Skulls In Silk

Eleven

Ryan

I'm on my way over to Jesse's house to speak with him. The information I have is too sensitive to be discussed over the phone. We're not sure if they're listening, but it's safer this way. "Open the gate" I say to him as he answers my phone call. "Man, you know the code, why you gotta be so lazy" he said but still proceeded to open the gate. I hung up the phone and drove up to his house. Once I got there, he was outside in his robe with a mug of probably green tea, looking like a rich bastard.

"Man, get yo ass in the house, out here in yo robe like you Diddy or some shit" I said walking past him as he sucked his teeth at me. "What do you want, I was about to get ready to head to the office. Need to grab a few things before we leave later" he said sitting across from me at the kitchen counter. "Leave? Where we going?" I asked and he facepalmed. "You really forgot? And I sent you your goddamn itinerary! Man, my casino opens tomorrow in Vegas. We're leaving tonight on the jet bro. You better go get your shit packed up" he said and I felt bad for forgetting. He's been working really hard over the years to make sure that we maintain our wealth and could soon stop working.

"Alright bro. My bad for forgetting, it won't take me bout a minute to get packed. But I came here to discuss some important shit with you" I said seriously which piqued his interest. "Go on" he said setting his cup down. "Okay, so I'm not 100% sure of this, but I think I saw 'the boss' yesterday. The same lady who mom was probably writing that note about, and the same one who called to threaten us the other night" I said leaning forward so that I'm not speaking too loudly.

"What!? Where? What makes you think that?" he asked in a frenzy of questions. "Okay, well I was following a lead, one that I cannot disclose at this moment because I'm still verifying if it's a good lead. But I followed the lead to a restaurant in town, and while trying to keep a low profile and parking in the back parking lot instead of using the valet service, I saw a group of people walk out of the back of he building. It was like 4 big body guards and a woman in the middle of them. She was wearing coverings over her face and her clothes covered her entire body to the point where you couldn't even tell what her skin color was. At first, I was like what kind of weird shit is going on here. But then, when the car drove off, I saw the symbol. You know the one from the box I got? Yeah, it was discretely placed on the back, and of course there weren't any plates on there either. I really think that restaurant is a front and there's some secret room or something that they operate out of" I explained and watched as he took it all in.

"This shit keeps getting weirder and weirder. What was the name of the restaurant?" he asked and that was one of the questions I wished he didn't. I couldn't leave out the part of it being at a restaurant because it adds to the whole undercover story. But I don't know how I'm going to keep this from him for much longer. I need to know what Gerald is looking for that he's making me wait to tell Jesse. "Uh, it was the one Jade works at; Fiery Irons" I said lowly. His eyebrows knitted in utter confusion.

"Are you saying what I think you're not trying to say? Cause if you are, you'd be WAY outta line big bro" he said getting a bit defensive. I sighed as I shook my head. 'Here we go' I thought to myself. "Nah bro, I'm not saying anything. I'm just telling you what I saw" I shrugged trying to level with him. "Okay, but you're implying that my girlfriend works for the mafia that's against us? That's bullshit yo!" he semi yelled. "Aye man relax. That's not what I'm saying at all. Look, for all we know, I could be completely wrong or she could have absolutely no clue what's going on. And I hope, for her sake, that I'm wrong. But we really can't trust anyone right now baby bro, so just be careful. Be especially careful about what you disclose around anyone who isn't me or G. I'm serious. Shit done got real and I'm not about to have you caught up over a girl man." I said getting up and walking over to him to squeeze his shoulder.