More Than Your Precious Pinky

The rain hadn't slowed down by the time that Zane had reached the destination for his next meeting. At least this one was going to be taking place inside of the warehouse rather than a back ally.

He waited for Clive to park and stop the car before getting out. He didn't bother with this umbrella since there was such a short distance between where the car was parked and the entrance of the warehouse.

"Is everyone else already here?" He asked as Clive came over to open the door for him.

"Yes. I don't believe that we are waiting on anyone else except for you." The other replied as he walked in after his boss.

"Good. I want you to make sure then that someone is keeping the door guarded until we are done. I don't want anyone coming in or out." He ordered.

Between the storm brewing outside and the limited amount of windows in the warehouse, it made it hard for the young mafia boss to see how many people were waiting inside until his eyes were able to adjust to the dim lighting.

Aside from the limited lighting, the warehouse also hadn't been modified to have any kind of proper air circulation which lead to it being rather humid between the rain and the moderately high temperature outside.

This deal would have to be finished rather quickly if they wanted to avoid being baked alive before they finished.

"Gentleman, thank you for waiting. I apologize for the delay, there was something else important that I needed to take care of on my way here. I hope that I didn't take up too much of your time Bruce?" The young mafioso apologized as he approached the older gentleman who was the boss of the men who was standing on the left side of the oversized room.

"It's fine. We were waiting for a few other people to show up as well. No time has been lost yet." The older gentleman replied as he shook hands with Zane. It was a short and firm handshake that broke off quickly indicating the type of relationship that the two of them had.

The older man standing in front of him dressed in simple street clothes wasn't part of the mafia. Bruce was simply a middleman dealer that they worked with. Straight on the one side and dirty on the other.

He was a very reliable one though since he valued his life more than anything else. He wasn't one to snitch on them since he enjoyed the extra money and protection he got in return for what he did.

"I take it that these are supposed to be the goods?" Zane nodded his head in the direction of the table that held four briefcases on them.

"Yes. Everything should be accounted for as we previously discussed. I even made sure that my men counted it once again before we got here." Bruce confirmed as Zane walked over to the table.

The 'men' that were referred to changed each time that Zane saw them. The older man never worked with the same group for long and always hired a different set each time that there was a deal that needed to be made.

"Very good. Let us have a look at it then." He pulled the packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and motioned with his head for his men to start opening up the briefcases so that he could get a look at the contents inside.

They made quick work of it and what greeted his eyes were rows upon rows of neatly packed baggies with white powder in each of them.

The way that they had been packed showed that it had been done with great care in order to avoid any of the contents spilling in transit.

Clive lit up the cigarette for his boss as the other came over and ran his hand over the bags as he scanned each briefcase over. Even though they had already been checked, it was his job to make sure that no one was lying to him.

He stopped though when he got to last the one, a frown forming on his face as looked over all the bags that were in the final briefcase.

"Bruce, care to inform me why one of the bags is missing from here? It seems that, unlike the others, the numbers here don't look quite right."

A heavy silence filled the room following his question. He heard the sound of Bruce stammering slightly behind him followed by the sound of rushed footsteps as the other came over to see what the young mafioso was looking at.

"That's impossible! I double-checked to make sure that everything was accounted for before bringing it here. All 240 forties bags should be right where they belong." He was quick to defend himself as he looked over the briefcases himself.

"Well by the looks of it, you might have counted wrong." Zane sighed as he snapped his fingers.

In a matter of seconds, two of his men came over to grab ahold of Bruce, one on each arm as they held the older man whose face had turned quite pale at this point in time.

He knew that the other was likely quite scared at this moment in time, the young mafioso didn't bother turning to face him yet however. He wasn't quite done checking the rest of the briefcases.

"I swear I didn't snitch anything! I wouldn't do that to you after how well we've been working together. You know that I value our partnership more than that!" Bruce spoke in a quick, rushed tone of voice.

The two men didn't bother stopping his rambling as they were used to it by now. He knew what kind of trouble he would be in if anything was missing from the merchandise that he had promised and was currently in the process of trying to save his skin.

"I would like to believe that is true Bruce, I really would. Looking at what is in front of me, however, it kind of makes it hard to do that." Zane told the other as he turned around to face him.

"Please check for yourself. Maybe it just shifted." Bruce pleaded as Zane looked down at him with a hard-to-read expression on his face.

"You mean that I should do the job that you said you had done before coming here? Waste my time on something trivial because you couldn't do it right?" The young mafioso questioned in a cold tone of voice.

Bruce got ready to respond but before he had a chance, Zane back-handed him hard across the face, splitting his lip and potentially breaking his nose in the process. The man let out a gasp at the unexpected action as blood ran down his lip to his chin where the bright red liquid dripped off his chin and onto the dark floor.

"You know that you're causing me a lot of trouble right now, Bruce and I don't appreciate that one bit." The older man was trembling at this point but seemed to think it was wiser to keep his mouth shut than attempt to speak again.

"This once though, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and check everything over. It will cost you though." Zane told the other.

How troublesome this situation was. He had come here hoping that he would be able to settle it quickly in order to be able to get back before he got too hot, but it seemed that nothing was working in his favor.

"Check the briefcases over for me. I also want you to check his personal belongings and car along with all of those who are here tonight. I hope that everyone will cooperate with me." Most everyone seemed eager to do what he asked most likely to avoid facing his wrath the same way that their boss currently had.

"I really hope that you're not lying to me, Bruce. At this point in time, if we do end up finding anything, you'll be losing a lot more than your precious pinky for making me go through all of this unnecessary trouble."

Zane would especially make sure to make the other man suffer if the trouble he was causing ended up getting back to his father. The last thing he needed was for that man to try and stick his nose into Zane's business where it wasn't.

He was more than capable of handling his own problems with his father attempting to take over each time there was a small snag.

The good mood that he had built up earlier in the night was slowly starting to dwindle away.