In a brightly-lit document-stacked gleaming furniture-arranged room, relaxing on a puffy office chair, scribbling something onto a piece of paper was Edward, a hulk-sized man looking to be in his 70s with a bald head, scorned face, and capital M mustache, wearing a checkered bowtie suit.
A burst of knocks came from the door, it opened. "Sir, Mister Rick Dixie is here to see you." A smooth female voice was heard behind the door. Edward's hand stopped scribbling, and his face revealed a smile.
"Let him in." He responded in an excited tone.
Rick walked inside, having faint bruises on his face, wearing a llama-image T-shirt and black jeans. "Edward, how am I not coming back for your funeral?" They both chuckled as Edward stood up, and accepted Rick's hug. They both sat down.
"Seeing you out Rick is a relief, it must have been terrible for you, thank God I had a friend on the inside."
Rick's face frowned in response.
"Listen Edward, I appreciate all of that stuff you did for me, you know me. I just don't want to talk about what happened there." Rick looked away while he replied.
"Heard about the fight before you got released. I heard he did some concoction stimulation stuff, beating you to near fatality." Rick chuckled with a bitter smile in response while Edward's face morphed into a frown, Rick stopped laughing.
"I don't think talking about my near-death experience is what we can chat about. That's not even true, I fought him… forget it, what has happened has happened, and that humiliating defeat is in the past. I didn't think it would happen but don't worry, I am now here in the flesh. I am in good condition Edward, trust me." Rick explained.
"Rick, what happened was my fault. I didn't know the cops were already sending in secret guys, heck, I should have suspected it but had a bit too much faith in my set-up. I had to stay low for some time. We lost a lot of good guys to those idiots, and you just got unlucky, locked up, and humiliated like that." Rick's face twitched.
"What happened, although I would have preferred to avoid it, happened, and the undercover guy… I have forgotten his name, what happened to him?" Edward chuckled at the question. He picked up a thick brown file from the floor and pushed it across the table to Rick. Rick grabbed the file, and opened it, eyes bulging upon the first page, Edward gave out a crackling laughter.
"Wait. Edward what the–"
"Rick, hear me out. Will you hear me out?"
Rick flipped through the remaining pages of the file with a look of disgust.
"Oh come on man, why did you show me this?" Rick pushed the file to Edward.
"After you were arrested, I had to find a way to capture all the undercovers. Called a friend, Jimmy. This man happens to be quite good at finding a rat in operations." Edward explained, Rick raised his eyebrows at him after.
"We caught the guy who was undercover and discovered some other guys too. Now, I wanted to just shoot them but Jimmy, without my permission, chose to light them up. Now this has gotten to the police which is why we changed base and remained low for some time. After the arrest, hiring guys has been somewhat some time Edward explained, Rick's face frowned.
"Rick, I trust you. We know each other, that's why I chose to let you in. Even if you quickly get arrested on your first job, believe me when I say that I trust you." Rick huffed and gave a bitter smile.
The door opened. "Ricky! Why didn't you tell me you were out already, I could have picked you up." A deep voice came out. It was James, in an emerald suit, Rick jumped out of his chair and hugged James.
"James, what are you doing here?" Edward asked with a frown. James and Rick sat down.
"Well, I just came to greet you. Heard we will be back to work soon, any truth to that?" James asked Edward, who giggled and stared at Rick.
"Can you hear this guy, I haven't even come up with the date we will get back to work and you already heard something else. If you didn't hear from me, it isn't valid." Edward explained, James smiled while Rick shrugged.
"Anyways, I was just telling Rick about Jimmy. Now let us focus on why you are here, dressed like you are here to give a speech. What is going on?" Edward asked James, who grinned.
"I got a new business idea." Rick whistled after James talked, and Edward's eyes widened.
"Trust me on this, Rick. Are you interested? I can assure you that you are not going to be handcuffed again." James asked, Rick shrugged.
"Come on, what's going on with you? Prison affected you the wrong way?" James asked with a giggle after, with Edward smiling.
"I don't know James, I spent six years in prison, came out to learn that we burnt up cops, and yeah that you have a new idea that won't get me arrested just like what you told me the last time. I don't know what to feel." Rick answered and James stopped laughing, Edward's smile went away.
"I am not saying anything, Edward, you know I like you. But this Jimmy guy sounds like somebody we don't need in a subtle operation. And James, I will trust you unconditionally only if you give me the layout of the business." Rick continued. James frowned while Edward didn't show a reaction.
"Rick, come on now. Jimmy is a friend that I can talk to, he is not going to do anything without my permission. He respects me enough to listen to me." Rick raised his hands in response to Edward.
"If you say so, I trust you. And James, I am not insinuating anything. I just don't want another accident. I don't want to cause anything here, so come on. If your idea is good, I am hoping for it." Rick said to James, who gave a bitter smile back.
"It wasn't my fault that a rat was in the team," James mumbled.
"I am not saying it's your fault," Rick explained.
"Yes, you are." James retorted.
"Hey, both of you. Rick, you have made your point clear. James, you have a business proposal. Give it to us, come on." Edward's words made James close his eyes and relax himself.
"In summary, I traveled out to Brazil. Met a man, called M. Part of some gang that had letters as names. We talked, became friends, and boom. I am already proposing the business to this guy. He has goods to transport, we have the service. Business is here." James explained with a smile.
"So what does M want us to transport?" Edward asked.
"Homemade drugs in high quantity, not so high in quality, to be delivered to some countries. Send a friend to check if anything is fishy with them. Nothing odd, just guys in need of quality service. Willing to pay big if we take the quantity they want." James answered.
"Okay, so the usual stuff we do?" Edward asked, Rick giggled.
"They are the type to have different needs to be transported, plus they get desperate as their transport guys are choked by cops. Plus, we can just hike the price and they won't have much of a choice." James continued.
"Okay, you have a good idea. Let's discuss this with a team, bringing in some new guys that Jimmy checked up to be clean. We will be going to Brazil soon, not to meet this M guy, and don't ask why. I will tell you later." Edward stated.
Rick stood up. "Gentlemen, I am leaving, gotta go on a date." Rick's words caused James to laugh.
"What?" Rick asked, looking at Edward who covered his mouth.
"Rick, please tell me she is at least beautiful." Edward pleaded, causing James to laugh louder.
"What's that meant to mean?" Rick asked.
"Rick, please tell me that she is not in her 60s, this time." Rick fake punched James after he spoke.
"Very funny. I had a good time with that woman." Rick's words caused Edward to laugh with James.
Rick rolled his eyes and walked out of the room..