Gang Turf

Cody wasn’t supposed to be working that evening but that was the night where everything changed for him; he stood on the door of Club Ruby in Kings Cross, a bouncer at the most popular club in Sydney. They had started him off working inside but the manager Michelle, the person who decided who to let in and who to reject from the club, had taken a shining to him and decided his look would help the image of the club. Cody was young, handsome and completely covered in tattoos from his hands up to his ears.

Cody was pleased to be standing outside, there really wasn’t too much to the job; the manager would turn away anyone that looked prone to starting fights and he had no difficulty evicting anyone that looked drunk, there was also the added perk of having first choice of the women he let in.

“I need someone else for tonight’s shift. Andrew’s called in sick, do you know anyone?” Michelle asked while they were waiting for the night’s patrons to arrive.

“Yeah I’ve got a couple of guys I could ask, you need them right now?” Cody asked.

“As soon as they can get here, do you want to call around for me?” Michelle replied.

“No probs” Cody sent out a couple of texts and got two replies straight away.

“I’ve got two guys, Tony or Lucky, they’re both good, they worked at Rooty Hill with me”

“That was fast” Michelle was impressed “get them both in. I’ll just pay them through your account and then you can pay them” Michelle began to walk inside and paused turning back to add “You should take a cut of their fee” Michelle opened the door to head inside and a remix of Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd wafter through the open door. Cody’s ears pricked up at the unusual song choice, it had been playing the day his dad died.

If I leave here tomorrow, Would you still remember me? For I must be traveling on now 'Cause there's too many places I've got to see…

At Michelle’s suggestion Cody could finally see a way out, out of working the gruelling midnight hours and trying to get by on minimum wage, he had a long list of guys he knew which he recruited and with his list of industry contacts he put two and two together and started his company. Most of it was off the books, a lot of cash ran through his business and things started growing. It got to the point where he was too busy organising his guys to be able to work at the club’s himself, then his workers had more friends who were looking for work and because it was a low skilled job there were more and more of them coming on his books. As Cody’s circle of employees grew so did the types of jobs, at first it was security for an office building then a couple of blokes were needed to help knock a house down for a week, then after getting into the building industry and getting to know those guys extra jobs came up like collecting payments. Debt collecting wasn’t one of Cody’s favourite parts of the business, although he looked like a thug he was fairly soft hearted. He found it was most effective to send the biggest guys in for that type of job and usually the payments were coughed up fairly quickly. One part of his business really did just grow without him deciding it. On a Wednesday night in The Cross Cody had to personally drop off a couple of his guys who didn’t have transport. One of them left their phone in his car and Cody had to circle back. Watching from his car he noticed an exchange, between his guy Kane (who was bouncing) and a patron, of a small plastic bag filled with powder for a couple of $50 notes. Although it was done slyly Cody noticed the transaction. After the deal was done Cody called Kane over.

“Hey mate you left your phone in the car” Cody started.

“Thanks” Kane was nervous, unsure if Cody had seen he was dealing.

“What was that you just sold?” Cody was having to make an on the spot decision about how he was going to handle it.

“What to you mean?” Kane feigned ignorance.

“If you’re doing that on my time I’m going to take a cut. I want twenty per cent of what you’re earning” Cody knew Kane would keep selling even if he told him not to, better to have some control over it.

“Ok” Kane was relieved to have gotten off so easily, and slightly pleased to have Cody as a partner.

Cody knew drug dealing was illegal and it was something people went to jail for but he never once thought that applied to him. So, he had Kane supply a hand picked selection of guys that he knew he could trust and they worked the doors of the clubs. Kane gave freebies to the club staff incriminating them with their acceptance of the small amounts they got for free and Cody’s business grew even bigger. It wasn’t until one night one of the club managers at the strip clubs asked him for personal security on a girl who was going out on a job that his smooth ride came to an end.

Cody would never have included that kind of work in the list of services offered by his business; but as a favour he sent one of his guys, Gus, along to drive the girl to her job. Her name was Amanda she was from the country and new to the business. She got to chatting with Gus and they got along quite well. Everything went to plan until they got to the address, a gang clubhouse on the outskirts of town. The job wasn’t what was planned and Amanda refused her services. The guys that had hired her were drunk and rowdy and took out their displeasure on Gus, beating him to a pulp, Amanda managed to get him to hospital but of course didn’t stay to fill in a statement.

The news of Gus’s condition got back to some of the other guys who worked for Cody who took it on themselves to go in for retribution. It was in the nature of those that worked in his industry to fight back. The plan for revenge didn’t go well, three over confident strongmen went in against a club of fifty and they also ended up in hospital, but now it looked as if Cody had sent those guys in, which in turn brought the attention of the gangs on to him and his business. A week after the incident Cody was stressed and sleeping with one eye open. 

On a Saturday night as usual he was dropping some of his guys off to work when Michelle flagged his car down.

“Cody I’m glad I caught you. Theres someone that wants to meet with you. He asked me to grab you when you came in and he’d come down for a chat.”

“What?” Cody wasn’t understanding what Michelle was saying, he had a lot on his mind.

“Turjak is his name. He wants to talk to you.” Cody finally understood what she was saying and became immediately alert, adrenaline pumping through his system.

“What does he want?” He shot back unhappily.

“No he’s ok, I’ve known him for a while. He’s heard about what happened and he wants to help. I think you should talk to him.” Michelle had known Cody since he was just a kid on his own and didn’t want to see anything bad happen to him.

“Ok, just let me park and I’ll come in” Cody double checked around the car before he got out. Having sent his share of guys out for debt collecting he knew how effective the element of surprise was, catching someone in an empty alley was always quite useful at putting someone on the back foot, he made it inside unscathed.

“Have a seat I just called him he’ll be here in ten minutes” Cody took a seat in the empty club at one of the booths facing the door and waited. 

A couple of guys came in, Cody had never seen them before, they looked foreign, maybe Croatian, they said a muted hello to Michelle and she led them over to the table. Cody stood up to the side of the table as they approached. 

“Hello I’m Turjak” he held out his hand to shake. Cody accepted the gesture and shook his hand. 

“I’m Cody” He stood looking Turjak in the eye unsure of how the meeting would go down.

“I’ve heard about some of your recent problems and thought I might be able to help”

“Yeah? What’ve you heard?” Cody was stone faced.

“Well, four of your workers are in the hospital all put there by the same people.”

“Well what those guys do on their own time is none of my business” Cody hit back.

“Hm, yes, that’s as much as Michelle told me. I have information that you are wanted for questioning by these people. There was a lot of damage done to their clubhouse and a few of their members were injured.” Turjak was serious.

Cody’s heart pounded, that was the last thing he needed. He didn’t say anything in reply.

“If you like I could have a word with them, smooth it over, let them know you had nothing to do with it” Turjak offered.

“Why would you do that for me?” Cody was wary of the suggestion.

“If I see something that’s not right I say something. Plus Michelle is a friend of mine” Turjak motioned for Michelle to come over.

“Ok if that’s all then yeah you could set the record straight. I had no idea those guys were going out there” Cody reasoned.

“Done” Turjak smiled “How about a drink then?” Turjak sat in the booth.

“Yeah ok. Just the usual Michelle” Cody sat facing him. Turjak’s phone rang, he spoke rapidly in Croatian. He hung up and got back to Cody.

“I tell you. More money, more problems. That was my wife. Are you married?” Turjak asked.

“Me? No, not even close. Don’t have the time” Cody replied.

“Work keeps you busy then?”

“Yeah it’s gotten a lot busier in the past few months”

“With security?” 

“Yeah that and I have a few builders who need labourers.” Cody didn’t like all the questions but answered anyway.

“How many guys do you have working for you at the moment?” Turjak asked.

“They’re all casual but I know about fifty guys who need work occasionally” Again Cody begrudgingly answered. Michelle put the drinks in front of them.

“Thanks Michelle. So you’re a bit of a recruiter then?” Turjak asked.

“I guess so” Cody didn’t want to give anything away about the different ways he was making money.

“Well maybe you can help me. I have a couple of clubs out west, I’m looking for a whole new crew to work security. Do you think you could sort that out?”

Cody didn’t feel like he was in a position to say no especially with Michelle sitting in on the meeting.

“Yeah, I could do that.”

“Great” Turjak picked his keys and phone up of the table and skulled his drink. “Get my number from Michelle and call me tomorrow. By the way do you ride? Bikes?”

“Yeah, dirt bikes” Cody answered. Turjak nodded and left without further talk.

“Michelle who is that guy?” Cody was watching the door where Turjak had disappeared.

“You haven’t heard of him? He’s the head of the Reapers Gang in Sydney. Nice guy, really smart, he seemed to like you. Are you going to work for him?” Michelle was thinking of her own agenda.

“I’ll help him out with some guys but I don’t want anything to do with Gangs”

Cody pulled up at the club around 10am for his meeting with Turjak. He had organised ten guys who had experience in security; they were to be there half an hour later each to be interviewed by Turjak himself. 

The door to the club was locked and Cody had to knock loudly before someone unbolted the door.

“Cody how are you? You’re early, I like that” Turjak shook his hand and ushered him in before locking the door again “Come on back, let me make you a coffee” Cody followed Turjak to the bar where there were three other men sitting on stools.

“Cody this is Marko, Rodavan and Omer” None of the men spoke. 

“Would you like a coffee? Or perhaps a drink?” Turjak motioned to the bottles behind the bar.

“Coffee thanks” Cody replied. Turjak brought out a small brass pot to pour a traditional coffee. He motioned Cody away from the bar to some plush lounges in the back of the club, the music was low in the background.

“Sit, sit” Turjak sunk back into the red velvet lounge with his coffee while Cody sat awkwardly on the edge of the chair with his tiny coffee cup.

“How’s the coffee?” Turjak asked. Cody took a sip and coughed.

“Strong” Cody replied. Turjak laughed, the brew he’d made was thick and black.

One by one the applicants filed in and together they completed the interviews. 

“They were all good.” Turjak approved of the new security. “So on that other matter. I had a little chat with the head of the Spartan Gang and it’s all sorted out.” Turjak said.

“That’s great thanks for that. Do you know them well?” Cody knew little of the gangs.

“We’ve had our troubles in the past but that’s all behind us now. It’s better for business when we work together. So how’s a little discount on these 10 guys?” 

Cody couldn’t refuse, it was pretty clear Turjak hadn’t gone out to bat for him for free.

“Sure what were you thinking?” Cody replied.

“A month free” Turjak said casually. Cody nearly choked at the proposition.

“Yeah... A month?” Cody rubbed the stubble on his face trying to calculate what that was worth and then checked himself, whatever it was he would have paid it to avoid trouble with the Spartans.

“Yeah a month” Turjak stood firm.

“Ok.” Cody stood up and they shook on it.

Cody walked back the way he had come in, just as he was leaving a new song started playing.

if I leave here tomorrow

Would you still remember me?

For I must be traveling on now….

The song made Cody feel uneasy in that setting, it was eery and out of place, he put his head down and left the bar counting, ten guys, 6 days, 10 hours a day that was $18000. Still worth it he decided. He hoped it was only for the month.

Back inside Turjak turned to Marko “Find out whether he’s dealing.” 

The next day Cody’s phone was ringing, which was not unusual, it rang not stop all day but this was a call he did not expect.

“Kane, what’s up?”

“Man we got problems. There’s some people been asking around about you. Erin at the club said she overheard one of the bar tenders telling some guy about how your security team was supplying to patrons” Kane said.

“Which bar tender?” It had only been a matter of time before word got around who could hook you up if you were looking to score.

“I don’t know one of the casuals”

“Who were the guys asking questions?”

“I don’t know that either. Could be cops?”

“Ok let’s just get everyone to lay low tonight. Don’t sell anything. Everyone keep their mouths shut”

“Ok, ok I gotta go” Kane hung up.

Cody’s phone was ringing again, it was Turjak. He looked at it deciding whether or not to answer. He picked it up.

“Cody how are you?”

“Good Turjak what’s up?”

“Just checking on your crew tonight. All set?”

“Yeah they should be there on time.”

“Ok great. We’re having a special vip night tomorrow night. I want you to come”

“Um yeah I’ll have to see if I’m working” Cody lied.

“Well call in sick, you have to come, there are some opportunities I want to run past you” Turjak finished.

“Ok I’ll be there” Cody reluctantly agreed.

Cody was running late the next night trying to coordinate all the jobs that were on that night. By the time he made it out to Turjak’s club it was almost midnight.

He greeted his security team out the front with a handshake and jumped the long queue of onlookers, Cody surveyed the room, it was packed. Turjak appeared at his shoulder “This way my friend” Turjak led Cody away from the bar to a set of stairs that led up to a second floor. The music was less defeaning as they entered Turjak’s office but the floor vibrated with the bass.

“How about a drink?” Turjak offered.

“Yeah scotch and coke” Turjak poured two of the same and handed one over to Cody “thanks”.

“I just got a new bike, come and see it before we discuss business” Turjak lit a cigarette and led Cody out a back door to a platform with a set of metal stairs that led down to a private gravel carpark. Cody followed Turjak down the stairs sipping his drink.

A couple of guys stood around their bikes drinking beer at one end of a long row of Harley Davidson’s. Turjak motioned a brief greeting to them. A gold 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS sat close by, the door was open, they’d left the stereo on while they were hanging out. Cody heard the familiar song start ‘If I leave here tomorrow’ . Spooked, he turned to face the music as a bullet hit him in the back of the head.