The process of retrieving the negatives went smoothly. The three of them practically escorted the old man to his office and handed over all the photos and negatives from the boss's desk drawer. Eric even searched the drawer to make sure nothing was missing.
"Wow, that was so exciting!" Dile exclaimed excitedly on the way back to the hotel.
Alex did not respond. At this moment, he calmed down and felt a little regretful.
He had just been walking on the edge of the law, no, he had even broken the law to some extent. In the lobby, if the old man had called the security guards, he would definitely have been in trouble. In the office, if the old man had called the police, they would have been caught red-handed.
Fortunately, it seems that my fierce demeanor completely frightened the old man, and he didn't dare to do anything.
However, Alex knew that since this old man was able to enter SBK and speak with him before the audition results were out, he must have considerable influence behind him. In particular, the Italian name 'Antonio' on the sign on his office door reminded people of the ruthless Italian Mafia. In this era, the Mafia was no longer viable in Chicago, but it still retained a lingering reputation in New York.
Aside from getting together with Mila, his trip to New York was far from successful. During this time, he offended many people in SBK, earned a reputation among the Black community in New York for not helping his own people, and went against his usual cautious approach by spending money like water. He spent five thousand plus eight hundred plus miscellaneous expenses on Mila alone, totaling six or seven thousand dollars... Keep in mind that his Aunt Susie and other family members still live in the slums and receive welfare.
"What a city of desire that can make you lose yourself."
He walked to the hotel entrance, looked up at the towering skyscrapers, and couldn't help but sigh.
When the door opened, Mira, her eyes red and swollen, rushed into my arms. "What should I do?" she cried.
"It's alright, everything's alright now," Alex said softly, stroking her back to comfort her.
Mrs. Jovovich was on the phone in the room. "The song revenue will take a long time to come. Even if the record can be released in the second half of the year, it won't be until next year for SBK to settle the accounts. As for the movie… Columbia will only pay 15% or 20% of the salary when I join the cast, and the rest…" She kept wiping away tears with a handkerchief.
Alex looked around the beautiful hotel suite, but he was quite unimpressed.
"APLUS, what should we do?" Mrs. Jovovich put down the phone, looking at her daughter clinging tightly to Alex, her face growing paler.
"It's alright, Mrs. Jovovich, it's all taken care of."
"Resolved?" Mrs. Jovovich's eyes lit up with surprise.
"Yay, I got all the negatives back." Alex took out a white film bag from his pocket and handed it to her.
"Really!" Mrs. Jovovich examined her carefully. "You... how did you do that?"
Alex shrugged. "Just spend money... What other good way to solve problems in New York besides money?"
"How much did it cost?" Mrs. Jovovich pressed.
"One hundred thousand knives." Alex said nonchalantly.
Mira, nestled in her arms, screamed, "You shouldn't have given that wicked old man so much money!"
"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Jovovich exclaimed, covering her mouth. "Thank you so much, APLUS."
"Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore." Alex explained the rehearsal trip to Chicago to the two of them. "SBK will cover your accommodation and other expenses in Chicago during this time. Since Mila is a member of the Minors and Screen Actors Guild, SBK will also cover the additional expenses in that regard."
"Yay! Honey, let's leave here and go to Chicago!" Mila gave her a kiss under her mother's watchful gaze.
Daniel acted quickly, thoughtfully sending a huge RV used by the band for promotional purposes to transport all the people and equipment to Chicago, downstairs at Old Joe's Music Building.
"That's it?" Mira jumped out of the car excitedly, looking around at her surroundings.
I was utterly disappointed in an instant.
"This is it." Alex knocked on the iron gate, and Karl answered it as always. "Come in, let me introduce you to everyone..."
Old Joe's music remains the same, except that a new photo of Old Joe and Senator Underwood has been added to the photo wall on the stairs, and the promotional posters of Little Lori and Al at the second-floor reception desk have long been removed and replaced with a solo performance by Lori.
"As everyone knows, the South Side of Chicago is not safe. The area around the hotel is relatively safe, but you should never wander around Old Joe's Music area, especially across the street…" Alex pointed to the underground nightclub across the street, "You white guys should absolutely not even think about going in there to have some fun."
"I understand, I understand, Al Capone! Tap tap tap…" Dile gestured with his hands as if he were shooting at a Chicago typewriter.
Alex smiled. Al Capone was long gone. His defeat caused a major decline in the Chicago Mafia. This was the first major city in the United States where the underground rules were controlled by blacks.
He didn't bother explaining these things to Dilla and the others. He opened the door to the recording studio, let them move the equipment from the RV, and led Mila into Old Joe's office. He locked the door from the inside, leaving Mila's mother at the hotel to pack. This was a rare opportunity.
After stretching a bit, he put his arm around the still-pleasantly undisturbed white woman on his lap and dialed Pablo's number. "Hi Pablo, this is APLUS. Is Tony next to you?" he asked.
The call was handed to Tony.
"Um... Tony, I wanted to ask, how should we pay the rewards for... uh, I mean, partners?"
After finishing his call with Tony, he told Mira to get dressed and go to rehearsal, then got into Eric's car, went to the bank, and returned to their home in the slums.
Standing outside his dilapidated home, it's hard to imagine that not long ago he was a powerful figure in New York, with a large group of singers and managers racking their brains to figure out his preferences and engaging in fierce competition around his choices.
"Hey, Al, is the car fixed?" He saw Al crawling out from under the car, covered in oil.
"It was fixed a long time ago, but it broke down again soon after, so it just keeps getting fixed," El replied.
Aunt Susie and the others weren't there; they must have gone to church. Alex went into his room, where a small TV was playing a news report from Chicago local media about the booming secondhand store.
Al quickly turned off the TV.
"El, be my partner, I'm short-handed right now." He searched the room for a while and found a few rubber bands for tying small items.
El remained silent.
"Don't fucking give up. You hate Old Joe and the others, but you don't hate me, do you?" Alex advised. "Or do you want to throw away another opportunity?"
"Okay." Al agreed after a short while. "Thank you, APLUS."
"Don't be so polite with me."
After dealing with El, Alex pulled out five hundred knives from his pocket, tied them into a roll with a rubber band, went out to find Eric, and tossed it to him, saying, "Your share."
"Thanks, APLUS." Al didn't even count the money, and chuckled as he stuffed the roll of cash into his pants pocket.
This is another advantage of having a shill... no, a partner: they're cheap. After working so much intensely alongside you for so long, a normal sound engineer in New York would earn far more than that. Actually, this is a common problem. The average member of a Chicago gang earns far less than the government's minimum wage, and even low-level bosses don't earn as much as a white-collar worker in a large company. Many gang members still live with their mothers even after they've reached adulthood, not out of filial piety, but because they genuinely can't afford to move out...
Bring along Al and return to Joe's music.
"Hey... El." Karl, who was usually taciturn, took the initiative to greet El.
El gave him the middle finger.
Karl smiled, a rare occurrence for him.
As night fell, Dilla and the others finished their rehearsal and left Old Joe's Music. From then on, Al would drive the Ford pickup truck to pick them up and drop them off at the hotel.
'Bang!'
Suddenly, a muffled gunshot rang out from the underground nightclub across the street, followed by screams from men and women. A dark mass of people surged out of the club like a tidal wave, creating chaos.
Dile and the others were all stunned.
"Welcome to Chicago," Alex said with a smile.