They Call it The City of Angels
A New Fictional Serial Novel by Joshua A. TRILIEGI
Exclusively for Readers of BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE and
our Three sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City
All National & International Copy Rights Reserved to the Author
Listen to the First Ten Chapters in Audio Narrated by The Author
at The The Main Website for BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE
Tune in Monday for The Final Section of PART ONE / Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty One : Job
Junior had been invited into a world that he had
only heard about through, sometimes, unreliable
sources. Fifteen years locked into the system and
who knew what to believe anymore. He had no idea
what to expect by entering into it. On day one, he
was briefed on what was happening in his father
and sister's house, of course, he had already figured
most of that out for himself, that's how he ended up
making the decision to make a left instead of going
straight. Who could blame him ? If you saw a disaster
up ahead in your path, would you keep going, stop or
make a quick swerve ? Junior flipped a U turn, straight
out, burned rubber, foot to the peddle, peeled out quick.
He still had to keep things cool at the family house, so
that know one became suspicious. He was directed
to keep a somewhat regular schedule and stay close to
his new brother-in-law, whom had recently made a big
mistake. If Chuck had only waited for his wiretap
request to come through from the boys at the division
and the judges downtown and throughout the circuit,
everything would have fallen into place, but because he
jumped the gun, installed his own version of a wiretap,
Junior got hip to what was happening and Chuck ended
up squashing his own better interests and the interests
of the State. He wasn't the first person to 'push the river'
as it was commonly called and probably wouldn't be the
last, but one thing was sure, he would never make it to
Detective, if this was how he planned to get there. One
might do this sort of thing 'after' you made detective,
but to overstep on your way into it, was disastrous.
Chuck was going to learn this lesson the hard way.
Junior's first assignment was a three day experience.
He was given a series of envelopes and directed to
use the one way bus ticket that was in envelope number
one, which also had a new identity card that he would
use in the event that anyone hassled him. When he got
into town, he was to report for work as the janitor of
a large hotel on the strip. The identity card was that of
a man who actually was the janitor and had also been
instructed to, 'Take a day off '. They had searched for
look-a-likes for Junior, ever since he had been released
and had found a dozen or so, from here to half way
across the world. Look-a-likes were extremely important,
everything was switching from physical enforcement to
psychological. In the old days, it was all strong arm,
more and more, things were being done differently.
Junior had tapped into that mythical story he had been
told about, the old world robin hood character, or so he
thought. He had been given a room number and a time
of day in which to enter the room. He was directed to
give envelope number two to whomever was in the room,
tell the person that their services were no longer needed,
they were free to leave town by using the bus pass and
the currency as soon as possible and to communicate
with no one prior to doing so. Then he was to stay in
the room and wait for another visitor. When that person
arrived, Junior was to empty the contents of envelope
number three and explain to this person that if indeed
he was interested in staying in his current position than
he should highly consider a reversal on his current case.
Junior would return the contents of envelope number
three, hand it to the second party and exit the hotel
room. It all sounded matter of fact, to the point, step
by step. And, for the most part, it was. When Junior
got into town,he checked in for work, spent the morning
emptying trash cans and at noon, he walked up to the
designated room, opened the door with his pass key and
saw, laying on the bed, a twelve year old girl who looked
like she had been dressed for a beauty contest. She looked
at him, became startled, she had been expecting someone
else & ran into the bathroom. Junior slid the envelope
under the door and told her that she could leave, it was
all over. This wasn't what he had expected at all, he
found himself sweating. The little girl began to cry,
Junior tried to assure her that she could leave, go back
home, use the bus ticket, as he was directed to tell her.
She was scared, explaining that the people she had been
living with would hurt her if she left without telling them.
Junior assured her that she was safe to leave and that
there would be no problems. Even as he spoke the words,
he knew that people didn't just let others walk and he
became conflicted by the situation. Speaking through
the door didn't help any. When party number two arrived,
Junior instructed the girl to stay in the bathroom and
everything would work out. Already things were getting
complicated. Such was the job. Party number two entered
the room. When he saw Junior, he backed out and looked
at the number on the door, Junior assured him that this
was the correct room, pulled him in and threw him to the
floor. Junior slapped him around simply out of reflex,
lifted him up and sat him on the edge of the bed. He
hurriedly emptied the envelope & together they viewed
it's contents, a series of photographs with party number
two and other lunch dates such as the girl in the bathroom.
Now Junior really lost it. He had been directed to simply
empty the contents, suggest a reversal decision and hand
the envelope to party number two. Instead, he began to
beat the man about the face, Junior was disgusted by
the photographs, he began to pound the man with every
ounce of anger that had built up over the years. Junior
realized that he had swayed from the assignment, he
had lost control and had to get out of there quickly.
He convinced the girl to open the door, she saw the
man on the bed, his face was swollen, bloody, he was
passed out. Junior, washed his hands, noticed the little
girl and whispered to her, "Don't you dare cry for him."
He had to put on the janitor gloves to hide the broken
skin on his knuckles. "If anyone asks, your my niece,
I'm taking you to the bus station to send you home,
understand ?" She nodded yes. He had no idea where
her ticket had been bought for, nor did he know for
sure where she was headed. He had to put his trust in
the assignment now and found the resolve to do so.
When she got on the bus, his work was completed.
Junior did as he was directed and returned to work,
he completed his duties as a janitor and clocked out
at the end of the day. The whole thing had been a lot
more complicated than he had imagined. He promised
himself not to cross the line next time, be in control.
Wether there was to be a next time, he didn't know.
When Junior returned, he was taken to a room and
given a copy of a video cassette with a visible time
code. He watched himself beat the man to a pulp,
then he watched himself deliver the girl to the bus
station. When the movie was over, he was told that
if he ever veered from exact directions again that
he'd end up back in the joint. They'd toss him over
to Chuck and the boys downtown so quickly, he
wouldn't know what happened. Then they had
congratulated him on a job well done. Gave him
his payment & suggested he lay low for a while,
"Get out of town, take a breather." What they
didn't tell Junior was that after he left party number
two in the hotel room, an entire clean up team had
been brought in to fake the man's car accident, some
how explaining his recent facial injuries. It turns out,
he'd gone right through the wind shield. Lucky for
Junior, the man was well enough to return to work
and reverse his decision as directed. The little girl,
who had been working for a rival group had been
returned to a trusted family member who had
promised to care for the girl privately. Junior's
bosses had paid her families debt and they had
killed two birds, so to speak. Maybe cleaning
windows downtown wasn't so bad after all. At
least now he could put a down payment on a car.
They didn't want him moving out of his fathers
guest house. A plan was being cooked up involving
Chuck's phone line.
After a few days, Junior returned home driving an
early model car not unlike the kind he drove as a
younger man. It was a straight standard model.
Nobody at home had suspected anything. He brought
flowers for Celia and some trinkets for the girls.
The people Junior worked for wanted him to start
making phone calls about deals that were supposed
to be happening in the city. He was given phone
numbers to three different phone booths and a very
simple and easy to remember schedule. They directed
him to small talk for a few minutes, then begin to
discuss exact times, locations and describe participants.
They were setting Chuck up. A situation would be
discussed based on an everyday 'Joe Citizen type' who
held a regular schedule. So for instance, if a particular
up standing person was known to frequent a certain bar
on his lunch break and could be relied on like clockwork,
then Junior and the person on the other end of the phone
would begin to discuss how that person, with a full
description, was involved in some illegal action. At
first they started with small stuff, "Oh yeah, I heard
about that guy. Isn't he the dude supplying so and so
with such and such ?" Usually their targets were totally
straight people who had never done anything wrong in
their lives. Entirely false leads that confounded whoever
was listening to them. What better way to get back at
people who shouldn't be listening to private conversations,
than to bullshit ? It was beautiful, Junior was good at it.
They did this for the past few weeks and already several
people had been hassled for no reason at all. The boys
downtown got word that Officer Chuck had implanted
his own wiretap system just days before the judge actually
granted them permission and he was docked. Junior had
to play it cool at home and he did so. After all, Junior
had a job to do.
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