Grasshopper Winter

Nola asked me, “How would you like to make a million dollars?”
“You don't have a million dollars.”
“No, but Jerry has at least a couple of million, maybe even a lot more.”
“You intend to rip off Jerry?”
Nola said, “Rip off Jerry and then move somewhere he can't get at me.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
Nola said, “It should be simple and not dangerous. I have some knockout stuff that some of the bartenders use. Odorless, tasteless and quick acting. Jerry wants me to come to his place Wednesday night, after work. I'm gonna bring some fancy liquor and the knockout stuff. When Jerry goes to sleep, we rip him off for big bucks. Jerry always makes buys on Thursday, so he'll have at least a couple of million in cash on hand.”
“Why do you need me?”
Nola said, “Jerry has the money in a safe. I can't open the safe. I suspect that you can. With my share of the money, I can escape. All you need to do is open the safe and you get rich.”
“There's a lot more to what you need to do than what you think. I also suspect that there's a lot more than you're telling me.”
Nola said, “That's why I'm talking to you.”
“We need to meet, in secret, and talk this out.”
Okay, we make arrangements and Saturday morning, early, I pick Nola up and we drive over to Clairemont, East of the beach. As I drive, we talk.
Nola is scared for real. She tells me, “Jerry is insane. He's become a really big time drug dealer. However, he wants to become the biggest drug dealer in San Diego. He's apparently negotiating with some Mexicans, so that he can become the main pipeline from Tijuana to Los Angeles. He wants me to screw the Mexicans, so that he can get in with them. Once he gets things started, he'll move in more girls and start a sort of whorehouse based drug empire. I want no part of it.”
I can see why Jerry would want to start with Nola. Mexicans value light skin and blonde hair. When the Spanish first arrived in Mexico, a lot of the conquistadors married Amerind women and the children were mixed, light or dark skinned. The light skinned children got education and careers. The dark skinned children got stoop labor in the fields. The trend has continued to this day, if not quite to the same level.
I then ask Nola, “So, Jerry wants you to fuck his suppliers, so that he can secure his drug dealing empire. Once he gets things going, he recruits more girls and his harem takes care of his business associates. He needs to start somewhere and you're somewhere. Is that the story?”
Nola says, “It's even worse. According to one of the girls, Jerry has bought a whole suite of video recording equipment. Once he gets a girl, he plans to tape her nude and in action. Then, if she tries to resist in any way, he shows people the sex video.”
“Okay, so you have to escape. We rip Jerry off and make a million dollars each. Then what?”
Nola sighs and says, “I can't stay here. Back in high school, I had a best girlfriend. She and her family moved away, far away. However, I kept in touch with her, letters back and forth kind of thing. Her family has a business, quite some distance from San Diego. I can go there and work. I won't need to work for the money, but I do need to work to hide the fact that I have the stolen million. After a couple of years, I can check things out here at the beach and maybe even move back.”
“If you move, you leave a trail, movers, apartment referrals, that sort of thing.”
“Not really. I already gave notice and moved out of my apartment. I moved in with another girl and everything's in her name. I have most of my stuff in storage and I can pack what I have left into my car and just drive away. Jerry can't find me.”
“It appears that you do have a real problem. The place I work, we deal with the military. I can get explosives to break Jerry's safe. If you can feed Jerry the knockout stuff, it should be simple for you to let me in, I blow the safe and we each get a little rich.”
Nola says, “It's the only way out for me.”