Sang rounded the corner of the road where the warehouse stood and caught her bearings. She examined the area, checking for any sign of Academy or drug associates. She made sure she inconspicuously walked down the street and tried to look as normal as possible. Well, as normal as she could look, given that she was well dressed and orderly in one of the most rundown and shabbiest areas in town. She pulled out her phone to check the clock. She was right on time. She assumed everyone was already in the warehouse so she copied the same moves she'd done yesterday when she came to scope out the warehouse. She made sure she stayed out of sight and waited a few moments before flattening herself against the cool brick exterior of the building and listening for voices. The murmuring voices were deep and obviously masculine. She carefully crouched and peered around the entrance of the building, looking inside. It was the same, and the guys were standing exactly where they were yesterday except there was the addition of a cardboard box on the floor next to the drug lackeys. Counting the guys she made out all nine of the Academy guys, and seven of the drug lackeys. Gabriel had probably given the others the go-ahead and had joined them when Sang had declined his offer to go round to their apartment. If she had agreed, would they have had a couple of guys stay behind at the apartment with her while the rest went to the meeting with the druggies? She guessed she would never know. It was almost as if Gabriel was expecting her to decline his offer actually, because it seemed a bit bizarre that he would offer her to come round when both he and she knew that this exchange was taking place. Sang didn't know if that was a legitimate argument or if she was just being too paranoid. She mentally agreed with the latter simply because she was overthinking the whole situation and was scared of getting caught. Nerves cause her to think strangely sometimes.
She quietly entered the warehouse, once again thankful for the darkness inside that would cover her up well. She quietly tiptoed towards the fallen dump of debris she had hidden behind yesterday and crouched down low behind it, pulling out her phone and turning the recording on. She could make out most of the conversation and once again it seemed that they had all mutually agreed to let Owen do the talking.
"This is the legit stuff. JH-15, synthetic weed. New and improved. We agreed on the price right? It was five grand for the whole lot. We want our cash in hand today or we walk out." Said a blonde drug lackey. His hair was long and gangly, as if it hadn't been washed in weeks. She couldn't really make out his face but he appeared to have some stubble and was wearing a ratty white shirt with some faded blue jeans. The Academy guys were dressed contrastingly. They all seemed to be wearing a range of black and navy slacks with chequered or plain shirts, save Owen who wore his statement suit, and Sean, who for some reason had on his white lab coat. They made a distinct group and Sang admired the diversity of their team.
"Yes, I do believe we agreed to that price. Mr. Taylor, if you wouldn't mind giving them the money." Owen gestured towards North, who stepped forward holding...the white box! It was the same white box he had come to retrieve yesterday afternoon from the guys' apartment before dropping Sang off to her car. It seemed strange that they would just keep the box in their apartment like that. On second thought, the white box was probably empty and North had come back to retrieve it and deposit the money from the bank in it. That was a more likely theory. Either that, or they had realised there was a strange girl in their apartment and there was $5000 cash lying in a plain looking box and so North had come back to take it to a safer place. Also another likely theory, however Sang decided to stick with the former.
A dark-skinned member of the drug party stepped forward, deftly lifting the cardboard box off of the cement ground. His clothes were similar to the blonde's, except that he was wearing a white tank top underneath his shirt, which was open at the chest.
"You sure that's exactly five grand? We ain't here to play no games, so you'd better make sure that's the full amount." Said the dark-skinned guy.
"I am fully aware of what is at stake here," replied Owen calmly, his face perfectly composed. If he was angry he definitely didn't show it.
"You'd better be. No funny business." The guy replied. He took the white box from North. "Yo, Sid. Come here and count this. Make sure it's all there." He commanded a guy named Sid, who stood on the outskirts of the group. Sid had dark hair - she couldn't tell if it was black or brown - with droopy, bloodshot brown eyes and crooked teeth. He looked like the epitome of a drug addict and Sang wondered whether Sid would be able to count it properly. He already looked out of it.
"Will do." Replied Sid, coming forward and taking the box.
After giving Sid the white box, Sang watched as North held out his hands to take the cardboard box full of drugs from the guy. The guy pulled back.
"Not until Sid finishes counting the dough." He chastised, refusing to hand over the box to North. Sang watched as North drew his hands back to his sides before clenching them into fists. He was mad. There was a tick in his jaw and his expression became hard with barely constrained anger.
"Dude do you think we're lying or some-" North began but was cut off by Owen.
"North." Owen said warningly. He lightly put a hand on North's forearm, trying to calm him and warning him not to get too aggressive. Feeling Owen's hand, North loosened up a touch, but not by much as he narrowed his eyes at the guy in front of him. If Sang were up there on the drug side of the exchange she would've been scared of the expression North currently held on his face. She looked and examined the rest of the Academy guys' expressions. Silas stood just behind North, a grim expression on his face, his arms down by his sides. His fists were also clenched, as if preparing for a fight. On his left stood Kota, whose brow was furrowed and arms crossed, and beside him stood Nathan, his blue eyes glinting with disdain. Behind them stood Gabriel, who had a thoroughly disgusted expression on his face at the whole ordeal. He looked so serious and unlike himself that Sang had to physically restrain herself from laughing out loud and blowing her cover. Luke stood next to him, with a slightly less grim expression, his long hair tucked behind his head in a neat ponytail. Sean stood near Owen, his expression guarded and somewhat amused at what was unfolding before him. Sang wondered why on earth he was wearing his lab coat. Did he just come from treating a patient? He certainly wasn't wearing one yesterday so he probably came from the hospital or doctors office. Overall, the general mood coming off the Academy group was hostile and the drug gang reflected the same attitude. Half of the guys in the drug gang looked out of it to Sang and she wondered if they even knew what was going on. After about ten painful minutes of waiting for Sid-The-Slow-Money-Counter to finish counting the money, he confirmed the five grand was all there and ready to go. Sang let out the breath she didn't realise she was holding as the leader of the drug group finally passed the cardboard box to North, who still looked pissed that they had the nerve to doubt them and count the money.
"Seems like you do keep to your word." Said the leader.
"You shouldn't doubt us. When we make a deal with someone we make sure we go through with it." Replied Owen.
"Yeah, right. Well I guess we'll get going then. C'mon boys."
"Wait - you've doubted us, now we get to doubt you; how do we know you're giving us the legitimate stuff? How do we know this is the actual JH-15 batch?"
"Bro. Our boss would kill us if we gave you a counterfeit batch. This is the real stuff, believe me. This is the only current batch of JH-15 we have, and you bought it all from us. The bad JH-14 weed we had to be got rid of so we had to sell this one as fast as possible or we'd be losing a lot of dough, and boss wouldn't be happy about that."
"I see. So just to confirm, we have the sole JH-15 produce in existence thus far?"
"Why the hell you gotta talk so formal? And yeah that's the only batch we've made so far. Why?"
"No reason. Just inquiring." Said Owen. And with that, both parties dismissed each other. Sang stopped and saved the recording on her iPhone and quickly made her escape from the warehouse. As soon as she was safely out of the warehouse and hidden from the view of the guys, she sprinted down the road and kept running until there was a safe distance between her and the warehouse. She grabbed the lamppost on the sidewalk as she caught her breath. She was in good shape but hadn't ran in a while, so it was a little harder for her to run as fluidly. Once she could breathe normally again, she texted Matt.
Sang: Mission accomplished. In and out of warehouse. Got recording. Ring you in a few.
Matt: Great news. I'll be waiting 4 your call.
Sang walked the rest of the way back to the bus stop to wait for the bus that would take her home.
