Dockingboys

Chapter Twenty Four

Four days later

Gerard paced anxiously in the cargoyard of the South Docks. Behind him, his henchmen were sitting in the back of one of their trucks, smoking on pipes and drinking sodas, all of them holding menacing-looking weaponry. He checked his expensive gold watch again. Seven thirty. He continued pacing.

As a close friend of Jaxon, it was only natural that Jaxon had invited Gerard to split the proceedings of the black container. And as ever, Gerard had arrived early. In his mind, he cursed Jaxon for arranging such a late time. Usually at this time, Gerard would be enjoying a night at the casino, placing humongous bets and ending up winning every game. But not today.

No, today, he was here to collect a few things from Jaxon's container. In the letter he'd sent him a week ago, he'd said that there would be a stolen cargo container, with products that he and other crimelords, including Gerard, would share. After a brief discussion, Gerard decided he just wanted some of the new guns. As a crimelord more focused on the illegal dealing of weaponry, he wanted to have the latest guns to sell, and this container would have it. But now, Jaxon himself had died, and Gerard was stuck trusting his henchmen to deliver the container.

Behind him, his advisor and his most trustworthy henchman Tray walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. Gerard turned to look at him, frowning.

"What is it?"

"It's eight PM, sir. The others will start arriving soon," Porter said.

"So?" Gerard asked impatiently. He didn't like when people interrupted his thinking. "What about it?"
"I was just asking, if you wanted to kill the others and have everything to yourself, sir?"

Gerard stopped pacing and smiled at his advisor. "That's a great idea, Porter. Tell the men to ready their weapons. Tell them to kill anything that moves!"

Porter returned the smile, and without another word, rushed back to where the group of ten henchmen were, passed the message, and watched as all of them packed away their pipes, threw their soda bottles on the floor, and loaded their guns.

~~~

Oliver looked at his friend. "You're seriously leaving the South Docks? Without permission?"
Jesper shrugged. "There's nothing for me here. Not unless you come back. Sure, I can beat Ural in a fight, but it's not easy. Look at me!" Jesper pointed to a large bruise and scrape on his cheek.

Oliver sighed. It was four days since he'd parked the tow truck and container at the South Docks. To avoid suspicion, he'd parked the tow truck, detached the container from the hook, and replaced it on a cargo truck, so that no one could see the recognizable black, bullet-scarred hull of the container. Since then, he'd lived with Jesper in the Riothouse, hiding from Jaxon's three henchmen and the police, even though he knew that Tarson was keeping the police off his back. And now, here was Jesper, packing up his belongings into a backpack, ready to leave the South Docks.

"You can't be serious, Jesper. You can't leave this place! It's home for you! You've been here since you were nine!" Oliver retorted. He didn't want Jesper to leave the Riothouse. Not because leaving would leave Jesper homeless and a beggar, even though Jesper had enough skills to live as a pickpocket. No, it was because Jesper had spent most of his life at the South Docks, and being a dockingboy was better than being on your own, because at least working at a dockingboy gave you a little money, a roof over your head, and food everyday. Not everyone was like Oliver, who had inherited a whole house from his father and had a plan for the future. Jesper stared at him and fixed him with a serious look.

"Oliver, what are your plans after this container fiasco?"

Oliver was taken aback by the sudden question, and he was about to say something about Jesper's own future, but then stopped. Jesper was his friend, and he deserved to know. "Well, I was planning on leaving Oakton and going to Henessey." Henessey was the capital of Swixom, and the country's most populated city.

Jesper arched his eyebrow. "What do you have there?"

"It's a good place to start back up. No one will know of all this here in Oakton, since there's a small bay separating us from the mainland. The strip of land that connects us and the mainland is barely a kilometer wide. But anyway, I'll start back up in Henessey, maybe be a good gentleman, start up the Hill Corporation, but legal this time, and that's it," Oliver said sincerely. "And I'll get a wife, live the dream."

"What about Declan?"

Oliver sighed. "You know, I thought about that over these four days. It wasn't Declan's fault that my mother died. It couldn't have. Declan's a good guy, like you said. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. For the last few years. Anyway, if he says yes, maybe I'll bring him along with me to Henessey, and since Irene's already popular throughout half of Swixom, he'll have a good life there."

Jesper smiled. For such a young age, Oliver was a master planner, and that was why a lot of the dockingboys as well as other people respected him. "At least you've realized your mistake. Well, are you sure of this plan of yours?"

Oliver nodded. He'd thought of it since he was working at the South Docks.

Jesper thought for a moment, then looked at his friend. "I'm going with you, then."

Oliver looked at his best friend in shock, then amazement. "You're serious?"

"Yeah. After all, there's nothing for me here, and you're my best bet at staying alive," Jesper said jokingly. Oliver put his arm around his younger friend's shoulders.

"Alright then. If you want to come, then I'll bring you along!" he said happily, suddenly forgetting all about the current situation with the container.

~~~

It was 8:10. All the other crimelords had arrived, and they were all waiting impatiently for Jaxon's men to show up with the container. Unknown to the others, Gerard's men were already prepared to launch an attack, even though the other crimelords all had their own security detail.

But Declan and Tess didn't know that either. They were watching outside, in the container stacks so no one could see them, but one disadvantage to that was that space was very limited; the containers were usually placed close together to save space. Tess felt embarrassed because she and Declan were wedged really close together, close enough for them to- she didn't want to think about it. She had no previous experience with boys, and Declan was just a dockingboy. But she couldn't help the fact that she was feeling closer and closer to the loyal dockingboy, and a spark of love for him was forming as well. Tess shook her head, reddening as she thought of it.

"What's happening?" Tess asked Declan urgently, fighting for space between the small space in between two container stacks in which they peeked at the crimelords. "Is Oliver there?"

Declan shrugged. "I don't know. I don't see the container, but that weaponry is serious. These guys are dangerous."

Tess rolled her eyes. "Well, of course. They're crimelords, Oakton's specialty. Are you going to gather the South Docks boys?"

The day before, she and Declan had gone over multiple plans. Since Roy Tarson, the head of police, had organized the entire police force against Tess, they knew he probably wouldn't send in a force to ambush the crimelords as Tess had told him. So Declan had come up with a decent plan: gather all the boys at the South Docks and see what they could do. They didn't know Oliver was there, though.

Seeing what the South Docks boys could do was easy. They were already known for their fighting skills, and maybe they could overrun some of the crimelords, even though Declan and Tess knew that would be very difficult. No, the hard part would be gathering them up in the first place. As Declan and many other people have noticed, the boys of the South Docks were cunning, vicious, almost unholy troublemakers.

So Declan didn't want to do it. "It's not like they'll be able to do anything against a bunch of men armed to the teeth."

Tess sighed exasperatedly. "Then what do we do? We can't call the police. Tarson's after me, remember?"

Then, suddenly, a familiar male voice shocked them both from behind.

"Who says the South Docks boys can't do anything?" said Oliver Hill.