counter and it still took him 3 minutes to realize that he actually needs to stop talking to his coworkers in back and walk over to do his job Obviously we had nothing to worry about. Hell' Rick's hair could be on fire and I could be wearing no pants and still no one behind the counter would have even noticed us sitting there. At least not until it was time for them to close the lobby. I got my order and went back to our table at least a bit calmer about one thing. As I sat down Rick's phone rang. Finally! I began to relax as he went to answer it.

I could hear lots of yelling coming from the other end of the phone. The color drained from Rick's face.

"What do you mean took it all", Rick yelled in to the phone.