"Says here you"re at a B rank," Leo inquired."No idea what that means, but sure." Laz was being a bit cold for a reason. No matter what kind of people these actually were, he knew that being friendly and cheerful was not a way to make friends in this business. So he took on the att.i.tude of a rather stony individual.
"It means that you have been vouched for by the person on the card and it means that you have killed for them. That"s not something that comes around here," Leo answered, trying to probe Laz a bit.
"Ah yes, that," was all Laz said. He remembered he had been with Tony when they took out Joey and saved that girl. He was technically the one who killed him, despite the ma.s.sive number of bullets Tony pumped into him. Apparently that had earned him this B ranking Leo was talking about.
"So... what are you looking for here?" Leo finally asked after seeing Laz"s indifference. The card was a guarantee that the can only be given by a member of the family in a high position. Even Leo didn"t have that ability. When it came to members of the Hearn family, despite being a named member of the family, he wasn"t anything special. The only reason he was even a named member was because of his father. If Leo didn"t do enough to contribute to the family, then if he ever had any kids, they could only take on the last name of their mother. If, however, Leo made great achievements, then not only would his kids be able to carry on the name, but he would also be able to move up in the organization. That was why he decided to try opening this nightclub. For him, it was the first step on his way to power within the family.
"I need some work. Money is a bit tight and I need some cash to live on." Laz looked over at Leo and just laid it out clearly. He needed work and wanted to be paid for it. Although he didn"t know what kinds of things he would be doing, he knew that it paid better than a 9 to 5 somewhere else. In addition, based on the type of people who he had seen so far, he didn"t think he was going to be used as a contract hitman or anything. Other than that, Laz"s felt his moral bar was pretty low when he was broke. He might be a bit ashamed to admit it, but he wasn"t the type of person who wanted to fight for justice and die hungry. He felt that as long as his bottom line wasn"t crossed, anything else was up for argument. That"s just the way it was when you needed to look for your next meal.
"Really? You? Looking for work out here?" Leo was a bit shocked by Laz"s objective.
"That a problem?" Laz asked, sensing Leo"s amazement and confusion.
"No, no, no. But..."
"But?"
"Why here? I mean, based on your rating, you could get a pretty high paying job within one of the main companies. But here? In this s.h.i.t hole? Brother... I can"t pay you what you"re worth." Leo laid it out for him as best he could. He really needed a guy like Laz right now, but he couldn"t afford him.
"How much could you afford? And what would be the work?" Laz figured he might as well ask since he had no idea what he was worth.
"Uh," Leo edged in closer, as though he wanted to avoid speaking too loud. Laz could only a.s.sume he didn"t want the others to hear him.
"Honestly, I need a body guard of sorts. I can afford about 1.5 K a week." With that, Leo sat back and gave Laz a moment to think about it, although his face seemed a bit red. As far as he knew, thanks to his dad, B ranked body guards usually got in the area of around 4 K a week. He felt a bit embarra.s.sed to only be able to offer him so little.
In contrast to Leo, Laz was stunned.
"Since when did 1.5 k equal a little. Wait a second. How much does that mean I am suppose to be worth. Did Tony actually set this up?" Laz had several questions he wanted to ask, but no one to ask them to. He didn"t want Leo thinking he was an amateur, even though that"s exactly what he was.
Laz faked thinking it over, but he was already going to agree. That kind of money was just what he needed right about now. Seeing him hesitate, Leo tried to sweeten the deal.
"Actually, there is a chance of bonuses too," he said, this time loud enough for everyone to hear. It was obvious that this was something that everyone was in on, so it wasn"t a secret.
"Bonuses?" Laz asked, his interest peaked.
"You can drink for free. Ah... you"ll get VIP treatment since you"ll be in my entourage. And when we land deals, everyone gets a small cut. There are a few other small things, but we can talk about that later." If anything, Laz felt like Leo was actually just making stuff up to make it seem more impressive. Although his goons seemed to liven up when he talked about bonus, after he listed them off, they all sort of deflated. It seemed like there was something that wasn"t being said.
Despite that, Laz decided that it sounded like ok work. Things might get dirty, but he wasn"t getting a evil vibe from Leo. If anything, Leo seemed a little too nice for this kind of work. When compared to the vibe he got from Tony, it was like comparing a kitten to a lion.
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"Yeah. Alright. I will be around for the next few months, maybe a year or two. That good?" Laz asked, making sure to not make his plans known. Laz was waiting on some information that was taking a while to come back. Before he got it though, he wasn"t going anywhere.
"Yes. Yeah. Perfect." Leo"s eyes seemed to light up as though having a big weight lifted off his shoulders. For some reason, Laz couldn"t help but feel that the hidden story was getting bigger and bigger. But then again, that was just the kind of work this was.
"Ahem." The middle aged bartender cleared his throat, apparently trying to get Leo"s attention.
"What?" Leo turned to look at the bartender who just stared straight back, while indicating the three goons with his eyes. Leo quickly looked over at them and saw they each had a sour look on their faces while looking at Laz. Turning back to Laz, Leo seemed to have a helpless expression on his face.
"Alright, Lazzo..."
"Laz," Laz interrupted.
"Laz. My crew is small. Just me, old max here who used to work for my dad and these guys; Arnold, Anthony and Andrew.
"Da f.u.c.k? Did he pick these guys up at a three for one sale from a discount thugs store?" Laz couldn"t help but think to himself. Based on what he could sense, they weren"t exactly weak for normal humans... but they weren"t strong either. The problem with Laz"s a.s.sessment was that it was based on the type of hired help he had seen from people like Tommy and Jesse. The fact is that they were in a much higher league than Leo could even begin to imagine. Since he was bottle rung, so was his help. If anything, Laz felt like old Max was the most dangerous one in the room.
"Anyway," Leo continued on, "Max insists that I do things like my father does, which is also the family way. So, even though you have that ranking, it doesn"t mean your going to be stronger than the guys here. So, you know, you"re going to have to prove yourself," Leo said, but with a bit of regret. If anything, he was just glad to have help his own age. He didn"t know how Laz got the ranking he did, but he could only prove himself bare handed. Basically, the strongest would rule. That"s how the family was as successful as it was. In larger businesses of the family, they would decide by merit. But since he was running a small business, it was going to be strength of arm that would win. This meant that Laz would have to fight for the position that he was being offered. If he couldn"t win, he wouldn"t have the qualifications. This was also a way to prevent the family from using too many favors to get their own people into positions. It had been this way since the beginning.
"So, what? I"ve got to kick their a.s.ses?"
"Boy! You"d best hope your a.s.s doesn"t get beaten today." One of the thug trio, Arnold, the shaved head individual, stood up and walked over. Since Laz was still sitting down, Arnold towered over him. Interestingly enough, neither of the other two said anything. Laz couldn"t be sure if Arnold was the current head or if he was told to probe Laz. Either way, Laz wasn"t really worried. He just turned his head and smile at the muscular, bald man who was looking down on him. To Arnold, it looked like he was mocking him.
"I"m just going to call you A1 from now on. No way in h.e.l.l will I remember who is who," Laz said, now openingly mocking the big man.
At this moment, even Leo was wearing an expression of disbelief. He had thought that Laz might be able to pull off a win if he was careful and took his time. He never thought that Laz would just go and p.i.s.s Arnold off.
Arnold, beyond angry, didn"t say anything else. He just brought his arms up, balled his fist and went to punch Laz right in the head. Before Leo could say anything else, the punch was already flying at Laz head. The only person who say through it was Max, who nodded his head slightly. Although Arnold wasn"t the strongest of the three, he was the best at fighting. Because of this, he was currently the one in charge of security for Leo. The punch he threw was simple and clean, aiming to take Laz down in the least amount of time possible Max felt this was the right way to handle the situation. As he couldn"t even see Laz react, he a.s.sumed that the kid would be knocked out and there would be no issues.
Then end result left everyone with a mouth wide open.
Laz just casually raised his hand and caught the fist flying at him, not even moving. In fact, he still had his other hand on his drink on the counter while he was looking at Leo. As he held tight on the the fist, he didn"t say anything and took a drink.
At first, Arnold tried to pull his hand back, but found that Laz"s grip was like steel. He couldn"t move it in the slightest. He then lashed out with his other hand, hoping to catch Laz unaware since he was busy holding his drink with it. Laz didn"t bother putting his drink down and just used his first finger to latch on to Arnold"s thumb, rendering both of Arnold"s hands caught. As Arnold struggled to free himself, Laz just leaned his head forward and bent his hand upwards, causing Arnold"s thumb to be dislocated as he took another sip. He then put his hand back down and looked at Arnold with a carefree smile on his face.
Although Arnold was tough and didn"t make a sound, having a finger dislocated was not a pleasant experience, causing Arnold to start sweating. It was only now that he realized exactly how tough this kid was. He could cause Arnold to dislocate s finger by simply taking a drink. That wasn"t a level of strength anyone in the room could compare with.
"So, A1, A2 and A3, any other complaints?" Laz asked, without letting Arnold go.
"Nope."
"None."
"It"s all good."
The reply back was instantaneous. Neither of the three thugs had any chance of challenging Laz, so it was better to end the conflict before it began. Besides, it was always a good thing to have strong guys on your side. That was way even after Laz released Arnold, Arnold didn"t say anything. He just walked over to Max who reached forward, grabbed Arnold"s hand and calmly set his thumb back into place. Arnold then went to go sit down.
As Laz was turning back to face Leo though, a small needle flash towards him, appearing as if by magic. Laz didn"t even raise an eyebrow and swept his hand past, catching that needle, plus the hidden one behind it. It seems Max wanted to test him on his own. Neither needle was covered with anything like poison. They were just two straightforward attacks that would poke into Laz"s fore head without causing any damage. The key here was that Max wondered just how good Laz was. The result left the old man startled as Laz effortlessly caught the needles and sent them back, lodging them into the wooden bar in front of Max. Upon seeing the needles sitting there a mere half an inch from his hand, Max knew that Laz could have attacked him directly and injured him if he had wanted to. Instead, he just returned the needles without fanfare. Even Leo had missed this interaction between Max and Laz. Seeing as how his three goons had backed off, Leo knew that things with Laz were settled for today and got up to walk him out.
"Just remember, Friday and Sat.u.r.day are the big nights, so you will be expected to be here at four. Sometimes we do some 18+ things during the week, like live bands and karaoke so I will let you know when we do those so you can be here too, although those are pretty low key compared to the other nights. Let me get your number."
With that, Laz went outside and left on his bike, leaving Leo looking after him as he drove away. When he could no longer see Laz, Leo headed back into the bar to find the three thugs had left to go somewhere while Max stood alone at the bar, seemingly lost in thought.
"So, he"s good?" Leo asked.
"Better than good. Better than me at least," Max replied honestly.
"I just wonder what he"s doing out here, in the middle of nowhere and willing to work for such a low amount," Leo pondered out loud.
"I would normally say it doesn"t matter, his business is his business. But this time I think I will contact a few people and see what I can dig up."
"It will be hard to get things about someone who was recommended by Tony, you know that," Leo scolded on the outside while somewhat excited on the inside. He could tell that Laz was special and wanted to know exactly what it was.
"Especially since he will be working for me from now on."
"Hard, but not impossible. He could end up being a valuable a.s.set or a total disaster," Max replied in a rather grumpy way, knowing that he could spend his time and dig up nothing.
"Alright. Do it."
"Excellent. And until we find something out, just be a good as possible to him. Got it?"