Because It Was My Job by John Reeves (book series for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

the shift in power, they had given up their ground. The guy didn't even want another crack at winning his lost money back.
When I walked out the door there they were, all eight of them standing beside their bikes. Two of them fired up the engines, revving up the loud pipes. They were trying to intimidate me, but they didn't realize I was not the least bit afraid of them.
"Hey punk!" Those were the last words the man said before I pulled the .45 blowing his head off. The blood and spatter went all over the guys beside him. They couldn't believe what happened, before they could really grasp it they too took a bullet. The two guys that had been spinning gravel took of before I could reload. I went through the dead men's pockets taking in around seven-hundred dollars.
I got in my car that was stolen from Georgia and took off before the cops showed up. As I drove I feared the cops would soon be behind me. To my surprise they never did. Then finally I pulled over for the evening. Rented me a room for the night, then went to this steak house beside the hotel.
As I walked back across the parking lot, something felt strange. Sometimes you get these feelings that something isn't right. When I opened my door the smell of cigar smoke was present. I went for my gun, but was thrown to the floor. I figured one of two things, either the police had gotten me, or those bikers tracked me down. It really didn't matter which one it happened to be, it wasn't going to end well.
When the lights came on I noticed it wasn't the bikers, it didn't seem to be the FBI either, they were way overdressed to be agents of the FBI.
"You don't know us, but we know you." The man smoking the cigar said.
"You don't like this petty cash you're taking in, hell a man can't live off that."
"Who are you?" I asked very unsure.
"My name is Roy Giovanni. I'm here to offer you a job with the Giovanni family. See we know about you, and we know you're a killer. You do kill people don't you?"
"I have." I replied quickly.
"Exactly, that's why me and my guys came here. Do you need a job?" He asked me.
"You want me to do what...Be a hit man?" I wasn't sure what he was getting at.
"Yes, do you want to join our organization?" The offer was there, and I had the feeling this was something big. If not I could always keep moving on.
I couldn't of been more right, Giovanni was the leader of a massive drug cartel. He had me ditch the stolen ride, then assigned me to a Bentley. There was heavy amounts of ammunition to dispose of any type of problems. He was as well connected to what was going on as the FBI were concerned. He knew who I was from prison, and had been tracking me since my release from there.
I'd find these guys when Giovanni found them to be a problem, then I'd either collect the owed amount or, kill them and take what they did have. Sometimes when he wanted them to get his point without being killed he'd have me kill an associate of theirs. I told the man up front, no women or children. He seemed to understand my point assigning other guys to kill them. He relied on me to take out the larger problems. There had been times I just sprayed a room with an AK-47 when the groups come together to take Giovanni's business.
There were guys trying to high jack the shipments of drugs coming in, there were federal agents too, they all were in the way of the operation and, had to be killed. The empire grew to the point the feds had no chance of just stopping it. This thing would have to be taken apart piece by piece, the same way it was put together. I was so well connected and rich at times I wished I could step away from the family.
There were things in life I knew I was missing, the feeling of falling in love or, to see kids that were a part of me. I didn't mind killing a man for no reason what so ever, but that didn't mean I couldn't love someone. I fact was I never had the chance. The way things played out I was at a severe disadvantage. There were things I just had to accept, my living a life of solitude was part of it. That was something I'd come to accept.
The feds were moving in on two of Mr Giovanni's storage buildings. I didn't realize he already knew they were coming. When they got to the building there wasn't anything inside. Someone else knew because the boat headed to Texas was high jacked. I knew someone knew, and I also knew Giovanni was being double crossed by someone inside the family. The drugs stolen off that boat was over six million dollars. Whoever it was that stole the shipment of drugs also rolled over on Giovanni. The next day the feds raided his Miami condo. No arrests were made and no evidence was recovered. I knew they were on to the operation.


Part 3
Word got around to me that Speedy Jefferson was running his mouth. Speedy was a slimy little bastard capable of doing some danger to Giovanni with his slanderous talk. Part of my job was Giovanni's bodyguard though I often was more of an assassin. He wanted them dead, it was my job to kill them. Speedy had no idea I was looking for him, although I suspect he was hiding out as usual. He would cut his own mother's throat to save his cheap ass.
I got word that he took a flight to Cuba. That didn't surprise me, Speedy would be running his whole life. He didn't demand respect from these guys, because he was spineless with his sly approach to get around in the business. When I figured out Speedy fled the country my attention turned to finding Giovanni.
When the local police crashed into my place I couldn't go home. Knowing I needed to ditch the Bentley I took it out to Giovanni's boathouse and left it there. I went to the used car lot where I purchased a small sedan, it wasn't like anything they'd expect to see me riding in. I didn't know if I should stay without knowing where Giovanni was, or just get the hell outta town like everyone else seemed to be doing.
I began to ponder my options, and thinking where I might end up. It was my job to watch after Giovanni's ass but, potentially it was my ass that I needed to watch out for. The Caruso family wasn't going to give in. I still had to watch for them along with the eager to shoot feds. I had no idea whether the feds were also putting the heat on the Caruso family too, I did know if they were that was something I needed to know.
The Caruso family had long worked the small pickings behind Giovanni's enterprise. I had shot several of their guys for crossing lines that had clearly been set. I had to wonder if maybe they didn't get something on us, then turned it over to the feds. I really didn't know if the Caruso family high jacked that boat.
I was uninformed and ready to kill anyone. It wasn't paranoia, there were too many different people who wanted my head. If they got me I knew they got the other guys too, meaning Giovanni had nobody to watch his ass. Not that if it came down to it those guys would bail on him. For all I knew the other guys had already been arrested or killed.
I took off in that car driving north with the intent on not looking back. I didn't have all my money but, enough to get around until I figured something out. Before I got out of town I saw one of Caruso's men talking to a known informant. I pulled over and waited for them to leave that corner. When the car pulled away I drove behind Caruso's guy. He might have noticed me in the Bentley but, inside the sedan he had no idea.
When he made a stop at a red light I cut a car off to get beside him. Then I pulled my gun out and shot him right in the head in the middle of Miami traffic. I floored the car hoping nobody got a look at it. When I hit the highway going north, I made it maybe a hundred miles before the blue lights were behind me. I sat there wondering if this was the end of my run. Thoughts ran through my mind about what I should do.
When the officer got up to the door I already had the .45 slightly out of view. When the uniform became visible I pulled it shooting the cop right in the stomach. I looked down to see if I needed to shoot again, that's when I noticed it was a female officer. I felt like shit as I drove away. I thought about the family she might have, or the single woman with a dog, or cat.
It wasn't going to be alright, and I knew that was going to be the way it would always be. I pulled over on the shoulder of the highway, then held the pistol under my chin. I couldn't pull the trigger, I could pull it on anyone, just not myself.
Within minutes there were federal agents and unmarked cars everywhere. I could have shot myself before they had a chance, but still knowing my life was over I could not do it.
"Step out of the car with your hands behind your head." The agents voice was loud and angered. I just stepped out like they asked me to do. There wasn't any doubt left in my mind that it was over. There were still the looming questions about Giovanni and the family, but I figured even on the inside I'd find out.
I admitted guilt to prevent the death penalty, sat down with an agent telling him what I knew about the shipment of drugs that got high jacked, the fact was I didn't know anything. The agent in conversation exposed to me the fact there were weapons on the shipment. I guess he thought I knew, there were too many things there toward the end I never knew anything about.
Sometimes I wonder what happened to my parents, from time to time I think about the old days. I wonder about my older brothers, imagine that they'd probably made an uncle out of me. If there's ever a moment of sadness it more than likely comes from those thoughts, because to older I got the more I wished that I could have been part of their lives. I know