The Pack: Opening

Sully stepped into the bar and swept his eyes over the crowd. Young, rich, stupid and drunk. There were a few like himself that surrounded the pool tables, clad in black and showing the miles they traveled in their worn faces. The music annoyed him as he made his way to the bar. It was some techno group or another, the words were meaningless but the beat inspired the young ones to dance close to each other. When he reached the bar he pulled off his sunglasses and slid them into the inside pocket of his black leather vest. "Jack Daniel's, hold the ice" he said in a deep voice. He hadn't spoken for days and his voice was ragged. He pulled out his wallet and slapped a fifty down onto the bar, "This should cover me for a while." While the bartender shuffled off to pour Sully's drink he turned to look out upon the crowd once more. He inhaled deeply taking in the scents that surrounded him. Sweat, booze, smoke and the familiar scent of drugs. He could tell there was a variety available here tonight. He wasn't surprised to find that most of the scents came from the group of bikers around the pool tables. "Here you go bud" the bartender announced as he slid a glass filled with the deep brown whiskey towards Sully. With a nod Sully took the glass and moved away from the bar. 'No sense in wasting any time' he thought as he moved towards the back.

When he got to the pool tables he leaned up against the railing that kept the area separate from the rest of the bar and sipped his drink. After a few minutes of watching the bikers play he found himself in the way of one of their shots. A huge man stood in front of him, demanding he move without speaking a word. He was probably close to seven feet tall which cast Sully's own smaller frame in sharp contrast. Without moving Sully asked, "What's on the menu tonight big fella?" The biker snorted, "Yer ass carved up into little bitty pieces if you don't get the hell outta my way." Sully smiled lightly and took a few steps to his right. Ignoring his question, the man went on to line up his shot. Just as he was about to shoot Sully spoke up again, deliberately louder. "You didn't answer me." The man's shot went horribly off target causing his friends to laugh hysterically at his misfortune. Ignoring them he stepped aggressively towards Sully, standing toe to toe with him so that he towered over the smaller man. "You just made a big fuckin mistake asshole."

"Yea? I figure I just did myself a favor. We've got business to talk, no time for games."

"You got exactly three seconds to convince me not to break you into a thousand little fuckin pieces son."

"I can smell the dope on you from across the bar. You can either start talking some business or I can rip out your spine and beat the shit out of your friends with it and take your business."

Taking advantage of their focused standoff, one of the biker's friends stood behind Sully and swung hard with a pool cue. The stick collided with leather coated flesh, but it was not Sully who he hit. With incredible speed Sully had ducked down under the stick as it swung full force into the giant bikers chest. Before either opponent could react Sully twisted to face his attacker, using his momentum to deliver a left hook that made all the spectators cringe. With his opposite hand he took hold of the remains of the pool cue before his would be assailant fell to the ground unconscious. Continuing to use the momentum of his turn he followed through, lashing out with the stick. The blow to his chest had only slightly fazed the giant but with the speed and force of his spin behind it, the stick cracked his jaw. Blood splattered from his broken jaw as he fell to the ground. Sully tossed the ruined stick to the ground and challenged any of the biker's other friends with a piercing stare. "So who wants to talk some business" he asked. He had not broken a sweat and showed not a single sign of even being in a fight.

The bikers glanced at each other uncertainly. The big man was one of their toughest and most intimidating and he had just been put dropped in the blink of an eye. They seemed to be weighing their odds. Four of them remained but Sully had just bested two of them with very little effort. One man stepped forward apparently making the decision for the group. "You got our attention, what are you lookin for?" Sully smiled, even the positive gesture seemed menacing somehow. "Lots. Lots of whatever you can get your hands on. Makin my way south and I need to be stocked up when I get where I'm going." He pulled a wad of cash from the pocket of his vest and thumbed through it so they could see it was a thick stack of hundred dollar bills. "And there's more if you've got the supply to handle it." It wasn't something they were used to dealing with, someone who came into their turf making demands and able to back them up. The one who spoke up held up his hand as he moved back towards his friends. They talked amongst themselves for several minutes while Sully casually sipped his drink. Meanwhile the giant seemed to be waking up. He groaned and rolled on the ground uncertain of where he was.

The man who had spoken up before stepped away from the group discussion. He looked to be in his early thirties with tightly cropped black hair and an equally neat goatee. "Alright mac, we'll hook you up. Whatever you can pay for now and if everything goes nice and smooth we can talk about bigger business." Sully nodded, "Fair enough, what's the plan?"

"All I gotta do is make a call and it'll be on it's way. No more than thirty minutes. What exactly are you wantin'?"

"Couple O's of coke, pound or two of weed. That should get us started."

If the man was shocked by the quantities Sully was after he didn't show it. He simply nodded and stepped away to make a call on his cell phone. After a few moments he came back and said "On it's way, nothin to do but wait now." He motioned towards the pool table. "Know how to use a stick for something other than ass kicking?" Sully snorted a little laugh, "I can try."

While they waited Sully and the bikers enjoyed a few games of pool. The giant and his accomplice regained consciousness but were still rattled. They sat to the side and fumed until Sully bought them a few rounds as a peace offering. Naturally they were curious about Sully, where he came from and what his plans were but he gave away as little information as possible. He had traveled south from Montana and was making his way down to Colorado. He gave no details on why. Though he didn't care he learned that the group was a small but well established motorcycle club known as the Soldiers of Satan.

True to their word, about thirty minutes later their delivery man stepped into the bar. He stuck out like a sore thumb wearing the typical biker uniform of black jeans and a leather jacket but he also carried a fairly large backpack with him. Certainly not the norm for bar dwellers. Sully rolled his eyes. 'Amateurs' he thought to himself. But business was business and it was about to go down. As he approached Sully realized he was very young, barely out of his teens by the looks of him. The one who set up the deal, Spoke as he was known, motioned for Sully and the delivery boy to follow him. They walked further back in the bar past the washrooms and towards a door marked 'Staff Only'. Spoke opened the door and ushered everyone in. It was a small office with one filing cabinet and a desk with a computer, phone and tons of little post it notes of various colors. He half sat on the desk and nodded to the delivery boy who responded by shrugging the bag off his shoulder and unzipping it. Sully peered inside and nodded. When he reached in the bag to pull out one of the many smaller plastic bags the delivery boy twitched a bit and glanced questioningly at Spoke.

"Hey I ain't buyin baby powder and oregano." After a quick pause he added, "No offense or nothing."

Spoke nodded and gave a parental grin at the delivery boy. "It's alright, let him check it out."

Sully proceeded to pull out a bag stuffed full of thick green buds. They were fully and dense with a dirty green color, not terrible but certainly not the best. Opening the bag he pulled it up to his nose and inhaled deeply. "Very nice" he commented more out of normal procedure than any actual measure of being impressed. Sealing up the bag Sully replaced it before taking out one of the smaller bags filled with white powder. Both Spoke and the delivery boy seemed to shift with tension. Weed was one thing but this amount of cocaine was a big risk. Sully opened the bag and dipped his pinky finger in the powder then rubbed his pinky along his gums. His lips twitched for a moment as he let the effect sink in. The subtle numbness passed over his gums, it was good product. "Good shit amigos. What's the damages?"

"Ten G's, amigo." Spoke answered in a firm business tone. Sully nodded and reached inside his vest and unzipped a hidden pocket. He pulled out a thick envelope and without showing the others it's contents he thumbed through it. After a moment he pulled out a thick stack of crisp hundred dollar bills and handed it over to Spoke. While Spoke counted the stack Sully replaced the envelope and gave the delivery boy a wicked grin. He wasn't here to see Sully's display of dominance against the giant and his friend. Sully was under six feet tall and had a thin but toned frame. Many had thought him an easy mark before. They were wrong. Sully idly wondered if the boy felt like trying his luck. When Spoke slipped the money into his own pocket and clapped his hands together it shook Sully from his violent daydreaming. "You just bought yourself a shitload of dope my friend" Spoke said with a satisfied smile. "And you said you'd be looking for even more?"

Sully nodded, "Yup, just gotta make some phone calls. I can probably have a hundred K by tomorrow night." He paused and cast Spoke an appraising glance. "You can handle that size?" Spoke stroked the hair on his chin. "Yea I think we can. Course we might insist upon a bit tighter security and such." Sully waved his hand flat, "Not a worry at all, whatever you need to do to have things set up is cool by me." Spoke nodded slowly. It was almost too good to be true. But Spoke was no amateur, he intended to have Sully fully checked out before he sold anything else to him. "Well gents, not that I don't enjoy your company but I think I ought to stash this in a nice safe spot for the time being. I'll make my calls, you guys are here often enough I guess?"

"You got it brother. If I ain't here just ask for me, someone will know where to find me." Spoke stuck you his hand to Sully who accepted the handshake. He offered the pair a tip of his fingers to his brow in the fashion of a salute as he made his way out the office door. He made his way quickly back through the bar, giving the other bikers a quick nod as he passed them with the backpack on his shoulders. In a moment he was out the front door into the cool night air. He paused to inhale deeply. After being stuck in the bar for over an hour it was a relief to breathe in the fresh air. He made his way over to his bike, parked away from the bikes that belonged to the men inside. He straddled the old but perfectly functioning machine but did not start the engine just yet. Glancing around to be sure he was not watched he pulled out his cell phone once more. He dialed the first number on his speed dial list.

"Done?" the deep voice answered, not bothering with any unnecessary pleasantries. "Yup," Sully answered back. "You're lookin for a young kid, came in with a backpack about twenty minutes ago."

"I saw him. I'll call the pups when he leaves." And again with no spared words the voice on the other end of the line hung up. Sully glanced out at the darkness of the night. The bar was situated in a mildly populated area, strip malls and fast food joints surrounded it. Unsure of where the other voice was watching from he gave a slight smile and nod before bringing the engine of his bike to a roaring start. He pulled the bike out of the parking lot and headed out onto the road. His part in the nights activities was done for the most part. All that remained was for him to make his way to the rendezvous point, a dilapidated truck stop right off the expressway. There would be an empty semi truck waiting for him to unload the drugs onto.