Three years earlier, a man named GM who belonged to The Organization was fulfilling one of his daily missions. He sat in his car and finished the last few puffs of a cigarette. “I really hate jobs like this,” he said out loud to himself, rolling his eyes. He exhaled smoke and it floated past the stubble on his cheeks and up around his dark sunglasses and nicely parted blond hair. It was just past noon and the sun was out in full swing. The sound of chirping cicadas and speeding cars along the road behind him was the melody of the summer. He put the cigarette out in the overflowing ashtray, then a sigh, stood up out of the car, straightened his tie, and patted down his long tan overcoat. “Well, let’s get this over with,” he said, preparing for his knowingly unpleasant mission of the day.
GM walked up to an apartment door and knocked twice. “Jimmy, you in there?”
Jimmy came to the door and cracked it open. He took a moment to squint and then realized who it was. “Oh, GM come in,” he said as he closed the door briefly to undo a chain lock and then opened the door fully.
“Sorry the place is a mess. I wasn't expecting a visitor. Can I get you a cup of coffee or anything?”
“No thanks, I'm good,” said GM, stepping into the living room. It was a pigsty. Dirty dishes, garbage, and cigarettes overflowed off the coffee table onto the stained carpeted floor. A pile of laundry heaped on top of the couch. There was a layer of dust on the window seals and the tv stand that put your great grandma’s place to shame. Typical for a man who’d spent the last few weeks high out of his mind.
“Ok yeah, so what’s up?” asked Jimmy as he pulled a blanket around himself and shivered slightly.
“Jimmy, you know why I’m here dontcha?” asked GM, pulling his shades off and stuffing them into his coat pocket.
“H… How would I know?” Jimmy stuttered.
“Come on, Jimmy. Don't play dumb with me,” said GM as he loudly kicked the door closed behind him.
“You know I really hate doing things like this. I’ve got ladies to see and drinks to drink, but if you need me to spell it out for you I will.” GM walked over Jimmy’s dining room table and pulled out a chair. He sat down and lit up a cigarette. “Come, sit.”
Jimmy came and sat in a chair across the table from him. “Here, have a smoke,” said GM as he held out his pack of cigarettes. Jimmy took one and stuffed it between his lips. GM held out his lighter and lit it for him. Jimmy inhaled the smoke deeply and exhaled up into the air.
“Ok GM I know I owe you guys a lot of money.”
“Great, so we’re on the same page after all.”
“I don’t have all of it.”
“Oh that’s no good, Jimmy. You see, that's the same thing you told me when I was here two weeks ago.”
“I know I was supposed to get the money, but things came up, you know.”
“We gave you enough drugs to pay for a brand new sports car. You’re part of the deal was to sell them and give us half the money. Only half! Even though The Organization supplied the product. All you had to do was be a salesman, but you couldn’t keep it together once you saw all those pills in front of you, huh? Not just that either right? You’ve been going down to the hotel for a good time too right?”
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“I couldn’t help myself, GM. I got ripped off and…”
“It’s too late for excuses. Excuses were two weeks ago. Today we’re talking payment so choose one. Right or left?”
“What? I don’t get it. What do you mean?”
“Right or left?” GM sternly repeated.
Jimmy hesitated with concerned eyes. He audibly gulped. “I guess… left.”
“Perfect. That wasn’t too hard was it,” said GM as he stood up.”
Jimmy saw a flash of movement and then felt a sharp pain on his neck. His world went dark as his eyes closed and his body went limp.
Jimmy slowly drifted back to consciousness. He felt a hard surface under his back and a throbbing pain in his neck. He attempted to look around, but his head was stuck in place. “Where am I?”
“I guess it is a pretty weird view huh? It’s not everyday I find myself staring at the ceiling above my own kitchen table either,” said GM.
Jimmy attempted to get up but found that he was tightly restrained with what seemed to be an ample amount of duct tape. He struggled for a moment, but couldn’t move at all. He heard GM rip off another piece of duct tape and felt a pressure as it was placed on his leg. “That should about do it,” GM said as he tossed the roll of duct tape over his shoulder. “Oh yeah, you said left earlier.” Jimmy was too disoriented and confused to speak. GM went to the kitchen and rummaged through several drawers until he found a permanent marker. He bit the cap off between his teeth and spit it onto the floor as he walked back over to Jimmy and pulled up his shirt revealing his stomach. “I’m not much of an artist, but this ought to work.” He drew a smiley face on the left side of his stomach. “Sorry it had to be this way. Not like I enjoy doing jobs like these. Don’t worry our nurse team is good so you should live through the operation. They’ll make sure to bring plenty of ice for the bathtub too.”
Jimmy started to figure out what was going on. “No… GM you can't be serious.”
”I’m afraid I am.”
”No! You can't take my kidney! No no no!”
GM grabbed a sock off the ground and forced it into Jimmy’s mouth, then placed a strip of duct tape over it sealing his mouth closed.
“Relax, you’ve got two of them for a reason. You only need one of them to live. Like I said, I don’t enjoy this, but you’ll be fine. Let this be a lesson or something. Remember the last time I had to come and rough you up at the motel because you wouldn’t pay the girls. You’d think after something like that, you would have reconsidered your lifestyle.”
GM pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Yeah, Gil, Jimmy is all ready to go. Send someone over, he’s not going anywhere. I’ll leave the door unlocked.”
“Excellent work as always, GM,” said Gil from the other side of the phone. GM opened the door and walked out to his car leaving Jimmy’s muffled screams behind him. “Knowing you, you probably wont like this, but I’ve got another job for you to take care of.”
“What, another job? Already?” GM complained.
“Unfortunately, yes. And this one’s not going to be quite as easy as taking care of Jimmy. There’s a lot of people I could have sent to Jimmy’s, but you’re the only person I trust to complete this next mission. You remember our old acquaintance, William, correct?”
”Yes, of course.”
“And you remember his son?”
”Vaguely, but yes.”
“I’d like you to recruit him into The Organization. It seems he’s been struggling ever since that time. I’ve heard he’s hell bent on getting revenge. Can’t say I blame him. Let’s make sure that if he’s going to do something stupid, we can at least make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.”
“Sounds like a hassle, but alright. I’m on it.”