Jimmy's drink was almost finished, as he watched the man inside put away the documents and hand them back to Justin, who placed them back in his briefcase. Someone from the group took out something from his pocket and placed it in Justin's hand, and then the three of them stood up, ready to leave the private room.
Jimmy didn't continue his drink, but took out his wallet. By the time he was getting his money out, Justin and his companions had already walked from the private room to the bar.
Jimmy greeted Justin, "Hey, Justin."
Seeing Jimmy with his wallet out, Justin asked, "Jimmy, heading back?"
Jimmy, "Ah, I've been a bit tired lately, going to head back early to rest."
Justin, "Goodbye, hope you have a pleasant night."
Jimmy, "Goodbye." Jimmy also nodded to the other two people, pressed the bills under his glass, and left the bar.
As Jimmy exited, he deliberately looked back and saw Justin also saying farewell to the two men.
Jimmy didn't linger, heading straight for the police station parking lot, still driving his own car back to his apartment.
To be lazy, Jimmy had stopped using the police car for his daily commute, as the GPS location was in the police car and not on Jimmy himself. So, if he was off and the police car was at the station, then dispatch rarely called him directly.
The next evening, Jimmy was back at the bar. He thought he could suppress his curiosity, but Justin's demeanor the previous day had been so out of the ordinary. Jimmy had known Justin for over a year, and it was truly the first time he'd seen him pay so much attention to anyone.
Arriving at the bar, Jimmy found Justin back in his classic bartender outfit of a white shirt with a black vest.
Jimmy, "Hey, Justin, back in the bartender getup, huh?"
Justin, "Yeah, yesterday was a bit special."
Jimmy, "Can you tell me about it? I'm really curious who could make you take it so seriously."
Justin suddenly leaned in close to Jimmy, "Jimmy, I've told you before, in our line of work, confidentiality is a critical rule. These things aren't for you to know, don't ask too many questions."
Justin stood up straight and poured a glass of whiskey for Jimmy from behind the bar, "Your whiskey, enjoy."
Jimmy raised his glass to Justin and took a sip.
He looked around; there were no other customers near him at the bar, the closest person was at the other end of the counter.
Jimmy spoke softly to Justin, "Justin, you must have some connections here for self-defense gear, right?"
Justin shrugged, "Of course, just make a list of what you want to order, and someone will deliver it to you. The goods are top-notch, but they certainly won't be cheap."
Jimmy, "Can they be customized? Or maybe I need some more aggressive stuff."
Justin, "Don't worry, just list what you need, sourcing the items is their problem."
Jimmy, "OK, I'll give you a list if I need anything later."
Today there wasn't much to do; Jimmy's day off was tomorrow, and he planned to see if his luck was good enough to have a pleasant evening.
Jimmy's day off wasn't really long after he woke up in the morning and saw the young lady off. He began organizing his room, packing up excess stuff into his car, and taking it to the storage unit rented under his own name, right next to another unit rented under a different identity.
It was also a way of covering his tracks. Many people in the United States rent storage units, and it was normal for Jimmy to do the same. As long as no one was monitoring him, moving from one unit to the next took no time at all.
Jimmmy checked his safe, roughly counted the cash inside, and decided to really go for a couple of suits at the tailor recommended by Justin—as for top Italian tailors, needless to say, they were certainly not cheap. It was best to check his assets beforehand to avoid any issues later on.
Of course, using gold coins would be no issue, but as of now, Jimmy didn't have many of them. It was better to save when possible since you never know when a tricky problem might arise where gold coins could come in handy.
After taking care of the storage units, Jimmy drove home.
There's an old saying that a crafty rabbit has three burrows.
By now, Jimmy barely had two, and the remaining one should be farther away, to establish as the third burrow. He hadn't decided where yet and would see how things go. He couldn't stay around the county police forever, and there would eventually come a day to leave Little Rock.
Jimmy tidied up the apartment and decided to go shopping for supplies. Since it was his day off, he might as well prepare a rich dinner for himself—it had been a while since he cooked.
After buying what he needed from the supermarket, Jimmy, having lived in Little Rock for over a year, had figured out where to find the right ingredients and spices. It took more time, but after an afternoon's effort, he finally got all the spices and a Chinese kitchen knife.
The menu for the day was very homely: a portion of braised pork, stir-fried celery with dried tofu, and scrambled eggs with green peppers. Jimmy's cooking skills were rather rusty since he usually relied on takeout and fast food to meet his needs and hadn't really cooked many meals.
By the way, the smoke alarm in the apartment had already been temporarily disabled by Jimmy. He was quite familiar with these devices—it was just a matter of fiddling a bit, and he could reconnect it after cooking.
Jimmmy's rented apartment had a gas stove. He got the meat boiling first, then prepared the other ingredients for stir-fry. Cooking leisurely on one's own was actually a luxury—Jimmy hadn't had such a carefree day where he didn't need to think about anything in a long time.
Jimmy put the stir-fried meat into the pressure cooker, then moved on to stir-frying the vegetables on another burner. As for the rice, it was already in the rice cooker.
Everything was ready; he just had to wait for the pressure cooker to finish, then reduce the sauce and it would be time to eat.
Jimmy's phone rang; walking into the living room, he saw it was the prepaid phone he had always used to contact Justin. Since there had been no issues, he hadn't replaced it with another phone yet.
Jimmy: "Hi, Justin, what's up?"
Justin: "Yeah, if you're not busy, come to the bar. I need to discuss something with you."
Jimmy: "Does it have to be today? I just finished making dinner."
Justin: "A bit later is fine too, but come over as soon as you can."
Jimmy hung up the phone. Sigh, this part-time job was really a hassle. Since Justin had called, Jimmy decided to get going sooner rather than later.
As for his dinner, Jimmy thought it over and decided to pack it up.
He took out a few food containers from the fridge, washed them, packed up all the rice and dishes, drove to the bar, and took it as a treat for Justin. If Justin had already eaten, then he could enjoy the meal by himself.