We walk into this dark, beer stained bar in The City and right away I know I should of left, but I wait. Po, the guy I’m lookin’ for, he ain’t here. But another guy, some big dude, all muscle, I only met one time, his name’s Lucas, comes up and says, “Who’s the putz ya got with ya?”

He’s talking about Eddie, my main sidekick, dressed up in his new plaid shirt. Now Eddie is a quiet guy; skinny and short, but he’s got a good heart. Lives by his wits and his word. I tell him this is Eddie. “He don’t say much, but he can do a job, man.”

He jerks his thumb at him. “He don’t look like he even stands when he takes a leak,” He says. “It’s your funeral man.” Eddie, he does like I told him. He doesn’t say anything.

“Where’s our friend?” I ask, trying to be cool, change the subject. 

“You writin’ a fucking book? Don’t worry about our friend. You two better not screw this up. Remember, you got to collect for two weeks.” He looks at me hard, making sure I get the message. “Wait here,” he says.    

The way it went down: I handed this dude, Cisco, the package. He was pulling the money out of his pocket when a cop car siren lets out a single whoop and the spotlight flips on. My man turns and he runs, dude jumped the fence before I could even turn around to face the cops.

They take me in, but they got nothing on me; no package, no money and I got no priors. Bastards had to let me go. I went to see Po. He punched me in the chest. Knocked me down. I couldn’t breathe man. He stood over me and said, “You owe me.”

Lucas comes back with this week’s package. He don’t say a word just hands it to me. Eddie looks at me, his eyes pleading. I know he wants to get out of here, but this is our chance. A big score, two grand. We do this one right, there’s more to come. And, I gotta have something to show Cherry. Can’t go back home without a roll. I saw the look on her face when she left for work this afternoon. She’ll leave me, maybe tonight, if I don’t provide.

We set up tonight’s meet with Cisco just before we left Jersey. I want Eddie with me. I need a ride and a lookout so we don’t get no surprises. We get to the spot, a social club in the basement of a three story. We go in and Cisco is standin’ there, smiling. Another guy, about three feet away, is playing pinball, eyes glued to the flippers. For the second time tonight, I get the feeling I should run. Cisco sees the package. “Give it here man,” he says.

“Where’s the money?” I ask. Eddie doesn’t say nothing, but I can hear him breathing hard.

Cisco shows me the cash. “Right here bro.”

“Supposed to be two weeks’ worth,” I say. “Looks light.”

“Count it then, bitch. Let your man do it.”

I take the money and turn to hand it to Eddie. I see a flash, like the pinball machine exploded. I don’t remember the sound at all, but I see Eddie go down, blood all over his new shirt. The tiny Beretta I gave him to hold while we were going through the tunnel is stashed in his pants pocket. Don’t know what I was thinking, giving Eddie my gun. Cisco spins me around, grabs the cash and the guy with the gun fires. He misses me, but I go down anyway. I hear the second blast real good.

They move fast now, take off, not knowing they missed me. I stay down on the cold concrete. Doesn’t matter now. I can hear the sirens. They’re coming for Eddie, but they can’t do him no good, not anymore. 

Wish I knew where Eddie wound up, but I guess I’ll know soon enough. As soon as Po finds me.