"Hey Blaze, are you coming?" Scott asked me.
"Yeah, just a moment, I need to write a quick message" I called back.
After I had made all the preparations, I got into Scott's car. The day after the incident, Scott and I drove to the club together because AJ had something to discuss with us. As I had pulled an all-nighter with Scott because of the incident, we both fell asleep on the sofa in his living room. I waited with him for a call from AJ and we talked during that time. The atmosphere was quite strange at first. Not much was said and the situation was rather tense. But then Scott started to apologize. He showed remorse for his behavior towards me and my friends. He also sincerely thanked me for saving AJ. We both started to understand each other better as the night went on. I thought Scott was just an aggressive guy with no empathy, but I realized I was wrong. I don't know if it was because he was worried about his uncle or because the stress from earlier was still getting to him, but he started to tell me personal things about himself. He told me why he was so careful with Jane and why she had a problem with him working for AJ.
He said, "Jane and I both grew up without parents. I can't remember how our mother was like. She died when Jane was 2 years old from breast cancer. Our father didn't cope well with the loss of our mother. He got drunk every day and started taking drugs. When he came home late at night, he would cry for hours in his bed. It got worse and worse as time went on. He got angry at every little thing, and it didn't matter whether we had done anything wrong or not. After a while, he also started to punish us. Whenever I noticed that he was getting angry with Jane, I did something to get his attention. It was the only way for an 8 year old like me to protect her from him. When I turned 10, my father died in a car accident. The adults didn't want to tell me at the time, but I figured he had caused the accident while under the influence of drugs. Jane was only 7 at the time and she knew her father hadn't been a good person, but unlike me, she mourned him. Our uncle took us in after that until I turned 18 and was able to look after us both on my own. Jane sees our uncle and his business as one of the reasons why our father became addicted. She doesn't understand that I only do this work so that she can lead a normal life."
As I thought about his past again, I looked over at him in the car. Scott was a broad giant whose facial expression rarely showed emotion. He didn't let it show, but I learned from the conversation yesterday that the past with his father still haunted him. Just as I was thinking about how Scott was one of those men who seemed tough on the outside but was soft on the inside, he looked over at me and said, "Can you stop staring at me like an idiot all the time? I need to concentrate on driving".
On the other hand, yesterday was probably just an exception, I thought to myself.
When we arrived at the club, Viktor and AJ were already waiting for us in the office. I now had to refocus - this conversation would have a huge impact on the success of my plan. We opened the door and entered the room. AJ was sitting at the desk and Viktor was standing next to him. At the side of the room, I saw that some of AJ's other men were also in the room.
"Hey guys. I'll get straight to the point. I called you here Blaze to thank you first and foremost. Your idea with the switched merchandise and the reporters was brilliant. As you heard yesterday, we work for a certain Mr. Wright. He is an influential man and he insisted on thanking you personally tomorrow. He's inviting you to dinner with him on Friday and hopes you'll accept. I'm sure someone like Mr. Wright will reward you appropriately for your help, but if you still want to work for me afterwards, we can talk about it later," AJ said to me. It was all very sudden and it took me a moment to realize what AJ had just told me. But when I realized what it meant, I could hardly believe my luck. Not only did I gain AJ's trust, but Wright himself wanted to meet with me. I was finally getting closer to my goal.
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"I'm glad I was able to prevent the worst from happening. And I gratefully accept the offer of Mr. Wright," I replied politely. AJ gave me a sign that he had nothing more to discuss with me for the time being and I stepped aside with Scott.
"Now that this is settled, we need to move on to the main topic. I guess the cops knew about our meeting because the real Jeff ratted us out. The only problem is that there's one thing I couldn't figure out. How did they know about our connection with Wright? The only ones who knew were the men in this room. So I have to assume there's a traitor among us," AJ said with a serious tone. He looked at the men from left to right. Meanwhile, there was complete silence. They all already suspected that this would be the reason why they had gathered so suddenly today.
"There is another possibility. It could be that there was a traitor on Wright's side," said Viktor.
The men in the office started discussing with each other and most of them came to the conclusion that Viktor might be right.
Now the moment had come.
"I don't think so," I said. All eyes turned to me at once. It felt like they were trying to test me with their looks.
"Blaze, I'm just as grateful to you as Aj, but stay out of this topic here," Viktor said. He made it clear with his facial expressions that I'd better not interfere again.
"Explain what you mean by that?" AJ asked me, ignoring Vikors objection. Viktor was Aj's right-hand man, so he had the second-highest position among the men. He didn't like the fact that AJ was standing up for an outsider like me and going against his opinion.
"I wanted to discuss this with you privately, but yesterday before I took the photo of Spencer, I overheard him saying that he had something against one of your men," I said. AJ's expression suddenly turned dark.
"Are you sure you got that right?" AJ asked me.
"Yes, there's no doubt about it," I replied.
"If that were really the case, Spencer wouldn't just let him get away with it after yesterday's incident," Viktor objected.
"That's true, unless he's still planning to use him as a snitch," AJ said thoughtfully. Suddenly the door to the office opened and a boy came in.
"AJ, there are some police cars outside the club," he said. That was something AJ didn't want to hear after yesterday's excitement.
He immediately stood up and said, "If any of you have anything to tell me, this is your last chance".
No one in the room said anything, although it was clear that some, including Viktor, were panicking slightly. But that wasn't surprising because even if they weren't the traitor, they had done enough things in their lives to want to avoid the police as much as possible. The office door opened and 4 policemen came in, one of them already holding handcuffs in his hands. It was now clear to everyone that the situation was getting serious. Aj stood up from his chair and asked, "Officer, why are you visiting my club?"
"Viktor Gourvich, I'm arresting you for the murder of Thomas Clark," said one of the policemen without even answering Aj's question. Viktor was so shocked by the words that he didn't react at first. But when the policeman put the handcuffs on him and read out his rights, he started to freak out.
"What are you doing here? I'm not a murderer. Do you have any proof of that?" He said, furious with rage.
"We have more than enough evidence to arrest you immediately," replied the policeman who had handcuffed him.
"That can't be right. Let go of me now," he shouted and began to thrash about angrily. Several policemen tried to stop him, but they couldn't get Viktor under control.
"That's enough now," AJ shouted at full volume.
His words brought Viktor back to his senses. He was still panicking, but he knew he had no choice but to go along with the policemen. Maybe that wasn't the end. I killed Thomas 2 years ago, it can't be that they found a lot of new evidence. Mr. Wright would use his connections and get him out of this somehow, he thought to himself. But that hope vanished the moment he looked back at AJ before he left the office. He recognized something in his gaze that he had often seen from the side. But this time, for the first time, that look was directed at him. It was the look AJ had when he had decided to kill someone. Viktor's heart began to race and he quickly realized what that meant. AJ thought he was the traitor!
And with this the last step of my plan was completed.