The Gated Return

Chapter 5 - Recruitment

Daniel became obsessed with learning the answers to the questions in life that everyone else secretly also had. He read books on past events, religion, and even secrete societies just to gain some understanding, some direction of where to find the truth. He often asked himself the question, "Is there even a truth to be found?" Over the years while Daniel was growing up, he tried to keep the normal life of going to school but didn't have much of a social life. He did find one friend, Jeremy, which seemed to look up to Daniel for some unknown reason. This was the only person that accepted Daniel for who he was. This was the first time he had ever felt anyone give any kind of respect and it was something that made him feel indulgent. That feeling of respect was something Daniel had easily accepted and helped calm the need for always trying to seek those crazy answers. Daniel and Jeremy had a lot of fun playing chess, making camp in the backyard, and watching StarTrek. Jeremy never found out that Daniel really didn't like the Star Trek shows because it reminded him of his father when they would play and watch Star Wars. But as Jeremy was a loyal friend, Daniel returned it and sat watching the TV show with his best friend.

As with anything good, things come to an end. After a few years more, Jeremy didn't look up to Daniel like he used to. He began asking Daniel questions like, "Why can't you be more like a rich guy?" or "Be like Chuck Norris and kick everyone's ass?" or just complain about the color of the car Daniel drove, clothes he wore, and just about anything else you can think of. What happened between them, Daniel wondered. But Daniel wasn't going to let it get him down and carry on. Besides, "I'm used to being alone", Daniel said.

"Welcome to AutoZone, how can I help you today sir?" Daniel said with a smile. Typical routine during the day of getting auto parts for customers, working all day and many hours even off the clock because Daniel really didn't have anywhere to go other than home. So at least there he was talking with people. But this afternoon, he was invited by a coworker, Gary, to meet at the Waffle House for some coffee and to meet a few friends he was going to party with after work. Daniel figured, what the heck and drove to the Waffle House on the other side of town after work. He waited there for about twenty seven minutes until his coworker finally showed up. "Hey, hey hey, hows it going?" asked Daniel. Gary introduced his friends, Iggy and Pedro and all four sat down at the booth. The waitress approached the table with a scruffy deep voice, "and what can I get you fellas tonight?" While all the guys ordered coffee, Daniel had some time earlier to check out the menu and found out they can custom make just about anything for breakfast. "So four coffees?" the waitress confirmed. "And one double hashbrown chunked, stuffed, sauced, sprinkled and anything else you wanna toss in there sounds good". Gary, Iggy, and Pedro all just looked at Daniel in a haze for a moment. "What? I'm hungry and this shit looks damn good." They guys were there for hours into the night and decided to leave to go back to Gary's apartment to continue the party with Daniel invited. Daniel was off work the next day anyway so an all-nighter sounded fun and proceeded to Gary's.

They all arrived at this old run down apartment called EastGate. It wasn't maintained well by management and had a pretty bad odor. But for the most part, it was something different than going home. They walked into the apartment 211 and everyone sat down while Gary and Iggy grabbed a few beers. Daniel wasn't really old enough to drink yet, but hey, it was meant to be a fun night, right? Turns out, Gary, Pedro and Iggy are roommates and Pedro was going to be leaving soon to live with family. They were looking for a new roommate and wanted Daniel to be that person. "I never had anyone ask me this before" Daniel thought to himself. "Well, sure! Why not. I cant stand my mom anyway, what's the rent?" They hashed out all the details and was very reasonable for Daniel to afford on his salary at AutoZone. Daniel moved in and found that there was an added perk to living there besides getting to smoke up his roomys weed all the time, Larry, the neighbor below, just happen to be a CPA and would do your taxes for you if you paid him with cocaine! Daniel met the guy through Pedro actually because he had no idea of how to file for taxes and always had mom do it for him. Now that he was on his own, mommy wasn't there to do these things. "Where am I to get cocaine from?" Daniel asked Larry. " I have a guy I get mine from but he is a big time dealer. You don't want to fuck with this guy. He will shred your balls just for looking at him sideways". But Daniel knew know one else for this and couldn't just go asking random people for an illegal substance. "And uh, he also deals weed if you are interested. His shit is way better than your roommates." So Daniel persisted to get this dealers information so that he could arrange a hook up. "Yeah, let me call the guy, and he will call you to meet. Make sure you do exactly what he tells you." Larry told Daniel. "But how will I know the person calling is him?" Daniel asked. "His name is Ed Green", Larry replied quietly. And then whispered in my ear, "that's not his real name though, its just what he uses with his people to keep him off the radar."

A week passed and my phone rang. "Hey, its Ed, don't speak. Get in your car and drive to the Mobil station at the corner of Forrest and Abrams. When you get there, honk twice, then once. My associate will get in your car and give you further instruction." and the call dropped.