Part 19 (1/2)
The agent opened the bags and sifted through his clothes. George mopped his sweat with a handkerchief. His heart beat faster.
The agent picked up a s.h.i.+rt, ”Pretty flashy...”
”Hey, Walta, what's happening brah?” Mark's voice came from behind the agent.
The agent turned and saw Mark standing behind the rope.
”Remember me, Walta? I went to school with your kid brother, Lefty,” Mark gestured to George, ”this my older brudda, George. Maybe you knew him at Honokaa?”
”My name not Walta.”
”No act!” Mark hit his chest with one hand. ”You look just like Walta from Honokaa! You from Honokaa?”
”No.” The agent closed the suitcase. ”I look like this guy Walta?”
Mark put up one hand. ”Swear to G.o.d. Exactly.”
The agent scratched his head. ”Maybe I go ask my motha whether or not we got relatives in Honokaa.” The agent shoved the suitcase back to George. ”Okay, go.”
”Nice meeting you anyway,” Mark waved.
The agent waved and turned to the next pa.s.senger.
When they were out of earshot, Mark turned to him. ”You almost blew it.”
George walked on in silence.
Chapter Twenty-six.
The concept of easy money fascinated George, but he knew he couldn't be a drug mule. He thought about what role he could play as he drove his soda truck around town.
”Does Chun ever go on trips?” George asked Mark one hot summer day. The two brothers were sitting on low beach chairs guzzling cold beer in the backyard of Mark's new house in Kaimuki. Their wives were cooking inside. Mark had been part of Chun's organization for little over a year and George envied him his house and new Chevy. And he knew as far as Mary was concerned, Mark had convinced her he was in the import/export business.
Mark shook his head. ”Chun's the boss. He provides the money and the contacts.”
George stroked his chin. ”Know the other runners?”
”Not all,” Mark took a long swallow of his beer.
”You know all the contacts in Hong Kong?”
”Yeah. Why all the questions, George?”
George leaned in towards Mark. ”Because we could do it ourselves.”
Mark put his beer down on the ground. ”You make one trip you almost screwed up and you like take over Chun's action?”
George clenched his jaw. ”Look, I know I can't do what you do, but I have something else going for me.”
”Like what?”
George tapped his head. ”Father's brains.”
”I think maybe you've cracked up or something.” Mark lit a cigarette. ”Number one, you go after Chun's action, he's going after you. You when figure that out?”
George nodded. ”I can handle it.”
”How? Chun's got muscle. Where's yours? Besides, Chun's Pake. He's got the Hong Kong connections. You think you can get the Pake to go with a Yobo rather than a Pake who they've dealt with a long time?”
George smiled. ”Yeah. I do.”
”How you going do that?” Mark's voice rose as he leaned forward toward George.
”Make them a better deal.”
”A better deal?” Mark shook his head. ”Is this a joke?”
George smiled. ”Chun's small potatoes. I'm going to buy more stuff than Chun ever dreamed of buying. I got better ways of smuggling stuff. Pretty soon they're going to get caught.”
”How're you going to smuggle stuff in?”
”For one, we could hide the has.h.i.+sh by putting it into the soles of slippers and sandals. We could bring in containers legally.”
Mark's eyes widened. ”How did you figure that?”
”I just did. You know how cheap slippers are in Hong Kong. Every time Chun sends a mule, he pays them $500. We could import hundreds, even thousands of slippers at one time. We could move a fortune in has.h.i.+sh. We could even send it to California.”
”Has.h.i.+sh isn't our only market,” Mark stroked his chin.
”I got other ideas. When the Pakes see how much we can move, they're going with the money. That much has.h.i.+sh will be cheaper per pound than what Chun gets it for. n.o.body will be able to beat our prices.” George leaned back and held the cold beer against his forehead.
”Yeah, but it takes big money,” Mark pointed out. ”Where are we going to come up with that kind of money?”
”We'll go to all the tanomos.h.i.+s we know and offer them twice their money back in less than a year.” George knew there were hundreds of tanomos.h.i.+ investment circles in Hawaii. Since banks in Hawaii wouldn't lend to immigrants, groups of people pooled their savings and once a year one of the members got the money to spend any way they wanted. The j.a.panese and most Koreans used the j.a.panese word tanomos.h.i.+ to describe a system of banking started in feudal times. The Chinese called it huis.
”We can start our own tanomos.h.i.+. Once we make a big score, people will be begging to join. They'll throw money at us.”
”You really think you can convince them to invest in drugs?”
”They won't know. We'll tell them we're starting a slipper business. Then we convince the Pakes in China to back me on the first s.h.i.+pment for a bigger cut. ”
”That's a big sales job.”