Author's Note: This story is completely fictional and did not happen. All characters and names are fictional and were made up.
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London, England
The private jet had left Miami around 11 PM to begin a long flight into the night. The next stop was over the pond and into an airport for London. Steven wasn't used to flying alone on a plane, this was in fact the first time he ever had taken a flight solo. The nervous twitches had come due to the quietness among the plane. Inside was the usual interior of a luxury private jet. There were fancy leather seats, a large television set for entertainment, and a small bedroom that had all been rarely used in the past several months. Tony always traveled with the private jet, but he had been keeping himself at home in Miami most of the past year. Usually when Steven left town, he would fly commercial, but that was impossible with the package he had to sneak by security.
Eight and a half hours was how long the flight had lasted, just like the pilot had predicted. It would have probably been better off for Steven to get a nap, but he had never fallen asleep on a plane before. While the jet made it's flight through the passing night, he sat back and texted on his phone. He had received a text from Sebastian Taylor regarding their meet. Steven quickly replied back letting him know that he was on the flight right now and would be checking in. Next up, he had to text the girl who he was arriving to surprise: Emily Ratajkowski. Steven texted her a question about her location, which she had replied back to notify him that she was already in London and was scheduled for a television interview the next day. After a few texts, Steven sat back in his seat and listened to some music from his smart phone: he had a compilation of Blues songs on his smart phone ranging from the greats of Albert King, John Lee Hooker, and Howlin' Wolf.
Listening to the blues was rather fitting for the mood that Steven had felt the past two days. It wasn't every day that he traveled with a kilo of cocaine in a suitcase. Those years had long past over him and for good riddance. In his youth, this was something that would make it's way into his life in search for fast money. It wasn't easy to support a wife and a child at 18 years old, but he made breaks to do it even if it was the wrong thing to do. Steven felt lucky he escaped the old criminal world with his life, and was able to establish himself as a legitimate club manager. This deal would be a one time only thing, just to get rid of the mistake that Carlos had made in the first place. The old Blues songs had crept into his mind during the flight. Songs about love, women and the hard life.
By the time the flight had docked in to a London airport, Steven had sorta snapped from a coma induced by the music. He could hear his pilot doing the radio check and setting up a landing for a private jet. Steven had just realized that he probably should've done some transactions to have pounds instead of U.S. cash to spend, but just two days in Britain wouldn't be that bad. The sun was shining out the windows when the jet made it's way on land and docked at a private hangar. After the engines and everything had come to a stop, the pilot came out from the cockpit after taking off his headset. The man with the big black mustache walked over by Steven when it had finally crossed his mind that the pilot's name was Manuel.
"You're Manuel, right?"
The man laughed at him.
"Of course I am! Did your brother ever have any other pilot besides me?"
"I'm sorry, pal. My mind is a little all tangled up from the flight."
"Yeah and now you're on UK time! It's 12:30 PM in the afternoon here when it would be around 5 AM in the morning back in Florida, you should've got some sleep while you had the chance."
Steven just sighed. It was impossible for him to become annoyed at Manuel's words, it was only the truth. He nodded at him before the pilot spoke again.
"How long are you staying here? I need to know cause I gotta book a hotel and stay too while we're over here."
"I'm gonna say two days, or three at the max. You need money for a hotel room?"
Manuel shook his head.
"Oh no, I'm fine. I've got my credit cards and can easily do a conversion to pounds over here. You don't have to pay for nothing my friend, but I appreciate it."
With a nod, Steven looked away to grab his suitcase and was now prepared to exit the plane. Manuel had to unseal the doorway and pull out the walkway, in which they were greeted by the airport workers outside in London ready to check the flight. Steven stepped out, clutching the suitcase as he inhaled the air around him. This was his first visit to England, never before had he seen the country. It was only a shame that he couldn't stay for a full vacation, Steven wouldn't have minded to go sight seeing and have a tour around the country. Manuel handled the paperwork and security for the airport and paid the fee for the private transportation. After thirty minutes of checking through, he and Steven were escorted through to the entrance where it was time to call a cab. Not once was the suitcase looked through by security, not a soul except himself was aware of the prized possession that lay inside.
"Taxi!"
Manuel brought both pinkies to his mouth and whistled until one stopped. It was a black car that came to a stop inviting them to get into the back. Steven was surprised to see that the cabs in London were black, rather than the yellow cars back home in the U.S. Sitting down, Steven looked over at Manuel and spoke.
"Ask the driver if he accepts American dollars, cause it's the only cash I have on me."
"Yeah, I do! Where do you want to go?"
A strong English accent roared from the driver's seat. Steven looked back and decided to take his chance with a question.
"You know any hotels around here?"
"I know some, yeah."
From that answer, a new question was raised.
"Can you take us to the best one for the money?"
"The best hotel for the right price? You're in Central London mate, so that would be Maxwell's Silver Inn."
"Is it luxury?"
"Oh yeah, I hope you can afford it!"
The cab began to drive off. Manuel looked back at Steven as they sat together during the ride. Steven glanced at him, knowing that he had to tell him something now while the thought was racing through his mind.
"I hope you don't mind, I'm gonna have to make you get a separate room. I can't have you with me, since I'm here to meet with a lady."
Manuel nodded.
"That's fine, I understand completely."
Seeing Emily was only half of the truth. Steven refused to let Manuel in on the secret of what was contained from within his luggage. The more people that knew about a deal, always wanted a slice of the action. Steven had learned this a long time ago, just the reason he stayed quiet about things and kept a low profile. The money would be for him and Ramón only.
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2 HOURS LATER
After arriving at the hotel, the two men left the cab after Steven had paid the driver a nice tip with two folds of hundred dollar bills. It was the least he could do out of generosity. The hotel had proven to be luxurious with a fancy suite. Manuel had worked with Steven to help him out through transactions of the fees from U.S. money to pounds. Steven marked it down that they would only be staying two nights. That gave him enough time to get everything done on the short list. After making it back to his room, he felt exhausted. Opening the briefcase, he checked the kilo of cocaine that had made it safely with him every step of the trip. Across the hall on the same floor, Manuel had been set up with a room close by to Steven so they would check out together and not get lost around the tall building.
From this point, he truly was exhausted. Without no sleep on the plane, he had pulled an 'all nighter' but unlike any other night without sleep, he was in another place far from home. With the cellphone in his hand, Steven sat back in the bed and began to text Sebastian. He had to let him know right away that he had checked into a hotel after a successful flight. The clock near the bed had said that it was 2:42 PM. The different hours and time zones for the UK would surely throw Steven's sleeping schedule off if he was staying longer. After sending the text, he took his shirt off and pulled back the sheets preparing for a nap. After laying down, his phone vibrated with a notification noise. The bright light shined through the darkness of the room while he read the short text only with the words 'Nice. We'll meet up tomorrow, I'll call you'. Steven smiled at the phone and then sat it down on the night stand next to him before he began to fall asleep in exhaustion.
