Previously on Old Man Young…
There is a lot going on in the city of Knoxville, TN. Lately, the uptick in crime in the city has been upsetting the natural order. Normally, a murder has built-in leads depending on the location of the murder; ie, if a body is found in the bad parts of the city, police can assume a drug relation. Many of the murders in the bad parts of town of late have been attributed to white bikers according to witness statements. Not only that, but many of the victims found have tenuous connections to the criminal element in the city and most have identification from states north of the Mason Dixon line. This is highly unusual and has led to scrambling among the police force to make connections between the suspected murderers and their victims.
Detective Paul Young has lost the trail of his investigation linking the young drug dealer, Yuri, to anything at all and he has been sidetracked by all of the recent death, but he never gives up the hunch that all of the chaos is linked to his investigation of Yuri.
And that is where the young morgue assistant Ivan comes in. Lately, Ivan has been doing some leg work for Detective Young, a few cases that occurred just before the rise in deaths. He has a lead that Detective Young follows up and that led him to a biker bar in Nashville.
This week…
Sonny had little luck in his hometown finding reliable information that he could use to track down Fire, but he learns that Fire lives in Knoxville and he decides that it’s best to just go rather than make any more ruckus that would reach Fire before he can get there. Sonny is grappling with a lot as he makes his way west. He had probably killed a childhood friend and his mother was mad at him for leaving so abruptly, but he had traveled all this way for a very specific reason and he would not let that cause die.
Sonny makes good time and arrives in Knoxville just as the sun is going down. He has no idea where to start his search, but decides that it is a good idea to start in the cities ghettos. When he arrives at the closest neighborhood, he slow rides the streets as he looks out for the type of men and boys who could lead him to Fire. In his distraction, Sonny hits a car, though the damage is minimal because of the speed he was traveling. Despite the lack of damage, the man from the car he hit gets out of his car and makes his way angrily to Sonny’s driver side window which he starts to pummel with his bare hands. Sonny is shocked and unsure what to do. Eventually, police lights are flashing and to Sonny’s surprise, both he and the man from the car are arrested.
At the police station, Ivan is sitting with Detective Young reviewing the information that he was able to get from the families of witnesses he was able to interview.
“Bikers? You telling me bikers is killing folks off of drug corners? What kind of sense that make?” Young is perplexed.
“I don’t know detective,” Ivan says shrugging, “but the girlfriend told me they told the police who shot that man and as far as she knows, nothing has happened.”
As they talk, Sonny is led to the desk of an officer for processing and he is in earshot of the conversation that Young shares with Ivan.
“We got units following up in Nashville. This is just getting out of hand, I swear. I still can’t pin Yuri, his uncle Fire is completely underground now, no one’s seen him. This investigation is mess.” Young curses under his breath and Ivan watches him, afraid to say anything that might make his anger worse.
Sonny overhears the name Fire and he can’t help himself. “Y’all looking for Fire?” He asks.
The officer processing Sonny tries to silence him. “Shut up and focus on me. I need a statement.”
Sonny ignores the officer. “I know that man and I know that he kill people. He had my best friend shot.” Sonny is standing and the officer trying to interview him stands as well.
“Listen kid, just cooperate so I can get you out of here.”
“Hold on, officer,” Young interjects. “Let the man talk.”
Young has Sonny sit with him and Ivan and Sonny gives Young all of the information that he knows about Fire without implicating himself or the criminal organization that works for.
“Corey is my best friend,” Sonny says sincerely. “He didn’t do anything to deserve what happened to him. He was just in the wrong place. And I came all the way down here so I could help put the man who hurt him behind bars.”
Young eyes Sonny. At first, he was suspicious of the young man’s motives, but after talking with him, Young feels sorry for him that he almost lost his friend.
“I really do appreciate that you want to help.” Young says. “But all I can do is take information from you. I can’t risk putting you in any danger.”
Sonny nods. He would use Detective Young in anyway he could to gather more information that would allow him to get close enough to murder the man who had hurt his friend. When he leaves the police station, Ivan leaves with him.
“Where are you staying?” Ivan asks.
“I don’t really know. I just got here before I hit that damn car.” Sonny says.
“You’re welcome to stay with me.” Ivan says sympathetically. “I know it must be hard to have a friend hurting like that.”
Sonny smiles. “Sure man, I appreciate that. You think they ever gonna catch that man?”
Ivan shakes his head slowly as they walk toward the apartment complex where he lives. “I don’t know. This city is a ball of confusion. Detective Young is one of the best though. He doesn’t give up.”
When they make it to Ivan’s apartment building, they see the silhouette of a huge man standing in the stairway. THey approach cautiously and when the man is easier to see in the light, Ivan wonders if it is one of the bikers like the woman had described killed her boyfriend. He is tall and round with a beard and sunglasses. He also wears a bandana around his forehead. As Ivan and Sonny approach, the man stops them.
“You work the morgue right?” The big man asks.
“Yes, yes sir I do.” Ivan replies.
“This is for Fire,” the man says as he swings at Ivan and knocks him to the ground.
Sonny is quick to respond and swings at the man. The two trade blows and eventually Sonny is on the ground. But Ivan is standing and he has a gun trained on the man.
“If you gonna use that thing, do it.” The man rushes Ivan just as he finishes his sentence. Ivan fires three shots to put the man down.
Meanwhile, in the Empire state
Darker knows where Sonny is and he is furious. He is furious and also proud of Sonny for going fearlessly into enemy territory to defend his brother. He feels that he has taught the boy well. He only worries that Sonny is running blindly into a lion’s den.
Darker has been trusting the intel from Smoke about the movements of Fire’s criminal organization in the south and since Darker had killed what he believed to be Fire’s nephew Yuri, things in the south had become more complicated for him. Smoke reported that moving product through the southeast was extremely difficult because Fire was cracking down on the movement of drugs through his territory that wasn’t going to increasing his own revenue. Darker hoped that Sonny would put an end to Fire, or pretty soon, he would have to make another visit to the south to kill the man himself.
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