The Royal Contract

He could not allow anything to mess up this transaction because millions were at stake in this. As the new leader of the underground gang, he still had a lot to prove to the organization. Many eyes were watching his success, but most especially his failure.

“What are you doing, Gerald?” A man shouted at the door of the empty warehouse. “Are you trying to ruin your life and get killed?” The voice was more pissed than concerned about his situation.

The man strode into the dimly lit room, looking like he was about to go to a fight. But Gerald had known his friend to overreact. So, he could only conclude that he had heard the news.

“Don’t be overly dramatic, Mike.” He answered his friend, pushing himself away from the only table in the center of the massive empty room.

He stood up and turned away from his friend, facing several of his men who were waiting for his instructions. “Give us a few minutes. We will discuss the rest of the plans later. For now, make sure that everything is going as scheduled.”

His head of security turned around, pulling his men out of the building, leaving him and his partner to talk in private. There were things he would like to discuss with his friend that did not need his entire team to hear.

.....

“Me? Gerald? Dramatic...” Mike sounded annoyed as he stood before him with his hands balling in his pockets. “I am just looking after your interest. At this point, I think you are not seeing the big picture.”

He just confirmed that his friend was not talking about the deal that was about to go down tonight. He was referring to another topic that had no relevance to their current situation.

Still, he could not blame his friend for feeling ignored. He had kept him in the dark about his plans long enough. It was not that he did not trust him, but he knew he would disagree with him. It appeared he was right, judging by his reaction now. But.

“This is not the time and the place, Mike. We can discuss this over a drink later. But I need your focus on the job.” Gerald placed his hand on his younger friend.

He did not need his friend acting distracted when the shipment arrived. But he believed it was time to include him in his plans, even if he disagreed with him or not.

“But I think you are going over your head with your relationship with this woman.” Mike finally voiced out what was on his mind. “What about running for public office? Are you also considering doing that?”

He had known his friend since he started his career as his assistant. The two of them had helped build their career as great lawyers. Moreover, they had also worked together in his underground trade.

He had always looked after his interest and helped him in many situations. He did not want all of what they had worked for to go down the drain because he was letting his libido run the show and do the thinking.

“As I said, we will discuss that later. But right now, we have to see through the shipment. It is our top foremost priority at the moment.” Gerald glanced at his watch, noticing that it was almost time.

“Fine,” Mike also realized that his friend was right. “But I am not through with this discussion.” He might have conceded now, but it did not mean that he had agreed with his friend about his plans.

He had noticed Gerald was acting strange the more he spent time with this Haley chick. Then, he had recently heard about the rumor of his candidacy.

Usually, he was the first to learn about these things, but now, he had to hear it from somebody else’s mouth. He did not like that he had no say on the matter since he had always been his right-hand man.

“Excuse me, Sir, you have a phone call.” His head of security approached him, carrying one of their burner phones.

He quickly took it, ending the discussion with his friend and handling the call. It was the captain of the ship. He just informed him that they had secured the package and were on their way.

Now, they had to wait for the package and the buyers to arrive. It should be a quick exchange if everything worked out just as planned. Then, it would be an easy million bucks.

“Are we good?” Gerald looked at his friend, knowing he needed him to be in his A game.

“We are,” Mike responded with a nod, taking his gun out of his side and inspecting it before returning to its holster. He could not go on a deal without a loaded arm.

After less than an hour of planning and waiting, the exchange went smoothly, without a hitch. The contrabands were out of their hands. On the other hand, the money was safely in their swiss account, out of the reach of the authorities.

It was a clean transaction with no paper trails and no evidence linking any of them to the crime. No one would ever suspect a well-respected man like him would be involved in this underground crime.

“Congratulations.” Mike applauded him for a job well done. “But, you still owe me a drink.” Mike reminded him as they packed up to leave.

“Then, I guess we should be going.” He grabbed his coat and strode out of the warehouse, going straight to his car with his friend closed behind him. He could tell that his friend could not wait to confront him about his plans.

The mafia world, the business sector, and the political arena were not so different based on his opinion. It had many similarities as far as he was concerned. It was something that Mike still had to understand.

For him, the only thing that mattered in this world were money, power, and influence. There was no room for anything else.