Butthole Chapter 1.2

Pepe was standing at the corner of Forbes and Espana in the dead of night, waiting for a cab.
"Taxi!"
"Where to boss?"
"City Hall."
"At this hour?" asked the cab driver, bewildered.
"Just take me there." Pepe quipped.
Pepe hoped on the cab, clutching his bag tightly on his side.
Along the way, Pepe looked out the window and saw remnants of a once glorious city.
What it is now is a mixture of dirt, grime, and rubble brought down by greed, drugs, and corruption.
"What a waste..." he muttered.
Suddenly a convoy of heavily-tinted cars w/ police escorts passed by recklessly.
"Damn corrupt politico, he'll sell his soul to the devil just to quench his insatiable greed." said the driver while pointing to the black Mercedes.
Pepe nodded in agreement.
"Why are you going to city hall at this hour, you have a death wish?" queried the driver.
"I'm doing one last job." Pepe said.
"Last job?"
"Yeah...one last job."
At City Hall's east entrance, Pepe waited near a pillar, a full moon giving it an eerie glow. He waited patiently, mindful of every movement around him. "This will be my last stint, I had enough of this. Too many screw-ups happening, I can't afford to blow this one up" he thought. At the same time remembering his family back home. With a wife and 2 kids, 20 years in the force isn't enough to support them through college. He needed money, not only for the kids but also for their own comfort. Greed, it seems, is slowly creeping in to him. But he always manage to reject the idea. He believed in his principles, he believed in his ideals despite his contemporaries getting it easy with bloodied hands. All he wanted was a decent life and a good future for his family. Maybe this is his way out, "I'm not greedy, but I needed this. It doesn't seem wrong. I'm not breaking any law, I'm just sharing what I know. They're all corrupt anyway, they had they're reach all the way up the Ombudsman's balls. So it's not wrong to have someone whoop their ass, even if it's the mafia out to settle a score." That's how Pepe rationalized it. "Maybe, just maybe, this viscous cycle will end up erasing both the mafia and the corrupt politicos".
Suddenly, headlights broke his chain of thought. "Here he comes" he muttered.
From the car, a young guy wearing a silk gray suit came out along with 2 burly body guards, one of them missing an eye. The trio approached Pepe, cautiously, as if they're being watched.
"Mario, you're a mafioso now?" Pepe asked.
"You like it?" Mario responded while strutting his stuff, "pays well if your loyal. You got the goods?"
"Yeah, you got the money?"
Mario showed him his duffel bag, stuffed with bundles of money.
Pepe showed his clutch bag, containing a folder thick with documents.
"That's all of it?" Mario asked while reaching out for the clutch bag.
"Yeah", Pepe answered while picking up the duffel bag.
"Nice doing business with you, as always" Mario quipped while walking back to his car.
Pepe didn't answer, he stood there waiting for them to leave. After they left, he walked towards Taft Avenue and hailed a taxi ride home.
"It's done. All hell will break loose...Got to disappear for good." He said to himself while looking out of the window of his cab.
He called his wife, "Honey, pack your things now, we're leaving. Inform the kids. You know what to do." He hang up. He needed to ensure a clean getaway before his shit hits the fan.
He needed to get away...NOW.