As he was talking, Michael moved his hands over his desk pressing a button that made the wooden top slide away showing a light blue screen that Deely had to lean over a bit to see. The man’s hand swiped across the screen, showing a faraway picture of Deely’s restaurant and more than that, a blissful Abigail sitting at a table enjoying an endless amount of food. For the first time since the conversation started, Deely shifted uneasily in his chair.
“At first, we were just gonna take her back to her mom. That lady’s offering a shitload to get her sweet angel back.” Michael paused wanting Deely to feel the full weight of what he was saying before continuing. “But I do have a heart. Might be tiny and cold but it’s definitely still there. If the girl is with you, then she must’ve been through hell with that witch. And lucky for you, I caught wind of your plan before making any hasty decisions. Some clients of mine are on that list you’re planning to expose. They’d pay me thousands just to kill you right now.”
The man reached his hand down out of sight and brought out a pistol, gently setting it on his desk with the barrel pointed toward Deely. “But I like you.” Deely untensed a bit. “And your death wouldn’t be very advantageous to me.”
“What do you want?”
“I want half of the names on the list including those of my clients.”
“And what if I say no?”
“Then, I don’t give a fuck what happens to that girl. I might even hand over my intel to someone who’s not as nice as I am.”
Deely thought for a second, feeling the presence of the gun as each second passed. He couldn’t think of any other way out of the situation.
“Ok.”
“Seriously? It was that easy to convince you?”
“Yeah...but what about the mother? Could you get me more information on her?”
**
Michael looked at Deely interested in what he wanted to do with it and simply nodded his head not wanting to ask and instead wanting to be surprised.
“Of course. So, then it’s a deal.” He reached his hand over the table waiting for Deely to shake his hand. Deely got up and shook his hand and Michael pulled him in closely and whispered in his ear, “Don’t do anything too stupid. We both know what happened to Mom. I’ll be watching.”
**
And that was the end of their interaction. Nicole led Deely back out into the corridor and back out the door he came in, the stench of the bodies filling his nostrils again. Kicking his gun out on the ground, Nicole said her goodbyes, “I hope to see you again.” Then she left, closing the door loudly behind her.
Deely picked up his gun and noticed a purple kiss right on the barrel and he felt the gun was lighter than when he entered. He pulled the mag out to find it empty. All Deely could do was sigh and head toward his glider muttering, “That bitch,” under his breath.
Chapter 19
No one was more upset than Deely with the change in plans, but Abigail surely came in a close second, not hiding any of her disappointment.
“What the fuck? How could they do that? You let them just take over like that?”
“It was the only option.”
“Bullshit that was the only option.”
Meri sat in a barstool not necessarily paying attention to the conversation at hand honestly quite taken with her conversation with Charlie, even though it only amounted to the specials on the menu for today. Deely seemed to only need to convince Abigail of his choice.
Abby looked guiltily at him. “I know I fucked up...in more ways than one. But how is this any better than my own mistakes? We’re just letting half of the men and women on that list get off. How’s that ok?”
“Abby, sometimes it just has to be good enough. We can’t catch everybody, and we can’t save everybody. We must make compromises. That’s just what this job is.”
“But–”
“Sometimes saving a few is really the only option, Abby.”
**
Abby felt like she had every right to be mad but also no right at all, since she was the one who let the phone slip right out of her hands and into theirs in the first place. If it weren’t for her carelessness, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Or maybe it was her karma that doomed her. Karma for hurting someone who never did anything to her that she didn’t ask for.
She couldn’t argue anymore with Deely without feeling like she was also fighting herself in a completely warranted game of guilt and hatred, so she stormed off to Meri’s room like she always did when she got worked up, wanting to close herself off from the world. She wanted to get away from herself but getting out of here was all she could do. So, she went on slamming the door violently behind her, letting her shame cling to every inch of the walls.
**
“Well, you really sold it, huh?” Meri jumped in for the first time, of course after all the important parts.
“You really were a great help too, weren’t you?” He sat next to Meri at the bar. “You also could’ve jumped in there. Used that good ol’ logical brain of yours, Charlie.”
“Oh sir, it’d simply be too rude for me to intrude on your conversations. I believe you handled that swimmingly.”
Deely wasn’t really listening anymore, more like processing all the information he had taken in over the last few hours. All he could think about was how Michael and his goons found out about his plans. He’d been so careful and had never once mentioned anything about it out in the open parts of the restaurant. And Charlie would’ve noticed if anyone had gone past the bar area.
“How the hell did they know what we were doing?” Deely figured letting the question out into the air would help find an answer somewhere outside of himself. “Are you sure no one’s been back there while I was gone? Maybe when you were distracted…”
“Sir, I am an android, so I could not possibly be distracted, and I can assure you that the only time I’ve ever left my post was at your request during our meeting last night. But even then, I was watching the cameras the entire time. There was surely no mishap on my part.”
If an android could be offended, Deely was sure that it was proven from what he had just witnessed. But Deely already knew that Charlie never slacked on anything he did. It was an impossibility for the android. However, Deely couldn’t see where he himself went wrong but, unlike Charlie, Deely was fully human–fully capable of error. Deely returned inside of himself thinking through every decision he’d made torturing himself as to whether he made the right ones. Maybe the bad decisions had started when he decided to let Abigail be the most crucial part of his plan. Leading someone, who needed a lot more time to heal, right into a highly stressful situation.
Or it must’ve been before that, when he decided to save Abigail, following in his mother’s footsteps having to be the one to decide who deserved to be saved and who didn’t. But it didn’t take long for Deely to see this type of thinking was bullshit. Deely knew that everyone needed saving. It just had to happen at different times, which Deely still found himself coming to terms with. After beating himself down and building himself back up again, he arrived back where he started. Nowhere closer to answering his initial question.
“I did it.” Deely was immediately interrupted from his thoughts by the voice of the little girl sitting next to him, who was looking blankly in the direction of the drink in her hands, the ice having melted minutes ago and the condensation leaving a liquid ring on the counter around the glass.
“You did what?”
“I told him.”
Deely couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. Words that incited hostility inside of him. Words that made him want to strangle the only sister he’d ever known. Words that cut so deeply but were said so softly. And for the first time, Deely was speechless. There were times when he’d brood silently wanting to say something but restricting himself but never times where he was at a loss as he was
right now.
“We need his help.” Meri offered more explanation seeming to sense Deely needed more time to process. “Michael has intel that we couldn’t imagine ever having. And he can protect us. Protect her.”
Deely took a few more seconds before he formulated a sentence. “Why didn’t you just tell me? Before we went through all of that. Last night when we were sitting in that goddamn room.” Deely was starting to raise his voice, which he hadn’t done since his mom was around.
“Then you would’ve called it off. It had to be this way. The universe–”
“I’m so tired of this universe bullcrap, Meri! Do you ever stop to think about anyone else besides your precious fucking universe? And of all people, you chose to tell Michael!” He said his name with an extreme amount of disdain as if it left a sour taste in his mouth.
“You know Nat would’ve wanted you to talk to him. He’s your brother,” Meri continued to keep a calm tone as if she was unbothered by Deely’s just anger.
“You have no right to bring her up right now. He fucking left after Mum died. And better yet, started working for the very people we fight against. He’s not my brother anymore,” Deely turned toward his study wanting to be as far away from the newly discovered traitor as possible. And immediately thought about all the new adjustments he had to make to his plan.
Chapter 20
Again, Deely found himself sitting in front of Meri and Abigail. This time, without Charlie by his side. He, instead, was tending toward the few guests that the new company had brought in. They filled the bar stools and even tried mashing themselves into the broken booth seats when regular seating ran out.
If they’d been regular customers then this would’ve been the best business day that Ol’ Mike’s had had in years. They’d maybe get enough money to fix the dim lights on the sign. But these men weren’t paying. Deely had been reluctantly generous in opening his restaurant to Michael’s thugs knowing that he really had no other choice in the matter. And Charlie was simply delighted to finally be serving anything besides booze and orange juice and occasionally a burger or two to Abby. While Charlie went on serving a full house, business went on as usual in Deely’s study.
Michael had made himself comfortable right next to one side of Deely while Nicole sat on the other side just as comfortable. Another man made his way into the room not rushing even though he was markedly late.
**
“Nice of you to finally show up,” Michael said as the man walked in taking his place right next to Abigail. It didn’t take a second look for Abby to know who was sitting next to her. Wearing the same tight suit jacket that he wore when he harassed her at the bar and when he ran into her on the way out of the Plaza. Abby’s whole face read confusion and it seemed like everyone at the table was caught up on the man’s identity except for her. The man seemed to take notice of Abby’s confusion, without responding to Michael’s initial remark.
“Oh, excuse me,” He reached his hand out toward Abigail though he was already close enough that Abby could smell his aftershave. “I believe that I was a little doggish during our last interaction. I’m Evren, but my friends call me E. Hopefully you’ll eventually see me as an ally.”
“Fat chance, Bud.” It didn’t take long for Abigail to put two and two together. He must’ve been the one that put them in this mess. The one that had thrown Patel’s phone right out of her hands and given her the piece of shit fake phone that she had unwittingly handed to Deely.
It wasn’t her fault completely. The phones were nearly identical but Abby in her crazed state hadn’t given much thought to the differences between the two phones. It wasn’t until she’d gone to sleep that night that she realized Patel’s phone was slightly greasier than the fake one. His stubby fingerprints covered the screen when she first took it from his pants pocket and later that evening it had been clean, shiny, near pristine.
Evren was the one who had made her hate herself even more than she already needed to, and she couldn’t bring herself to shake his hand even to follow her mannerisms. Manners had been thrown out the door as soon as he messed up their original plan. She was afraid she’d try to break his hand anyway as the anger seeped out of her.
“Well, alright then.” Evren pulled his hand back. “I should’ve expected that. It’s completely understandable for you to be angry right now. I swear I was only doing my job. I had no ill feel—”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. Can we get the hell on with this?” Michael had grown impatient since he arrived. He looked toward Abby. “Get over it, hun. There’s more at stake than your feelings right now.”
“Hun?!” Abby jumped up forcing everyone else to jump in their seats. “Call me hun again and I’ll bite your dick off, pretty boy.” Everyone remained silent except for Deely who was laughing under his breath at how chilled Michael became.
“I’d trust her on that, my friend,” Deely suggested still not able to conceal his smile.
“And you,” she turned toward Evren for the first time knowing exactly how she felt at that moment. “I have no intention of being your buddy, so I’d be careful not to test me either. And how about getting some larger pants and letting the boys breathe a little.”
Deely burst out laughing, almost as if he couldn’t hold it in any longer. Meri even seemed to find some humor in her remarks keeping her chuckling to herself though her smile was all too visible to everyone else. Abby sat back down satisfied with putting both in their places in probably a long time. Deely finished up his fit of laughter leaving everyone waiting on him to begin the meeting.
**
“Well, now that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way, I guess it’s time for us to get started.” As Deely began, he pulled up photos, “As many of you may know, I’ve been watching the Cassalian Group for over a year now. Gathering intel, gaining trust where I could, waiting for the right time to infiltrate. And the company wide Equinox Gala is our best opportunity in. The event’s meant to last all night on their top floor.”
He pulled up an image of the Cassalian building and it appeared much bigger than the Plaza. The Plaza was extremely tiny in comparison and then Abigail had remembered seeing the huge building in Section Five on her way to the Plaza that night. She didn’t take much thought of it then, but she definitely couldn’t remember ever being able to see the very top of it from Deely’s glider, many stories below. The entire top jutted out from the rest of it making the building look like a tall mushroom. And on the side a curvy capital C glowed showing everyone who they were.
Deely continued, “The Equinox Gala is their most prestigious event of the year. So, we should expect everybody to be there. Lawyers, lieutenants, captains, probably even the goddamn mayor. I’m also sure you have some connections in some really high places, Michael, so I’m certain you’ll be able to find a way in. Abigail and I will get in using the company ID that Meri made from Patel’s information.” He held up a small electronic card that flashed a picture of Deely, a fake name, and a class labeled “Worker.”
“I think that’ll be my first addition,” Michael interrupted, “I want at least one of my men with one of yours at all times. I hope you’ll see why that obviously must be done.” Deely didn’t get a chance to retort. “I want Evren with Abby, Nicole with you, and me with Meri.”
“Are you ok with that?” Deely looked toward Abby, which seemed to surprise even her because she didn’t expect to have a say in a major part of the plan.
Without a second thought, she said, “Yes.”
“Alright, then. Thank you, sweetie.” Michael sent a wink her way and she clearly didn’t have any intention of returning it.
“Once we’re all inside, Michael and Meri excluded of course, one pair of us needs to make it down to the server room and the other needs to go straight into the party with this small secure hotspot and this data card.” He pulled up a device that was merely a tiny dot and a small
luminescent square that sat delicately in his hands. “Even if Cassalian realizes that someone is using this network to access their information, they won’t be able to pinpoint it without going through every single person’s device. By the time they even decide to do that, Meri should give us the ok. And the groups inside meet at the backside of the building.”
Deely finished, making the plan seem as easy as pie. All they had to do was walk in and walk out. What on Earth could go wrong?
“One thing that you won’t have a say in, Michael, is in which group goes where. Evren and Abigail go to the server room. Nicole and I go up top and wait to receive the data. When it’s all over a deal’s a deal. You get your names and I get mine.”
“Oh, of course. Doesn’t look like I have much of a choice, it seems.” Michael feigned amusement. “Well, if we’re done, I’d like to get going. Big day tomorrow. Also, I’d like Evren to stay here tonight. Just to keep a good watch over you all.”
Deely shot him an annoyed stare but didn’t attempt to argue. This was just Michael keeping good on his promise that he’d be watching.
“C’mon, Nicole.” Michael headed out of the study. “I need a hand gathering the boys up.”
**
By the time Michael left with all his men, it was already time for bed. But why in the Universe did Evren have to sleep in the same room as Abigail?
Abby sat at the very back of the bed far away from Evren as if he were some kind of disease. She eyed him, trying to take account of every movement that he made. He had politely taken the floor and sat with his back against the wall, having the stuffy blanket that usually sat atop Meri’s bed, draped over his legs. Like her, he eyed her too. They were both quite unsure about what the other was thinking. But Evren looked markedly more at ease than Abigail.
“Are you scared of me?” The question startled her a bit. It wasn’t exactly a normal question to ask someone. She’d always been used to the type of people who were fully aware that they incited fear. So fully aware that they didn’t bother to ask such a stupid question.
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