Savages

that she won’t have to kill her.

137
     
    Option one is Play and Obey, so—
    Ben’s first meeting with his new employers takes place in a room at the Surf & Sand, pricey but still cheaper than the Montage.
    Alex and Jaime arrive accompanied by napalm.
    That is, the smell of victory.
    Smug, cloying, sickly, and obnoxious.
    They come with something else: a middle-age Mexican they don’t introduce by name but instead as the Man, the BC’s CEO in the OC.
    Ben is sorry Chon isn’t there because he would fucking love that.
    The BCCEOOC doesn’t say anything, just looks at Ben as A&J explain that everything they are about to tell him comes directly from the BCCEOOC, who has a pair of the coldest eyes that Ben has ever seen outside a hostage video.
    Specifically the one starring O.
    And this guy, whom Ben recognizes as Mr. Chain Saw.
    It is explained to Ben that:
    He will give them the locations of his grow houses and
    Inform them, through Alex, of when a crop is ready, at which time
    The BC will send a crew to pick it up, with
    The agreed-upon payment and in the meantime
    Ben should start contacting his customers to acquaint them with the changes and make sure that they comply with the new order of things and
    If Ben has any problems he should contact
    Alex or Jaime, but it is sincerely hoped that Ben will
not
have any problems nor hopefully will the
    BC have any problems with Ben, but if they do he will be contacted by Jaime or Alex and the problem will be quickly resolved or
    He will see Mr. Chain Saw again, who
will
resolve the problem, by killing O.
    Does Ben understand?
    Ben does: Ben is to be the object of prison love, repeatedly, for three years or twenty million dollars. He gives them the location of a grow house with a harvest due date two days away.
    This should give him time to plan.

138
     
    A three-year sentence
    O contemplates
    Unless her boys come up with the Monet.
    (O flunked Art History twice, partially because of her inability to distinguish Monet from Manet, partially because of her inability to get to class.) She does know money from Monet, though, enough to know that twenty mil is a lot of either, and while the boys wouldn’t hesitate to fork it over if they have it, she doesn’t think they have it.
    Yet.
    So she’s going to do some time.
    For a brief but interesting period in her young life, O had a thing for Women’s Prison Movies. She and Ash used to sit up and watch old videos.
Chained Heat, Canned Heat, Chained Canned Heat.
Anyway, there was always some young chick who got thrown in with a bunch of hard-core dykes, a rapacious male or female warden, and a kinder, older mother-figure prisoner and O and Ash got off on the soft-core lesbian porn. Their favorite thing to do was turn the sound off and make up the dialogue themselves.
    So she thinks she knows a little about doing time.
    At least they took the blindfold off. Put her in a room with a bed, a chair, an attached bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. There’s a window, but they taped over it so she can’t look outside and take a guess as to where the fuck she is.
    And, of course, the one door is locked from the outside.
    Three times a day this sweet, shy Mexican kid comes in with a meal on a tray. O has asked, but the kid won’t tell her his name.
    Breakfast is always a roll with butter and strawberry jam.
    Lunch is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
    Dinner is a microwave whatever.
    This isn’t going to work.
    Not for three freaking years if it comes to that.
    For one thing, the video replay is driving her nuts.
    Two, when that isn’t playing she’s bored out of her skull.
    So …
    She starts taking her head out for little walks.

139
     
    Later that night
    Ben and Chon sit in the office on Brooks Street watching Jeff and Craig do-do the computer voodoo.
    Jeff, clad in board trunks and a T-shirt, leans back in his chair with the lappie on his, uhhh, lap, and his bare feet up on the desk. He sucks on a joint and looks at the screen, while Craig, on the headset, talks Dennis through it.
    Craig is dressed formally for the occasion—jeans, tennis shoes, a shirt with sleeves. He puts his hand over the mike, smiles, and says, “Your boy is nervous.”
    “Can you break through the DEA firewall?” Ben asks.
    Craig rolls his eyes. Jeff smiles and says, “We know the guys who wrote the software. Nice dudes, but …”
    “Got him,” Craig says.
    He spins his chair so Ben can see the screen.
    “Easy squeezy now,” Craig