Esteban, Ready to Risk It All

Chapter 15~ L'été' des Balles

Carlos and I met with our crew to discuss the logistics for the weekend. With all the major players in town anything could happen. Once all plans had been discussed and confirmed I gave my men the final order

"Everyone goes home, cover each other and don't let ego get in the way"

"Understood" everyone in the crew responded.

Carlos and I drove separately with a security team. We took different routes and arrived separately. Carlos had been on edge and had a feeling something was off. I trusted him and his feelings. So we added the extra precautions and security.

The security check to get into The Office was longer, they were triple checking that everyone came in clean. This event was being held in a different part of the club. We were still on the main floor but further back. The atmosphere was chill'. It was obvious this was not a normal Parlay, I saw quite a few of the OG's in attendance. There had been talk that Zador would be here this evening.

There was an all female crew sitting towards the front of the room. In White Fitted Pant suits they all wore a gold chain with a square charm. I had never seen them before. One of them happened to pass by and I was able to see it wasn't a square but two capital letter F's one upside down the other right side facing each other. From a distance it resembled a square. Interesting.

The room filled up as the guest arrived. And one of them happened to be Remi's Russian. I sized him, he would be a formidable foe, for the average man , but I'm not average.

I could see how he could be intimidating. He was tall and well built and his crew was almost as sharp as ours. I was glad that he didn't know who I was.

After an hour all the guests had arrived. There were about 200 people in the room. Some people I recognized others I didn't

In front of the room there was a podium and microphone. The hostesses began to pass out leather bound books , when I received mine I flipped through the pages briefly. It looked like a book of regulations. Once all the guests had received a copy of the book the meeting officially began.

Good evening Associates,

Thank you all for attending this evening. As you all know this meeting was called by the Zador. We ask that you all hold any questions you have until the end of the meeting. Please let the hostess know if there is anything you need. Without further ado please welcome our Zador.

Everyone began to look around trying to figure out what door the Zador would enter from, slowly the room broke out in whispers as we realized the entry point was not a door, The Zador was elevated up on a platform positioned behind the podium.

At the same time the hostess in the Blue suits made their way to stand on either side of the podium. Individually they were nice looking but all together they were eye-catching.

In less than a minute the room erupted in murmurs, gasp , and different comments of surprise and disbelief. Some even clapped and whistled.

"Good evening, are you all happy to see me or surprised to see me."

I turned my attention back to the podium and I would say I would fall in the surprised category.

" A Lot of you here already know me because we do business together. But for those who do not, let me introduce myself. I am Zadore Baptiste. Today is the anniversary of the truce signed following the L'été' des Balles, the Summer Bullets."

The room became silent

"For those of you who may not remember eighteen years ago our city experienced three months of extreme violence and unimaginable loss, there has been much speculation on what led to the Summer of Bullets and If you will indulge me I will share the the reason with you all today, so that the reason you all were invited here will make sense"