Eddie took a drag from the cigarette he had perched between his lips. The night had begun to grow all around him, and the rain was beginning to come down a little harder now, hammering itself against the sidewalk that Eddie was walking on. He stopped at the end of the street and took a look around. He wasn't being followed, which was good news. Seems that everywhere he went these days those fucking FBN Agents would be following him.

Eddie was supposed to be meeting up with William Bowden, a fellow member of The Pier. Eddie had been talking with Mr Bowden for a few days prior, to arrange this enterprise to see if they could get it up and running. The plan was to start producing enough whiskey in Eddie's distribution business and then use his trucks to bring the stuff all across the country. It was a solid plan, but one that they needed to put into practise right away.

Figuring that he must have a good enough excuse for not being here, Eddie decided that it would be best if he just met William down at his place of business. William was a really smart guy, knew what he was doing, so he would know why Eddie didn't wait around for him. So with that, Eddie threw his almost finished cigarette onto the sidewalk and continued walking down the street until he came to his building.

Stepped inside, Eddie took a look around to see if business was going as planned. He was surprised at how much whiskey the guys they had hired had managed to make in just a few short days. There must have been at least five hundred crates that was ready to go out onto the trucks and out onto the roads that night. Impressed, Eddie took to his office to sample a bottle before telling the hired guys to get the crates loaded.

William had just walked inside, not long after Eddie.

"Mr Bowden, good to see you could make it down here. Sorry I didn't wait for you, but I needed to get out of that fucking rain. Anyway, what do you think. Is this enough for our first run do you think?"

It had been a long few days and even though the trouble was probably still not over, tonight was a time to get back to business. The waves of rain sheeting against the pier were beginning to grow so heavy they looked like the river was reaching out its arms to reclaim what rightfully belonged to it. No man in his right mind would be out tonight, but of course William Bowden soldiered on. He wasn't surprised to see that Eddie hadn't waited outside and he was truthfully thankful to have an excuse to do the same. He knew exactly where he'd find the man and made his way to Stobart's Distribution.

What he wasn't expecting was the sight of dozens of crates stacked up and filled to the brim with illicit whiskey. Eddie Stobart was one of the promising young associates of the Race Street Operation and had a proposal to get involved in the trade of supplying whiskey but William wasn't expecting him to have made so much progress in the short few days since they'd begun talking the idea over. William picked his way through the product until he saw the man himself. William hadn't hesitated at any point because any man who worked for Eddie ought to know his face well enough to try anything foolish and he'd not been disappointed in that respect. Eddie earned a grin when he turned and offered a greeting before he could be caught off guard. William shook his hand as he replied.

"Mr. Stobart I don't blame you one bit for getting outta this storm. This ought to be more than enough for what we've got lined up. Hell, if we're being honest this is probably enough to throw a party and get half the city drunk off their asses. You won't mind if I give it a try I hope?" William grabbed the sample bottle and took a smell before taking a short plug of the nectar within. The burning warmth spread across him as though he were standing about a half step too close to a campfire and he nodded appreciatively. The product wasn't perfect, but it was within spitting distance. There would almost certainly be no complaints from their customers.

"I'm glad to see that the package I had taken over to Agent Georgie Mitchell earlier today won't be going to waste. You should have a couple hours to make some moves before the local police start paying attention to any odd trucks moving around. I've got a couple of bars willing to give your stuff a try here in Philadelphia that should get priority, and of course I expect you to begin with any of the other businesses on the Pier you may have worked out agreements with. There's also a middle man in New York willing to be a point of contact for your stuff if you're interested. Vince McCreary is his name. He's a salty old Irishman who runs a fishing fleet out in the harbour and moves things through for some of the new arrivals that wouldn't pass aboveboard. He's in with some of the rougher joints in town and owes me a couple favors from the old days. If you let him know I sent you he'll get your stuff into half the dockside bars in the city by morning. He'd be looking to buy large quantities, up to a couple hundred bottles if you're willing. Of course, we can also improvise if you'd prefer."

Eddie had watched as William had made his way inside of the building, and the fella seemed impressed at the levels of movements that was being made to making this proposal a reality. After all, who wasn't in the money making business? Eddie shook William's hand and ushered him further inside to look at the progress that was being made. He felt he owed him that considering he was trying to make William a partner in all of this.

"William, come take a look, pal. You can see the promise that this enterprise has." Eddie exclaimed to him with a smile on his face. He was excited to get the trucks out onto the road.

William took a look at the crates that was now being loaded into the back of the trucks. It took two guys to fill each truck, and there was at least twelve trucks parked and being filled. After they had a look, William had mentioned about Vince McCreary who wanted to get a piece of the action down by the docks.

"Old man McCreary? If he's willing to get in on this then it may be worth paying him a visit tomorrow to discuss terms. Let's just see tonight through first eh? Oh and listen, there was a young guy who wanted to talk with us about something. I think he had heard what we was doing, but I'm not sure who has been talking. If the guy is wanting to get in on it, then we could be looking at potentially branching out to other cities that we aren't already in talks with. That means more money but it also means more trouble too potentially."

"You think we could get SneakyTibz in with us? Pretty sure I was told he's a good wheelman who doesn't stop for anybody? You think we should go pay him a visit?"

Several days passed since Linnie had seen a young man standing on a side walk smoking a cigarette looking around as if he was worried someone was watching. Well I guess you could say his senses were right except he didn't place Linnie that night in the dark and pouring rain a few blocks away. Noticing such strange behavior he decided to keep an eye on the young man to see what he was up to.

As he followed him for several blocks after throwing his cigarette unto the ground he seen the man walking up to what looked like a Distribution Business of some sort. The young man proceeded towards the dock door and popped it open. Leaving the door open for a few minutes Linnie got a look inside from a distance. Whiskey? He thought to him self as he saw several workers stacking crates. Was this an illegal scheme to produce some extra cash for the business? Unsure if the men were staying local he thought to him self about how great it would be to work alongside these men and transport whiskey into LA. Not only would this be a great opportunity for Linnie but it would definitely be beneficial to the Distribution Business. How could he get in touch with him?

Linnie decided to stay in the area. Not to close but staying with in the community because he knew that those crates weren't being stacked to just sit there. They had to of been going somewhere. Maybe he would catch a driver delivering the goods to a local business or private buyer.

That first night had gone by in a blur. William and Eddie had decided to build the market locally before making a move into the other cities and had placed bottles of Stobart's finest into the hands of avid drinkers across Philadelphia. The end result were a number of pleased customers and increased orders to stock it as a standard fare in a number of speakeasy bars that catered to the immigrant and underworld communities at large.

The next couple of days were spent getting these orders filled and organizing a few of the trucks to refine the process to run like clockwork. Bribes were flowing, trucks were moving, and already the investment in the business was beginning to turn towards profit. Eddie was a born businessman and William was ready to do what he could to open his opportunities even further. It was for this reason that he had returned to Stobart's Distributing to deliver a piece of good news: some of William's recent misadventures had further opened the scope of their buyers to the city of Detroit. A portion of the take would of course be due to those who stood in control of the city, but there was enough to go around. It was a longer run though and they would need to take extra precautions.

William sought out his associate to check in on a few things and found him already hard at work on the night's logistics. "Evening Eddie, everything moving smooth? I spoke with Tibz and he's in for the work. Did you get in touch with that guy you mentioned the other night? If so we might be able to put them both to use. It looks like your hooch is headed to the Motor City."

The sun was just coming up as Linnie rolled out the bed and smacked the floor. Startled, he jumped to his feet. "Time to get up." Unfortunately Linnies boss DuClaw had ordered him to return to LA to speak about some unfortunate events that took place while he was in Philadelphia for the week.

Upset, knowing he was unable to meet paths with a driver from the believed illegal operation he knew he had to follow orders and return to LA. Maybe next time he thought to himself knowing he would be back in Philadelphia in a few weeks.

Linnie stumbled around the room looking for his belongings before packing them into his suit case. Grabbed a cigarette and walked out the door to check out of the hotel.

"Taxi! he yelled out as one was about to pass.. To the airport please."

That first night was a fucking success. The guys drove like champions, having no fear taking to the roads at night amidst all the chaos that was plaguing the streets these days. You would normally hear of these so called gangs that would hide out in the woods awaiting unsuspecting cars to raid, people to murder or women to have their way with. The boys knew exactly what was expected of them, and they fucking shone like Eddie knew they would.

So a few days had gone by, and Eddie had found himself back in his office at Stobart's Distribution alongside William Bowden. The two seemed to have come into a fantastic business partnership together, but one that needed to branch out and take to other cities of the country. Surely this wasn't to be some small time operation. This business needed expanding, and that was exactly what the two had their minds set on.

The job had managed to pull off a hundred thousand at least on it's first night. That was a crazy amount to say it was the middle of prohibition. Those fbn agents could go fuck themselves as far as Eddie was concerned. He didn't like them, and he sure as fuck didn't trust them.

"The other night was a success William. We need to get more of this whiskey made and ready to ship out in a few days time. Can you pay a visit to SneakyTibz and get him down here? I think the three of us need to have a little chat about things. Make sure Tibz brings his gun, we all know he knows how to use it."

Eddie grabbed a bottle of the whiskey that he had remaining in his top desk drawer and he poured it into two glasses. One for himself and the other for William_Bowden so they could toast to their newest enterprise and business partnership.

"Salut, Mr Bowden. Sal..fucking..ut."