THIRTY-SEVEN
IT IS AN OFF-DUTY DAYA FOR ANIJ. It is the day that James is coming to the bank. Anij is waiting for him in front of the bank. James should turn up soon for his usual Tuesday meeting. Anij is dressed up very nicely with a slick, combed hairdo like many other businessmen. Even though James has been coming here for quite some time, he won’t recognize Anij at all. It would be a very hard connection to make from a janitor to a businessman anyway. Shadows of James’s gang are coming closer. Anij calls out, “James!”
Anij notices that James’s head twitches slightly. But James is not answering, as though he hadn’t heard anything. Anij calls him again. “James!”
Still no answer from James. Anij calls him again.
“What the hell do you want?”
One of James’s bodyguards stops and answers Anij with a pissed-off expression.
“Well, I wasn’t talking to you, man. I was trying to talk to James,” Anij replies to the bodyguard. Then all the other bodyguards look at Anij and try to shut him up.
Then James puts his hands up slowly and says with a disgruntled voice, “What do you want?”
James has finally answered Anij, reluctantly. Anij is trying to keep his cool with him. It is very hard to make some shit up so fast. But to lure him to his bait, his acting has to be very convincing. And he speaks. “Well, I got a business proposition for you. You might be very interested.”
“Do you know me?”
“Well . . . Let’s just say that I know you pretty well.”
“Who are you?”
“Well, I will tell you when we go someplace quiet to talk business.”
One of the bodyguards cuts in. “Do you even know who you are dealing with?”
But Anij doesn’t care at all and looks at the bodyguard for a while. Then he speaks to him as he shakes his head. “Like I said, I do know him. Okay? So stay out of my way, boy. I am talking to your boss.”
The bodyguard gets angry at Anij. But James stops him and asks Anij, “Okay. So what kind of business are you talking?”
“Are you serious? You want me to talk about that stuff on this street?”
“Well, what is it, then?”
“I told you. Something that you might be interested in . . . very much.”
“Okay. I can’t do it now. I am late for my meeting . . . What about — ”
“Next Tuesday?”
“Yeah. Certainly you do know me quite well, ha?”
“I am a man of my word. I just wouldn’t lie to you.”
“Okay, then next Tuesday it is.”
“Okay. It was very nice meeting you, James.”
James and his bodyguards are entering the bank, and Anij is walking away from the bank with a cigar in his mouth. As a rude and abrupt first encounter, it was a success. Anij is happy. Everything is going as smoothly as he had planned. It is not certain that James actually bought what he told him. But for now, his happy, smiley face overwhelms his emotion. He can’t wait to tell all this to Mario. He hops in his car and puts his pedal to the metal. As soon as he gets home, he grabs the phone and calls Mario. “Hello, Mario.”
“Yeah, so what do you got?”
“I got good news for you.”
“Well, tell me about it.”
“Okay. So after I did some extensive research, I found out that James is in the loop, like I told you before.”
“Yeah. And?”
“And I just talked to him this morning.”
“Really? Shit. That is good. Last time I wanted to talk to that asshole, he turned me down. But now you will be talking to him. That is good.”
“Yeah, that is good. So we will meet again next Tuesday, since that is the only day that he is in this town.”
“Okay. Like I said before, don’t get too cocky. He might already know about you. So go slowly and finish slowly. Don’t ever go too fast. I’ve heard about his style of doing things. He hates to rush things. That is why he never screws up any job, ever. So you must be very careful and pace yourself slowly, but steadily. Who knows? He might actually be finding something about you right now. He has many informers in the dark alleys. So you should be extra careful. Okay?”
“Okay. I will do my best.”
“No! Not your best. It should be the best. Okay?”
“Okay. It will be the best. You better just trust me on this. I will pull this one off so good, you will want to kiss me.”
“Wow. Can’t wait. Okay. Just don’t mess it up. Never make him pissed off at you. Okay? In fact, I don’t even know what he will do to you or to us. Okay?”
“Okay. I got it. ’Bye.”
Right after the phone call, Anij heads back to the bank to tell the manager he is quitting for a personal reason. The moment of truth is closing in for Anij. The manager is disappointed, since everyone likes him. But after talking to the manager for a while, Anij is officially off the list. Let the real work begin.