"Good, then stop the car." James said, and like it was a straight order and the driver immediately pulled over to the side. "I’m sorry, Benjamin, but my hunger went away. Next time I will invite you for some good steak." He said, looking at him, but he knew pretty well that it was because of him.
If he wouldn’t press with his fucking words, they could have had a good talk about the future, about everything, but he fucked up.
"Then, goodbye James, and be safe."
"You too, Benjamin. Be safe and don’t tangle up in all the bullshit." He said, and with a last look, he hopped out of the car with Mike, leaving behind Benjamin with his thoughts that now he might have just fucked up himself on another level, not just himself but everybody.
"Now where, boss?" Mike asked as the cars rolled away from them.
"Now, I’m going to smoke a cigarette if you have one." James said as he turned toward him and at the same time men rolled up with their cars.
"Of course." Mike said as he pulled out his pack of cigarettes, giving him one as well as the lighter.
And it was majestic... the feeling of puffing a good smoke, in all of this stressful situation where two worlds collide, when he can’t have a single thought about himself or his family... this smoke was like pushing him up to the clouds, relaxing him on a whole other level.
Puffing it, inhaling the smoke, then out, while all around still the voices of people, the sound of joy, the music playing... an experience that truly is something else, that truly calms down a person, but in his shoes it kinda meant more.
A second stillness in the big rush, a stillness when everything is built around you and everybody wants to see what you do next, what your step will be, even what is your thought... stillness that is well deserved for him.
The key player of all the things happening in the country, the middle of all the bullshit, and it’s still just the beginning of it... they’re not even in the middle of it, they’re not even near the end of it.
The new era of the underworld, the new era of the country, is something that now will be made by blood.
"My leg, why the fuck does this still hurt like hell?" He turned to him as he puffed out the smoke. "I take all the pills but still, sometimes it just incredibly hurts. I can’t even put weight on it or be able to walk without the cane."
"It can be caused by several things, but what I think of is that you need to rest it. Like, the pills they gave you are painkillers and relaxation meds, but you are always on the go. Like, to be truthful, the hospital let you out too early or at least you walked away too early. The wound is still fresh, and since then you didn’t even sit down for a week to let it heal."
"Huh... so it will be just worse?"
"Yes, I’m afraid of. But maybe you need another surgery to make everything right. But then you need to rest a month or more... and right now it seems impossible to do."
Yeah, the truth, how fucked is it that he can’t even let himself heal. The wound that maybe if it gets infected or something then he becomes a one-legged fucker like a pirate.
"Then in Maraci I will have somebody to look at it." James said as he threw away the cigarette and stepped on it. "Until then I just suffer, I guess... like always." He smiled at Mike, who couldn’t say anything to that.
Because, it was truly suffering. His leg’s fucked, his emotions all over the place, and plus all the plans, deals, next moves. James is truly somebody who is kinda unbreakable... or more like he broke enough that he does not care about all of this... he just looks at those like normal things, but in reality everybody else would be already gone in his palace.
But he is still standing, still going, and pushing himself through all of this.
What a man he is. A true leader, especially what he heard in the cart... Mike was shocked about it, how much it really meant for James, the family, them, the people he met, those who suffer just like him. He is for the people.
He is truly a leader for those whose voices haven’t been heard in years
He’s looking out for them, he’s protecting them and feeding them... while he’s suffering all alone through all of this.
"Time to go home, Mike."
"Yeah... let’s go." He said as he stepped forward and opened the door for James, who for some reason waited a bit, looking up at the distant clouds in the sky. Then, taking a big breath, he finally sat in, as well as Mike too, and they were on the road to go home and take some time from everything that’s happening around them.
But somewhere else there was no time off. There was not even a bit of relaxation but straight-up working countless hours without rest.
Yeah, at the government levels everything was fucked up. Every single department, agency, every single fraction of the government was in a fucking panic to do exactly what William said... but so many things were countering each other that it was just a nightmare.
One department was arguing with the other, while some of the departments didn’t even want to cooperate with each other, and it was all caused by the panic of the corrupt officials.
What they did was trying to save themselves, deleting reports, files, everything that could connect them to anything. They were doing the utmost to save themselves, because well, nobody knew who exactly were those William talked about.
Who will be sent to hard labor? Who will be the ones standing in front of the firing squad
Well, people had the answer... people that go by the name Linda, William, Thomas and Stephen.