The Tin Man

Unless Townsend or one of the others needed him for something, Be

It could only be his portable hydrogenators, Be

Be

He found Townsend, Reingruber, and several of the organization’s top sergeants conducting firearms training in one of the wooden barns. Townsend’s weapon of choice was a small 9-millimeter Calico automatic, a short, sleek pistol with a huge cylindrical ammo drum on top. Townsend seemed adept at shooting it either one- or two-handed, with either hand, on full-auto or single-shot.

“What happened?” Be

Gregory Townsend shrugged off the hand without turning around and finished his target practice-only one round went astray with the distraction; the others were dead-on-then removed his eye protection and ear defenders. “We didn’t expect you up so early, Be

For a moment Be

Townsend unclipped the cylindrical drum from the top of his weapon, clipped a fresh one in its place, and said coolly, “We had two strikes against us from the very begi

Talk about ironic, Be

“Did you know that four of my men were killed and one seriously wounded when the Brotherhood’s chapter members turned on them while they were delivering the hydrogenators?” Townsend went on. “I abhor anyone who ca

“You didn’t expect some of the Brotherhood to try to rip you off?” Be

“Of course not, Be

“The price would drop,” Be

“ ‘Plummet’ is the term you Americans use, I believe.”

“But so what?” Be

“But if the street price dropped to, say, two thousand dollars a pound rather than eight to ten thousand dollars,” Townsend asked, “what do you think the Brotherhood’s reaction would be?”

“They’d… they’d try to renegotiate the deal.”

“Be

“Hell no. Why should it?”

“Precisely,” Townsend said. “So with the market for methamphetamine the same, and with almost every Satan’s Brotherhood chapter in the state of California closed or substantially downsized, shall we say, and with the surviving members scattered or eventually hunted down by Major Reingruber and his men, what do you suppose will happen to the price of a pound of methamphetamine that makes it to the street now?” There was a glimmer in Be

“So you have your answer, Be

“I don’t get it,” Be

“I am offering you much more than that,” Townsend said. “I’m offering you protection and distribution assistance as well.”

“All for the price of…”

“Just three thousand dollars a pound, plus chemicals at our cost plus ten percent,” Townsend said. “For a substance that can sell from between ten and thirty thousand dollars a pound or more, I think it’s an offer too good to pass up.”

“Three thousand a pound? Why so little?” Be

“It is more important for us that we maintain a good working relationship with you, Be

“I can cook anything I want, anywhere, anytime?”

“Supervised by my men, yes,” Townsend said. “I presume you are not pla

“Hell no,” Be