by N Gray
“I want to know.” Joe hung on my every word. “Will you help me?”
I glanced at him for a heartbeat; the silence was thick enough to slice through. I considered his request.
“I’m serious, Travis. Please, you gotta help me.”
“Maybe.” I wiped beer off my top lip and set my bottle on the bar counter. “But do you have the stomach for it, Joe? Because, once you start, you can’t stop halfway and expect to go on as if nothing happened. They won’t allow you to get away with kidnapping them. What will you do when he screams? You’ll be hurting another human being. You can’t leave them in the balance and expect to go on about your day. You’ll need to take that final shot, so to speak.” I grinned and watched him with hooded eyes as I sipped from the bottle.
Joe was quiet, contemplating, the wheels of his thoughts milling around and around. Then he decided. I could tell by the seriousness in his eyes, pursed lips, and that single nod. “I’ve been thinking about it for a very long time, Travis. You’ve known that I’ve wanted to hurt them ever since my brother—” He choked up again and shook his head, as if shaking away the memories. “I need to do it, if not for me, for my parents. God bless their souls. Even though they won’t be around to know I avenged their son. I will know, and it will bring me peace.”
“Are you sure it’ll bring you peace? You can never bring back your brother. He’s gone. But, if you go through with it, Joe, it may bring you some comfort. Or guilt. Are you willing to accept either?”
He nodded. “I’m serious. I want to do it. No, I need to do it.”
I processed his words and what he was asking me. It only took two years, but we finally got to this point. “Okay, sure. When?”
“Tomorrow night. I know where they’ll be.”
Dafne gasped. “You’ve been following them?”
“No, Dafne, I’ve been monitoring them. I wanted to make sure they didn’t hurt anyone else. There’s a difference.”
“You guys can’t be serious.” Dafne folded her arms, making her breasts seem fuller.
“Oh, I’m serious, Dafne, like blood that runs through my body, like the air I need to breathe. I’m dead serious.” Joe’s words were laced with malice and pent-up anger.
“Can I ask something?” Damian raised a freckled hand like he used to at school.
I nodded in his direction.
“What do you do with the body? Just leave it there? What if the cops find it? What do you do then? What about the evidence you leave behind?”
“I’m glad you raised this, Damian, because the devil is in the detail. With enough preparation, it’s all possible.” I winked darkly. “Let me know if you need a wingman too.”
Damian rubbed the stubble on his jaw then ran his fingers through his copper and grey-streaked hair, considering my offer.
Aika raised her hand. “When you’re done helping Joe, I need you to come with me. Maybe the weekend?” She licked her lips.
One side of my mouth lifted. “You have my number, Aika. Just let me know.”
“What if one of us tells?” Dafne downed the rest of her wine, followed by a hiccup.
The thought had crossed my mind, and now that everything was finally out in the open and falling into place, the possibility of someone running to the cops would always be there. If pushed too hard, everybody breaks—except me. It would take more than a cops threat for me to cave.
But I knew they wouldn’t, because deep down inside, each of them wanted revenge just as much as the person sitting beside them. Each were bloodthirsty enough to do what needed to be done. Each hid a darkness they were too afraid to reveal to each other, the shame they felt. That’s why I was here, to bring that part of them to the light.
For two years, we had spoken about those we had lost and what they would do if they bumped into the person who had hurt their family. For two years, I had waited patiently for this day.
“Well then, perhaps we should all help each other. That way, we’re all responsible and will all be held accountable for each other’s actions.”
Neal swallowed. “I haven’t even asked for anything yet, and I’m already guilty.”
“Really, you aren’t thinking about offing that man? Do you think your sister would still be around if it wasn’t for him?” Aika chided.
Neal squeezed the bottle until his knuckles went white, slammed it onto the counter and spilled the contents. “That’s not what I’m saying, it’s just—”
“The guilt?” I added. “And you don’t want to be held responsible for someone else’s actions? I get it, Neal. I don’t think any of us want someone else’s conduct held over our heads. But, if we do it together—each of us doing one thing to help the other—then no one can talk to the cops. If we do this together, we ensure the person we’re after doesn’t hurt any of us or gets away again. We’re stronger together, Neal. Who knows? You might enjoy it.”
“Enjoy killing?” Neal yelled. “I don’t think so, Travis.” He furrowed his brows and wiped the sweat beading on his bald head. “What’s wrong with you? I don’t know how you can stand there and enjoy this!” His raised voice quivered. He wiped misty eyes.
“I get it, Neal.” I nodded and stood to stare down at him; he was a head shorter than me. “You think it’s wrong to feel the way you’re feeling, like it’s supposed to be bad, that you are bad. But the reality is, you don’t even feel guilty for wanting to hurt the man who killed your sister. You want to make him suffer as much as he made your sister suffer. And that’s what scares you, Neal. It feels so awful that it feels right. Am I wrong?”
He shook his head and pursed his lips.
Knowing Neal, I didn’t think he trusted the words he wanted to say—he knew I was right, because he had those feelings. He wanted to do this. They all did.
“You want to hurt him so badly you can taste it on your lips. You already smell his blood and can feel his torn flesh between your fingers.” I walked around the bar, so I could face him. I placed my meaty hands on his shoulders and squeezed. “It’s okay, Neal. You are safe here.” I glanced at the others. “I give you permission to have all those feelings. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you. It’s human nature to want to hurt those who hurt us or our family. You’re all safe here.”
All eyes glistened in the gentle light and stared at me. They were shocked, yet, in each pair of eyes, I saw a glimmer of hope, a slice of heaven knowing the person who had hurt them and their family would finally get what they deserved. Karma at its best—and we were fucking karma.
“We’re the Horsemen, but instead of four, we are six.” I chuckled. “We’re the ones who will rid the Earth of the evil people who sinned against us and got away with their crimes.”
“Yes!” Aika yelled, fisting the air. She downed her drink and threw her glass on the floor.
We watched it shatter into a million pieces.
“Sorry, but fuck I’ve wanted to do this for so long. Please, guys. Let’s help out each other. I’m in, Travis.”
Chapter Seven
I woke the next morning with Cheryl opening my bedroom curtains. She’s lucky I wore boxers to bed, and that I hadn’t brought anyone home with me last night. But I hardly did that anymore.
“Morning, Mr. Green,” Cheryl chimed, her accent prominent with that heavenly Mexican flavor.
“Morning, Cheryl. How is everything at home these days?” I threw off the covers and sat upright, running my fingers through my bed-hair.
“It’s good, but it didn’t start out that way.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
“Well, that horrible man cornered Mikey yesterday afternoon, threatened him and all of us, even his baby sister. Imagine, a grown man wanting to hurt someone so small. She’s still a baby.” She shook her head as she walked to the laundry basket. “Mikey broke down in tears after I didn’t stop nagging him about what had happened. I could see he wasn’t himself. He was as white as a ghost—as white as you, Mr. Green. You know you should take a holiday and go to t
he beach, tan that lily-white ass of yours.” She laughed at her own joke.
I chuckled as I opened my cupboard door.
“Anyway, Mikey told me what had happened. That Nails commanded for him to sell that white drug for the club.” She shook her head in disgust, her mouth pinched into a tight line. “But something happened, Mr. Green. I think the heavens finally opened for us. You know what? That other man, the big one who owns the club, sent Mikey a text saying he was no longer needed, and one of his guys will fetch the drugs from him. Which they did last night.” Her eyes glistened in the morning glare as a smile played across her face.
“Well, I’m glad everything worked out for you and your family.” I wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders.
It was a bad move, because that’s when the floodgates opened, and she burst out crying. She covered her face with both hands as her body shook.
“It’s okay, Cheryl. It’s okay.” I consoled her as best I could. No man liked it when a woman cried. The only time I enjoyed seeing a woman cry was when Mia had begged for my forgiveness. I pushed down the memory; I would enjoy it later, now was not the time.
“I’m fine. Thank you, Mr. Green. You’re so good to us. I don’t know how we could ever repay you.” She wiped her honey-colored eyes dry.
“You have worked for my family for years, Cheryl. It is I who owes you. When my parents were murdered, you raised me as one of your own children. And, for that, I will never forget, and I’ll always be here for you and your grandchildren.” Both of Cheryl’s kids were victims of gang-related incidents. Gang members had gunned down her sons while their girlfriends bore their children then disappeared with the next man. She was alone and looking after two grandchildren. Mikey was a young adult, Sarah only a toddler.
“Thank you,” she said as she hurried to do the washing.
When she was out my room, I closed the door and dressed. Once done, I came to the kitchen to find French toast with a fruit salad on the table. I ate while I read the business section of the newspaper.
When Cheryl was done cleaning my office, I entered and locked the door behind me. I fired up my laptop and switched on the television, so I could check the stock market. I read the important emails and deleted the rest then made a few phone calls about my stock options and an important call to my business partner who ran the company I owned. He held thirty percent shares while I owned the rest. He managed the day to day of the tech startup we had created together since 1999, while I had the money and the vision to keep it going. He had developed the code, and we took our company into the future together.
The program was called Doe, as in John Doe. I named it that because it was something that could be anything and anywhere—it was nameless and faceless yet powerful enough to collect data on everyone it could.
My partner built it with a few programmers, which we contracted out to the various government institutions. Every year and every new version, we had improved on its capabilities, which scared and excited me.
The program worked by allowing the police force or FBI to pull data on anyone. In today’s day and age, data was gold and traded on the dark web—from credit cards to identity theft.
We built Doe in such a way that we could detect anyone with any kind of online presence; after a search and filter, it efficiently grouped everything into one place. If anyone changed their name or address, we could find it, then the user would confirm the search. The program looked up their various social media through IP address, digital footprint, or facial recognition—and not only by name, because names and emails could be changed. By doing so, we could review anyone’s history—where they checked in and who they were with, what items they bought if they used a credit card and were those items flagged as dangerous. This was how the agencies could find anyone who were trying so hard to stay hidden. The best thing for anyone who wanted to be a ghost was to not have any kind of online footprint at all.
The tool I loved playing around on had a few additional features that nobody else had access to. All I had to do was insert a few keywords, and the program would do the rest. This part of the program dug deeper into the individual I was after. After learning a few things along the way, I developed this algorithm along with machine learning and AI components that the level of output had a competency level of 99.7%. It searched the dark web along with anything connected to the internet. Every single thing.
If I was looking for happy people, it brought up those who were having a great day based on social media content and comments. If I was searching for certain guns, I could limit the output to who had purchased guns in the last forty-eight hours and had fired their weapon based on live feeds from nearby cameras. We had video footage from everywhere—security cameras, ATMs, traffic, baby monitors, and even the teddy bear with a hidden webcam inside. We saw everything. We even had to purchase a warehouse just to store all the data servers, with backups in another location.
Then, if I was searching for anyone in my area who might enjoy having some blood on their hands, it would reveal the five individuals I attended a support group with. That search hadn’t been as quick or easy, as I had to go through a few algorithms to find them, along with a few confidential sessions and violating a few HIPPA regulations. But I eventually did. They were strong willed, yet if coaxed could do something illegal. Once I had the common denominator, I had created a support group and had sent them personalized invitations to join. It would be a safe place where they could say what they wanted to say and feel what they wanted to feel. And, after two years of conditioning and planting ideas, they could do what they really wanted to do.
Doe was the absolute best thing since the internet started and fried everyone's brains by making them lazy. And, as I had agreed with my business partner, we only shared one portion of the program with the government contracts we had, not the part I used; that part was only for me.
I dialed Gregory’s number, and he answered overly friendly on the first ring. “Travis, buddy, how’s everything going at home?” Something was up. He was never this friendly and so early in our conversation. He was in his forties, going through a divorce and was always miserable.
“It’s fine. Listen, I need to know the meaning of this email I just received.”
“Oh, they sent it to you as well?” he stammered.
“They would. I own most of the company.” I frowned, even though I knew he couldn’t see me.
“Yeah, you keep saying that, Travis. Don’t worry. Everybody knows you own the majority.”
I didn’t have time for his childish behavior. I grunted into the cellphone. “Tell me, Gregory. I want to know what happened at the meeting yesterday to bring this on.”
Gregory sighed, and I could hear disturbance near the phone.
“Where are you?”
“It didn’t go down too well, Travis. They want the whole program, or they’ll shut us down, saying what we’re doing is illegal.”
“But who told them about it, Gregory? The only way they could’ve known about the part of the program I use is if you told them. Now tell me, who did you tell, and why?”
“Uh …” Gregory was stalling. I could hear typing in the background.
“What are you doing, Gregory?” I yelled into the mouthpiece.
“I’m sorry, Travis. When they asked whether our program could do certain functionalities, I said yes without thinking about what we discussed. I needed to do what I had to for us to keep the contract.”
The company didn’t need the contracts; we had other revenue. More wind caught his phone, and it sounded like he was outside, even though I heard typing. I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut. I would fix this. I always fixed everything.
“It’s okay, Gregory. Tell them it’s not finished yet, that some functionalities don’t work, but we’re busy developing them.” I knew this was bound to happen, that the government would want more; they always wanted more. And even though I didn’t want them to have all of it, perhaps we could offe
r a finger instead of giving them the entire arm.
“Uh,” Gregory paused. “You aren’t mad?”
“Gregory, I am pissed you didn’t tell me about this yourself. Instead, I have to read an email where they demand things. You need to speak with me, buddy.” I smiled, hoping he would hear it in my voice. “Okay? Listen, we haven’t seen each other in over a month. How about lunch today? Can you make it at short notice?”
Gregory exhaled so loud I had to pull the phone from my ear.
“You don’t know how happy I am to hear that, Travis. I thought you’d be mad.” It sounded like he dropped the phone, then he sniffed.
“Are you crying?” I stifled a chuckle. “I’m not angry, Gregory, but yeah, you should’ve told me. That’s all. I’ll see you later. Since we have private matters to discuss regarding the company, come to my house. I’ll ask Cheryl to whip up something tasty for lunch.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll see you around one.”
I ended the call and placed the phone onto the table then slammed my fist into the desk. Everything shook, and Newton’s cradle moved; each of the balls hit the other but out of sync. My pulse hammered in my ears as my heart thumped. This was not good. I was foolish to think I could trust someone to run my business for me. This was the last straw I needed. It was time to take back the helm.
“Thanks, Cheryl. Lunch smells wonderful.” I opened the oven door, and the smell tantalized my taste buds.
“Pleasure, Mr. Green. Are you sure you want me to leave? Who’ll do your dishes?”
“I can pop them in the dishwasher. Last time I checked, my arms still worked.” I smirked as I walked to the front door and opened it for her. I checked the clock; it was almost time.
“What about the food? Who will dish up?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “It’s all right, Cheryl. I’m sure I can manage.”
“Yes, yes. Sorry, Mr. Green.” She grabbed her bag and shuffled to the front door, fixing her shoe at the same time. “See you tomorrow morning then.”