Pinchie and Evert sat in their bamboo hut smoking marijuana. Both men had formed a partnership four years ago to plant marijuana. Pinchie had inherited the one-acre plot from his father, himself a marijuana farmer. After the old man’s death, he had gotten his friend, Evert, to help him plant the crop. Their field was in a wooded area of the community, but could be reached by a dirt road. They had to plant other crops to hide the marijuana field.
For the last two years things had gone quite well because the new man was guaranteeing them protection from poachers and from both honest and crooked policemen. Pinchie was planning to buy a car, which he hoped to use as a taxi. Evert had a motorcycle and both men were hoping to improve on their respective houses with the proceeds from this crop.
It was a Monday evening and they had just come to spend an hour or two, looking over the crop, which would soon be ready for reaping.
Pinchie was tall and thin and was twenty-five years of age. Evert on the other hand was of medium height and was twenty-six years of age.
“Evert, I saw a girl on the road and I spoke to her and she told me that she has loved me for a long time and wants to be my girl.”
“What’s her name?”
“She’s Josiah Bethune’s daughter.”
“There are a lot of men pursuing her. How come you’re so lucky?”
“We’re going to meet down by the Chocho river. I’m going to make sure that she enjoys it because I know that if I satisfy her, then no man can take her away from me.”
“These young girls aren’t staying with any man too long because they’re young and flighty.”
After smoking some more marijuana the two men departed the hut at approximately seven o’clock that evening.
On Wednesday evening they met at the hut again.
“So how did it go? Is everything all right?”
“Nothing at all happened.”
Pinchie tried hard to hide his disappointment.
“What are you saying? I don’t believe you.”
“The girl and I were down there. And just as we were ready to make love, I heard her cry out. When I looked I saw a shadow in a white sheet coming towards us. So I jumped up and rushed for my machete but it was only the sheet I caught, because the man ran away.”
“But who could have wanted to spoil your fun though?”
“I don’t know, because it’s not only you I told about it. Everybody I checked says it wasn’t them.”
“I hope that you don’t think that it was me because I was down at Miss Little’s bar last night. Somebody told me that you were running through the district with your machete claiming that some man had spoiled your fun.”
“I’ll find out one day though. I must set a trap for that man.”
Both men lapsed into silence as they smoked more marijuana. They were too filled with their own thoughts to notice the stealthy approach of the four men. Pinchie uttered a shout as the hut’s door was kicked down and four masked men entered. He made a valiant attempt to reach his machete, but one of the men hit him in his head and he fell. Evert made a darting move for his machete, grabbed it, but one of the men used an axe handle to hit him in his back. Their attackers continued to inflict more punishment on them. They then produced rope and bound their hands and feet. They then made their way out of the hut and down into the marijuana field to reap the weed and pack it into bags for the truck to take it into Kingston to a warehouse where it would be stored.
***
On Thursday afternoon the poachers finished reaping the marijuana. In between that time they had gone to look at the men, both of whom had regained consciousness momentarily, then lapsed back into unconsciousness throughout the night. During the day they finally regained consciousness, but found it impossible to untie themselves. At twelve o’clock that night the truck left loaded with the weed for Kingston. Before it left, the poachers returned to the hut and gave the two sleeping men some more lusty blows.
The poachers returned to their respective homes. One returned to Bay Farm Road while the other three remained in St. Ann. Meanwhile the Wareikans were still roaming the island in their search for Brad and Lex.
On Friday one of McCreed’s planters, Rusty, went into the field to have a chat and a smoke with his brethren. He was surprised to find the land bare except for the other crops which they planted. Instead of luscious growing marijuana plants all he saw were peas, corn, sugar cane, coco and some cash crops. Some of these crops had been cut down too, and lay on the ground. He went up to the hut, pushed open the door and came upon the unconscious figures of Pinchie and Evert. Both men were stretched out on their backs and on examining them, he realized that they had been beaten up all over their bodies and had gotten some head wounds.
At first he thought it to be the police. They were capable of reaping a crop of marijuana and disposing of it for their own benefit, but they would never beat up these two youths like this. He didn’t want to panic, the best thing to do was to inform the men’s families and let them take it from there. He would then have to get in touch with the boss and let him know what had happened. He was still at a loss as to why the two men’s families having not seen them return home hadn’t launched a search for them.
There was no way he could get through to the boss this evening but tomorrow he would take a bus into Kingston and phone him to let him know what had taken place. He didn’t want to make the call locally for fear of anybody hearing what he was saying.
Rusty took the minibus into Kingston on Saturday morning as intended.
Prior to his departure, he had kept his silence about what had happened. Even his woman said that he looked sad and wanted to know if everything was all right, but Rusty wasn’t going to say anything without the boss’ permission. He arrived at Parade at ten o’clock that morning and took a taxi to the Factory.
***
Rusty gave Dangler an account of the incident. He gave him the telephone for him to speak to Ardez who in turn called Mc Creed and brought him up to date with the situation.
***
Mc Creed was shocked, but didn’t want to over-react. He wondered who could have done it. None of the other syndicates and himself were currently at war. G.C had run to the United States with his wife. Moses Johnson, Aston Lecky and Danville Burke were all dead. Jack Marriot had been beaten up, Ruddy Brown, shot and warned off. Danny King, after the break up of his syndicate, had returned to operating his merchant tailoring business. Dickson Lunan, after King’s defeat became an ally, but was now abroad, living under a false name he had heard.
None of these men were capable of attacking him. No, it must be some little guy, trying to make a big payday. Better to step on his head before things got out of hand.
His orders were for Premba to lead a group of men down to McKenzie Lands, find and destroy whoever it was that had beaten up the two men and stolen their marijuana.
***
Ardez now sat in his front room. His lieutenants were seated on chairs, that they had stolen from some upper St. Andrew homes. As usual Grosset had a huge cigar, which was threatening to suffocate those in the room. The time was one o’clock.
“We want these men dead. We have to teach them a lesson not to fool around us again,” Ardez declared.
All of the men nodded in agreement.
“Where is the man, who brought the information, Ardez? I hope he was discreet about it. If we’re to catch those poachers it’ll have to be by surprise. He should also have stayed around to act as a guide,” Rattigan advised.
“Rusty will keep his mouth shut. He won’t tell anybody what we’re coming down there to do. He returned home, but he always has his gun on him. I’ll tell you where to find him when you go down there.”
“Who are they, Ardez?” Premba asked.
Ardez knew that emotions were running high.
Pinchie and Evert were trusted comrades. Most of those in the room at one time or another had received bags of top
quality marijuana whenever they were in the rural areas and came across either man. Their attackers wouldn’t go unpunished.
“I don’t know, but we must find them when we go down there. The boss says I’m to send you, Grosset, Lance, Pennant and Chaser. Butler’s going too, he’s telling me some foolishness, but I feel that he ran left Dillinger because it’s only three shots fired out of his gun.”
“That guy, Butler, is a big coward,” Premba declared.
Ardez knew that this was war plus they also wanted to avenge Dillinger’s death if not on the police, on the men, who had beaten up their colleagues and stolen their marijuana.
“Rusty said they just beat up Pinchie and Evert, and reaped our weed. The boss believes that it was some local boys, who did it. We have to hit them hard so they don’t mess with us again.”
All of them agreed with him.
“You’re going to leave here at three o’clock today. You should reach McKenzie Lands at around seven o’clock. You can check out some popular spots to see if there are any big spenders around, but you have to find those men and deal with them.”
“What about those two big men? The boss doesn’t want us to look for them again?” Grosset asked.
“We’re still looking for them so if you see them, you know what to do.”
“I thought Bendoo was coming too?” Grosset inquired.
“Bendoo, Duffus, Pablo and Dally are going to St. Mary to look for them. Our sources tell us that they have been sighted up there.”
“I hope all of you heard what I said. Go and look after your weapons and make sure that they’re working. The boss wants you to use machetes to make it look like a local war, but as far as I’m concerned, shots may have to be fired.”
Grosset stood up.
“My machete is sharp like a razor.”
The others stood up and filed out of the room.
In the two hours that they had available the men would be fixing up their gear. Some would be sharpening up their machetes. Rattigan was now in the armory selecting ammunition for them to carry.
***
They arrived in McKenzie Lands at around dusk. Rusty was waiting for them at the agreed spot. He appeared edgy and sad and still looked to be in shock at the horrible beatings his friends had received. Over the marijuana that he brought for them, the men heard more details about the beatings. He told them that they were trying to keep it under wraps. The two men had been able to walk to their respective home, but would need medical attention fast. The boss would have to find a doctor for them as they didn’t want the police to know about what had happened. He also told them that a few confidants of the weed-men were out searching for any clues as to who their attackers might be.
Premba was frowning at the information being provided by Rusty.
He was wondering whether it was a wise move for them to come into the area as any strangers were bound to arouse suspicions.
However, Rusty assured them that he didn’t think that the poachers were in McKenzie Lands but there were two adjoining districts that they could check out. Premba, Grosset and Lance now sat in one of the bars pointed out by Rusty in Zion Mountain district, ordering beers. The talk was general for all the time they were hoping that someone would enter and give them the clues they were looking for. At the same time there were also wary of the presence of any policemen. The second car driven by Pennant and containing Butler and Chaser passed by the bar and went around a corner to stop. None of them got out.
By eight o’clock that night after drinking a sufficient quantity of liquor and playing around with the barmaid, the men decided that they wouldn’t find Pinchie and Evert’s attackers here, they had better look elsewhere.
The next bar was a mile away in Guango Ridge district. They entered and Premba did the ordering. A pool table was in another room and was unoccupied. He and Grosset started a game, leaving Lance at the bar.
The second car passed by the bar and went further up the road to stop.
Chaser got out and came into the bar to buy drinks. He gave no indication that he knew Lance.
The group led by Premba was in the bar for about a half hour when two youths dressed in party clothes, came in.
They went up to the bar and ordered beers. When they finished their first pints, they ordered more. The bottles kept on piling up while they dropped coin after coin into the jukebox and punched just about every song available.
Premba was watching them as he had given up playing pool when Lance pointed out the two youths to him. He came and sat at the bar and the latter took his place at the pool table. These two youths looked as if they had money and were being careless with it. From their general behaviour it was obvious that they were country boys, who had seen a little of Kingston but nothing about the city had rubbed off on them.
Grosset and Lance abandoned the game to join Premba at the bar. The two youths now left for the vacant pool table to start a new game.
Pennant finished his stout and threw away the bottle. He lit a cigarette.
Beside him Chaser was rolling some marijuana leaves to smoke while at the back of the car Butler was having his second stout.
Premba, Grosset and Lance returned to their car. They knew that these two youths could be some of the men they were looking for. They just had to be patient. They didn’t have long to wait. Both youths were perturbed at not finding any women for the night so far and thought they might try another area, where they were available. There was also a dance being kept in New Roads, about a mile east of Zion Mountain.
They came out of the bar and headed up the road intent on getting to the dance in New Roads. Both youths had taken in too much liquor to be aware of anyone else on the road. When he thought that they had gone a good distance, Premba spun the car around and started after them. A minute later Pennant drove off behind him.
When Premba reached the youths he stopped the car suddenly. Grosset and Lance jumped out, pointing guns at both youths, who were caught off guard.
“Police, don’t move,” Grosset shouted as he came out of the car.
Both youths put their hands in the air when they saw the guns.
“Who are you?” one of the them asked. He remembered these men from the bar.
“Police,” Grosset repeated. “Give me a clean search.”
He gave Lance his gun and started with the taller of the two youths. He came up with a ratchet knife, a pack of contraceptives and sixty dollars in twenty-dollar bills. The shorter youth except for twenty dollars more, had just about the same things on him.
Pennant had driven up and stopped behind Premba’s car, but no one got out. The two youths had begun to have a ray of hope when they saw the headlights of Pennant’s car, but that hope died when the car drew to a stop behind their captor’s car.
“Where are the guns?” Premba asked.
“We don’t have any guns, we’re not gunmen,” the taller youth replied.
“We know you’re lying, but we’ll find out,” Premba told them.
“Now get into the car and don’t try anything or else you’re going to be sorry,” Grosset warned.
One got into the back seat of Premba’s car, while the other got into Pennant’s car. Premba drove on the main road for some time before he saw a dirt road and turned into it. They had been interrogating the two youths with no success so far. They had never heard of Pinchie or Evert. They didn’t know anything about weed. The money they were spending was what they had earned as bauxite workers. Premba drove on the lonely dirt road for some time before stopping the car.
They opened the car doors and filed out. Pennant’s car drew up beside them and the occupants got out. The two suspects were made to stand beside a tree. Grosset and Pennant took out their razor sharp machetes from the car trunk. Chaser and Lance had their AK-47s trained on both youths.
“Who sent you to beat up Pinchie and Evert and steal our weed?” Grosset growled at them.
“We told you already that we don’t know what you’re talking about,” the taller youth replied.
Butler moved up to the taller youth with his gun and pointed it at his head.
“Hey, we’re going to kill you if you don’t tell us who and you beat up Pinchie and Evert and stole our weed,” he warned.
“We don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s just the dance, we’re going,” the shorter youth pleaded.
Pennant and Grosset pointed their razor sharp machetes at both youths’ necks.
“Where did you hide our weed?” Premba asked.
Both youths remained silent.
“Shoot this youth in his head, Butler,” Premba ordered.
“Wait, wait, we’ll tell you what you want to know,” the taller youth pleaded.
“It was Josiah Bethune, who hired us, he told us that we’d get plenty of money.”
“How many of you, did he hire?” Grosset asked.
“Let us go and we’ll tell you,” the shorter youth pleaded.
“Tell us and we’ll let you go,” Pennant countered.
Both suspects went mum again.
Then all of a sudden the taller youth made a huge leap in the air and dropped into a gully. They heard him rolling down its steep inclines. The men fired a volley of gunshots after him. After a while there was silence.
“I think, we got him,” Premba declared. “The little fucker is dead.”
“Do you want to get what your friend just got?” Grosset asked the other youth.
The youth was stupefied. His clothes were wet with perspiration. His lips were white and his eyes wild with fear.
“Josiah lives off the main road about a mile from here.”
“Who lives with him?” Grosset asked. “And what does he look like?”
“He lives with his wife and children. He is short and stout and walks with a limp.”
“Does he have any daughters?” Premba asked.
“One daughter and two sons. The daughter just left school.”
That would make her about seventeen mused Premba, remembering that his own school days had ended at fifteen when he stabbed a boy in the abdomen and had to flee school and the boy’s friends. It had taken a year for the police to catch up with him, but by that time he had done more bad things. He had been sent to the Stony Hill Approved School, where he had spent ten months, before escaping along with Pennant. He had managed to stay one step ahead of the police. Since he had joined McCreed’s syndicate, he was several steps ahead of them. Josiah Bethune’s daughter could make this trip more than interesting, he thought.
As if reading Premba’s mind, the youth said.
“She’s Pinchie’s girlfriend.”
The gang leader nodded in acknowledgement of what the youth had just said.
“You see how wicked you are. The youths and you are friends and just because you’re getting money to steal their weed, you beat them up, nearly killed them. That’s why we should kill you.”
“Hey, boy, you have to show us where this man lives.”
The youth didn’t appear to hear what the gang leader said.
“Now get into the car and just remember that you’re already dead,” Premba shouted at the frightened youth.
They got into their cars and drove away. Their next destination being Josiah Bethune’s house.