How Things Are

twenty seven

When we got back to the car Joey was outside with four cups of something that smelled bitter. He told me it was coffee. I remember my father drinking this smelly drink. It must be something certain types of people drink. When I tried it my tongue was hot and it tasted worse than it smells. I handed it back to him and got in the car.
"So where are these tunnels?" enthusiasm leaks from me knowing I'm going somewhere I've never seen.
"We're going to the tunnels," Joey asked disappointed "Why couldn't she have run away somewhere nice and warm with a beautiful beach and lovely women?"
Leo chuckled "She would've stood out. She would've been one of those lovely women before long."
Teedo got in the driver's seat, "You want a lovely woman, go to the pleasure house. Right now we have a job to do."
After that comment, everyone remained silent as he drove to the first nightclub. Something was in his voice that told us to shut up.

Lucas does everything better than his competition. He made the small-city gangsters look like worms. Walking into his club you'll feel like a celebrity. The women even looked nice following the dress code. If someone had a girl on his lap she was either a dancer near more private seats or at the bar dressed in slutty dresses. The waitresses and bartenders either wore white cat, bunny, or bear ears and matching bikinis with white fishnet leggings. They shimmered and shined in the neon lighting.
Behind the counter are top-of-the-line drinks. He gets his stuff from across waters and rarely finds not a few cities over. It'd be insulting to get him the gift I gave the Cript boss. Death to those who tried.
The music was smooth and sexy. Just loud enough to do business while having a slave woman rub her titties in your face. I saw it happening as we walked through.
Sighing I couldn't help but be both ashamed and impressed. No wonder he looks down on everyone else when he owns places like this. I've seen other gangs' nightclubs. They give off a scent of blood, sex, and vomit. The music is blasting your eardrums. The counter is always sticky along with everything else. I can only wonder what his reaction was when entering a club like that.

The further back we go my daydream ends when I realize we reached a door leading to the basement. Nothing ever good happens in a club basement. When Teedo unlocks it, we go down and someone flips on the lights. It's as big as the club above. Half full of crates and boxes. We get to the back and I see Joey lifting a box off the floor. A hidden door.

"This leads to the tunnels?" I question them
"It's one way." Teedo shrugs
"Out of how many?"
"That's none of your business." He bites.
"This is my job too." I bite back.
"There are several." He says as we start climbing down.
"Well did she have access to this one?" He had to unlock the door to get down here. Surely he sees that.
He stopped walking "This is the closest to Lucas' place."
"You're not thinking like a runaway."
He kept walking "And you know better than the Mafia?"
Pfft "You're looking down on her cuz she's a slave woman who can't fight. It doesn't mean she's an idiot."
He stops again "What are you saying?"
"You can't hear the music in this tunnel, like her sister said." I smirk "Even if it was this tunnel, she wouldn't take it."
"And why is that?" Leo interrupts
"Like you said, you're Mafia. She knew you'd figure it out eventually." I looked back at Teedo "She probably took a different tunnel, if she took one at all."
He took out his phone "Yeah. We need more men to search through the tunnels. NOW!" He hangs up. "We keep going."

There's a decent amount of light in hear. Just what exactly do they carry through here? It's been several hours and I think Teedos is at a point where he doesn't want to admit he was wrong. When  Joey said he was hungry Teedo glared at him and no one spoke to him since. Every time his stomach growls annoys him. It only makes me hold in laughs. This side of the Mafia men makes them almost look like decent humans.
We hear footsteps ahead then Teedo tells everyone to be quiet. I raise my eyebrow at him. Really? How much more quiet can we be? Joey's stomach growls again and then we hear more footsteps. Several more. "What was that?" A man's voice said
"It wasn't me."
"It came from over there."
"Maybe it's the girl!"
"Girls don't make those noises."
"Some do."

Teedo sighs. "It's just some of the other guys hired to look for her."
We turned the corner and saw a group of men arguing about Joey's stomach problems. "You found her!"
"I'm not the one you're looking for." I roll my eyes
They look at Teedo "She's not. That way is clear. I'm guessing you checked the rest?"
They all nodded.
He looks back at me "Alright. Go home. Send men to scout the tunnels daily and ban the girls from playing near them." He starts heading in a different direction. "We're done for today. We'll start again tomorrow."
A half-hour later he opened the door to the tunnels into the street. It's dark outside. We were doing this longer than I thought. Teedo called a ride to get us back to Lucas. I'm not overly excited to return. My first job unfinished.