Pre-order the full, 81-chapter ebook<\/a> for only 99 cents, if you want. The print edition also can be preordered, for $14.99.<\/p>\nHere it is . . . Chapter 5. As told by Johnny Motts. Regarding his interactions with Larry Ballentine, the starting shortstop for the local pro baseball team. (Not in the MLB.)<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t I say I hate sending messages? I never said it to nobody that matters. Not that I ever would. They tell me to send a message, I send a message.<\/p>\n
Even if I wanna do more than that.<\/p>\n
Maybe I won\u2019t need to with this one. Baseball players are smarter. Maybe it comes from knowing how to avoid getting hit by that fucking ball. Hockey players will take a puck to the face and spit out three teeth and smile. Baseball players got some regard for their health. It must be from all that time they sit around and think when not a damn thing is happening.<\/p>\n
I wish this guy had done a little more thinking. He made a few mistakes with the shit he told me. Shit he was supposed to know. Shit he said he knew. He was wrong about the pitcher who wasn\u2019t supposed to make his next start because his elbow was swollen. The guy ended up throwing anyway, and it fucked up the action we put down ahead of time.<\/p>\n
I could let one slide. He\u2019s had a few now. It makes me look bad. I ain\u2019t gonna take the heat. The only way to keep my own ass clean was to tell Carmine about it and then wait for whatever he told me to do.<\/p>\n
So I did. I was hoping he\u2019d be fine with talking to the guy. Carmine wanted a little more than that. Which might make me think twice the next time it\u2019s time to tell something to Carmine.<\/p>\n
When they want me to do more than talk, I\u2019d rather just make the guy gone. Yeah, it could get a little dicey if a ball player on a big league team ends up disappearing. It\u2019s still gonna be an issue once I break his arm. He\u2019ll have to come up with a damn good story about how it happened. But guys fall down the steps all the time, don\u2019t they?<\/p>\n
Besides, baseball season is almost over. I was hoping that\u2019d be enough to get them to let it float. But they didn\u2019t ask what I thought. They never do.<\/p>\n
I had to wait a few days until the team got back from the road. I told him to call me as soon as he got home. He didn\u2019t ask no questions. He knows he\u2019s in trouble. The last thing he\u2019s gonna do is make things worse by not doing what I say.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t tell him I was stopping by. Who knows what he would have done if he thought something was gonna happen? I drove over to his place. He lived alone. I make sure all my guys live alone. The less family they got, the better. I don\u2019t need wives or girlfriends or God forbid kids getting in the way of whatever I need to do. Plus, it\u2019s easier to trust them to keep their mouths shut if they don\u2019t have somebody hanging around who might get wise.<\/p>\n
I parked a couple streets over. I cussed the whole way to his door. I felt the sweat starting in my pits and up my ass. If I wanted a job like that, I\u2019d be moving refrigerators.<\/p>\n
I put my finger over the lens on the camera by the door and pushed the bell. I heard feet coming. They stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the pizza boy.\u201d I said it in a loud voice. I hoped like hell he remembered the signal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t order a pizza,\u201d he said. I could tell by the way it came out that he remembered the signal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you did. C\u2019mon, it\u2019s getting cold.\u201d<\/p>\n
I kept waiting with my finger on the lens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanna give you your pizza. I just said it\u2019s getting cold.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was starting to think he wasn\u2019t gonna let me in. That would make it easier for me to skip this step. I started looking for the best window to bust.<\/p>\n
The door opened just as I figured out how to get inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me you were coming over?\u201d<\/p>\n
He was holding a bat. \u201cWorking on your swing?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at the wood. \u201cI just like to be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the problem. You ain\u2019t been. Now, are you gonna invite me in or is this problem we have about to get a little bigger?\u201d<\/p>\n
He stepped back. I reached out my hand. He was smart enough to know what I needed him to do. He gave me the bat. I took my finger off the camera and went inside.<\/p>\n
I moved slow. I didn\u2019t want him doing nothing dumb. Maybe deep down I did.<\/p>\n
I held up the bat. \u201cI ain\u2019t swung one of these in years.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pushed the door shut behind me. It closed with a slam. He jumped at the sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalm down,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am calm. Are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
The place smelled like nasty food. I made a face. \u201cIt stinks in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just had dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou save some for me?\u201d<\/p>\n
He seemed confused by that. I smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can make something else, if you\u2019re hungry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always hungry, but not for whatever you cooked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can make something else. You want some pasta?\u201d<\/p>\n
He backed away from me as I went deeper into the house. \u201cYou know, us Italians eat more than spaghetti.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t mean it like that,\u201d he said. He was nervous. I glanced around to see if he had any more bats close by. I wasn\u2019t interested in getting in a sword fight with a couple of Louisville Sluggers. I pulled back my jacket with my free hand so he could see the piece in the front of my pants.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry about the other day. I fucked up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou fucked up more than once, Larry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He got a little more nervous. \u201cI thought I had good information.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I thought you was fucking up on purpose, I wouldn\u2019t have rung the bell.\u201d<\/p>\n
He kept walking backward. He bumped into the wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many times do I have to tell you to calm down?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can give back some of the money. I have plenty upstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want your money. You earned it. Well, most of it. You won\u2019t be getting paid for the next two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s fair.\u201d I could tell he was looking for any reason to think I wasn\u2019t gonna do what I was about to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad you think it\u2019s fair. What would you do if you thought it wasn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would you do? Call the cops? Sue me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019d moved into the kitchen. It smelled even worse in there. I wondered what the fuck he\u2019d eaten. I realized this was taking too long.<\/p>\n
\u201cStand still,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, keep standing still.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at the gun. He looked back at me. He didn\u2019t say nothing else. I thought for a second it was the smartest thing he done all month.<\/p>\n
Until he did the dumbest thing he ever done in his life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019ll be released only five weeks from today. It\u2019s been pre-selling like digital hotcakes. For now, here\u2019s a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-11894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}