Cartel Chronicles

Chapter 16

Javier was sad to see his Range Rover go, but it was inevitable, he had to remain a low profile, he didn't know if the BMW was an inconspicuous choice, but he couldn't say no. He was unsure whether it was necessary or not for him to replace his phone, it's not like there was anyone he wanted to talk with and he no longer needed it for business purposes, he would wait. He was reluctant to return back to his beach house, but he didn't have any other options at this point.

The methadone seemed to be keeping his savage cravings at bay, but he was going stir crazy just sitting around the beach house all day. He needed to find something to occupy his time with. Looking back Javier realized he had no hobbies or interest, in the past work always consumed his life and when he wasn't killing people he was snorting or shooting up drugs trying to forget.

Maybe he would get another job, he didn't need the money, but he needed to find something. Besides killing people the only other skill he had was cutting hair. He didn't necessarily look like a hair stylist by any stretch of the imagination, but he figured it was worth a try. He trimmed his now full grown beard and styled his hair in some trending fashion, he wouldn't get the job looking the way he normally did. He thought back to the hair salon across from the café he had eaten at the week before and decided he would start there. Getting a job there was probably out of his league considering it had been so long since he had cut hair, his tattoos might be off putting to the wealthy tourists, and he didn't speak any foreign languages. He decided on a button up shirt, but he would have to swelter in the shirt and leave the sleeves down so he didn't expose his demonic artwork.

The salon wasn't too terribly crowded upon his arrival. There were four stylists working three women and one man. Javier immediately felt out of place, he knew he wouldn't be what they were looking at least based on the employee's appearances.

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" The voice belonged to the receptionist, she was middle aged, but well maintained, her face resembled plastic, Javier wondered how many surgeries she had.

"Yes, I just moved here from Tijuana I ran my own salon up there, but it got torched during a riot last month. Moved down here to be with family, everyone in town says this is the best place to work at, was wondering if you had any booth openings," Javier explained.

"Oh honey that's terrible," the ladies tone was sympathetic, but her expression changed she wondered if she was sincere or sarcastic.

"You'll have to talk to Andres, he owns this salon, I'm not sure if we have any openings or not, one of our stylists just went on maternity leave, but I don't know if he's replacing her or not, it looks like he'll be finished soon if you want to take a seat I'll send him over," her expression maintained the same, maybe she couldn't change her expression.

"Thank you ma'am I appreciate it," he gushed. The lady giggled, and returned down to her paperwork, nice touch he thought. For once Javier was grateful for the opportunity to wait, it would give him a chance to watch the other stylists and their technics. The three women were around Javier's age or younger, and seemed fairly new to this profession. One of them particular seemed less experienced then the others he noted, her lines were uneven and the highlights she had just put in the customers hair didn't sit long enough and looked dull. Andres by far was the most experienced which you could expect. His technic was flawless and he chatted to the customer charismatically. Javier guessed him to be in his late thirties, he was short, dark, with long hair pulled back in a bun, and a goatee, he resembled a renaissance painter.

It took Andres less than ten minutes to finish up with the customer, he sent her on her way laughing all smiles. The secretary and owner exchanged a few words before he sauntered over to Javier.