Tricks of The Trade

The week passed and it was Friday again. The crew had gathered once more at the soccer field. Mayr was sitting in the same place as he was last time, on the top bleacher with Nesh.

As usual, the captains walked up with their tributes. First Bray handed in what he owed.

"I'm gonna be honest," Bray said while handing over the cash to Mayr, "when you said that each spot would sell 100 cigarettes, I was skeptical. Looks like you thought out your choices."

"Our customer base is mostly students and adults in a rush, right?" Mayr replied as he took the money, "Then what could be a better place to sell than a place where both students and adults commute through."

"I've learned not to doubt you, boss." Bray replied as he walked off with a smile.

After Bray moved to the side, Kris began to walk off. He wasn't in the same spirits as Bray. He looked upset and had a minor bruise under his right eye. He walked up to Mayr and handed him what he owed. It was just as much as Bray, so that meant that he sold the full amount as well. Confused, Mayr looked at Kris and asked him if everything was ok.

"Yeah, everything is good." Kris replied, trying to put on a fake smile. Mayr saw through this.

"How did you get that bruise?" Mayr asked, "Is there anyone messing with you while you're working?"

"No, no," Kris replied trying to convince Mayr, "It was an off-work issue. Don't worry, the guy who did this is in worse condition than I am."

"If this was caused by you breaking the rules, or someone fucking with you, I need to know." Said Mayr while looking sternly at Kris.

"It was nothing of the sort, Believe me." Kris replied as he handed Mayr the cash. Mayr grabbed the cash and informed Kris that he believed him.

After Kris walked away, Kashi approached Mayr. "A bit more than last week." Kashi said as he was walking towards Mayr, "This week we got $500. Still nothing compared to the cigarette sales though. On a good note, there were no outstanding balances this week."

Kashi handed Mayr 70% of the cash, which was $350 dollars. "That's not bad," Mayr said as he grabbed the cash, "It'll continue to grow." Once Kashi handed the cash to Mayr he began to walk off. "Hold on a second, Kashi." Mayr hollered, "I got something for you."

Kashi looked back with a confused look and started walking back towards Mayr. Mayr reached into his backpack and pulled out a huge sum of money. Greater than anything Kashi has personally made in one go.

"Here's your cut, $3000" Mayr said while handing Kashi the money, "This is also from the gambling operation. And this is 30% of it."

An astonished Kashi stared at Mayr and the money. "W-what! Where did you get this money!?"

"Remember our friend Tenzin?" asked Mayr, "Remember the favour I asked him?"

"Yeah," Kashi responded, "you asked him to purposefully let the opposing attacker get past him in the final minutes of the finals. But how did you make $10,000 dollars off that!?"

"A lot of people bet on these games," Said Mayr, "I simply made a bet that our star defender would let the ball get past him and the opposing team would get a goal in the final minutes of the game. I got 1-10 odds on that, people did not believe this was going to happen. So, just as I asked, Tenzin "fell" while trying to defend the opposing attacker. I bet $1000 dollars on that and got $10,000 back."

Kashi simply stared at Mayr as he was explaining how he got the money. He was shocked at the amount of thought that could be put into their rackets. "Now," Mayr continued, "I want you to learn how you can see potential to make money in people. This is why gambling is such a lucrative business. Not only because of the money it brings in, but also because of the leverage it gives you on other people. Next week, I'll let you handle meetings with the people who haven't paid, just to see how you handle it."

"Understood." Kashi replied as he stood attentively, as if he was a soldier standing in front of his commanding officer.

After having this talk with Kashi, Mayr stood up and began making an announcement. "Alright everyone. For the foreseeable future, we will run operations as is. If any changes need to be made, I will let you guys know during our usual meet up time."

With this, everyone went their separate ways.

-

The week went by and the time to make payments came around. The entire crew was there except for Bray and the boy he was doing sales with. The crew stood around for 25 minutes, but there was no sign of him showing up.

"Where is he!?" Kashi yelled in frustration. "It's ok, Be patient." Mayr replied.

After about 10 more minutes, the boy that was with Bray arrived. He was running towards the soccer field with a limp. His face had bruised up with blood coming out of his nose and his clothes were ripped.

When the crew saw him a look of shock and concern came on their faces.

"We were attacked!" The boy yelled as he ran towards the crew.