THE COOK OF YOUR LIFETIME.

I drove the car to the airport. Mr. White should be waiting for me at the main entrance. I drove within the speed limit. I thought about taking the RV to the airport but had my second thoughts about bringing a drug lab to the airport. Sure, Jesse got away with it in the show but I didn’t want to chance it.

I eased the car near the entrance, I saw him standing there with two bags. Guess, he didn’t see me, so I rolled down the glasses and called out to him, “Yo, Mr. White hop in.”

Mr. White was a little surprised but he carried his bags clumsily and made his way towards my car.

I got out and helped him store the luggage. It was quite heavy, guess he really leaned into it and packed for four days.

“Alright, let’s get back to the RV.” I said as I entered the car.

“You got everything I asked you to get? All six? With reflux condensers?”

“Yup I got everything. It’s in the new RV.”

“Okay just go!...wait what new RV?”

I started the engine, I knew that he was going to be on my ass for not consulting with him but guess what? I spent that money from my own pocket.

“Yeah, we’re gonna be staying in a freaking desert for four days. What do you think is going to happen if that busted ass RV stops working? We would be so fucked.”

He scratched his chin and said, “Okay but the cost for that isn’t coming out from my end. I already gave you that $7,000 for that ‘Busted Ass RV’ if you remember?”

Man was he always this irritating?

“Yeah I got it covered. We’re gonna make, mad bank after this one Yo. So, stop stressing so much and relax.”

He grumbled something about not getting a choice in the RV or something but I decided to ignore him for the rest of the ride.

It took us thirty minutes to get to Clovis’s lot.

“Jesse, where in the hell are we going?” He asked irritatedly.

“You don’t think I park a meth lab around my house? Please don’t tell me you think I’m that stupid?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

This douchebag!

“Okay you’re gonna get off here, since you’re so concerned about your privacy.”

I pointed to the side of the road.

“You mean to….don’t tell me that he knows what’s in the RV! Jesse-”

“Mr. White get down, I’ll bring the RV out.” I didn’t leave it up for discussion.

He begrudgingly get’s out after I said that. The more and more I interact the more surer I become of my overall plan.

I open the gate and park my Toyota and get out.

“You taking out the RV?”

“Yeah here’s a 100 for parking costs! I’ll be gone for four days.”

“Shit, I don’t think anyone is stealing that junk to be honest but if you’re handing out money I’m gonna take it.”

“Junk it may be but it’s my junk.” I tap his shoulder.

Damn he’s built like an Ox.

I get in the RV and the first thing is to turn on the AC. I was sweating my balls through the whole drive here.

Once I’m done checking that everything is there, I exit the gate. Mr. White was holding his bags and had his hat on.

I honked once and he rushed over to the entrance.

“Jesse this is….I mean like really…..huge.”

“That’s what he she said!”

“What?”

“Nothing, keep your bags in the back. There’s some beer in the fridge, help yourself.”

We were stocked for a whole month. If things really went bad we had two bicycles and didn’t need to walk through a desert. 100 litres of drinking water and stocked with vegetables, rice and some instant noodles. All kinds of chips and snacks. Even bought two futons but we didn’t need that since the RV had a custom bed built in. Two generators, one for work and another spare. I brought all the essentials like first aid and extra tires and everything we needed.

I was ready for an apocalypse.

“Jesus jesse how big is this…are you sure you can afford this?”

“Don’t worry about it. Look if we finish that entire barrel we’ll have enough money for an entire lifetime and I really don’t want to mess that up.”

“Uh-hu, so what are you waiting for?” He said with a small smile.

The ride was long, I mean it was really deeper into the desert area than we usually did. We needed some privacy, real privacy with no interruptions.

It was early morning when we left and it took us mid afternoon for us to reach a spot where we felt comfortable.

“Wow…you really went all in with the food, didn’t you?”

“Yup, there's enough to feed us for a month, two if we’re deliberate.”

“Deliberate? Wow, look at you using big words.” He said with a slight laugh which morphed into a cough.

Man I really forgot that this guy was my chemistry teacher, I mean Jesse’s chemistry teacher.

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_________________________________________________________________________

The next four days were the most intense days I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was waking up, cooking, going to sleep and waking up to do the same thing again. Me and Mr. White eventually took shifts looking after the finished batch. By the end of the third day we finished the entire barrel of methylamine and had about 60 pounds of finished product.

The current market price for a pound was $42,000 so the total amount for our four days excruciating work was-

“1,15,000 Each.” Mr. White grinned ,showing all of his teeth.

I gave him a high five and we opened a cold one to celebrate our new found millionaire status. He couldn’t finish the beer as he was too busy coughing. It wouldn’t be much time before he succumbed to his cancer. God I hoped that was the case. Him dying would be the best thing for him and his family, the longer he was alive. The more likelier it is that he fucks up and gets us all killed.

He was accurately described as a ticking bomb by Mike. I knew that he would go into remission soon and ironically that extended lease on life will be his undoing.

His ego and pride would swell to gigantic proportions, he would end up becoming greedy and vengeful. I can’t save him and I most definitely don’t plan on sticking around until he explodes.

With this large batch done, my life as a meth cook was done along with it.

We were sitting outside watching the sunset gently when,

“So what are you going to do Jesse? After this, what then?” he asked, he was in a really good mood.

“You know the usual.” I replied back casually, like I said before I didn’t plan to remain acquaintances with Mr. White after I get my money. I didn’t want a father figure anymore.

“Just don’t smoke it all up, okay…..maybe go to college. You know, maybe get a business degree or something, I don’t know.”

“Yeah…who knows…One thing I do know is that I’m done cooking.”

“Really? Okay….”

“Yeah, after we sell this one off, I am done.” I still couldn’t believe that I was going to end up a millionaire.

“Oh…yeah, yeah. I mean you’re a millionaire now!”

“Exactly. I mean so are you, am I right or not Mr. White?” I extended my fist waiting for him to bump it. He had the most boomer reaction to that and awkwardly returned the fistbump.

“Hmmm..”

I ignored his noises and focused on thinking about my future plans.

The first thing I would do is open a restaurant, that’s the most efficient way to launder money. I also worked for a restaurant in my previous life. I knew how the entire thing worked. The problem was the initial capital for the restaurant, that had to be done with clean money or I'll just get caught eventually. Maybe a personal loan from my parents would do but unfortunately they don’t trust me that much.

“Hmmmmmm..” Mr. White hmm’d from the side again.

I was at my wit’s end here, anyway I looked at it. I had to wait for a year’s paycheck from a job to buy an establishment. Then it hit me……

A hot dog stand!

Yeah I can start with one, launder at least $ 5,000 before it gets suspicious and use that money to rent out a place and start laundering huge amounts of money.

Damn why didn’t I think of that…guess i’m really rusty with my Accounting. The old me wouldn’t have issues figuring these basics out.

“Hmmmmmm..” Mr. White hmm’d for the third time.

Of course, it went without saying that I plan to get a college degree as soon as I could. With my knowledge of being a full-fledged accountant in my previous life, it should be cake. I don’t want to give myself too much credit but I was one of the best private accountants in all of the UK. Well…maybe I wasn’t that good but you get the point.

With enough money I could start my own Accounting firm and not to mention investing in stock and bitcoin. I also could start learning code, it was still 2008. I could just kick start Uber and invent a dozen apps from the future. The world was truly my oyster. Now that I had serious money I could really do whatever the hell I wante-

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..”

“Christ, You okay? Jesus Mr. White you’ve been hmmmming for the last ten minutes!” I snapped. He had this look in his face, like he was debating something in his head, maybe he wanted to share something on his mind.

It looked like he wanted to say it but then he chose not to.

“Ahh forget about it.” He waved me away.

Just as I was about to get up from my chair he said,

“Jesse you’re not serious about quitting are you?”

I stared at him silently for a few seconds before turning away to get back to the RV.

_____________________________________________________________________

It was Tuesday, the sun had barely risen. This was the day, Mr. White had to go back home. As much as I’d like to say that this was an enjoyable four days, it wasn’t. The hot blistering desert wasn’t very kind to my caucasian skin. The sunscreen and the AC helped but the heat along with the sweat made it for a miserable experience. Thankfully we had a showerhead to clean ourselves before we went back. We were stopping by a nearby Denny’s before I dropped him off at the airport.

We had packed everything up before yesterday and dehumidified the RV for any odours.

“So…what’s the plan? With the product that is…” Mr. White asked me as I sat in the driver’s seat. Guess he was worried about the huge amounts of meth I had in my possession. Maybe he was worried that I would smoke it all by myself.

I closed my eyes and prayed as I turned the key to start the engine.

When the RV turned on, I felt a huge sigh of relief.

Thank God

I turned to my highschool chemistry teacher and answered, “After I drop you…I’m gonna head back home, store the product, park the RV back to the parking lot. Don’t worry Mr. White, I’m not screwing around with this kind of money on the line.”

We started our journey out of the desert trail.

“How long do you think it would take you and your….gang to get that money?”

“By ourselves, probably six months and that’s if none of my guys get heat.”

He sighed deeply, he had his hand over his head. He looked like he was going to start another coughing fit.

“But don’t worry, I know how you want your money fast and I think I found a way to make our lives wayyyy easier.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I might know someone who can, you know…wholesale the entire 60 pounds.”

“What? Who…why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“It’s complicated.” I kept my sight completely on the road.

“Well, uncomplicate it Jesse!” He yelled.

“Look if you want me to sell it the slow way using my guys then just say that but if you want me to get your money quickly then there’s an easier way!”

“And that is? I think we’re both in agreement that we don’t want to jump in bed with another Tuco.” He said condescendingly.

“Shit…man fuck that.”

“See…so who is this mysterious person that can just pay us 2 million dollars out of nowhere.”

“Mr. White, trust me when I say this, no one wants to get out of the game more than me. I know that you don’t want wait for six fucking months to get your money do you?”

“No of course not-”

“I know a guy who could maybe get us a meeting with one of the largest meth distributors on this side of the border. The problem is it’s not a sure thing, the big dogs that run the game….we’re really punching above our weight class with this one.”

“And who’s this guy you know?”

I kept driving quietly, focusing on the road making sure to keep it under the limit.

“Jesse! Who is this guy-”

“Jesus shut the fuck!” I shouted back, it was really hard driving this huge monstrosity, it was far more irritating when you have a 50 year old man yelling at you.

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes when the highway opened up, I began speaking again,

“Mr. White, let’s make one thing very fucking clear. My guys are good but eventually one of them is going to get caught or worse dead.”

My thoughts went to Combo.

“Eventually in these six months, the police or DEA is going to catch them! They have to, since our crystal is pure as fuck. Soon enough they’re gonna want to know who’s the guy cornering the market with blue meth. Eventually, they will get lucky and when they do….” I looked at him for effect.

I could see that he realised what I was trying to say to him.

“So you’re saying we should take a chance.”

“Like I said, if we impress the main guy he should distribute our crystal since it’s so pure.”

“Oh it’ll impress them all right! That’s my product, it’s not made by some junkie high on speed.”

He stared at me for a few seconds and said, “Sorry I didn’t mean to offend-”

“I’ve been off it for a week…douche!”

“So, this ‘guy’ you know is he, trustworthy.”

It was my turn to give him the blank stare. “Right…okay, got it!”

It was a risky play but I knew that sooner or later badger was gonna get arrested and after that combo was gonna get murked. The original Jesse Pinkman was beyond naive with his whole project taking over albuquerque. He was way way in over his head!

There was only one person that I could reliably distribute the product without getting me caught and giving me a fair cut from the profits.

That’s right ,I was going to make a deal with the deal the devil or more specifically, with the chicken man.