Karmen started to tell Jackie that he needed to deal with the little guy that Yoda just sent away, when Jackie made his way over to what seemed to be his partner and talked quietly with him a bit, then slipped him the piece of paper, and the guy went on his way. She was so baffled right now as to what was going on. She thought maybe she just needed a drink or ten. Today had ended up being so crazy in such a short amount of time.

She was lost in thought a bit when she realized that Jackie had escaped back into the candy shop by himself. Probably to steal some candy or something, and that she was left with YodaTheMaster and SammyEric.

She looked at them for a few moments, then said, "So.. how are you guys doing? I'm thinking of going somewhere to get some drinks.. So.. You're welcome to join."

"It's better than coffee right now anyways." but right now I had bigger concerns on my mind than just a few drinks. Offering to pay for the drinks was one of the better things I did today and besides my energy was gone and I was beyond tired. Reaching in my coat pocket I pull out a few bills which must of caught their attention because before I knew it we were at the bar drinkin' away.

Karmen smiled at the thought of not having to pay for her own drinks, and she hoped that Jackie would pop in sometime later. She wasn't sure where he was going but she was sure wherever it was, he was safe. Probably doing business with the "little man". She shook her head again because she was still so confused, then followed YodaTheMaster and SammyEric to the bar a couple buildings down.

They poured back the drinks for a couple hours and still, no sight of Jackie. She thought maybe she should make her way back home so she said, "Yoda, I thank you for buying me all the drinks and stuff but I'm gonna' have to head back home.. I have bigger priorities right now, like making sure Jackie made it home safe, and that everyone else is safe too, so I will see you some other time, okay? You two stay out of trouble, okay?"

She got up, clumsily, and made her way to the door, pushing it open and almost falling over on the other side before turning towards home. She knew she'd make it there at some point!

Jackie walks into the bar, that his friends were at, and decided to sit in a back corner, watching the events that happen around him. A few associates of his walk into the bar, and they start talking to the bar tender. They ask, "Who owns this place?"

The Bar tender who is very nervous points to himself. They say, "We would like to take this place off your hands." The bar tender shakes his head no. The two associates of Jackie, look over at him for a response. He just nods his head, and the two associates beat the bar tender, to the point that the bar tender begs for his life.

The Bar tender signs off the business to Jackie, and he is now the owner. Jackie tells his associates, "Take the man outside, and deal with this problem." He hands one of the men a gun, and they disappear out back.

Jackie takes up the role as the bar tender. He smiles and says,"How's it going guys?"

"Hey uh Sammy bud take this and uh find the boss his name is handlebarz you'll know him when you see him, I gotta make sure shes uh alright." so with that I left and followed Karmen home and from my apartment (which has clear view of Karmen's home) I watched to make sure she was safe.

Arriving home, Karmen realized that Jackie wasn't here. It had been almost three hours and he hadn't found his way back to Headquarters. She could only imagine the trouble he was getting into but she was too drunk to think about it. She left a note for Mute that said

If Jackie isn't home by morning, you might want to go find him.. 

She then made her way up the stairs to her room and climbed into bed, sleeping away the drunkenness and hoping that everyone would be safe in their beds by morning.

I decided to call SammyEric to see if he was still at the bar without ringing for more than a few seconds I heard Jackie pick and he said that Sammy wasn't at the bar so immediately I left my house to look for Sammy.

Sammy had already left the bar and headed for the location that was supposed to be associated with handlebarz so that he could lobby the boss for any kind of work. Being 17, and getting a drink at a bar, really threw Sammy on cloud 9 because he figured this was just a small sample of what was to come. He figured that people like YodaTheMaster and Karmen and Jackie really knew their stuff, and could get him on the fast track to earning some decent take. Sammy was trying not to laugh outloud at the sight of Yoda throwing the midget out into the cold. He composed himself and timidly rang the doorbell at the location of handlebarz....

Jackie and a few other associates of his, were inside a warehouse, they stumbled across some crates of guns, they decided to take them. Jackie and his associates haul ass out of the area, and store them in a place that no one would find them.

The next day, Jackie heard a few rumors that the police were looking for the missing guns. Jackie became curious on how the cops knew about the missing guns, but he was smart enough to frame someone for stealing them.

Jackie heads into town, and meets a mean looking baker. The baker was a very large man with facial hair, and known to be violent to those who disrespect his business. The baker ran a distillery, and Jackie knew this. The Baker brings Jackie down into the Cellar, and they see a very large room, where alcohol was being processed and shipped across the city. Jackie knew this was an organization that he wanted to be involved in.

So they baker asks him, "Came here all alone here then?" Jackie nods his head. The baker says, "Brave soul you are then mate." The baker continues, "We bake all sorts of bread here, we bake the white bread, we bake the brown bread."

As Jackie follows the baker into the large Cellar, which was full of people working, Jackie sees a table of different sorts of alcohol.

The baker looks at Jackie and says, "What type do you want? White or brown?" Jackie says,"I will try the brown." The baker says, "Alright the brown then." Jackie takes a shot of the alcohol, and he says, "Not bad."

The baker looking concerned at Jackie, says, "Not bad?" Jackie says, "Yep, Will be a pleasure working with you. Let's get this town full of this stuff, but make it the white bread, make it more pricey for the rich, we want large dough coming in, and bring some more recruits in, we could use more people moving this stuff."

Jackie gives a sheet of paper to the baker, and leaves the distillery.

Deciding that maybe the kid went to visit the boss I immediately went to HQ to see what was up lord and behold I found him there safe and sound and away from danger. "Kid call me if you ever leave anywhere, I mean it your life is on the line here whatever you did back then forget it because in this world it's KILL or BE KILLED." I somewhat scolded him and then went back home.

Sammy took his lumps from YodaTheMaster, because he figured that it's best to live and learn from someone who was much more experienced. Meanwhile, at HQ, several of the boss's crew members and soldiers had gathered around to see this fresh young punk in the farmer's clothes. "Who the h*ll are you?" one of them finally said. Hoping to be favored, because of association with the others, Sammy named those that he had already had dealings with. "Yeah, so, anyone with 20 bucks and a bone to pick could have dealings with those, although they are great at helping us with the BIGGER jobs also." This peaked Sammy's interest. "I can to," he said as he dead eyed the man. "Not dressed like that you can't," the man said. "I'll tell ya what, kid. Go see Jackie and help him move the brown liquor outta here, then come back and see us." Sammy left the HQ and headed out to find Jackie. 

YodaTheMaster reenters the HQ to only find many crew members surrounding the new kid and before they could do anything to mess with him, I piped up. "The kid helped me out, knocked a fella down who was runnin' from me." "He's a good kid, let me take him.". So with that I grabbed SammyEric and I took him back to my place and set him up a bed in the living room.

"So Yoda, where can I find Jackie to move the liquor?" Sammy said as he fluffed the pillow Yoda handed him. "Kid, I will make sure you find Jackie, but we will handle it tomorrow. Even the most hardened members of the crew gotta have some sleep, now go get some z's". Sammy found it tough to rest when his mind was so full of all the 'wonderful' adventures he thought he was going to have.....

7:40 A.M.

Thursday March 24th

"Good morning kid...kid? Kid? KID!" I yelled in his practically screaming hoping he wakes and with a few seconds of mumbling he woke up and was ready in less than 10 minutes. "Look we're a half hour late for the meeting luckily I called in for us now lets get going."

Sammy was REALLY nervous now. How could he have overslept on his initial 'job' opportunity. Thank goodness YodaTheMaster called and vouched for him. This guy is really sticking his neck out for Sammy so far. Sammy will never forget this, one day Sammy will reward Yoda's faith...

We arrived at around 8:20 and Jackie wasn't to be seen so we just did what we needed to and packed up the liquor and we began to transport the goods to the nearest brewery. About five minutes later back in my apartment I get a call saying that the cops ambushed Jackie on his way to the meeting point and I knew I needed to get him out of this mess. I called up Karmen and told her we'd be over in a second and stating that Jackie's in trouble.

Sammy was overjoyed. Not because Jackie was in trouble, but because he felt he would actually get to see some action. "What can I do, I will do anything. We gotta help Jackie!" "Calm down kid, rushing into a situation without a gameplan is a good way to get arrested or even killed. Hold your horses while I wait for Karmen to call back."

Karmen was surprised to receive a call from YodaTheMaster about Jackie being in trouble, and that he would be there soon. She had just woke up not too long before that and set to work when the call came in. She hung up, then called right back and said she'd be ready in five minutes for them to arrive. She got up from her chair, then put on her heels and freshened her makeup and put her hair up in a loose pony tail. She didn't like looking disheveled when there were people around.

She made her way downstairs just in time to hear the knock at the front door, and she opened it to see a joyous-looking SammyEric with a distraught Yoda.

She let them in and invited them up to her office, and as soon as they all sat down, she said, "So.. What's the game plan? What happened to Jackie? I had a bad feeling that he wouldn't make it home by morning.."

Without allowing YodaTheMaster even a chance to speak, Sammy blurted out "Whoever is messin with my friend is gonna pay!" Quickly, Karmen reminded him that they had only met SammyEric a day or two ago, but that his seemingly loyal disposition would be paramount to "sticking around" in the crew, if he was even allowed in. "What the heck kid, you look like you never seen a lady before," Yoda snickered. "Well sir, they don't grow em like this on the farm back home." "Alright, enough with the small talk," Karmen stated. "Jackie, without my knowledge or anyone else's, tried to get an early jump on tranporting the liquor and word is that he also met with a baker. From what we understand, it's highly possible that this baker may not be on the up and up, and may have ratted on Jackie, or worse, been a part of trying to take him out. But how would the baker have known that Jackie was going to move some liquor before the scheduled time?"

Karmen put her chin on her balled up fist and thought for a bit before saying, "Alright, so he was transporting liquor? And met with a baker? For what? I'm not so sure what's going on here. How did Jackie get wrapped up in this? It was that midget guy, wasn't it? That guy got him in trouble?! Man I could just shoot that guy if he were here.."

She breathed in deep then let it out before continuing, "So.. What do we do? Do either of you know where Jackie is right now? Or where he could possibly have gone to do the deal?"