0550
Booth Ranch
Oro de Dios, Texas, United States of America
OOC
The desert sun had just begun to rise over the west Texas town of Oro de Dios, appearing just over the edge of the hills and shining its rays over the town and onto the flowing water of the Rio Grande. At a ranch on the outskirts of town, a man by the name of Russ Booth had just woken up. Every morning, he wondered why he had come to Oro, why he was still in this town. Unlike most of the residents of Oro, he was a college graduate and a former US Army Captain, serving in a Green Beret outfit. Now, he was living on a small ranch in Texas, running a bar and a small criminal operation. He had left the Army 8 years ago, due to the fact that 13 years of combat service had worn him out. He had tried his hand at business, and he had a steady white-collar job at a large mining corporation in Dallas, working for a fellow Norwich graduate. When the economic downturn hit the US, the corporation was butchered when their stock values plummeted. Out of a job, he couldn't find work anywhere and his wife had divorced him. Kicked out of his upscale apartment, he drifted around a bit, and ended up stumbling upon Oro. In the past 5 years, he ended up as the owner of a local dive bar, as well as a local crime boss. With his leaderhsip, he gathered together some country bumpkins and began to earn a profit off of the Mexican Drug War. The cartels needed more guns and crank, and the people of Oro were more than happy to oblige them. Russ soon made a deal with the Los Zetas, running guns, crank, and weed south of the border to them, while also providing them with training from time to time. Formed by ex-Mexican soldiers, the Los Zetas respected Russ for his experience, and due to the fact that he had even trained some of their ex-military personnel, back when those men had served in the Mexican Fuerzas Especiales. They had a sweet gig going, but Russ soon found himself stuck in Oro.
After showering, Russ changed into a pair of worn blue jeans, his old tan mil-spec combat boots, a tan t shirt, a red flannel shirt, and a black mil-spec fleece jacket. He attached a tanned leather holster and a double-clip amunition pouch to his brown leather belt, the holster containing a Beretta 96 handgun, chambered for .40 S&W. As he walked outside, he slipped on a worn brown Stetson. He heard the sound of coyotes on his property, and stepped back inside, picking up a DPMS A-15 Modern Sporting Rifle that sat by the door. The weapon was tricked out with a rail, a red dot sight, a grip, a taclight, and a tactical sling. Russ walked out towards the fenced-off pasture behind his ranch house, spotting the coyotes as they wandered around the middle of the pasture. As he approached, he moved slowly and quietly, maintaining his stealth as he moved in on the coyotes, his weapon at the low-ready. Standing at the fence, he leveled his rifle and took aim at the largest coyote, aiming just behind its right eye. He slowly but firmly began to pull the trigger, activating his taclight with his left hand just as he pulled the trigger, releasing a 7.62x39mm NATO bullet at it. The bullet tore through the coyote's head, knocking the coyote back a few feet. Not wasting a second, Russ quickly locked on to the next coyote, firing 3 rounds in its direction, pulling the trigger much quicker. The coyote, mobile as soon as the firing began, took a round to the neck, which killed it instantly. The 2 remaining coyotes began to run off, and Russ lowered his weapon, climbing over the fence in order to retrieve the two dead coyotes.
The two coyotes would soon end up in the bed of Russ's black 2008 Chevrolet Silverado. Russ climbed into the driver's seat and started up the vehicle, driving onto the main road, before taking a minute to dispose of the coyotes on the side of the road. The local radio station, Rio Grande FM, was a station that preferred to play old country music, Americano, bluegrass, and classic rock than the country-pop that was popular in El Paso. The song "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" began to play, and it was one of Russ's favorite songs. The old desert road was largely deserted, as most folks in town were just beginning to wake up. Russ had work to do, and his first order of business was The Coyote's Den. The establishment was a wooden building that had been constructed in the 1930s, and it had its fair share of wear and tear. A large neon sign with the name of the bar and a coyote was flickering red and yellow, and the neon signs advertising various brands of alcohol flickered as well. Russ pulled into the driveway, and exited the vehicle. As he walked through the front door, he turned on the "Open" neon sign mounted on the front door. 4 of his employees were already present, and they were cleaning up the establishment after a fight the night before. His employees liked him well enough, and he made sure to look out for their best interests. Not only did they work for his restaraunt, but they also worked for his criminal operation, for in the basement of the Coyote's Den was a meth lab. Russ was no good with chemicals, unlike his employees, who were producing meth way before Russ showed up in town. Russ's job was to provide leadership, handle the authorities, and to arrange buyers. He walked down to the basement of the Coyote's Den, and approached the lab.
"Head Scientist" Eli "Teach" Figgis, arguably the best meth cook in town was hard at work at the lab. A former high school chemistry teacher, he was now making a steady income as an employee for Russ. When Russ entered the room, he continued to cook up the meth, not even looking up at Russ.
"Hey boss," he said.
"What's up, Teach?" Russ asked.
"Well, for starters, shake 'n bakers," he said. "Saw a guy get busted back at my park."
"Townies?" Russ asked.
"Yep," Teach replied. "Luckily, you've got that sweet deal with the townies, but we're seein' more shake 'n bake labs. Bathtub crank is cheaper to make than our crank, but it's more dangerous to take. Still though, our beaner brothers will take anythin' they can get. It'll be a problem later on. They're gettin' the bikers in on it too."
"I'll figure somethin' out," Russ said. "Probably will have to kill a biker or two, but we'll deal with the situation."
"What 'bout the Preacher, boss?" Teach asked. "He's got labs and weed farms."
"He ain't a problem," Russ replied. "He might have more labs than us, and bigger weed farms, but no one likes dirt weed, and the DEA will be on that shit soon enough. Heard he's dealin' heat, but I'm gettin' in better hardware. Got friends in the Army for that. Besides that, we're not on bad terms. There's more than enough pie to go 'round, so unless he wants to piss me off and muscle in on my territory, we won't have a problem. The bikers are the real issue though."
Russ was right; the real problem in Oro's criminal underworld were the various biker gangs active in west Texas. Wanting a piece of the profitable products coming out of Oro, the bikers were more than willing to take what they wanted by force or by guile. A number of Oro's criminals entered into alliances with the bikers, gaining both protection and a distribution network, but along with the rewards came the threat of federal intervention. Many of the biker gangs were under federal surveillance, and despite the fact that only a few residents of Oro were actually intelligent, realizing the fact that an alliance with the bikers was dangerous, as the bikers were known to screw over their allies for personal gain, and the fact that the feds could swoop in and force them out of business. Business with the cartels was much safer, due to the fact that the cartels often had connections in law enforcement, connections that the bikers could never attain. Russ had had a few altercations in the past with a local biker gang known as the Road Agents MC. After refusing to deal with them 2 years ago, Russ and his organization were thrown into a bloody conflict with the Road Agents, which was known throughout the west Texas underworld as the "Crank War", which lasted for 7 months, which ended with 2 of Russ's men dead and around 10 Road Agents dead. Obviously, Russ had won the conflict, but the Road Agents were still active in El Paso, and had tried many times to move back into Oro, but their attempts were always thwarted by the Zetas, who were content on keeping the Road Agents away from the profitable operations in Oro.
After conversing with Teach a bit, Russ made his way back upstairs. A few people had shown up to the Coyote's Den, eating their breakfast. While primarily a bar, the Coyote's Den was also a restaraunt, and they were known for their BBQ ribs and steaks. Russ walked around the establishment, conversing with his patrons and making sure that they were all doing well. No complaints were voiced, and Russ was happy. His employees were faring well as well, so he made his way to his office, in the back of the building. It was a rather large room, with a leather couch, 2 book cases, a few leather chairs positions around a coffee table, an oak desk, and a leather rolling chair behind the desk. The walls were decorated with various photographs of the bar, the town, and of Russ, particularly from his Army days. An American flag and a US Army flag were placed behind his desk, symbolizing his patriotism. He also had 2 trophy deer heads, 3 trophy boar heads, and 1 trophy cougar head mounted on the walls. He shut the door behind him, and sat down at his desk. As he settled in his leather chair, he opened up a drawer and removed a Cohiba cigar and a box of matches, lighting up the cigar with a match before closing the drawer and opening up another, which contained an ice box, a glass decanter filled with Johnny Walker Black, and a glass tumbler. He then poured some of the scotch into the tumbler, added 2 ice cubes, and closed the drawer. After taking a puff of his cigar and a sip from his glass of scotch, he accessed his desktop computer and began to surf the internet, which was rather slow in this part of Texas. He then removed his jacket and his hat as he relaxed.
As he surfed the internet and watched videos of adorable kittens falling asleep, one of his employees entered, followed by the sound of yelling behind him. Almost immediately, Russ stood up and put on his Stetson, exiting his office. The employee followed behind, knowing that Russ had caught on quickly to the situation. At the bar, a Road Agent was harrassing the bartender. The other patrons had left, due to the altercation. As soon as Russ entered the room, the Road Agent turned his attention to his gang's sworn enemy and drew out a switchblade before charging at Russ, attempting to run him through with the blade. Stepping out of the way of the charging biker, Russ grabbed the man's armed wrist with his left hand, holding it in a tight grip as he brought his right hand around and grabbed the man by the neck as he forced the man's right arm behind his back. With a tight grip on the biker, Russ slammed the man's head into the bar twice before holding him against the bar, his face pressed down against the counter. He began punching at Russ, hitting him in the stomach. Russ cringed a bit, but he then released a powerful kick aimed for the man's knee. The steel-toed boots, backed up by a powerful kick and the man's knee being slammed into the counter, broke the knee. The biker screamed out in pain as his knee was broken, and the bartender took the switchblade from the biker.
"Secure his left hand," Russ calmly ordered.
One of the employees then grabbed the biker by his left hand and forced it onto the counter, the palm opened. The bartender then used the switchblade to stab through the biker's hand and secure the sign. The screaming could be heard from the outside of the establishment now, and before any bystanders could show up, the open sign was quickly shut off. Russ soon released the man, who stayed slumped on the counter, screaming out in pain as his hand was pinned to the counter by a knife, his nose was banged up, and his knee was messed up. Russ pulled up a stool, and sat next to the biker, looking at him.
"So, how many times have y'all tried slippin' back into my town, huh?" he asked. "4, 5 times?"
"FUCK...YOU, YOU SHITHEAD!" the biker yelled. "YOU'RE GONNA BE FUCKIN' DEAD WHEN THE REST OF MY BROTHERS FIND OUT!"
"I've heard that one before," Russ said. "Problem is, that you died in a motorcycle accident on the road. Coyotes, or somethin', ran out in front of your bike, knockin' you off and sendin' you flyin' through the air. I'm sure the police will pass on the word to the rest of the Road Agents."
The biker's life was soon ended when Russ stood up and snapped the man's neck. A few minutes later, a green and white ODPD Ford Crown Victoria pulled up to the bar, and tow deputies in tan uniforms exited the vehicle. The cops in Oro were corrupt, and they were easily paid off by Russ. The accident story was soon put into motion, and the biker was pronounced dead at the local clinic, the cause of death being a road accident. While the cover-up was taken care of, Russ and his employees quickly cleaned up the establishment and opened it back up. He then walked out to the front deck of the Coyote's Den, and took a seat in a chair as he watched the town wake up. Despite his "profession", Russ was by no means a bad guy. Sure, he profited from a conflict across the border, spent his life fighting for a country that has been accused of war crimes, and manufactured illicit drugs, but many people in Oro viewed him in a rather positive light. In terms of philanthropy, he was the most generous criminal in Oro, as he donated huge sums of money in order to take care of many impoverished families in Oro, and he was currently working with a local El Paso YMCA in order to open a YMCA in Oro. He also kept the Road Agents out, who were known for their callous disregard of innocent people. Despite his bad qualities, he did a lot for the town.
