SNITCH

Marcus, accompanied by two men wearing the same black jacket like he had clad himself with before heading to a roadside club in broad daylight, found himself leading a group of two to somewhere around the poorest ghettos of the city, tagging alongside another man who happened to have seen Jeremy along with him at the docks some days ago. The four men were immediately recognized by one of the bouncers to be amongst the boys working for the owner of the club soon after they appeared out of the sunbaked streets around the dirty slums, with Marcus walking beside his companion who was quite taller than the other trios escorting him to the club and whose face was first seen coming from a corner into the narrow alley that led to a long queue of guests standing line before a bouncer, a white man in green jeans and grey T-shirt, keeping some agitated fellows waiting on a long queue having been ordered by the boss to check each guest for invitations cards as ordered by the owner of the club to prevent intruders from infiltrating the club to disrupt the party inside the small club and cause unwanted nuisance.

Although the order was strictly obeyed, the four men were given free entry inside despite some noisy complaints made by the bystanders standing on the long queue with their stylish party outfits for having bypass the queue to enter inside the club. It was an entire new world the moment Marcus and his gang friends walked into the interior part of the one storey block for the every corner of the hall was partially darker than the blazing sun shining outside the building with lots of loud music and glittering colorful laser lights sparkling around the partial darkness that cast a lot of shade on o hidden corners of the hall. They met a crowd of near the exit, some of which were engaging in the drinking liquor while listening to the music rolling in the background and some being entertained by few female strippers dancing and swinging themselves around a pole on few platforms raised above the eyes of the guests watching their half naked bodies cloaked with that of the darkness in the club. Unlike inside the building housing the party, its exterior was sprayed on the outside with colorful distorted colors on the wall and the outlook was a bit dross, completely of low standard compared to the clubhouse Jeremy and Max was chased out for causing unnecessary disturbances for the guest some days back.

Partly concealed with the darkness, the four men pushed their way through the crowd of people dancing endlessly to the music at the dancing floor in the center of the room and arrived at a staircase on the opposite side of the entrance which led them upstairs straight to a inner corridor that ran inside ending at secret room meant for VIP guests only. They paid little attention to the eyes of other persons minding their own business as they stride through the hallway despite the red light that obscured their vision from noticing two lovers kissing each other at the entrance of the hallway whom they met first the moment they stepped into the corridor where they planned to see the boss. Their footsteps became slower than before as they approached their destination and met few enticing busty ladies dressed in skimpy outfits, engrossed in their chatting with some of the boys from their own gang at either side of a tall door on their way to see the boss. The thick red light in the hallway was far pronounced than the other areas of the club but still not strong enough for Marcus to notice a huge dude with bulging muscles which almost shone in the red light especially his biceps, fondling the butt of a woman with his right hand while he rested his back against the wall with the lady's hips pressed closer against the lower part of his loins and he couldn't make out the woman's visage which was concealed away from his sight by the man's head pressing against hers from above since the woman was shorter than he was, only odd gigantic shape beside the doorway as well as his fingers caressing her succulent bottom including his other arm finding her curvy waist, he and his friends could decipher in the dense red light highly present in the hallway while the volume of the loud music had lowered down ever since they came to this part of the club.

"Hey, Fellas",

Someone greeted out of nowhere amidst those who were having a good time, hanging out with the ladies near the door before the familiar visitors could reach it. The speaker suddenly released himself from the tantalizing clutches of the lady and came towards them, swinging his hands in the air for an handshake.

"What's up, Figo. Looking good with that lady over there",

The man walking beside Marcus in front of the other two behind them, replied clasping the palm of the first speaker.

"You got that right. Haven't seen or heard from you guys for a couple of weeks now, Tell me what's going on",

"Nothing much to make you worry",

"Yeah, Some shit at the docks got us occupied for a while and thankfully, we've settled that",

"Well, that must be quite some stuff to keep you guys from ignoring my calls",

"You really don't wanna know about it because it was a hell lot of shit going around there at the docks recently",

Marcus intruded.

"And you two got it sorted out, right?",

"Yes, we did",

"Absolutely",

Marcus replied with a false smile across his lips.

"Come on, Marcus. Don't look at me like that cuz I'll punch your nose if you keep smiling like an idiot",

"Sorry, Figo. Didn't mean to do that",

"Apology certainly not accepted. The boss has been looking for you two and now you show up",

"Don't blame me for not coming when the boss needed us. Andy told me things will be fine after we were done with that shit and that the boss will understand if we explain the situation after we finish",

Marcus rejoined in his defense which got Figo taken aback a little but he wasn't done yet with them. Figo flinched and returned his gaze at Andy who didn't feel intimidated by the stern look at him nor did he feel any remorse for his actions.

"Is he telling the truth, Andy?",

"He is",

Andy mumbled and swallowed a lump of saliva down his throat.

"Darn it, dude. I can't believe you overlooked the fact that I've been covering up for both of you the entire time the boss needed some guys to help find his niece",

"Look, man. We're really sorry about that and we owe you big time for covering our asses",

Andy said placing his right hand on Figo's left shoulder.

"Forgive us, mate. We'll stick around with the boss for real this time, we promise",

Andy glared at them but his countenance suddenly changed to that of a man meeting his long time friend after a brief period of separation.

"Fine. I'll let it go this time but I won't be there to defend you guys from the boss's wrath",

"No problem. We'll take care of ourselves once we get to see the boss",

"By the way, where's the boss? We've got some news he would like to hear",

"He's in the bunker with the gamblers as usual and he's been hiding quietly since we haven't found his niece",

Figo answered leading the men to the door but he stopped abruptly that startled the four men behind him. He turned around with a suspicious look at the faces of two men standing behind Andy and Figo.

"I see strange faces. Who are these knuckleheads with you?",

Figo interrogated with an even more serious look at the two in spite of one of them trying to get at him but he was held back by Marcus.

"Don't make a fuss, Drew",

"He asked for it",

"We know that but calm down",

"Shut the hell up, both of you and tell me who these guys are otherwise you ain't seeing the boss without getting past me first",

"Alright, Figo. Don't be too upset about this. They are friends that helped us settle that shit at the docks and trust me, they ain't boys from the mochano gang",

Marcus cut in with a convincing statement.

"They really like to do some work for the boss like we do",

Figo remained silent for a while scanning the faces of the newbies as though he has seen them somewhere before.

"Uh... Fine. I hate you two for this but I won't stop them. You better be ready to take the fall if the boss doesn't like them. As for you, new ladies, try not to get too overconfident around him. He doesn't like it when someone's talking too much near him and loathes cocky bastards who can't keep their mouths shut with all his being. Follow me in",

Figo said after a brief pause and pushed open the door, leading the four men into a dark room down a staircase that leads to the underground basement beneath the upper floor of the club.

Their presence wasn't felt in the midst of rich gamblers playing cards at different corners of the basement where there was sufficient air to keep everyone preoccupied with whatever they were engaged in. Marcus and Andy alongside the others except for Figo felt the deep silence which prevailed in the room when they stepped in the tight spaced cubicle that served as a quasi casino, the major reason the room was beautifully decorated with a fancy wallpaper but large enough for everyone inside to move about freely. Most of the guests here were respectful greedy men and women dressed formally as though they were attending a kings banquet, and were engrossed in gambling away their money using cards and poker cards as their game to gamble more money to their wealth and the quiet atmosphere seems to suit their tastes except for a man smoking inside a small inner room at the far end of the basement. The five gangsters led by Figo slowly made their way through the midst of the silent gamblers and passed by two waiters strolling around the room carrying drinks on a tray for the guests and went straight to see the man whose entire body was cloaked in the dark inner room where the resplendent light in the room failed to illuminate thereby casting a deep shadow in that part of the basement.

Figo pushed aside the curtains, obscuring his path, immediately after they reached the inner room and walked inside followed by the men behind him. There were three soft couches in the inner room and the boss had kept himself seated on the couch facing the entrance for him to see the oblivious gamblers tending to their game whilst he smoked his cigar without any disturbances until the men came in uninvited.

"Hello, boss. Andy and Marcus, are here to see you",

He said taking a seat on the left sofa next to the wide entrance while the others remain standing, waiting to be ordered to seat down.

"Really?",

"Yes, boss",

Figo retorted looking at the boss but he could not see his face that was still lost in the darkness.

"Alright. You can leave us and go back to watch over the guests upstairs",

"I'll leave then if you say so",

Figo replied and whispered something into Andy's ear before leaving the room for them to chat with the boss.

"Have a seat on the couch",

"Yes, boss",

The two men chorused before each men took their seat on the opposite side of the couch.

"I can see that you have brought some friends along with you, Andy",

"Yeah, our gang could use more helpful hands now that we are up against the mochano triad",

"And you waited all this time to tell me that",

Marcus intruded.

"We are sorry, boss. We know that you are upset about what we did though we had a good reason for us to stay away",

"What damn good reason did you two had for ignoring my messages, huh?",

The boss questioned with his voice sending chills of fear into the heart of Marcus and the other two recruited rookies except for Andy who was bold and unshaken has ever.

"There was a situation at the docks that needed to be handled urgently before we report back to you",

"Go on. Tell me what gave you the guts to disobey my orders",

Marcus wanted to stopped talking for fear of saying something that might upset the boss even more than he was already angry at them but Andy kept on witj his story.

"Rumors about the mochano gang trying to influence the local fishermen to fall under their protection were already circulating around the neighborhood before we knew that they were eager to expand their territories in that area. Therefore, I and Marcus decided to check out if it was true which it turned out to be and during the course of finding the truth, we unintentionally caught some of them red handedly trying to obtain cash from the fishermen by force in return to fish freely and for a space to anchor their boats when they have returned back from the sea but we did nothing when we met them. Then we decided to act fast to stop them but at first, it wasn't easy winning the trust of the local fishermen to our side since they thought we were no different from the way the mochano gang treated them and were reluctant to trust us with their support as well as their vessel for protection. Thanks to Figo, got in touch with someone who knew a place to recruit people looking as a private bodyguard or even a bouncer and that's were we met these fellas here with us though these men weren't the only one who joined us in harassing the members from the mochano gang whenever they appeared to collect money illegally from the locals who began to trust our judgment in keeping their vessels with us for protection in return for some charges gand things went well as we hoped but it took a long time for us to succeed in getting them on our side that's why we couldn't make the decision to come to you when you needed us",

Andy explained and waited for the boss to respond back to him but it took a brief moment for the boss to reply back to him.

"I see. No wonder I received a message that a some new group was having a strong influence at the docks some days ago",

"Of course, boss but we weren't trying to control that area for ourselves",

"He's right about that. It isn't the way it looked like though that's what the mochano boys thought when they were fighting us for dominance",

"You sure I can trust you based on what you just said?",

"Absolutely. We figured things might not go as planned if we involved our gang and so, we had no choice than to look for newbies to join us to make it seem to our foes that we were entirely a different group from another area",

"Hmm. Interesting. I must admit that you two really did a great job out there on your own",

"Thanks for your kind words about our efforts which we put in place to serve you",

Marcus replied feeling more at ease with the discussion so far.

"Boss, any luck finding your niece?",

"Figo told you, right?",

"Yes, he did tell us",

The boss sighed heavily, exhaling a lot of toxic gazes out of his lungs after ingesting one final dose of cigarette inside his lungs and dropped his finished cigar a tray on a little table in their midst.

"She's nowhere to be found. The last we heard about her was that she probably attended a night club owned by the mochano with some unknown dude she's been seeing for a while but she wasn't there when our men broke in to pick her up like we had suspected",

"You mean it turned to be an erroneous message?",

"Exactly. So, now that both of you are back, you can go look for her anywhere she's been hiding in the city and bring her home",

"Okay, boss. We'll do as you say",

"Very good and I'm glad to hear that from you fellas",

"Uh... Boss. There's also something that you should know",

"And what would that be?",

"You won't believe who's back in the city",

"For goodness sake, spill it out!",

"Jeremy's back, boss",

"Is Garcia here in town?"

"Yeah, we saw him at the docks together with that strange fisherman—",

"Maxwell Tennyson"

Andy rejoined when Marcus failed to mention the Max's full name

"Since when did he come back to the city?",

"I have no idea but all that matters is that we saw him roaming around the docks with that fisherman",

"Here's what you'll do. Both of you already know Jeremy owes me and no one dares to owe me and go free alive with my money. So, find him out as well and bring him here when you do. The rookies you brought will join you as their first assignment including some of our men in your search",

"Thanks, boss",

Andy and Marcus chorused in response.

"I laud your efforts and for now, you can enjoy the party upstairs and show the new guys around to get acquainted on how things are done right here",

"Sounds okay to me",

"Me too",

Andy retorted and joined the other trios to leave the room and went upstairs to join the party where Figo as well as the rest of the gang were busy enjoying themselves in the company of ladies attending to them.