The mere fact that the Boss had singled Obi out to come along with him to see the deal through meant either one of two things: firstly, there was the possibility that Obi might not be as loyal as he seemed to appear, and thus the Boss desired to keep him within view, or the Boss envisaged there would be trouble and did not want any of his more trusted associates to be close by if things went south.
Of course, there could have been the possibility that the Boss trusted Obi enough to allow him to serve as a bodyguard of sorts, when the deal was carried out. But Obi was too paranoid to believe such a thing. As far as he knew, the mere fact that the Boss had singled him out meant the man did not trust him. He wasn’t bothered, though. No love lost.
As the Boss and Obi approached the seven thugs, the most expensively-dressed among them stepped forward and said, “we’ve been waiting for you.” He didn’t address the Boss by any name, because to address him by his nickname would sound like he acknowledged that the Boss was his boss as well. And as far as things stood, very few people knew the Boss’s real name.
Obi suddenly realized that the Boss’s choice of nickname was much smarter than he had assumed it to be. To refer to him by name, you had to call him “Boss”. And that sounded like you were his underling. “This guy is actually much smarter than he lets on,” the undercover cop thought, taking a mental note to keep the Boss in his sights at all times, even as he was sure the Boss was watching him.
“You didn’t bring your boys?” the other thug leader was asking, as he looked sceptically at Obi.
“Is there need for more than one person?” replied the Boss. “And now that you mentioned it, aren’t six backups too much?”
“Well, one can never be too careful,” said the thug leader, as he beckoned to one of his boys, who handed him a briefcase. The Boss, holding a briefcase in his own hand stepped forward, and exchanged his container with that of the other man. He stepped back, and opened the briefcase given him, then looked up, a disgusted expression on his face.
“You trying to cheat me, Cobra?” he growled, as Obi noticed that the briefcase was full of white papers, not money.
So, Cobra was this one’s name. Obi rolled his eyes mentally, as he automatically prepared himself for the worst.
To be continued...
Thanks for coming!
That little boy,
