Chapter 11: Brazil, part two
A/N: I'm sorry for the late update, I've been busy with assignments lately. Also, the Brazil story turns out longer than I expected, so my intended chapter 11 from last chapter's description is now chapter 12 instead, this chapter will be replaced with another short story.
Brazil, January 2016
A/N: Portuguese dialogues will again be in Italics
Samuel and Lucas walk back home after making sure all the children have returned, today is a very productive first day for the young man. Into the house, they go over the common room upstairs to see two strange men with brown hair sitting in the table. Without warning, Lucas pulls out his gun and points it at them.
"You have ten seconds to tell me who you are before I blow your brains out." He screams. Samuel looks startled and just freezes, not knowing what to do. So he just raises his hand up out of fear, though the one holding the gun is his friend.
"We're Uno's men, from Robinhood6. Now put your gun down before I report this back to him." Jerome answers without a single flinch.
"You're bluffing. I know his men, and both of you are not." Lucas answers, clearly he knows quite well about TJ's group.
Before Jerome can continue, Rao runs up the stairs when he heard shouting. "Oh for god's sake Lucas, put your gun down before the children see it. They're really his men." Rao shouts at him frantically.
Lucas looks at him and slowly puts his gun back to his pocket. He then goes to sit across the table from Jerome and Jordan and tells Samuel to sit next to him, who is now still terrified. Rao just shakes his head and walks back downstairs.
"Alright then, new kids I presume? Trying to act tough back then, huh? Why are you here, something boring enough for the Uno to send two rookies for the job?" Lucas asks tauntingly. He likes to use this strategy for others to get mad and slip up the information he wants.
"Watch yourself, punk. We may be new but we're Uno finest men. You have no idea what we're capable of." Jordan angrily retorts. His words are no mere threats. After losing contacts with King Bob in middle school, Jordan and Jerome stay as close friends all the way to college. Used to being bodyguards to their kings in sixth grade, then eighth, then twelfth, the two both decided to be bodyguards as a profession like Robert. In late 2014, King Bob took over more of a leadership role in foreign countries, than being TJ's guard, after their group has expanded internationally. Other generals did too. He started looking for Jerome and Jordan after hearing they double-handedly defended a celebrity against a group of thugs. They certainly did not disappoint him, and is now trusted to do missions alone after only a few months in training.
"Besides, what business we have here is none of your concerns." Suddenly, Jerome whispers something into his ears. He seems irritated hearing this.
"Fine, the more people know the easier it is. But you better watch your attitude. We're looking for a missing person. Cindy, to be exact." Jordan reluctantly continues.
"Who's Cindy?" Lucas and Sam ask at the same time.
"And you said you know our men." Jordan smirks. "Cindy was recruited by Uno a few months ago to manage increasing crime rates in the Northern side of Brasilia. She disappeared around two weeks ago, and hasn't been seen since. So we need your help to look for her. Here's her picture."
"I did said I know all of his men, not all of his men and women." Lucas speaks, staring at the photo. Samuel chuckles at his joke while the other two just look even more irritated.
Jerome and Jordan decide to stay in the house for a few days for their mission. After they have gone to their room, Lucas turns to Sam right away. "They're not here for Cindy. They're lying."
"Why do you think they are?" Sam asks surprisedly.
"Of course I know Cindy. I saw her talking to another boss normally exactly eight days ago. They must be here for something else."
"Wow! So do you think they're not from Robinhood6 and here to steal something from us?" Sam suggests.
"No, they're Uno men alright. Even though they speak Portuguese to us, they have the same broken American accent like Uno. I think he sent them here for some secret investigations." Lucas makes an educated guess.
"What investigations are they doing?"
"I don't know, but we'll find out. We'll need to shadow them to see from now on to see." Samuel just says nothing.
"Why are you telling me all this? We just met yesterday." He suddenly asks after a moment of thoughts. "At least buy me a drink first."
"You're one of us now, so we're all in this together. I need someone to watch my back if I plan to get all nosy around Uno's business." Lucas shrugs. "I can trust you, right?" He then wraps his arm over Sam's shoulder, asking half jokingly, half serious.
"Yeah, you can trust me." Sam answers after he has regained his confidence. "Just don't let trusting be the death of you."
In the following days, the two start sending their kids to tail Jerome and Jordan from afar. They report back to Lucas that while these men spend most of their time outside at police stations to look for Cindy, when they come back to the house everyday, one of them always spend at least an hour down in the basement.
"It's obvious that their purpose here has something to do with the basement. There's only one room down there, the storage room." Lucas tells Samuel while looking at the report notes he has written down. "But it only contains junks from the previous owner, nothing of value. What item are they trying to find down there?" He ponders.
Sam just states the obvious. "Why don't we just come down there and have a look?" Lucas mentally kicks himself for not thinking of that.
Down in the storage room with mountains of sealed boxes, Lucas immediately starts openings boxes after boxes to see if there's something of value, while Samuel just looks around for something.
"Hey Lucas, come over here." Sam breaks the silence after a few minutes of searching. Lucas runs over to see a hatch leading further down, concealed by an old carpet, next to Sam.
"How did you find this?"
"I saw that the boxes above it have less dust than the surrounding ones, so I thought those are what Jerome and Jordan have been touching." Sam shrugs.
The two begin to walk down the hatch. Inside is another room, bit it is locked with a password.
"Damn, it's locked." Lucas curses.
"Wait, I never knew we have this room here. Do you?" Samuel suddenly realizes.
"No, me neither. Rao has never told any of us, or at least told me, about a secret room before."
"Then maybe it's Rao who set the password. Has he ever given you guys any signal phrase only this group knows?" Sam suggests.
Lucas goes deep into thoughts. "Well, there is one thing." He finally says. "We used to use the name of our first recruited kid, Luiz, as password into the house back then. He sacrificed himself to save two other kids from a drunk driver. Rao told us to never forget his name, though we don't use that password anymore."
They decide to try Luiz as passwords.
It works.
The door opens and reveals inside a well-developed drug labs, with synthetic drugs lying in countless packages. Both are horrified at what they have discovered.
"...It seems to be mostly LSD and methamphetamine I think." Samuel says after having a closer look at the product.
"I can't believe this. Does Rao know this? Has he been trying to hide this from us? From me, all this time?" Lucas exclaims and collapses to the floor. "Is this why Uno has sent people here? Why would Rao do this to me?" He keeps asking more and more questions, nearly sobbing.
"Because I can't trust you wouldn't report me to him." Rao suddenly says as he, Vini, and Andre walk into the lab, all with guns pointing at Samuel and Lucas. Both slowly stand up and raises their hands."I'm sorry boy, but it's just business."Rao follows up.
"How long have you been hiding this from me from the start?" Lucas screams, his voice cracks. Samuel is just trembling, not knowing what to say. "Why recruiting me in the first place?" Lucas continues.
"Lucas, my boy, times have changed. Stealing can only get us so far. When the tax from Robin something comes, many months we fell into debts. Selling drugs becomes the only way we can have a profit again. The big boss said it himself." Rao tries to reason with him.
"Don't tell me these bullshit old man. I saw the number, we gain even more profit when they came. They helped us from amateurs who constantly got caught to real professionals." Lucas tries to argue. "You're all just greedy bastards who use the big boss as scapegoat, aren't ya?"
"Well, technically Robinhood6 is the bigger boss. You'll be in trouble if they find out." Sam finally manages to chime in.
"The important thing is 'if', boy. Lucas, you have been with me ever since the beginning. Join me, don't let them know, pretend this never happens." Rao says while aiming his gun right at Lucas's chest.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" It is clear that he will not be on Rao's side. "If I die, what will you tell the kids, huh? And what will you tell Uno's men?"
"That's why I need you alive. Don't make me kill you, Lucas." Rao threatens.
"You know me so well, Rao. You must know me well enough that I cannot do that." He sighs.
"So be it." The bullet goes straight through Lucas's chest. He falls flat to the floor in pain. Right away, Samuel jumps in to hold him. In his dying breath, he looks over to Sam and smiles.
"I'm sorry I got us into this mess. I guess curiosity kills the cat, huh?"
"Please don't be sorry. It's me who should be sorry." Sam sobs. He just holds Lucas and cries.
In his dying breath, the man turns to his former friends "Please, let the kid go" and his heart stops beating. After that, Samuel stands up and continues raising his hands.
"I won't say anything, please don't shoot." He looks down to the ground saying.
"Sorry, my boy. I can't trust you enough to let you go." Rao says as he moves his gun towards Sam.
"Drop your weapon and let the boy go!" Jerome suddenly shouts from outside the room. He and Jordan both holding a gun and point at the three. Vini and Andre turn around to point their guns at the duo while Rao still points his gun at Sam.
"Let us go or I'll shoot the kid!" He shouts.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you?" Samuel suddenly looks up at Rao, staring at him straight in the eyes.
"Or what? What will you do, boy?" Rao smirks back at him.
"This." In a flash of an eyes, Sam reverts back from his digital disguise, revealing to be a seven feet tall man with a monobrow, who is none other than the Uno.
Out of surprise, Rao decides to take the shot, but Robert is too fast. He jumps out of Rao's aim, dodging the bullet, takes out his concealed gun, and shoots Rao down mid jump. Startled, Vini and Andre turn around to see what happened, but were also shot down by Jerome and Jordan.
Uno's other men were sent to do the cleanup and gather evidence while the three go back to the alley to have some smokes. Robert lets out a long sigh.
"Job well done, general. Your plan works flawlessly." Jordan finally speaks about the aftermath.
"You call that a job well done? We managed to let everyone in this gang die. And what are we going to do with their recruited kid?" Jerome shouts back at his friend. They still argue all the time just like back then.
"What's done is done. I'll tell Cindy to send them to the orphanage." Robert sighs, shutting up both of his men. "I won't let Lucas's death be meaningless. This is only the beginning now that we have uncovered the truth." He continues as he extinguishes his cigarette.
"There is now enough evidence to assault their 'big boss' straight on. Time to do some more 'house-cleaning'."
Boston, February 2016
A/N: All names in this story are entirely fictional.
Ken Jerkingson, CEO of Rockefeller Inc., one of the US's largest oil well company, walks into his office with a phone in his hand.
"...Like I said, no compensations for the health effects of those workers...No I don't care if it's a small amount, they signed the contract, it's their problem if they became sick... You're a lawyer aren't you, it's your job to do what I want, so DO WHAT I TOLD YOU TO DO." He shouts at his phone.
"What an incompetent idiot." Ken mutters as he turns off the phone and sits down at his desk. He starts looking around, admiring what a large and amazing office he has. A human size painting of himself hung on the wall. A bookshelf full of books he never read, he only has it to impress his 'educated' rich visitors. A beautiful wooden table, with two authentic leather couches on each side, which he oftens uses all three of them to have some fun with his female visitors. A couple sitting on the couch, reading magazines. A COUPLE SITTING ON THE COUCH?
"Hey! Who are you and what are you doing here?" Ken angrily asks the two. They lower their magazines, revealing to be none other than TJ and Spinelli.
"Where your manner, Ken? Can't you at least serve you guest some tea?" TJ smirks.
"Why bother, dear? He would make us sign a contract and says he's not responsible if the tea was poisoned." Spinelli continues.
"Answer my question you idiots! I'm calling security." Ken's face is bright red as he reaches for this telephone. But there's no signal on the line.
"The phone's dead, genius. The door's locked too. Just do what he tells you to do and we'll walk." Spinelli says while continue reading her magazine. "But please try to resist though, so I can rip ya head off."
"Calm down yet, Mr. Jerkinghisson?" TJ smirks, crossing his arms.
"You think you can just walk into my office and force me to do everything you say? I'm the boss around here. Someone will look for me, and you won't be able to see the lights of day after this." Ken threatens, but the two look visibly don't care.
"Anyway, here's what I have in mind." Ignoring what Ken says, TJ pulls out a bunch of documents from his jacket and throws it over his desk. "These are the records we personally recovered about you. Corrupted man, Ken? Tch tch, what would your mother says? And what would your wife says about your affairs like the one in the paragraph above? Not including illegal activities your company does: sabotaging fusion energy research projects, crossing more than half of environmental regulations, hiring thugs to dismiss protests, that's just sad." He says while Ken starts skimming the documents.
"I know you, you're Robin, aren't you? What a hypocrite you are." Ken tries his best to not show any signs of fear. "You're a scumbag criminal. Even with these evidence, who's going to back you up and say it's not fraud? You're going to stand trial? And my wife? Go ahead, I'll just marry a better one."
"I was hoping you would say that." TJ smirks. "Marian?"
"With pleasure." Spinelli jumps straight out of the couch, walks over to Ken and suckerpunches him right out of his chair. He sits on the ground, holding his face and screaming in pain.
"You're right, I'm a criminal so I don't play nice like you 'lawful' men." TJ walks over and looks down at Ken. "Nice punch by the way." He turns to Spinelli and smiles. She just looks proud and says nothing, his compliment always make her feel happy.
"Go ahead, punch me all you want, I'll give you a million times worse. I know what you're like, you won't kill me." Ken taunts him.
"No, the punch was because I wanted to. Here's the better threat. You have access to your company's balance right? Go ahead and check it." The couple then go back to his couch and continue with their magazines.
Ken slowly stands up. He's contemplating calling for help, but the curiosity of TJ's threat overwhelms him. Ken opens the account and sees a shocking reality: half of the income Rockefeller Inc. has gained over several years is now gone, all the money he's planning to pocket soon.
"So this is our demand, Mr. Jerk King." TJ stands up and speaks when he sees Ken is now visibly shaken. "It's simple, one of our friends is also one of the many, MANY, victims your company has done wrong to. So treat nicely to all of them, and your future workers, potential targets, customers, basically everyone. Cause if I hear complaints from my friend again, I'll come back and take it all, and that won't be the worst of what I'll do."
"Com'on, Marian, let's go." Spinelli stands up and both are walking out of the room "But you promised me I can do it, the punch was just for myself, what about Gretchen?" She pouts at TJ.
"I said you can do it if he does the conditions. He didn't, so we have to go." He says while holding her cheeks with his right hand, dragging her along. Ken then takes out his gun in the drawer and points it at TJ.
"Freeze!" He shouts. "I won't let you get away with this, you will rot in prison, both of you!" Spinelli glances at TJ and smirks.
"Yup, that's one of the conditions. Go ahead, honey." TJ turns back to Spinelli and nods. She grins and turns around, slowly walking towards Ken.
"Stay back!" He screams while pointing the gun at her. When she's ten feet away, he pulls the trigger, only to realize that all the bullets were removed. Spinelli then kicks him in the balls as hard as she can, with the strength of a Spinelli. Once again, he lies on the ground, screaming in pain.
"Shut your mouth and do what he says, or there will be more of that, ya hear me?" She threatens.
The two walk out of the building to see Gretchen and Menlo are waiting for them.
"How did it go?" Gretchen asks, it's not often to see her out of the Citadel like this. Ken must have a very deep history with her.
"It's done. I'm sure he'll listen to us and play nice from now on." TJ says confidently.
"Thanks TJ...for doing all of this...I really appreciate it." Gretchen says in a low voice, staring to the ground.
"Hey, that's what friends are for, right? Besides, I did promise you to make them pay." TJ smiles at her, his finger lifts her chin up.
Gretchen then turns to Spinelli. "Did you kick him in the balls?"
"I kicked him in the balls." Spinelli grins and nods. This makes Gretchen also smiles widely.
"What's up with you girls and kicking in the balls anyway." Menlo mutters, then turns to TJ. "So here's the last guy on Gretchen's shit list. Jock Hoppen, Gretchen's rival back in MIT, a Randall, for sure. He's now a scientist at the US military base, very high security. This one seems tricky, TJ." He then shows TJ the details about Jock.
TJ looks at the documents for a while and finally smiles.
"Guys, I have a plan."
