A GIBBOUS MOON

Chapter 5

The next day Alfa calls me and tells me that he would pick me up at 10 o'clock to go meet the rest of the inner circle. He arrived exactly on time, and I stepped into his car. Whiskey was driving and Alfa was in the passenger's seat.

"Congrats man. I knew I could put my trust in you."

"I did this to get my own gym, Alfa, you haven't forgotten, have you?"

"Of course not. I always stay true to my word."

After half an hour we reached our destination. I was told that I first had to meet the bosses, the leaders of this whole organisation. They led me to a large double door and told me to go in. I knocked first till a voice came from inside telling me to come in. I opened the heavy wooden doors and closed them behind me. I approached the desk in the middle of the room. A large chair had its back turned towards me.

"Hello?"

"So, you are my new drug lord?"

"Yes I am."

"What is your name?"

"Xavier Dias."

"Hm, then your new codename will be X-ray."

"X-ray, got it."

"Do you know what your new job entails as a drug lord?"

"Leading the drug cartel?"

"The position of the drug lord is the highest in any drug gang or cartel around the world. The drug lord is responsible for not just leading the gang but also supervising it. The drug lord must appoint subordinates, appointing territorial leaders, forming alliances, and also planning high profile operations and executions."

"So, what I did when I was still lieutenant but now getting paid to do it."

"I heard about those efforts, yes, they are highly appreciated, and I hope you continue your work to make the business strive again."

"I promise."

"Now leave, Alfa will get you settled."

I took that as my sign to leave and walked back out the large wooden doors. I thought it a bit strange that they didn't show their face, but it probably had anonymity reasons, so I pushed that thought away. Outside Alfa and whiskey stood, still waiting for me.

"How did it go?"

"Good? I think? I don't know but my codename is X-ray."

"X-ray huh, well anyways let's go meet the others and then get you your new tattoo."

"New tattoo?"

"Just adding some roses to your existing one to show you are in the inner circle and thus very important of course."

We laughed and Alfa took me to some sort of common room. There I saw two more people that I haven't seen before. The guy looks Asian and very handsome. The girl looks like she is African perhaps and has very beautiful, lush curls and a dark complexion with bright green eyes. I got to say I was quite mesmerised by her.

"Guys meet X-ray our new drug lord."

The woman stood up and reached out her hand to me. I took it and shook it.

"Nice to meet you, X-ray, my name is November."

"Hi, you're beautiful."

"Well thank you."

She resumed her seat on the couch and I was still drooling over her when the guy had taken her place in front of me and also reached out his hand. I got pulled back to reality and shook his hand as well. He was handsome I will say that. Deep dark brown eyes, raven black hair and a toned body.

"Hi, I am Kilo."

"Hi, Kilo."

He smiled at me and went to sit beside November. Alfa pushed me forward as a sign to go sit on the couch as well. We all sat down, and Alfa took the floor.

"Okay, X-ray, you know me already. I give everyone their tattoos, but I am also a hacker and sometimes spy for this organisation. Whiskey leads the weapon branch and acts like our private doctor. Kilo over there has control over multiple casino's and does illegal gambling and all the stuff that comes with it. And lastly our sweet November is our private assassin. Don't cross her, she will kill you, no mercy."

"So, you basically have someone for every illegal activity you can think of?"

"Almost, we don't do human trafficking, we still have morals. But since you are new you will go on missions with us to get a better understanding of what everyone's role is in this inner circle and so that you can discuss those topics and know what we are talking about."

"Okay, that will be interesting."

"But first we are updating your tattoo. After that you can go with me first on a mission."

The little introduction ended, and Alfa took me with him to the car. Whiskey stayed behind and was talking to Kilo. We drove to the tattoo parlour and Alfa got me ready once again to be tattooed. He added some black roses so the red of the tears popped. It took him one and a half hours to complete the roses. I looked in the mirror to see my old and improved tattoo. I absolutely love it. It was now time to accompany Alfa on one of his missions. Apparently, this was a stake out, so we sat together in a car watching a cafe from across the street. Alfa had a camera and was taking pictures of a man I didn't know. After a few hours of following the guy, I realised that stakeouts are tedious and boring. I would have gone insane if I didn't have anyone to talk to.

"Alfa, can I ask you something?"

"You can always ask; it depends on the question if I am able to answer."

"What is the reason you are in this mafia? How did you reach the top?"

"Well, that isn't really an interesting story. I am not 100% sure but I think the bosses knew my parents. They are dead by now, but I don't know maybe they felt like it was their job to continue raising me. So yeah, I practically grew up in the mafia and was trained from a young age to be part of it."

"How young were you when your parents died?"

"I am not exactly sure. Around 5 or something? At least at an age where I didn't register a lot because I don't really remember them."

"So, you were given a place in the inner circle out of pity?"

"Sometimes, yeah, I do think that is the reason. But they raised me to be a spy. That is a position where I often place my life on the line so why would they give me that job if they truly cared about my wellbeing for the sake of my parents?"

"You were also a hacker, right?"

"Yeah, I just happened to be good with computers so I kind of taught myself how to hack."

"Do you miss your parents even if you don't remember them?"

"I don't know, I never really think about it. They weren't a big part of my life so I don't know what I should miss. Why did you want to know?"

"Well, for my whole life I have never known some kind of family. I don't even know if my parents are dead or that they are alive but just didn't want me. The streets are the only home I have ever known but I don't know somewhere deep inside of me I long to see my parents again even though I don't know anything about them. It just feels like I have actually known them at some point. Like truly known and loved them."

"Well maybe your parents aren't here anymore but our little inner circle is a family on its own. Maybe your parents never cared about you, but I do, and Whiskey does too, and I just know it if you get closer to the rest you will see them as family as well. We have a bond that goes deeper than being just friends."

"Thank you, Alfa."

"Anything for you, X-ray."

The conversationended after that and we quietly sat out the rest of the stakeout, simmering inthat feeling of understanding each other.