Green Heights Passages

Chapter 5

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

The repetitive rattling of pills reverb around the room. Bottles fly in the air into bags, one on top of the other. All the time Leslie put into organizing those bottles was for nothing as they are thrown into boxes. Some unlabeled, others uncapped. But it didn't matter at this very moment. What mattered was getting it out of the house!

"Come on, come on!"

"I'm right behind you!" Leslie confirms while grabbing the box overflowing with pill bottles.

The two dart out of the house with boxes and duffle bags in hand. Mrs. Theresa Stamps gossips with some neighbors as they watch the two run into the house across the street where Leslie resides.

"Ya'll two stop that running!' Mrs. Theresa commands at the fully grown adults as if they were pre-teens again. They couldn't hear her.

Jordan and Leslie frantically run back out and head back into Jordan's house all while continuing to yell at each other. The neighbors look amongst each other and shake their heads at the antics those two must've gotten themselves into again.

But this wasn't like any other shenanigans that they would get into when they were kids running around the neighborhood and fighting each other. The stakes were much higher.

Ten blocks down, a line of police cars drive into the entrance of the Parkway residential neighborhood, passing by a group of loitering corner kids. While they laugh amongst themselves at someone definitely going to jail, one of the kids sitting on his bike pulls out his phone.

"Aite thanks, Mike," Jordan hangs up the phone, "They're pulling in any second now."

"No, no. We still have all these left to pack up," Leslie says in front of a full untouched shelf.

They couldn't walk out in broad daylight with a box full of stolen pills with an army of cops about to pull up.

"Flush em," Jordan says void of emotion.

Leslie cringes at the thought. The shipments have been delayed more and more since the beginning of this pandemic and national shutdown. They can't just flush away the heart and diabetes medication that it took them forever to get.

"We have to," Jordan says seemingly reading Leslie's mind, "those cops come in here and find those pills, we're done."

The troops have arrived in front of Jordan's home. The brigade of cop cars occupy the whole Stamps Street block.

"I'll hold them off as long as I can but just do it," Jordan says as he looks out the window one last time. As he makes his way to the door, he makes a detour to Leslie and gives her a kiss on the lips. It could be their last.

He casually walks out the door while she frantically rushes to the bathroom with a handful of pills.

"Are you crazy?! Get these cars off of my block!" Mrs. Theresa yells from the edge of the sidewalk, "one of them is parked in front of a fire hydrant!"

Jordan walks up to a gray haired detective Moe Landry, smirking from ear to ear. This has been a cat and mouse match that has spanned over two generations. First, it started out with Moe versus Ant. Then, Ant's son took over.

This was far from the first time Moe's been granted a warrant to search the Outlaw household. Each and every time, the detective walked out empty handed. He became a laughing stock to his contemporaries and a pain in the ass to his higher ups. Ant Outlaw was not just some two bit hustler. He was a highly capable and connected criminal who couldn't be treated like some corner boy. And his son Jordan was pretty slick himself. Moe became obsessed and today he knows he has them both.

"Detective Landry, beautiful day, wouldn't you agree?" Jordan says with an upbeat tone opposite to how he sounded moments before. Never let them see you sweat, his dad would always tell him.

"Indeed it is, Jordan. Not only is it a beautiful day, but it's also a new day," Moe says as he steps up to Jordan, a far enough distance from his troops behind him ready for action.

"New day, huh? What's new about it?"

Moe stands stunned for a second. He takes off his sunglasses showing the shock in his eyes.

"You haven't heard, have you?"

Jordan had no idea what he was talking about. The unknown made his body tense, but he made sure not to sweat.

"Commissioner Ramirez put in his resignation as of this morning. By the end of the month, he's out and we're getting a new commissioner."

He's bluffing, Jordan thought. But this impromptu visit made sense now. Him getting a baseless warrant to search his house was just Moe flexing his newfound muscle.

"That's right. No more protection from the top guy on the force. No more low lives like you and your father running amuck in this city. I'm going to put an end to it, once and for all."

Jordan stared into the demonic eyes of an obsessed detective. For decades, he was forced to take the L.

"It's a new day, Jordan."

The toilet flushed again and again. Leslie raced in and out of the bathroom to dump more pills. She couldn't allow herself to look at them swirl into oblivion. Not only was she flushing people's medication away, she was flushing away money. They were going to have to spend more to get back what they are getting rid of.

Her phone buzzes in her back pocket. As she waits for the water to refill the toilet bowl, she pulls out her phone where it's their pharmaceutical connect calling.

"Jeremiah, can't talk right now-" Leslie is quickly cut off by Jeremiah's breaking news, "closing down? What you mean you're closing down?!"

Jordan begins to lightly chuckle to himself. Poor Moe, the ultimate do-good cop who has faith in the system. Guy does bad and they will be punished, no matter how much good he does. But for Moe, this way of thinking has driven him insane after chasing a man and his son for decades. And still good ol Moe has learned nothing. It didn't matter who the commissioner was when the mayor was their King of Spade. And that was the lowest spade they had in their hand!

"You just gonna laugh, boy?" the detective asks trying to get some reaction out of him. But Jordan was too seasoned and all too familiar with Moe's tactics. Addressing him as boy was just a day in the park compared to the extent he would go to in order to get the upper hand.

"You got your warrant, man? I got stuff to do," Jordan says as if this whole ordeal was an inconvenience on his life. He's been down this road before. Moe files for a warrant, Jordan gets the tip from the commissioner's office, Jordan moves the inventory, and Moe walks away empty handed. And with Moe's monologue, Leslie has had more than enough time to flush away anything that can incriminate them. It eats away at him knowing he's gonna have to order double out of his own pocket when he's done with this standoff.

"You can't be serious. What are we supposed to do?" Leslie yells into the phone as she rushes over to the window to see Moe handing Jordan the warrant. Jeremiah was no help so she hung up the phone. She watches as Moe motions for his troops to move towards the house. Leslie rushes to the bathroom to dump the remaining pills in the toilet.

This can't be happening!

First, the pandemic hits. Then, the country shuts down. Her family's restaurant of five decades goes under. And now the pharmacy, which has been open way longer than that, has closed down? How can it get any worse?

Jordan didn't watch as the uniformed officers walk towards the house. He was more focused on the warrant in his hand and the name that stuck out. Warrant approved by...

"Valencia Crude?" Jordan reads out to himself. No way...could it be...of course not...but..., "shit."

"Halt!" Moe commands with his fist up stopping his team in their tracks.

Jordan turns around to Moe standing right in front of the unlocked door. Instead of turning the knob, he just simply turns around and walks back towards Jordan in the middle of his yard.

"Like I said before, Jordan, it's a new day. Who are we kidding? You cleaned that house of any pills. I probably couldn't even find an Advil in there if I wanted to. I know you were tipped off about my little visit here just like every other time. Just know, this will be the very last time you ever see me coming again. And you want to know why, Jordan?"

"It's a new day," Jordan replies void of the confidence he once had.

"Exactamundo," Moe says sliding his sunglasses over his nose. He blows out a loud whistle from the side of his lips to rally up his troops to retreat. His message was sent loud and clear.

Jordan doesn't wait for them to leave, instead walking into the house and locking the door. Leslie rushes down the stairs.

"What happened? Why didn't they come in?" Leslie asks as she looks out the window again watching the cop cars disperse.

Jordan doesn't answer. He just stares at the warrant. Valencia Crude. He hasn't heard that name in years. Now she's a judge signing off on warrants in Green Heights jurisdiction?

"Jordan!" Leslie claps in his face, "what's up with you? What did he say?"

"The commissioner turned in his resignation."

"That's it? So what he thinks we're weak now? We'll just put the next one in our pocket."

He wanted to bring up Valencia Crude but he was still processing that. He needed to talk to his dad about this. But he was instructed not to reach out while he's on his mission, unless it was an emergency.

Suddenly he remembered.

"The pills! Tell me you didn't flush them all away!"

Her face expression said it all.

His shoulders drop in defeat as he drops into the couch. He rests his face in his palms creating pitch black that stands in as a quick reset. What else can he do? He's going to have to order more that will come out of his pockets. Cost of doing business.

"Can you hand me my phone? I gotta call Jeremiah," Jordan says resolved to the fact.

Her face expression had a few more things to tell him.