Sagehen Mesa - Season 2 - Episode 10 - Cliff the Lonely Kingpin

 Amateurs! Good employees are hard to find. Since the Thurstons and that pretty-boy Trever were taken out of play, I'm left as the top dog of the organization. Boy has it been rough. 

I've had to lie low for quite some time, and the buzzberry business has been destroyed. I've been hiding underground - literally. 

When everything fell apart, I headed for the hills. I established a new hideout and camped out there while I dug out my current abode nearby. It's not much, but I'm getting by. There's no plumbing here, but I'm a hop, skip and jump from the church which tends to be vacant every day except Sunday. There's  a decent shitter there. For showers, I have to sneak over to the renovated school house my snooty scientist sister financed. I think she's deluding herself thinking the kids in this town have any interest in science, but she put a state-of-the-art science facility in it just the same. 

I'm a bit of a scientist myself in my own way, so I'm not really judging. Stephanie was always interested in chemistry, biology, and that realm while I favored inventing and engineering. Some people who don't know me just assume I'm some redneck miner with no interest in higher-level thinking, but they're wrong. I've been to college after all. I have a degree in geology and geological engineering.  I've got big plans for this town. If only I could find some decent lackeys to contribute to the organization. I came across two potential minions, but they didn't pan out. The first one was a woman, and she set out to burgle a house, and of all the houses in town, she had to chose the SHERIFF'S house!

Sheriff Rae took her out immediately. 

I quickly decided to send the woman packin' once she was released from jail. So long, sweetheart, you're clearly going to be too much of a liability. 

The next one was some guy from Starlight Shores. I arranged to meet with him out at the junkyard. He bragged and bragged about how stealthy and agile he was. "Like a ninja!" he insisted. Well I told him to prove it, and sent him out to steal something and bring it back to the hideout to show me. A few hours later he came back with a ladder. A ladder! 

"Didn't the place have some electronics or other valuables?" I asked.

"Well no. The place was a dump really. Just a hole in the ground to be fair."

For cryin' out loud. This lamebrain robbed ME! I don't know how he did it. I posted cameras all around my little hole in the ground to record any intruders. You might think I'm paranoid, but people really are out to get me after all. Anyway, I ran back the footage, and this lamebrain CLIMBED DOWN the ladder, then stole it!

How the hell did he get out of the hole you might ask? I guess he wasn't lying about being agile. 

No dice son, agility is great, but you don't have enough brains to pour piss out of a boot!

I need someone local who knows the town and the people in it, but I'm pretty short on friends lately. Tim would be an obvious choice, but I'm sure he's being watched like a hawk because of his affiliation with me. Some new people have moved in lately. There's the family who moved into the Turston's old house. They have some kind of foofy artsy operation set up where the Kine Dairy is. I stopped by to check it out a while back to see if there was anything of value to steal, but art isn't my strong suit and I don't know what is valuable and what isn't. Maybe I need to find me one of them art appraisers. 

Anyway, high-and-mighty Josie Williams, (well I guess she's Toledo now after marrying that foreigner,) was there lookin' around and she was givin' me the side eye. It occurred to me that she might have played a hand in the downfall of the operation with all her gossipin' around town about me and mine, so I confronted her. 

She mouthed off to me, and I admit I lost my temper. We had a scuffle. Now, it's out of character for me to lay a hand to a woman, but dagnabbit, there's something about Josie and the way she judges me that makes my blood boil. I do regret my actions, but nothing can be done about it now. 

She ain't the only woman gunnin' for me. I've got two exes now who I swear are stalkin' me. I don't get out much, but sometimes a guy needs to get a shower, some supplies, or just a meal out. No matter where I go, Tess or Bobbi or both are sure to follow. The other day, I stopped in for some groceries, and there they were. 

I came across this young teenager I didn't recognize and thought I might be able to train him up for the organization, but it turns out he's the son of that broad who runs the Art Barn, so I guess he's off the list. 

He says I traumatized his momma, and he wants nothing to do with me. Some people are way too sensitive. 

So I guess I'll grab a quick workout at the school and head back to my hidey hole. Recruitment can wait for another day. I need to work on the details of my master plan.