“Alright now, you said If I won the game, you would tell me who you were, now spill the beans. You need to keep your end of the bargain now.”
The mysterious man then begins to wade by the pool table. He is feeling scared, and starts to act very nervously. He then walks up to Russell and whispers at him.
“Okay, I’ll tell you. But you have to come outside with me though.”
Russell frowns at him, but nods his head. Jesse hands Russell back his suit jacket, and Russell proceeds to put it on. The mysterious man and Russell then walk out to the bar’s parking lot. The man then covers his mouth with his hand, and in a shy way, speaks to Russell.
“Now look, you have to promise that you won’t freak out once I tell you who I am. Because I’m not a bad guy, I just make bad choices sometimes. I’m scared, and part of me thinks once I tell you who I am, you are going to freak the fuck out. Please don’t.”
Russell continues to frown at the man and give him impatient looks. Russell then crosses his arms, and moves in closer to the man, and softly speaks to him.
“Man, just tell me who the fuck you are. I don’t want to turn on my mean switch, but I will very quickly if you don’t hurry up and tell me who you are.”
The man becomes even more scared and nervous and puts his hands in his suit jacket. He starts to waddle himself around the parking lot. He walks back to Russell who is looking very angry and fed up with him. Russell has had enough and grabs him by the collar. He finally reveals who he is with a guilty look on his face.
“I’m the guy who ran in the robbery.”
Russell while still grabbing him by the collar, starts shaking his head, and laughs.
Chapter 9
NOTHING LOVED, NOTHING HATED
For almost a minute, Russell continued to grab the man by his collar, staring at his eyes with a confused grin. Russell had a strange feeling about this man, and it turns out the feeling was justified. He was now looking in the eyes of the man who got away in the robbery. The first thing that can only come to Russell’s shocked mind, that this is the more cowardly man in the robbery. He wasn’t that one that killed Peter and Jennifer, yet he was still involved in the robbery. Russell if he was programmed like a normal human being which he isn’t, would be calling the authorities right now on this man and doing a citizen’s arrest. However, he isn’t going to. Russell is sociopathic, and doesn’t think in that manner. He starts to over analyze everything on the table. Consider the fact this man was brave and stupid enough to admit that he was the other person in the robbery. Russell felt this guy wasn’t as tough as he was leading himself out to be. This man was clearly just as confused as Russell was, and maybe misplaced in society, not knowing what category to put himself under. Russell finally let’s go of his collar, and the mystery man starts to dust his jacket off looking at Russell while he’s doing it. Russell then starts to give the man a threatening look, and starts to speak to him.
“You’re not so tough. If you were a real tough guy, you wouldn’t be stupid enough to just admit you’re at large for an armed robbery. You robbed my fucking bank, your buddy killed two of my friends. I don’t know how you have the balls to stand there. I should fucking kill you right now. There is something completely off about you. What is your name? Your real name.”
The man looks around the lot for a few seconds, then turns his head to Russell.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I’m a car jacker and I’m a mechanic. That’s my thing. I don’t rob banks. I hang around the wrong crowd. The other guy, Scotty. I thought he was a cool guy, but he wasn’t. He always tried to convince me to rob banks with him. The day of the robbery, was the first day I ever robbed a bank. We robbed two banks that day, and yours was the third.”
Russell gives the man a disgusted look and walks closer to him.
“What’s your fucking name. I didn’t ask to hear any of that. I mean, I’m glad you told me, but I would like to know what your name is. What is your name?”
Another few seconds pass with the man looking around the parking lot with a scared look on his face, before he finally reveals who he is to Russell.
“My name is Brian. Brian Fratelli. I’m originally from New York. I’m not from LA. I only came out here because I was into street racing and cars like I said. I’m not a bank robber, I’m not a murderer or any of that. I just jack cars, and rich people cars. That’s it.”
Brian then begins to explain himself more to Russell.
“I was reading the newspaper, and on the obituaries, I remember the faces of the man and woman that Scott killed. I just had to go to the funeral to pay my respects.”
Russell then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He takes two cigarettes of the carton and hands one to Brian who quickly snags it from him. Russell lights the cigarette, and after giving him the lighter, Brian lights his cigarette up as well. Brian was a handsome, and medium built, shaped and heighted man. He had brown hair, in the form of a tapered crew cut. Brian spoke in a clear and smooth east coast accent. He is of Italian descent, and even though he was thirty-one-years old, he could easily pass for being in his twenties. Brian like Russell, suffers from narcissist personality disorder, and also deals with anti-social issues in addition to that. His personal life is very complex to explain. Brian never met his father, and his mother passed away he when was young. His family lives all across the country, but mainly on the east coast of the United States. He struggles with relationships, and considers himself a self-proclaimed “trisexual”, and struggles finding bonds with both men and with women. So he lives a single life by himself. Ever since he was young, Brian was always a juvenile delinquent, and he had a bad habit of stealing cars. Which he has been cautioned by the police many times for. It was something he could never control himself over. The more luxurious the car was, the more he wanted to get his hands on it. But Brian claims he would only steal cars, from people that looked like they were high profile. Such as wealthy and prolific people.
Brian would use his carjacking skills to earn money for himself by taking the cars to chop shops, participating in illegal street racing actives, or taking the parts from these cars, and using them to help out less fortunate people who he would do car repairs for. Brian used to work for an auto repair shop in Los Angeles not long ago, but sadly was fired when he was caught trying to used unauthorized parts to fix cars. Many years ago, Brian formed and on and off relationship with a dangerous man named Scott. Brian would work for him by stealing cars and delivering them for profit. Brian began to feel guilty from stealing cars and didn’t want to continue doing that. He wanted to change his life around, or at least find something else to earn a hustle off from.
A couple months ago, Scott who has robbed many banks in the past, approached Brian and asked if he wanted to help him rob three separate banks on the same day. Brian reluctantly agreed to help him out, despite not having any past experience as a bank robber. He was unaware of Scott’s history, and that he was an extremely violent man. Brian managed to steal the van they used for the heist. Upon witnessing Brian shoot Jennifer, he became scared and ran out of the bank. Brian didn’t receive any money from the robbery, as the other robber was killed by the police, leaving the stolen money in the bank. After Jennifer was shot, he quickly ran to his residence, without going into the van to retrieve the rest of the stolen money.
Kevin and Jesse who were secretly watching Russell and Brian the entire time, walk to the area of the parking lot which they are standing in, and join them. Kevin then talks to Brian.
“This is a small world huh? Every fucking thing is connected. Wow. We’re not gonna snitch on you, don’t worry. We’re a bunch of psychos too. Welcome to the club.”
Kevin then takes a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and gives Jesse one as well. They both light their cigarettes. Kevin then turns his head to Russell, and continues to talk.
“Wow Russ, you have some sort of sixth sense or something. You knew this guy was hiding someth
ing, I just don’t know how you were able to figure that out. Damn.”
Russell starts to take puffs of his cigarette smiling at Kevin.
“Yeah Kev, I’m the devil remember. I’m just using my satanic powers. I’m not like anybody else, and I can tell when someone is hiding something. I’m magic.”
Jesse then turns his head towards Brian and asks him a question.
“So, you were really the guy that ran? I can’t believe any of this, how does all of this come full circle like that? I also find it funny that Russell had a feeling about you too.”
Brian smiles at Jesse and takes a puff from his cigarette. Then replies to him.
“Yup, that was me. I’m not proud or anything. I mean, I’m sorry. All I can do is apologize, and I feel so stupid admitting this to all of you. I trust you guys, like you all trust me. I’m not an evil guy at all, I just make really bad choices and hang with the wrong people.”
Kevin then puts hand on Brian’s shoulder and speaks to him in a soft tone.
“We all make mistakes, it’s fine. The important part is that you feel remorse, and that you are honest with all of us. That’s a good start, that’s all that really matters if you think about it.”
Russell takes another puff of his cigarette and begins to trust Brian, and realize that he is a safe guy to be around. He sticks his hand to out Brian.
“I’m Russell. I was the manager…well ex manager of the bank. That’s Jesse, you know he was another of the workers at the bank. This is Kevin, he’s my best friend.”
Brian begins to shake all of the guy’s hands. There is an awkward silence for almost two minutes, until Brian turns his head towards Russell, and converses with him.
“Uh, do you want me to buy you guys some more drinks? Is there anything I can do for you guys? Just let me know, and I can do it. I really owe all of you anyways.”
Russell takes another puff of his cigarette, and starts to look around the parking lot. He squints his eyes, and then notices a suspicious looking Volvo with tinted windows. Russell clearly deduces that he also saw this same car at the parking lot of the funeral. Whoever this person is, followed them to the bar. He starts to have an identical feeling that he had towards Brian, and that the person that car belongs to, is as well in some shape or form connected to the incident that happened at the “Sunset Credit Union”. Russell then wonders if he should investigate about this more, or to leave this feeling alone. At this point, Russell feels he has absolutely nothing to lose, and throws his cautions to the wind. He immediately begins to walk over to the car. Kevin notices him doing this, and screams out to him.
“Russ, where are you going? Why are you going to the car man? Russ!”
Russell continues to walk towards the car, with a furious look on his face. He reaches the driver side window, which is tinted to such a deep level, you cannot see who’s inside. Russell then knocks on the driver window, and doesn’t get a response. He knocks again, yelling.
“Open the door. Who are you? I know you’re in there. Open the damn door now.”
Kevin, Jesse and Brian look at Russell in shock. Kevin runs over to Russell.
“Russ come on, there is nobody in that car. Calm down man. You’re starting to scare me again. Just leave it alone Russ. There’s nobody in the car man.”
Russell ignores Kevin, and cups his hands over the car window, in order to see who is inside. The windows are so deeply tinted, it’s impossible to tell. Russell knocks on the door again, and doesn’t receive an answer. He then turns his head towards Kevin.
“Kev, this guy followed us from the funeral. It’s the same car. There was a guy at the funeral I had a weird feeling about, similar to the feeling I had with Brian. This is just crazy.”
Kevin takes a puff from his cigarette and also cups his hands towards the window.
“Russ, he’s probably a cop or something. That’s more than likely what this is. An unmarked cop car, and that’s why you’re acting like that. So if it is a cop, leave him alone Russ.”
Russell turns his head towards Kevin, and snaps back at him.
“Kev, he’s not a cop. Or at least I don’t think he is. He’s just from what I remember a kind of weird looking guy. Kev, this guy looked creepy, I mean you had to have seen him. He was at the funeral but was sitting in the back. I don’t know why he was there either. Hmm.”
Kevin looks down towards the floor and is speechless. In this same moment, Jesse and Brian walk over to the suspicious car, and start to cup their hands on the window. Brian starts to walk around the car and assess different things about it.
“This is a really nice classic Volvo. That’s an unbelievable tint job. I can do something like that quite easy, I’m really good with auto detailing and stuff. Wow, beautiful ride.”
Russell looks at Brian and shakes his head. He continues to knock on the door.
“Hey man, I know you’re in there, so just open the door. I believe you know who I am, so stop fooling around. I’m not gonna hurt you or get mad. Just get out the car man.”
A second after this, the window on the driver’s side lowers a half an inch. The men outside of the car stand in shock and horror from this. A few seconds more later, a voice starts to speak from inside of the car, in a very hushed and eerie manner.
“I’ll get out right now. Hold on, I’ll be out in just a second.”
The window then immediately rolls up, and Russell crosses his arms together. All of the men start to feel anxious and wait in anticipation as to who this actually is. The person eventually exits out of the vehicle; it was the same man Russell had a suspicious feeling about. The man reluctantly starts to position himself out of the car, locking it once he’s out. The man is slender and very pale skinned. He has a grainy and bony childish face. He has short straight black split wavy hair. He walks towards the other four men. He then smiles at all of them and speaks.
“You guys wouldn’t happen to have another smoke would you?”
Russell laughs at him, and Kevin immediately gives him a cigarette. The man then starts to take several heavy puffs of the cigarette. He then starts to introduce himself.
“My name is Victor Romero. You can call me Victor, Vic, Romero. I don’t care.”
Russell relights his cigarette, and starts to talk to Victor.
“Where do I know you from? Why do you look so damn familiar Victor?”
Victor while looking down at the ground smoking his cigarette, remains silent for nearly a minute. He finally looks up towards Russell giving him eye contact and finally responds to him in a very reluctant and nervous tone.
“Two weeks ago, I went inside the ‘Sunset Credit Union’. I didn’t go in there as a customer, I went in there to case the bank. I remember noticing how easy the bank looked to rob. I was planning on robbing it, the same exact day he and his friend came inside to rob it.”
Victor then looks up and points to Brian. Brian looks at Victor with a shocked look. Russell then starts to laugh out loud due to shock, which then also causes Kevin to laugh finding the situation hilarious. Jesse then starts to profile Victor more, and speaks to him.
“I think you’re now starting to look familiar. As a bank teller, I usually keep track of customers that come in. I saw you that day. No offense, but you looked creepy and like a Nazi. You had the same exact outfit you have on now, that day.”
Victor looks up, and walks over towards where Jesse is and smiles. He then proceeds to put his hand on his shoulder, and softly whispers to him.
“Interesting observation. In a past life I may, or may not have been in the Nazi Party.”
He then runs his fingers through Jesse’s hair and smiles at him some more.
“I really love your afro man. I’m not a bad guy. I’m just creepy looking that’s all.
Kevin then starts to laugh at Victor, and starts to tease him.
“Creepy looking? That is such an understatement. Russ, he looks like the fucking Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz. He’s like a scary Nazi, scarecrow guy
.”
Victor then gives Kevin a terrifying cold stare, which causes Kevin to quickly silence himself. Russell then smacks Kevin on the back of the head. He turns and sticks his hand out.
“I’m Russell. That’s Kevin, Brian and Jesse.”
Victor then shakes the hands of all of the guys. Russell profiles Victor to a great degree, and stares at him deeply.
Victor out of all the five men currently together, is the most ambiguous to assess. Not only does Victor struggle with dissociative personality disorder; a mental illness which causes people to have split personalities and have unoptimistic views towards life and society, Victor also suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He has social delusions, and dissociation from society. Similar toward Russell, Victor is not very trustworthy with people, and believes the government is out to murder and eliminate him from the world. He has basically given up towards conforming himself to society in many aspects. Victor is twenty-nine-years-old. He was born to a foreign Japanese mother, and a German American father in California. He has both facial traits of Asian and European features. Victor can speak conversational Japanese and German. His father was in the military, and died during infantry when he was only two years old. His mother died of an illness not long after that. Victor then grew up in foster care all of his life. He hated school, and would always be bullied by his other classmates from the way his face looked. He always struggled with friendships and tried to find a way to fit in. He considers himself a Bisexual/Asexual man, and ignores most romantic relationships. He finds people attractive regardless of gender or body identity. Victor always considered himself an alternative learner, and didn’t take in education and information as others did. Victor dropped out of High School when he was sixteen years old. He then went into a deep depression, and escaped and ran away from his foster home. Victor then joined a Nazi Nationalist cult group in Los Angeles, and stayed in their residence for many years. They practiced a racist and homophobic agenda, promoting and producing hate. A few years ago, Victor developed a change of heart and left the cult. Although the result of that has left him homeless. Victor does have a handgun; which he claims he uses for protection as he lives in the street. When he was in the cult, they provided him with a car, which Victor now lives out of. He has worked a number of odd jobs, mainly being a maintenance handy man for office buildings. Money is still very tight for him, and Victor uses food stamps and dumpster dives to feed himself sometimes.
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained Page 21