Congrats Benny >>> PREMIERE! <<<

1

They wanted to steal my very last pastry

I could still hear the cops behind me. The well trained police force of something up in northern Sweden turned out to have more power in their vocal chords than in their feet. I knew the terrain by heart and even I had trouble running between the pines, leaping over the creeks, avoiding the pockets of air underneath the moss under my soles. I’m a tall guy and I’m skinny as hell. My blue jeans and my black hoodie where by this point already torn by the branches and so where my hands and face. I’d pulled the hoodie over my head to protect my neck, and yes I did come to think of the rap song as I did it. I had the song in my head hyping me up enough to take a leap over an ants nest.

In my left hand I was carrying the battery charger belonging to the Android phone in its original box that I was carrying in my right. Those two things where all I had time to grab when the cops entered my front yard. I didn’t even have to break a window like in the movies. I simply grabbed the box, the charger, opened the window in the back and took off through the woods from the backside of my house.

It might sound ridiculous but you have to move like a deer or an elk when you are running through the woods and always have your feet constantly ready for surprises - a sort of relaxed state in the ligaments while the muscles are working with full intensity. I had been doing it regularly for the past two months as my body started to shut down from inactivity during the winter. My new found hobby in outdoor exercising was saving my skinny ass. I could go on running for miles if I had to. Three months earlier I would have passed out right about at this point. But I kept on running for a good 45 minutes before I had to stop for the first time.

Well, my house wasn’t really a house, more like a really advanced and comfortable shed. Very simple and at the same time all that I needed. You see, I moved up to the north, a seven hour drive from Stockholm straight north, to escape the physical threat of being killed. At that point I didn’t care about comfort; it was a one hundred percent safety issue. Where could I be safe? Where could they never find me like they found Jörgen? Where could I start over and become at least partially self sustainable until all of this shit cools down? Could I perhaps make some big money during the meantime? Well, if I had time to reflect on all of this at that moment, I would’ve found it ironic that I was running for my freedom, away from that very same place that I’d chosen as a haven. I should’ve realized I’d accomplished the impossible by actually lasting a year and a half up there. But I couldn’t see it in any other way than a big failure to have the cops bust my door in.

I had all the time in the world to figure out how to make a living up there, and of course I had to choose the fast money. Not only that - I of course had to turn greedy. Greed – the oh so obvious pitfall for any illegal business. I mean, sure, it will get you there in the short run. It’s more of a question of where do you go from there on? When you finally have the fifty million euros worth of crypto currencies, what do you do next? Do you realize how many people you’re pissing off merely by owning that kind of money? It felt like everywhere I turned everybody wanted not only a piece of my cake, they wanted to destroy the bakery and steal my very last pastry! I couldn’t allow it to happen. It was way too much money to just accept the faith that was crashing down in front of my feet. I had to do everything I could to put all of that money into safety. This could have been the moment where I didn’t want to be a drug dealer anymore -needless to say I felt the complete opposite.

I still had twelve kilograms of high quality cannabis buds underneath my kitchen floor. It was left over from my previous season. I got rid of 48 kilograms before I got so in to crypto currencies that I sort of just left it there. The greenhouse had a couple of hundred seedlings in it, growing at three different cycles with one week in between. A few minutes away I had two fields with at least 400 plants on each field, maturing and basking in the sun. That’s a thousand plants growing from seed, the same amount of trees I grew the season before that. I had estimated a higher amount of product but I could sell it for a higher price than I expected, and still be the cheapest producer out there. So, the first year was nothing but a success. Anyway, that’s enough weed to do more time than I could take. Sure, keep me in jail for a day or two, no worries. But after two weeks I break down in tears. I can't handle it. It would quickly destroy me, I was sure of that.

My original plan that first year was to get ten kilograms of pure dried and trimmed bud. I got sixty. It really escalated. I remember in the planning stage asking myself: why not overdo it? So I ordered a thousand seeds and for that I got 200 additional for free – I will get back to that. I estimated the value of the bag of seeds as a finished, dried and manicured product. I came to the number 3 million Swedish kronor, which is a little less than 300.000 euro. I really liked that particular number. It was… enough. I never aimed for more than that!

I got down on all four, right beside a creek, and put my entire face right down in the stream. I took a few sips out of the palm of my hand and took a few deep breaths. The phone was still intact. That was the most important thing. On that android phone I hade copies of private keys to Bitcoin wallets. Those wallets had a total value of fifty million euro. More or less. The sound of a twig snapping was all I needed to start running again. I ran towards the bridge.

I ran for another good fifteen minutes, fueled by my oat meal breakfast, adrenaline and some anger. The strong midday sun hit the pavement on the bridge only to get cooled down by the breeze from the deep river pass. The slope was to steep and I lost grip when I took a step onto a round rock. It rolled forward a bit and then plunged backwards. I landed on my arm and began rolling down the slope like if I was doing a jackass stunt. When I opened my eyes I was laying in a cloud of dust. I lost my breath and I couldn’t get up on my feet again for a while. I might even have passed out for a moment.

Next thing I knew I could see the bridge ahead of me. It’s barely fifty meters long, passing over the Indals river. The Indals river drags you down to the bottom with no mercy, it’s a well known fact, and it doesn’t let you go until you get spit out like an old chewing gum on the other side of the power plant turbines. Even elks gets pulled down by those forces.

My ankle was messed up pretty bad but I could still stand on it. I had to slow down. I had to focus and figure out where to go next. My first stop would have to be the nearest city; Sundsvall, about 90 kilometers away. I tried to calculate how long that 90 minute drive would take on foot. I could get to Dinos place in Sundsvall and from there on… I’d figure something out.

When I was half way across the bridge I could see the patrol car of the police force unit of whatever approaching. Within seconds they where barricading the bridge with guns pointing at me. I remember thinking that I was fucking done.

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--- I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Congrats Benny! ---
--- The second chapter The Standoff will be published on Thursday July 21st. Only here on Steemit! ---
--- Make sure to take a quick peek at my blog for the introduction to the series, upcoming articles on creative writing and more! ---

JL