Chapter 9

CHAD MALCOLM

No one really liked Cat's Cradle. Given the choice, many would choose to just about anywhere else in Waverwell. The buildings were one light breeze from toppling over like dominos, and many of them were little more than four walls, a door, and possibly a window that seemed so hastily built that a child might have done it. The streets were always wet and one had to be careful to look out for cars driving by to avoid being drenched with muddy water. The stores never offered any outstanding food or clothes, and anything they did sell could be found elsewhere at a higher quality and a lower price.

And it was always raining. Always. A perpetual drizzle that never seemed to have an end in sight. A shower that left people irritated and grouchy by the end of the day, complaining about how their clothes stuck to their skin and how their shoes squeaked with each step. There would be a handful of days each year where the weather let up and was mildly pleasant, perhaps a light mist, but every other day was the same drizzle that just never, ever relented.

But there was one thing that kept people returning to Cat's Cradle. One thing that let them forget about everything they might've disliked about the city. One thing that kept them not quite itching to come back, but certainly open to the idea.

That is... money. Lots of it.

xxxx

The afternoon bled into the evening as Chad travelled from Corville to Cat's Cradle.

He and Darcy had gotten into arguments over driving. He enjoyed it; it let him think uninterrupted. But Darcy preferred being chauffeured around. They had the money, why not enjoy the luxury? Why deal with something as mundane as driving a car? Sometimes Chad allowed their chauffeur to bring him places. But the trip to Cat's Cradle was something he always insisted he do alone.

It was raining as Chad drove up the larger of the Twin Peaks, and it was raining as he passed the welcome sign that was located at both of the roads that led into Cat's Cradle, one from Corville and one from Dal, and it was raining as he pulled into a spot in the back alleyway of the Night Owl, and it was raining as he stepped out of his car and walked toward the back entrance, a small door hidden behind a series of trash cans.

He could faintly hear the music pulsing through the air from within the building.

The Night Owl, a nightclub and gambling den, was owned by Chad, and it also doubled as the actual headquarters of Leviathan Inc., although only a select few knew that. It was two levels. The first had been divided into two by a lengthy bar offering a wide variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks that could pique the interest of anyone, no matter their tastes. On one side bodies twisted and twirled in dance, lit up by pulsing and flashing lights. And on the other, well-loved tables hosted games where money was won and lost by the thousands. Many games were played, but those exact tables were where one game in particular, the pride of Cat's Cradle, was created.

Its name was Striker. How the name came to be was a mystery no one had been able to figure out, though Chad had always guessed the name had been coined since it was infamous for causing players to 'strike out' on their chips. The card game itself was relatively simple: get the threes. Multiples of three could win the game, but threes would trump anything. Yet it was notoriously easy to lose if one didn't know how to play well.

Striker quickly grew to be the most popular of games played in Cat's Cradle, especially in the Night Owl, leading to tense games that lasted for hours. Those games brought in no shortage of profits for Chad, Darcy, and the Night Owl; to play, one needed the special Night Owl chips —found and sold nowhere else in Cat's Cradle or the greater Waverwell— which could be bought in stacks of ten and were equivalent to five Corvilles each. To buy them, though, cost one hundred Corvilles. Of course, some players walked out with far more than they spent on the chips, but many walked out with less, having lost whatever games they'd played.

Most players chased the dream of achieving the fortune one of the first players did. No one knew who he was, but he'd walked in with the minimum one hundred Corvilles and left with over seven hundred thousand. Chad had tried to figure out who he was and pulled many strings, but he'd never been able to get a name. No one had recognized him, and once he won the game, he'd weaseled his way through the crowd and slipped out the door. He hadn't been seen since that night.

Chad hugged the wall, staying away from the tables so as not to disturb the atmosphere. The air was thrumming with tension so high one could almost cut it with a knife, though the faces of everyone playing were so still they may have well been made from stone. Yet as soon as he passed the bar, ducking through heavy curtains that kept much of the blaring music from reaching the tables behind him, and stepped onto the dance floor, any evidence of the tension was gone, and what remained was pulsing energy and a sea of churning bodies, limbs arcing through the air in both graceful and clumsy moves.

The second floor of the Night Owl mirrored his floor in the Leviathan Inc. headquarters in Corville almost exactly; walls sparsely decorated with abstract paintings and sconce lights illuminating the space to give it a professional feel. The second floor was about a quarter of the size of the first and only allowed for a handful of rooms, but since Chad's office was the only one regularly used, there hadn't been a reason to expand it, although Chad doubted he would even if more space was needed. The Night Owl was already an unusual building in Cat's Cradle, being that it had two floors. Adding on to it and making it bigger would draw more attention.

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It was on the second floor of the Night Owl that most of the real work for Leviathan Inc. was done.

The first ideas for Arkreon were born at his desk, in a meeting with only a handful of people. He and Darcy were there, as was Malibu. The rest had since died.

Chad opened the door to his office and was greeted with three figures leaning against his desk; two women and a man. One of the women had smooth black hair tied back in a ponytail and wore a violet jacket. The other had frizzy hair and bright blue eyes accentuated with golden makeup, though her face was shaded by a dark hat. The man's face was mostly covered by a grey bandana, and his muscled arms were crossed over his chest, giving him an intimidating appearance similar to that of a looming oak tree. But Chad schooled his features and calmly dead-bolted his door and fastened the chain lock.

"Hello," he said. "How are you doing?"

"That's really not necessary," replied the woman in violet. "We completed the job. Per our rules, complete first, don't ask questions, the questions come later. The only reason we ask is to keep track of our business and where we might alter our strategies to ensure we are working as efficiently as possible and identify possible avenues to grow our business. Now, what exactly was the reason behind your request?"

"I want the introduction of Arkreon to go as smoothly as possible. Now bumps in the road. Arkreon is the future of energy in Waverwell. I cannot have anything stopping it, not when Leviathan Inc can completely change the game when it comes to energy. More efficient than coal, burns longer than coal, burns brighter than coal. Coal is the energy of yesterday, compared to Arkreon." Chad plucked a glass cube encasing a small shard of Arkreon from his desk. Light glimmered on its shiny surface, showcasing a rainbow of color as he twisted it around between his fingers.

It had been discovered in the mines near Cloverleaf that extended deep into Spider Ridge, a spiny set of hills that held the answer to Waverwell's energy needs: Arkreon. Once it was discovered, Chad and Darcy had been quick to funnel money into excavating Arkreon from Spider Ridge and ensure they controlled the material. We need to make sure this is done right, Chad had said. Of course, Darcy had replied. We must make sure Arkreon is the future of energy. We'll change the world. Nothing will be the same.

"Wonderful," the woman in violet said. "Give us the rest of our payment. Also per our rules, the payment works as half before, then half after. The job is complete, and no one knows who it was. There is no trail that leads to us or to you, nor will there be."

"You will monitor the situation to make sure no one finds you or me."

"Do you doubt us, Chad?" The woman tilted her head to the side. Her eyes glittered like a snake's.

"No, I don't doubt you in the slightest. If I had, I wouldn't have hired you. I simply wish to make sure no one comes nipping at our heels with unwanted questions."

"Of course. It would be a shame if either of us got caught. But you needn't worry. We're very careful. Now, the other half of the money, if you please. I hope you didn't forget."

"Of course not. Here's the money." Chad pulled an envelope out of his coat pocket and handed it to the woman in violet. Without glancing at it, she handed it to the man. He opened it and ruffled through it, counting the bills.

"It's the right amount," he said.

"Hmm," the woman replied, eyes unreadable. Chad held her stare. "Do you have any other jobs you'd like us to complete?"

"Not right now, I don't. If any come up, I will reach out though."

"Very well," the woman said. "We will be on our way. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Chad Malcolm. My best wishes to your wife, Darcy."

"Thank you. I will pass that on." The woman gave Chad a tight-lipped smile.

When the three left, Chad locked the door again, double checking that each was securely fastened, and then returning to his desk. He leaned back in his chair and held the small piece of Arkreon between his thumb and forefinger. "We're changing the world," he whispered. "We are changing the world."

Every employee who worked at Leviathan Inc. had their own computer, given the day they started and, if they left, returned on their last day. Chad and Darcy each had their own. But the computer Chad used here, in the Night Owl, was his own. It was his work-away-from-work computer.

He typed in his passcode and unlocked it. The last email he had received was the one from the woman in violet, confirming that she would come to his office in Cat's Cradle this evening and collect the rest of the payment. It also gave him a way to reach her in the future, if he decided to do business again. It was a pleasure working with him, and she hoped he would do business with them again. Chad saved the email to an external hard drive and then cleared his inbox.

Darcy picked up the phone after three rings. "Hello, honey."

"Hello, Darcy. I miss you already."

"Aww, I do as well. When do you return?"

"I'll be back home tomorrow morning."

"That long? Well, hurry back when you leave, then. I miss you."

"I miss you as well," Chad said as he opened up the first reports on how the shifts over to Arkreon were going. "How have things been in Corville?"

"Running smoothly. Very smoothly. There shouldn't be any issues with shifting to Arkreon."

"Shouldn't be isn't a guarantee. We can't have any issues. We need a won't be, not a shouldn't be." If someone didn't do their job how I told them to, they will be removed swiftly, he thought with a frown.

"I know, I know. Can't change the world if something goes wrong. Some of that is an abundance of caution, and some of it is the unknowns. Everything has been worked out as thoroughly as possible, but there's the human factor. And, of course, if anything comes up, it will be dealt with efficiently and quickly. No one will know anything went wrong."

"I hope not. The image of Leviathan Inc. shall remain spotless."

"Spotless," Darcy agreed.

"How did your meeting go?" Darcy changed the subject.

"It went well. Everything's dealt with and they're fully paid so we do not have to worry about them. We'll have to keep an eye out and make sure our tracks our clear, of course, but this should be in the past soon enough. I'll have Malibu put someone on it."

"We're changing the world, Chad. We're changing it. Our dream is so close."

"So close," Chad echoed. A smile ghosted across his face as he twirled the sliver of Arkreon between his fingers.

So close to our dream. So close that I can almost taste it.