The Kings Of Cool

8

“Who did this to you?” Chon asks.

Sam Casey, one of their best “sales partners,” lies in bed with a broken jaw, a concussion, his right arm fractured in three places, and internal bleeding.

Someone beat the holy hell out of Sam.

“Brian Hennessy and three of his surfer buddies,” Sam says through his wired jaw. “I was selling them a lousy QP and they ripped me off.”

“You’ve sold to them before, right?” Chon asks.

One of Ben and Chon’s cardinal rules: never sell to anyone you don’t know.

Maybe only Chon would know that “cardinal rule” doesn’t come from the Catholic religious official, but from the Latin “ cardo, ” which means “hinge.” So a cardinal rule is something that everything else hinges upon.

Everything hinges upon not selling dope to people you don’t know.

And know well.

“I’ve sold to them a dozen times,” Sam says. “Never any trouble.”

“Okay, so look, the bills are covered,” Chon says. Ben has set up a shell corporation through which he offers health insurance to sales partners who are fully vested. “I’ll take care of Brian. Do me a favor, though? Don’t mention this to Ben?”

Because Ben doesn’t believe in violence.