Ken looked doubtfully at April, he wondered what could she be implying but it seems she didn't have any plans on telling him.
I'll just be more cautious of her until she tells me her real background.. He thought inwardly.
Putting the matter of April aside, he gave the camp one more look before tuning his back and walking away.
...
Ken took an hour to reach home since he decided to just walk, he stayed silent during the entire journey back, it was quite a disappointment having made the trip but come back empty handed.
He expected than he could have some pay back but who would have thought the matter was much heavier than he initially think, having discovered the supposed camp to be a suspected drug factory really put a nail to any thought of retaliation.
Ken sighed while lamenting his helplessness in this kinds of situation, before igniting his determination of making a foothold in this place.
Since this guys could make their own gang then why couldn't I... that's right, once I have enough people I might be able to go toe to toe with this gangs... Ken suddenly had the idea of forming his own gang but he knew that was mere fantasy.
Aside from the fact that he would have something that would bind the common interest of the people he would be facing giants who might have existed even before his birth, he would also have trouble with cash flow, his purpose in coming here was to earn money and not become a kingpin.
Besides, this gangs could possibly be armed with firepower, he didn't believe this gangs didn't have any type of fire arms.
The Honey Badger Gang was capable of running a drug factory in this place and it was testament to their influence in this place. That's why he didn't plan on reporting his discoveries on the authorities.
After all, smoking cannabis killed absolutely no one, in fact comparing cannabis with alcohol and tobacco the latter two were more deadlier, statistic showed that alcohol killed 88 000 people per year while tobacco killed 480 000.
To most people weed is essentially harmless but it doesn't mean that it was completely safe, when under 25 it could lead to memory loss and poor cognitive function but if an adult person and their brains had finished their development then it's their choice to smoke weed as long as they know their limit and don't abuse the subtance, it was only dangerous if it was abused.
That's one of the reasons why he wouldn't report his finding to the authorities and also he believe that such a large drug factory was already known by the local authorities.
I mean they were even brazenly setting up a fence complete with search light and watch tower, just that fact alone was already suspicious, people must have already reported it to the authorities. Yet the suspected drug factory still exist... that must mean the government were in cahoots and being bribed or they decided to turn a blind eye.
Ken stopped his train of thoughts when he another truck parked in fron of his yard.
Who would come in my place in this kind of hour? I barely know anyone here... Ken wondered as he slowly approached.
He took a glance at his back and found that April has silently vanished without him noticing at all. He shook his head and didn't bother thinking about her.
He entered his yard and saw five people sitting around. They stared at him after he entered the yard. After taking a closer look he found that he was familiar with one of them. It was the burly sando wearing young man Lucas.
He stared at them before asking slowly.
"What are you doing here?"
He didn't move away from the door, ready to run away at any sign of trouble. Now that he was starting to uncover the strange and shady things this gangs could possibly be involed, he had come to a decision that he would distance himself from their matters.
Lucas stood up and with a serious face he asked. "Did you confront Derek about your materials?"
Ken was surprised, he didn't expect that Lucas would ask such a question, after all Lucas didn't have prior knowledge of this matter.
Bill... that's right, Bill must have told the situation to Lucas, causing him to rush here as soon as possible... he must have rushed here the moment he heard news... I must say, although Bill is a coward he still had a bit of conscience to ask Lucas for help.
Ken decided not to tell him about his canceled plans tonight and feign ignorance.
"I planned to go their tommorow, why?"
Lucas heaved a sigh of relief. I really thought this guy would have recklessly gone there when I didn't see him.
"That's great, Bill told us that you plan on confronting the Honey Badger Gang that's why we rushed here as soon as we can, also you should forget about the materials, we would reimburse you for that."
This time Ken was bewildered.
"You've just met me, why would you reimburse my lossess?"
Lucas smiled before explaning.
"That's because we have funds reserved for this kind of cases."
Seeing the look of confusion on Ken's face Lucas continued.
"You see we have a system, it's like an insurance, people would pay us a fee every month for our protection and reimbursing their lossess incase the gangs break or took away the properties of the client, every time we reimburse them we would have the rights to beat up the culprit for the loss of said property of our client." Lucas explained with beeming smile.
Ken was really stunned by such an absurd arrangements, he couldn't help but blurt.
"That works?"
Lucas and the others chuckled.
"Of course it works, why do you think San Jose was peaceful considering the place were run by gangs."
If I knew that such things existed I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of going there myself... Ken thought in frustration.
"Then do I also need to pay this fee? would I still be covered?"
"Of course you would still be covered even if you're only signing now, look let me be honest with you, we just wanted to have a reason to beat them, why do you think we would rush here?"
"I see, then what do you call this system?"
"We call it Beat Down Insurance." Lucas said with a bright smile, showing off perfect row of white teeth.
The smile looked harmless but to Ken it caused a chill down his spine. It seems this guys were a bunch of lunatics...
"Then... when should I pay the fee? and how much should I pay?"
Lucas waved his hand and said. "We'll discuss this tommorow, we're also going to bring the official contract, you won't need head downtown, also we'll have your materials delivered as soon as possible tommorow."
It seems this guys were too eager to beat up Derek's group...'
"Alright, then I won't retain you guys, as you can see, one side of my house has colapsed." Ken said while pointing to his house in frustration.
The others looked at the direction he's pointing at with various emotions on their face. But they didn't asked about it.
"Alright we'll be off then, I won't introduce this guys for now." Lucas baid farewell while cracking his knuckles.
Ken almost felt pity for Derek's upon seeing the burly guys back.