Ken Stone, Wally, Burke and Benny were having their second meeting upstairs Danville’s bar.
“Everything’s set up for the guys, I’ve told them that they must pay their fighters so that they can turn against their boss,” Burke declared.
“Those men are some jokers. I heard that that guy, Ruddy Brown, is their contact man in Miami. He doesn’t know anything about the business,” Ken stated.
“We’re not going into anything with them, Ken. Jack was telling me that Lex hired some guys to take out McCreed but some of them got taken out and Lex himself too,” Burke told them.
“That’s what I’ve been telling you, the bigger the man, the more you have to plan for his downfall. That’s why we have to use those two guys I’ve been telling you about,” Ken stated.
“Ruddy Brown is a guy, my family used to help when we lived in Kingston. I saw him in Miami pretending that he doesn’t know me. He doesn’t have any more money or girls than me. I’ve let it be known that if he knows what’s good for him, he’d better not let me meet up with him anywhere out here.
“I hear that he’s broke, he doesn’t have any money to promote any shows. They’ll soon seize his house and his car too. I know the girl, who he’s with out here. She’ll soon dump him when she finds out that he’s broke.”
Burke looked at them.
“He’s out here, though? Jack and Brad want to try something, but they’re waiting to see what McCreed’s up to.”
“You’d better get ready guys because things will soon start to fall in place. As I said before, we aren’t waiting on anybody,” he warned as a waitress appeared with snacks and drinks.
The men did some more talking while eating their snacks with Burke telling them that he had done some repairs to the old house in which some guns were stored.
The meeting ended at eleven o’clock that night with Ken going to sleep with a woman at Eight Miles. Burke returned home while Wally and Benny caught late flights home.
***
The Wareika gang was about to reap its first success in its attempts to catch the poachers. Premba’s group had accompanied a grower, Jacob White, to his field. They made a stealthy approach to the field and from their vantage point they could see that it was being reaped.
“The blasted thieves!” Premba exclaimed.
“Let’s kill them,” Jacob demanded, drawing his gun.
“The boss wants us to wait and find out the destination of the truck. This might give us a chance to find out who’s behind this whole set up,” Premba stated.
“But I’m going to lose my crop.”
“When we shot up those guys, who had beaten up Pinchie and Evert, we thought that it was just Lex alone. Now he’s dead and the poaching is still continuing. Right now we believe that there are some more men out there fighting against us and we have to find them and deal with them,” Premba explained.
Jacob was far from convinced.
“I can’t let those guys steal my weed like that, Premba. I have to do something about it. I can’t lose my weed like that. I will go stone broke after this. They are going to destroy all of my other crops.”
Bendoo tried to persuade Jacob.
“Jacob, this is the first lead we’ve got on the gang. They want to take over from the boss and bring in different people to grow the weed. All of the growers will be killed if we don’t wipe out these men.”
There was silence as Jacob lapsed into deep thought.
A strong gust of breeze hit the trees, making them sway.
“No smoking, I believe that they have a lookout so we’d better watch out,” Premba warned.
Shower and Chaser sat themselves down on a dried tree trunk. Bendoo, Premba and Jacob soon joined them.
“They must have hidden their car somewhere,” Bendoo observed. “We never saw it when we were coming in.”
“Don’t worry about their car; it’s the truck we’re interested in. When it comes and leaves with the weed we’ll follow and see where it goes. This might give us a chance to find out who’s behind this setup,” Premba explained.
“Bendoo,” he instructed. “Go and hide the car.”
He gave him the car keys whereupon the latter departed. Bendoo found a spot on a dirt track off the main road to park their car. He came out of the car, locked it up and lit a cigarette. He doused it, remembering Premba’s warning. Then he stood in the darkness and fingered the gun in his pocket.
He knew that if they followed the truck when it came, they might get a chance to break up the opposing syndicate. If they hadn’t gotten rid of the poached weed then their warehouse must be full. He would have to tell Wood about it for him to organize a raid. With that, he trudged back to where Premba and the others were.
“You saw anything suspicious?” Premba asked.
“No, I parked the car in a safe spot so that nobody can see it from the road.”
“Good,” Premba stated. “There are only four of them down there and they’re working very fast.”
“I bet that the truck will come in tonight and maybe pull out in the morning,” Shower speculated.
“I’m not so sure,” Premba replied. “They won’t risk transporting it by day, I feel that it’s tomorrow night they’ll be coming for it. That means that we have to watch all night.”
“Are you returning to your home or are you staying to watch with us?” Premba asked the bearded marijuana farmer.
“I’m staying, if it comes to a fight I’m in it.”
“That’s what I want to hear. Bendoo you, Shower and Chaser sleep until two o’clock, then you can take over from me and Jacob,” Premba instructed.
Bendoo slept his quota and then took over along with Shower and Chaser to watch. The poachers had ceased their activities and had gone to sleep; though it was possible they had taken turns watching and sleeping.
At six in the morning they came off their shift. Jacob departed for food and water. The poachers could be seen putting together a fire on which to cook their breakfast.
“These guys are well organized, this doesn’t look like a hit and run operation to me,” Bendoo remarked.
“We’ll soon find out,” Premba told them.
Hunger was beginning to gnaw at their stomachs when Jacob returned with a bucket of water, a basket of food and a large thermos. The men used the water to wash their hands and faces, then sat in the grove of trees and wolfed down the food.
By this time the poachers had also eaten and were again at the marijuana plants with their machetes. One man was now bagging the stuff.
In the grove of trees, Premba’s group was cut off from the poachers’ view by a range of hills. They couldn’t be outflanked because Chaser was higher up with a view of the road, the poachers as well as his colleagues. Jacob was positioned with a view of the poachers’ lookout and of Chaser. As they were working the men kept a grim silence.
By midday the poachers had finished reaping Jacob’s marijuana field. They then took a break to cook some more food. Jacob, his head hung low, departed for his home to get some more food, whereupon Bendoo took up his position.
After they had eaten, they re-took their positions to watch the poachers complete the bagging of their colleague’s weed. Having completed their tasks, the poachers went to sleep on the bags.
It wasn’t until after ten o’clock that the poachers began moving out the weed. In all there were twenty bags so each man would have to make five trips.
The truck didn’t arrive until twelve o’clock. From their vantage point the Wareikans observed the men packing the bags into the truck and covering them with a tarpaulin.
Two of the poachers went in search of their car while the other two went with the truck. When the truck drove off, the car was behind it. Premba’s men came out of hiding and made for their car. They were able to keep a safe distance as the truck took the main highway linking the North Coast to Kingston.
The truck and car arrived at a building on Collins Avenue. One of the truck workers got out and opened the gate for it to be reversed inside.
Premba had gotten the lead he wanted and Ardez was briefed early that morning. He detailed a twenty four-hour surveillance of the building.
By Thursday they were able to rent an adjoining building for the purposes of a warehouse. The patrols would now move from the country to Collins Avenue.
Premba’s group was again the first to taste success. They were on the six o’clock to two o’clock shift when a car drove up to the gate and stopped. Two men got out, opened the gate and went inside the premises. Bendoo wasn’t with the group this time, which included Premba, Dally and Shower.
As the two men went inside, a young man came out of the house scowling. He talked to the visitors for a few seconds before they went inside the building.
Premba put down the binoculars.
“I recognize both of those men.”
“That short guy’s Brad Elliot and the tall one is Ruddy Brown. He’s a playboy, has women all over the Caribbean.”
The guard’s manner never changed, he was still scowling and looking around.
“Hey, isn’t that Churchill?” Shower asked of the guard he was looking at through the binoculars.
Premba took the instrument from him.
“It’s him all right,” Premba said, returning the binoculars to Shower just as Churchill went inside, closing the door behind him.
“Hey, he’s working for them, wonder if Errol is down there too,” Premba said, pointing the gun in the man’s direction.
“I have to obey the boss’ orders, that’s why I didn’t shoot him.”
They had been at a dance when Churchill and some more of Aston Lecky’s gunmen had suddenly showed up, guns blazing. In the ensuing shootout Premba had received a slight wound, but Delgo, a member of their gang, had been killed. Premba had shot at Churchill, but missed as they disappeared on their motorcycles.
“The boss will be interested to know that Ruddy Brown is back on the island and Mister Brad is mixed up in stealing our weed too,” Premba said.
“Lecky’s dead, I wonder who Churchill is working for these days,” he declared.
“What do we do now?” Shower asked.
“We wait until they come out and then follow them. They might lead us to the rest of their syndicate,” Premba replied.
Unaware of being under surveillance the two men went about their business.
“We hardly have space here for more, Brad,” Ruddy remarked.
“Last week’s raid was the last we plan until we get the new warehouse on Jackson Road.”
They were examining the dryers, which heated up the storeroom to dry the plants.
“I heard that you guys are recruiting some more fighters,” Ruddy remarked.
“We have to do that in case we get into a war with McCreed,” Brad replied.
Ruddy nodded in acknowledgement.
“King isn’t serious, if we don’t attack McCreed he’s going to think that we’re soft,” he added.
“That’s what we plan to do once we sell some of the weed and get some money,” Brad stated. They had just finished inspecting the major storeroom. Ruddy stuffed some of the marijuana in a paper bag he was carrying.
“Time we leave,” Brad said. “I have to take my wife to the doctor about two o’clock today.”
Churchill closed the door behind them and they went to Brad’s car and drove away. Premba came down and started their car, the others piling in.
They followed the car now being driven by Brad to Constant Spring Road where Ruddy got out. Dally was let out to locate his apartment.
They caught up with Brad at the stoplight at the corner of Waterworks Road and Constant Spring Road. Then they trailed him to where he was staying in Port Maria.
***
Gus McCreed got the call that the organization was about to be exposed. He immediately called for a conference of his lieutenants in the back room of Mac’s bar and restaurant in Cross Roads. The owner, John McKenzie, had known Gus for years and could do with the income from these informal gatherings. The meeting started at seven o’clock and Bendoo went along with the other commanders.
“That was some good work you did, Premba. Now that we found them, it’s just a matter of time before we wipe them out,” McCreed stated. He and Fred had already congratulated Bendoo for the fine job he was doing.
“We saw one of that fucker, Lecky, boys down there,” Premba told them.
“We wiped Lecky of the map, didn’t we?” Mc Creed boasted.
“We know that at least two of them are involved, boss. The place on Collins Avenue is where they store the weed. Once we wipe out those guys, we can always reclaim it,” Ardez declared.
“Are those guys guarded?” Fred asked.
“I didn’t see anybody with them and the place seems almost deserted except for one guard, who appears to sleep on the premises,” Premba replied.
“I gave Ruddy a chance to run away to the States and now he’s returned to fight against me. Well, I’m not giving anybody a second chance. As for Brad Elliot, he should have been dead a long time ago.”
Bendoo digested every word the big, bald head giant was saying. He didn’t try to look Fred Billings in the eyes, fearing that the man might recognize him from their chance encounter up in Stony Hill. He hoped that his large beard and his knotty hair would help disguise him.
“I want those two put under twenty-four hour surveillance. Until they lead us to the rest of the syndicate, they’re safe, but once we find out where the rest of them are, we’re going to wipe out all of them.”
“There are two men I’m suspicious about. Both of them are friends of Ruddy Brown and Brad Elliot.”
“Who are they, boss?” Ardez asked.
“Jack Marriot and G.C. Cox.”
“I can’t believe that G.C came back to Jamaica without us knowing. We’ll check up on both of them and see if they are involved,”Ardez stated.
Fred looked at his watch.
“It’s eight o’clock; I have to drop off something at Johanna’s apartment. I’ll be seeing you guys.”
“I don’t think I have anything more to say. Say hello to Johanna for me, Fred,” Gus said as Fred Billings departed.
“Ardez, you put our plans into action and let me know the results.”
He and the other commanders walked out of the room to their cars.
***
Ruddy had driven Donnette’s car down to the nearby petrol service station on Constant Spring Road to buy some petrol and fill her car tires. He finished and was driving into a side road to get back on to Constant Spring Road. As he looked out of the car he saw a man two inches or so taller than him, standing beside a rental car, it was Ken. He drove and parked on the sidewalk and got out of the car.
As he came out of the car he heard Ken say.
“Hey, Ruddy Brown, I hear that you’re up in Miami calling up my name. You said that I want you to buy me liquor and give my parents money.”
Ruddy’s gun was in his pocket. Ken had his gun in his waist.
“I hear that you’re out here saying what you’re going to do to me when we meet.”
“Did I ever beg you anything yet? How come you’re spreading rumors about me? Saying that I don’t have anything and how I am mashed up.”
“So you aren’t up there spreading rumors about me too?”
“You’re a liar,” Ken shouted and chucked Ruddy, who chucked him back.
The two men were backing away from each other in an attempt to go for their guns. Some drivers, who had parked and were watching the fracas rushed up when they realized what was about to happen. They got between the two men as Ken shouted.
“I’ve been wanting to do you something for some time.”
But he realized that he would have hit one of those innocent bystanders.
The gas station proprietor realizing the danger of a gunfight so close to his gas station shouted at them.
“We don’t want any gunfights here.”
He rushed inside to call the police.
Meanwhile the two combatants, realizing that the fight was over, returned to their respective car.
“I’ll catch you again, Ruddy. You think you got away? You’re just lucky,” Ken shouted and drove off.
“You can go on talking, I’m sorry these people had to part us,” Ruddy yelled defiantly after him as he too drove off.