2020-06-29 - So What the Shit...

Joey is back at the gym. He's called the wayward little 'family' with a flash text to show up at the gym. This isn't a meeting in the front of the house, however, but one for the back of the house where people generally don't go without being in a lot of trouble, or an invitation. stepping down the brick steps to the concrete floor of the boiler room it's easy to pick out the bed in the corner, the desk on the side, and the safe in second drop shower. It's also notable there's a storm drain in the room and it takes no imagination or skill to feel the history of the room .

Joey is sitting on the desk looking tired, and in the same clothes Tor last saw him in mostly. There's some grit and blood in his nail bed but looks otherwise unharmed while he waits for the troops to arrive.

Vic makes her way in, removing her sunglasses and squinting as she steps down into the boiler room. She's had to get her truck's dash fixed up after Cris' hotwiring job, but she's taken it in stride, as part of the job. She's in jeans and a tank top under a chambray button down left unbuttoned. "Good to see you out of the clink, boss," she notes to Joey with a tight smile.

The smell of pizza wafts ahead of Tor, who has manners enough to not come empty handed. There's a smell of...barbecue sauce? as well. He's carrying his Pizza Kitchen-branded insulated bag and is wearing beat-up skater shoes, ripped jeans, a plaid shirt and a black leather vest. AKA his usual 90s reject outfit. As before, he's not really sure why he's been called in - but if there's one thing he's learned growing up around crime it's to come when called. "Thought you might be hungry. In case you're sick of pizza I also brought chicken wings and some fries."

Cris' car is still in the shop, but that doesn't make getting around Gray Harbor impossible. It was a nice enough day for a walk and some chain smoking, and so Cris arrives smelling like an ashtray, dressed in jeans and a white wife beater. He's got two noticeable accessories, one, he keeps his wallet on a chain like a true vato and the other is the man is open carrying, allowable in this state. "Yeah, how was the strip search, Kelly." He says, ambling in on the tail end of the others.

Joey looks up as the troops file in. Quietly he takes inventory, small details which are interrupted with food. A finger goes up, points to Tor and then the desk. "And this is why you are America's fucking Sweetheart. Good job." Looking to Vic he nods. Looking to Cristobal he squints and observes, "Well your'e not dead." Which is Joey for Thank you for not be. He answers deadpan, "Eh, made fifty bucks. Wasn't too bad." He side nods, "He made twenty five. We're improving things. How's my car?" Not the asshole, just the car.

Free pizza? Best business meeting ever. Vic serves herself up a slice and chomps down on it like she's afraid someone will take it away from her if she's too slow. She swallows down a mouthful of deliciousness to answer Joey's question. "Cops should have it in their possession now. It was a set up. One bag of guns in the trunk, along with a stiff. The assholes who took it were waiting, called the police, but we got the weapons out and I scrubbed the vehicle. Body's on the other side."

Tor went with a safe bet of Philly Cheesesteak pizza. It's actually good shit - not greasy takeout. Well. It IS greasy, but it's also got flavour and that wood has that great wood-fired flavour and texture. Just cause it's a front for crime doesn't mean it can't also be a business that takes pride in what it does. He nudges the wings and fries Joey-wards, then upnods at Vic and Cris. "I do have the hair for it," he drawls in response to the 'sweetheart' line.

Cris slings his thumbs into his pockets, hitching his arms there. "In my experience being dead isn't conducive to business." He gives a little side nod to Vic as she fills Joey in. "Saw the asshole that ran me off the road watching us from the second story. Either he, or an accomplish has the healing arts, because someone did a half ass job of fixing the back window." A grin is sneered towards Tor. "Fucking pretty boy." But it's amiable, followed by a noisy kissy face in the younger man's direction.

Joey listens as he digs into winds and fries. Famished is a thing that happens when you are stressed out for 24 consecutive hours. He is still glad he grabbed that big burger ahead of time. He pauses looking to Vic, and Cris both eyebrows up. "Contents?" This is a concern now. Little gets Joey concerned or so damn alert. Well Vic is calm and Cruz isn't looking guilty as shit so he waits.

The explanation unfolds and he stares at them. "Healing arts? What is this fucking Harry Potter hour? Speak plain. Someone tried to patch the window. They got a fucker who fixes windows. So what happened?" Looking to Tor he says "You. Eat and listen." yeah yeah, Tor has the hard job here.

Vic mows through her pizza slice with gusto. "The cops won't find a shred of evidence of any illegal arms or corpses in the car. They don't have your license plate either. I have it stashed in my trailer at the moment. It should run clean by whatever forensics team they get in there. So I suspect it'll get returned to you pretty quickly."

She grimaces and reaches for another slice. "They have the other weapons bag though, I'm guessing they're planning to put them to use. We didn't have time to dig further because that asswipe had the cops on standby."

"Yeah and you know all about fucking prettyboys, don't you?" drawls Tor in response to Cris. And yes, there's a very particular emphasis on those three words. Then he holds his hands up when Joey tells him to listen. He moves back and grabs up a slice of pizza. He's smart enough to not ask questions while a debrief is going on. Any questions he has can wait until after. His family's been trusted in crime circles for awhile now because the Lockharts know when to keep their mouths shut.

"You know it. Pretty boys and pin up girls. I collect 'em like playing cards." The Mexican quips back, smartass replies a natural reflex for him. His eyebrows quick up at Joey's reaction, forgetting for a moment that even though the man shines, he doesn't buy into the sparkly aspects of Gray Harbor. "Yeah, sorry, been reading too much fiction." Cris replies drolly. "But Tor here has a knack for finding and acquiring. If we let him know what's missing, he might be able to help us track it down before the contents are planted some place uncomfortable like."

Joey lifts his chicken wing and waits for the mundane aspects to come out street and simple how his brain can process it. "Soooo we're down one bag , these shitbirds have the other, we going back to body in my trunk in a moment... but you snatched my place and you put holes in my car that they shit-job fixed. You went and some one set up a trap for the car? Well.... that's fucking efficient. Someone take a goddamn note so we can file that under shit that apparently works." There's a pause and now understands, so coherently (means crystal-fucking-clear...he looked it up) why his uncle Jack retired to a beach on the Baja. "No one made you out right?"

"I made sure to take an unconventional route out. Cris took my truck. I dunno if the asswipe in the motel made him or not." Vic looks over that way, arching a brow.

Tor keeps listening. He's taken a few bites of the pizza like instructed, but hey, he works around the stuff all day. The shine's kinda off. "Yeah, I got some fence contacts they might try to move some shit through. Some I don't deal with direct, but through a couple third parties. So whoever these assholes are, they might not know we know about those fence routes." He hitches a shoulder. "Also guys who can tell me if they see any weird shit out on the streets."

"The dick already has my number and looked to be eyeing Vic real good by your car. But far as far as civilians, I didn't get a beat on any lookie loos, otherwise I woulda just convince them my dumb ass girlfriend left keys locked in the car." Cris is helpful like that.

Nicole finally got the call that Joey had been let out. "Come by the gym when you can," he said. Walking in and not seeing Joey in the front, she heads to the back. The door is closed though, so she knows to knock. She taps out her usual, the one he knows, and adds, "Hey. It's Nicole. I brought burgers from Five Guys." Seems everyone knows to bring Joey food when there's stress.

Joey listens and isn't alien to these things it's just like processioning metaphysics through solid clay. "So we got someone takes my car, tries to get it clocked on a federal crime scene . Takes some of our guns to either...use on us or sell to our buyers." Holding up a finger he notes, "Neither of these options I'm particularly thrilled about. They got a guy that can flash fix a window and a shit job at it, and waits for you to show up to have cops conveniently on hand... Yeah, someone's trying to start some shit and we'll come back to the hobo camping out in my car in a minute."

So much to process. "Okay we're going to do an all hands meeting. I'm gonna have Dahlia and you," he looks to Tor, "Get the word out to our people. And I don't mean all of Greg's brain fried little cronies and every asshole that owes us some scratch. I want our soldiers, our specialists in the know. They can deliver down what needs knowing. Until then you see anything suspicious or fucked up you call me about this. I don't care if I'm in the middle of fucking my goddamned girlfriend you interrupt me..." He pauses and adds the mumbled concession, "I mean she might shoot you, so... maybe text or something. But tell me." Speaking of which.

Lifting a hand he makes a come here gesture and the door to the main gym unlocks and swings in. And there is Nicole. Conveniently the door closes behind her; Joey's attention on his crew. "Also De la Vega is reported missing. I'm a light these cockbags up if they put a bullet in him too. So, they can fix a window, we dunno what else. Vic," Looking to her he says with concern, "Careful on them back roads."

Vic frowns at the news De la Vega is missing. Is the Interim Chief missing, or the dirty cop, or fuck, is Sinaloa working through these new guys? "Right, I'll get some feelers out, see what I can dig up on this group trying to move in. I have people back in Portland who might have some info. Gotta get the truck into Steelhead. Need anything else boss?"

She nods hello to her neighbor, Nicole and, if Joey needs nothing further, she heads out.

Suspicious and/or fucked up happens in Gray Harbor on a daily basis. But Tor is smart enough to know that Joey doesn't mean he wants to hear about the ghost haunting the trailer next to him or that one house down the end of that one street that is supposed to be abandoned but the lights keep going on. "This town is too damned small for someone else to be trying to set up an operation and do it quietly. But uh..." he scratches his temple, "...we probably should be on the lookout for some people getting flipped? I mean, being the only game in town has kept a lotta folks loyal, but if someone rolled in with a better offer..."

Cris' response to de la Vega missing is to merely fold his arms over his chest and make a sucking sound against his teeth. Clearly he needs to chew that news over in his head for a bit. He gives a polite nod to Nicole, greeting her with a quiet, "Ma'am." To Joey, "I'll start reaching out."

Nicole missed the part about interrupting pancake time. She walks in when the door opens, looking to thank whoever did so for her, but no one is near. Seeing the meeting, and hearing a few tidbits, she says, "Oh should I come back later?" She smiles at Cristobal and offers him a "hi Cris, but for god's sake, please don't call me Ma'am. That what I call the old bitties at the salon." She nods to Vic on her way out and turns to call out, "one day, I am bringing you nachos and beer." Looking back at Joey, she frowns. "Wait. De la Vega is missing?" Tor gets a bit of a distracted nod in greeting. She doesn't really know him, though he looks somewhat familiar to her. Holding the bag with the burger and fries out to Joey, she says, "I thought you might be hungry," but eyeing the wings and pizza she grins. "Seems hunger has already been covered. But seriously, if you need me to chill out front a bit, I can." She knows his 'business' to a degree, but doesn't try to get all up in it when she shouldn't.

Joey greets he, pizzas there, chicken wings, and fries, and yet, "Thank you for bringing me a burger, baby." There's a sort of relief in his shoulders offering a clean hand out to her. "Yeah. De la Vega is missing and I didn't shoot anyone. Whole world is confused." Looking from Tor to Cris the once-enforcer points, "Tor's got it in one. Cris, I know you got your ear on both sides of this thing. I spoke with someone. There's reason to believe they're testing our reaction times. They might be poking at you again if they had eyes on you. Rather keep you in one piece. Can you give us an idea of what this guy you tagged looks like?"

"Hell, maybe they grabbed Captain Swagger to try and flip him," says Tor. "That'd be a hell of a get." He won't comment on the likelihood of that happening. "I'll check in on the unhappy ones with niche skills or access to shit and sniff around a bit to see if they're acting squirrely." The thing about being a delivery boy and a fence is he has an excuse to go up to just about everyone in town without arousing suspicion. And before now, he's not been let in on higher up things, so they wouldn't have reason to think he's on some larger mission. He returns the upnod to Nicole and mops hair back from his face. "The pizza boy never comes empty handed," he drawls.

"One of the downfalls of dating Joey, and Joey being what Joey is." Now the boss, "You're going to have to deal with a whole lot of uncomfortable politeness now. Ma'am." But Cris' pale blue eyes are sparkling with mirth, so it's likely he's teasing Nicole just as much as not about that. "And I'd bet my left nut Ruiz would go straight before he up and just switched sides. And given his proclivities, I'd say we have him pretty dead set loyal. No, if they have him, they're shaking him down for info. And again. Good luck with that." The man scratches the side of his nose. "We're looking for a younger guy. Maybe mid twenties. White. On the lean side. Possibly wounded from where I winged him."

Since she wasn't asked to leave, Nicole leans her rear on the edge of the desk. She smiles at Joey and says, "no problem. So... what can I do to help find Ruiz?" She plucks up a fry from the box with chicken wings and nibbles on it slowly as she mostly listens. "And the postman never rings twice. Good code phrases." She smiles then looks to Cris. She doesn't argue with him, but definitely wrinkles her nose in his direction.

Joey doesn't ask her to leave, he does hand her some of his fries. Curious he asks Cristobal, "Not on her own merit man? I mean she lets me hang out with her, Cruz." What can they do. Taking a breath he considers taht. "Cruz, Tor, you're both on your own doors. Nicole you know... like everyone. If we hear anything we relay it back. Might have some people who don't look regular poking about. We know one of their guys was shot. Couple had bad face scratches. Also our source doesn't know if they are related. We got a couple missing persons right now. In the last couple days Isabella and de la Vega went MIA. Easton before then so... just... know we are being watched more than usual. I'm a try to be a boyscout before they shake me down for Cap's disappearance too. Which also means be careful and don't do anything dumb."

That's the annoying thing about being in Gray Harbor and also being a criminal. Mysterious disappearances could be regular ones or really mysterious. And sometimes it can be really hard to tell which is which. "There's three categories of thugs in this town. The ones I absolutely trust," because they're in too deep, are loyal personality types, or their last name is Lockhart, "...the ones I think I can trust but might sell us out for the right price. And then there's the ones I don't know well enough to make a call one way or another. But that category's pretty small cause I try to make a point of moving 'em all into the second category. If anyone's acting fishy I should be able to spot it." He also nods to Cris when he gives that description. "Cruz should troll social meda, see if the jackass we're looking for is a local."

Continuing to nibble fries as she listens, Nicole has little to contribute. Until Tor suggests that Cris go to Social Media. She kind of smirks at the notion and says, "I can help you make a Match profile."

"Match? Who the fuck uses Match, man? Not for the demo of the guy we're looking for." Tor sounds like he uh...actually knows shit about dating apps? "I'll go get started getting the word out," he says as he scoops up the empty insulated bag.

"That was part of the joke, man," Nicole says to Tor before he takes off. "But for real, I will help."